USS Lexington (CV-2): From the 1920s to the Battle of Coral Sea in WWII

USS Lexington and her sister ship, USS Saratoga, were the world's largest aircraft carriers when commissioned in 1927. They were originally designed as battle cruisers but were converted into aircraft carriers after the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. This book provides an illustrated account of the ship's construction, evolution, and sinking at the Battle of Coral Sea, as well as the discovery of her wreck in 2018.

Format: Hardback
Length: 144 pages
Publication date: 13 December 2022
Publisher: Schiffer Publishing Ltd

When commissioned on December 14, 1927, USS Lexington and her sister ship, USS Saratoga, were the world's largest aircraft carriers. The Lexington-class carriers, as the ships were known, were the results of an effort akin to making lemonade from lemons. Both vessels were begun in 1920-21 as Lexington-class battle cruisers.

Lexington, originally designated CC-1 (indicating battle cruiser), would have been a formidable warship armed with eight 16-inch guns in four turrets. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 banned the construction of such ships but permitted the conversion of such hulls into aircraft carriers. Accordingly, the "Lady Lex," as she became known to her crew, was finished as a massive 888-foot-long aircraft carrier and retained the originally planned revolutionary turboelectric drive. From the outset, Lexington, initially carrying fabric-covered biplanes, was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. In the years leading up to WWII, both the ship and her aircraft were modernized. This profusely illustrated book, an expanded and updated version of the author's earlier work, puts the reader on the deck of Lexington through her construction, evolution, and ultimate May 8, 1942, sinking at the Battle of Coral Sea and finishes with the discovery of her wreck on March 4, 2018. Over 200 photos, numerous line drawings, and color renderings illustrate this new entry in the Legends of Warfare series.

Weight: 898g
Dimension: 236 x 237 x 20 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780764364907