Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
United States Navy — Aircraft carrier CV-2

USS Lexington (CV-2)

Lexington-class aircraft carrier

USS Lexington (CV-2)
Unknown author — U.S. Navy photo 80-G-416362 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate — CV-2 The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) leaving San Diego, California (USA), on 14 October 1941. Planes parked on her flight deck include Brewster F2A-1 fighters (parked forward), Douglas SBD scout-bombers (amidships) and Douglas TBD-1 torpedo planes (aft). Note the false bow wave painted on her hull, forward, and badly chalked condition of the hull's camouflage paint.

Service

  1. United States Navy as Lexington14 December 1927 — 24 June 19421,027 days of the war
Full service history About 837 words
Lexington-class aircraft carrier Particulars
Name
USS Lexington
Pennant / hull number
CV-2
Namesake
Battle of Lexington
Builder
Fore River Ship Building Co., Quincy, Massachusetts, US
Ordered
1916
Laid down
8 January 1921
Launched
3 October 1925
Commissioned
14 December 1927
Struck
24 June 1942
Fate
Scuttled after the Battle of the Coral Sea, 8 May 1942
Shipwreck found, 4 March 2018 (1942)
Status
Wreck

Specifications

Displacement, standard
36,000 long tons (36,578 t)
Displacement, full load
47,700 long tons (48,465 t)
Length
270.66 m (888 ft)
Beam
32.61 m (107 ft)
Draught
9.75 m (32 ft)
Speed
33.3 knots (61.6 km/h, 38.3 mph)
Range
10,000 nmi (18,520 km)
Complement
2,791
Main gun
203 mm (8 in)

Minutemen fought a detachment of British troops at Lexington, Mass., 19 April 1776 opening the Revolutionary War with "the shot heard round the world."

The fourth Lexington (CV-2) was originally designated CC-1; laid down as a battle cruiser 8 January 1921 by Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, Mass.; authorized to be completed as an aircraft carrier 1 July 1922; launched 3 October 1925; sponsored by Mrs. Theodore Douglas Robinson, wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned 14 December 1927, Capt. Albert W. Marshall in command.

After fitting out and shakedown, Lexington joined the battle fleet at San Pedro, Calif., 7 April 1928. Based there, she operated on the west coast with Aircraft Squadrons, Battle Fleet, in flight training, tactical exercises, and battle problems. Each year she participated in fleet maneuvers in the Hawaiians, in the Caribbean, off the Panama Canal Zone, and in the eastern Pacific. In the fall of 1941 she sailed with the battle force to the Hawaiians for tactical exercises.

Continue to the full service history About 837 words

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Lexington IV (CV-2)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.

Armament and machinery

Armament and machinery
Propulsion
  • 4 shafts, 4 sets turbo-electric drive
Power
  • 16 Yarrow boilers
  • 180000 shp
Armament
  • 4 × twin 8 in guns
  • 12 × single 5 in AA guns
Armour
  • Belt: 5 - 7 in
  • Deck: 0.75 - 2 in
  • Gun turrets: 0.75 in
  • Bulkheads: 5 - 7 in
Aircraft
  • 78

Sister ships

Sources

  • Facts harvested from USS Lexington (CV-2) on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Service history reproduced verbatim from Lexington IV (CV-2) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
  • Photograph: Unknown author — U.S. Navy photo 80-G-416362 — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons