Thanks!
I did my first carrier landings on the Lex (as did thousands of other Naval Aviators).
Thanks for your service...I spent five days on the Lexington, it was gawd awful. Those were five of the worst nights ever in the berthing space.
I had the overwhelming and overpowering stench of bunker fuel to the point I couldn’t sleep...I could taste it in my mouth and food, it was making me nauseous and sweaty.
I have no idea if there was something wrong with the ventilating systems, or if a vent for the fuel was sucking it back in, but I don’t think I spent more than ten minutes at a stretch sleeping for that whole week.
Ugh. If those guys who served in them all those years had to go through that, they have my deepest respect and sympathy. And it would make me feel like a wuss.
You might have been with one of the VT squadrons ... I was in VT-23 Kingville Texas 1969 - 1971