Nine people were killed, two on the fantail and seven in the Chief Petty Officers mess room, which was a repair party station during general quarters. At 2322, parachute flares from Japanese planes silhouetted the carrier, and 10 minutes later she was hit by a torpedo on the starboard side, knocking out her steering gear. At 1920 that night, a major air attack began while the task force was under way off Kwajalein. Her gunners splashed two of the enemy torpedo planes that attacked at midday, but were ordered not to open fire at night as the Admiral then in command believed it would give their position away (He was later replaced).
Her morning strike destroyed the SS Kembu Maru, damaged two cruisers, and accounted for 30 enemy aircraft. Lexington sailed to raid Kwajalein on 4 December. Her aviators downed 29 enemy aircraft on 23 November and 24 November. From 19 November to 24 November she made searches and flew sorties in the Marshalls, covering the landings in the Gilberts. She raided Tarawa in late September and Wake Island in October, then returned to Pearl Harbor to prepare for the Gilbert Islands operation. She sinks beneath the deep blue seas each evening, all hands aboard, only to re-appear each morning on the horizon.Īfter Caribbean shakedown and yard work at Boston, Lexington sailed for Pacific action via the Panama Canal, arriving at Pearl Harbor on 9 August 1943. The ghost portion of the nickname comes from the fact that the Japanese believed that they had sunk the Lexington no less than four times during the course of the war, leading Tokyo Rose to give the ship its nickname. This aspect was used to demoralize the Japanese, as they could not sink Lexington since she was so heavily defended. Part of the reason for the nickname the Blue Ghost was the fact that Lexington was painted dark blue. The Lexington was given the nickname The Blue Ghost by the Japanese. Though her surviving sisterships Yorktown, Intrepid, and Hornet carry lower hull numbers, Lexington was laid down and commissioned earlier, making Lexington the oldest remaining aircraft carrier in the world. Lexington was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003. She was decommissioned in 1991, remaining active longer than any other Essex-class ship, and was donated for use as a museum ship in Corpus Christi, Texas. Lexington was commissioned on 17 February 1943, with Captain Felix Stump USN in command. The ship was laid down as Cabot on 15 July 1941 by Bethlehem Steel Co., Quincy, Mass., and renamed Lexington 16 June 1942, and launched on 23 September 1942, sponsored by Mrs. In her second career, she operated both in the Atlantic/Mediterranean and the Pacific, but spent most of her time, nearly 30 years, on the east coast as a training carrier (CVT). Like many of her sister ships, Lexington was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, but was modernized and reactivated in the early 1950s, being reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), and then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). Lexington was commissioned in February 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, receiving the Presidential Unit Citation and 11 battle stars for World War II service. She was originally to have been named Cabot, but she was renamed while under construction to commemorate USS Lexington (CV-2), lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. The ship, the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name, is named in honor of the Revolutionary War Battle of Lexington. USS Lexington (CV/CVA/CVS/CVT/AVT-16), known as The Blue Ghost, is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. USS Lexington (CV-16) & Texas State Aquarium (2002)