Remains of Downed USS Lexington Found Near Austrailia
Seattle Seahawks owner Paul Allen has struck gold again in another expedition to find wreckage of a vessel lost at sea. Monday afternoon, Allen announced on Twitter that the remains of the aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) had been found.
The Navy Times recounts the Lexington's fate in the war against Japan:
The aircraft carrier USS Lexington (CV-2) was struck by multiple Japanese torpedoes and bombs on May 8, 1942, during the Battle of the Coral Sea, but it wasn’t until a secondary explosion crippled the vessel that the ship’s commanding officer gave the call to abandon ship.
More than 200 Lexington sailors were killed in the fight, which marked the first ever carrier vs. carrier battle — one that dealt the imperial forces of Emperor Hirohito their first major blow of World War II.
Nearby U.S. ships rescued 2,770 of the carrier’s remaining sailors, to include the captain’s dog, Wags.
Last year, a similar expedition led by Allen, in the Pacific, yielded the discovery of the wreckage of the USS Indianapolis (CA-35).
The Lexington was found 500 miles off the coast of Australia.
In the aftermath of the sinking of the Lexington, another U.S. aircraft carrier named was named Lexington (CV-16) in 1943. The new Lexington made it out of World War II and served the U.S. Navy until 1991. Nicknamed "The Blue Ghost" the second Lexington (CV-16) was pivotal in the fight against the Japanese in World War II and continued to serve in the Pacific Theater after WWII, before being deployed to the Atlantic Theater in the 1960s.
The USS Lexington (CV-16) is now a museum in Corpus Christi, Texas.