Posted on 03/06/2018 8:28:24 AM PST by C19fan
The wreckage of a United States aircraft carrier, named USS Lexington that was sunk by the Japanese during World War II, was found on the floor of the Coral Sea more than 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia. The carrier was discovered by a team of explorers led by billionaire Paul Allen, the U.S. Navy confirmed Monday. The ship, which was part of the Battle of the Coral Sea from May 4-8, 1942, was found in a remarkably well-preserved condition. Microsoft co-founder Allen released a statement Monday along with photos and a video of the carrier.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
CV-1 Langley Langley (lead ship) 20 March 1922 27 February 1942 19 years, 11 months and 7 days Scuttled and Sunk 65 nm south of Cilacap, Java [15][16][17] CV-2 Lexington Lexington (lead ship) 14 December 1927 8 May 1942 14 years, 4 months and 24 days Sunk in the Battle of the Coral Sea [17][18] CV-3 Saratoga Lexington class 16 November 1927 26 July 1946 18 years, 8 months and 12 days Sunk in Operation Crossroads as a nuclear test target near Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean [17][19] CV-4 Ranger Ranger (lead ship) 4 June 1934 18 October 1946 12 years, 4 months and 14 days Scrapped in 1947 in Chester, Pennsylvania [20] CV-5 Yorktown Yorktown (lead ship) 30 September 1937 7 June 1942 4 years, 8 months and 8 days Sunk in the Battle of Midway [21] CV-6 Enterprise Yorktown class 12 May 1938 17 February 1947 8 years, 9 months and 5 days Scrapped in 1960 [22] CV-7 Wasp Wasp (lead ship) 25 April 1940 15 September 1942 2 years, 4 months and 21 days Sunk during the Guadalcanal campaign [23] CV-8 Hornet Yorktown class 20 October 1941 26 October 1942 1 year and 6 days Sunk in the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands [24][25] CV-9 Essex Essex (lead ship) 31 December 1942 20 June 1969 26 years, 5 months and 20 days Scrapped in 1975 [26] CV-10 Yorktown Essex class 15 April 1943 27 June 1970 27 years, 2 months and 12 days Preserved at the Patriot's Point Naval & Maritime Museum—Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, USA [27] CV-11 Intrepid Essex class 16 August 1943 15 March 1974 30 years, 6 months and 27 days Preserved at the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum—New York, New York, USA [28] CV-12 Hornet Essex class 20 November 1943 26 May 1970 26 years, 6 months and 6 days Preserved at USS Hornet Museum—Alameda, California, USA [29] CV-13& Franklin Essex class 31 January 1944 17 February 1947 2 years, 11 months and 17 days Scrapped in 1966 [30] CV-14 Ticonderoga Essex (extended bow) 8 May 1944 1 September 1973 29 years, 3 months and 24 days Scrapped in 1975 [31] CV-15 Randolph Essex (extended bow) 9 October 1944 13 February 1969 24 years, 4 months and 4 days Scrapped in 1975 [32] CV-16 Lexington Essex 17 February 1943 8 November 1991 48 years, 8 months and 22 days Preserved at USS Lexington Museum On the Bay— Corpus Christi, Texas, USA [33][34]
Actually the Shinano was to be a sister ship to the Yamato! But converted to a Massive Aircraft carrier. I think it was sank with ONE torpedo! There was NO crew to stop the flooding and the ship went down.
The previous LEXINGTON, CV-2.
that is cool news.
I have often wondered how long it would take to locate the Lady Lex. After Ballard found the Yorktown, this one was next on the list.
have any of the four jap carriers sunk at midway ever been found? Kaga, Akagi, Hiryu, Soryu?
Wow. That’s amazing!
One thing that gripes me a little is that men and women in the military today howl about being away from home for their tours for so long. He left San Diego just after Pearl Harbor and never saw his family for the rest of the war, a little more than 4 years.
Over 30 years in the navy.
There was plenty of crew, 1435 of them were killed with only 1080 rescued.
Problem was a B-29 recon of Tokyo was seen by everyone in the city, they panicked and sailed Shinano to be completed in the Inland Sea without all the watertight doors fitted and unfinished bulkheads so water spread throughout the ship.
http://www.combinedfleet.com/MidwayFind.htm
Pieces of the Kaga were found but none of the hulls of the Japanese carriers sunk at Midway.
We recycle names.
We have had three Bonhomme Richard, four Yorktowns, and working on our sixth Enterprise.
OMG that landing deck is small!!!
Was it really “lost”? I think we all knew about where it sank.
A trickier find would be Hornet CV-8 that was sunk by Japanese destroyers when it was abandoned after Santa Cruz.
American destroyers tried with 9 torpedoes to sink her but they didn’t explode and 400 5” shells. They had to flee the area when the Japanese showed up and finished the job.
At 866' by 105', the Lexington class carriers had the largest flight deck of any American carrier until the Midway class were commissioned after the war.
Bigger than the Yorktown and even bigger than the Essex's.
Our torpedoes in the early part of the war were an abomination on our fighting man. Failure to detonate was a chronic complaint. Someone should have went to jail for that cluster*&^% they foisted upon our sailors.
George Gay later in his life would sometimes make an appearance at a Navy base. He had a story to tell. Sometimes an action that seemed futile in the short term has immense consequences.
The effort by the torpedo squadrons seems to illustrate that effect quite accurately.
As a private pilot who has flown a variety of small GA aircraft, I stand by my original comment!!
OMG that landing deck is small!!
Problem was the Top Secret Mk 6 Magnetic Exploder on both the Mk14 in subs and the MK15 on destroyers.
So secret that they were worried about espionage and didn't test it sufficiently.
The only one my Dad fired from a PT boat circled around and nearly bagged the boat. Some officers were not too impressed with the ordnance bureau.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajlKvA48IXU
John Ford who filmed the Battle of Midway was given access to the Torpedo 8 squadron before the battle and made a short film.
They were wiped out and killed at Midway with only Gay surviving.
He provided the above film in 8mm for their families if they asked, some took him up on the offer and tracked down people with 8mm projectors so they could see their family members in their last days.
ENS Gay ditched within easy sight of the Japanese fleet, and had "the best seat in the house" to watch its destruction. A PBY Catalina rescued him after 30 hours in the drink. He went on to have a successful career in aviation, as Naval Aviator throughout WWII and then as an airline pilot with TWA.
ENS Gay on the right. Looks like somebody painted a weasel face on their torpedo.
Early in the war PT boats were armed with ancient Mk8 torpedoes that were older than their crews and required heavy torpedo tubes.
Later they got new Mk13 aerial torpedoes that could be launched by simply rolling them off the side and they were able to mount more guns with the saved displacement.
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