Pacific ships

Photos and the story

Lexington

Back to Lexington

ClassLexington class
TypeAircraft carrier (CV)
HullCV-2
FateSunk. Wrecked by Japanese carrier aircraft on 8 May 1942 in the Coral Sea. Abandoned, and Phelps scuttled her. This is CV-2, not the later Lexington.
Armament (class)Fleet carrier converted from a battlecruiser. Long flight deck and a large funnel.
Command

Laid down, displacement, length, beam, draft, speed, and complement are not stored for each hull, so this table leaves them out.

The armament line is the class drawing, not a measurement of this hull.

Lexington
U.S. Navy photo 80-G-410059. USS Lexington (CV-2) at anchor 1938.jpg. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

USS Lexington (CV-2) was a Lexington-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. Albert W. Marshall was her captain from 14 December 1927.

On 8 May 1942 she was in the Battle of the Coral Sea, and Fitch flew his flag in her during that action.

Japanese carrier aircraft attacked Lexington that day and put bombs and torpedoes into the ship. The blows that wrecked her are not credited to any one enemy ship.

Fires took hold aboard the carrier, and a gasoline explosion finished her as a fighting unit. Wrecked, she was abandoned in the Coral Sea.

After the crew left, Phelps sank the abandoned hulk with a torpedo. That scuttling on 8 May 1942 is the end of this hull. An Essex-class aircraft carrier later carried the name Lexington as a separate hull from CV-2.

The pictures on this page are the originals.