USS Lexington

USS Lexington is a decommissioned US Navy Aircraft carrier that is on display in Corpus Christi, TX.  As an active ship Lexington was launched on 23 September 1942 at Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, MA. During World War II she was the recipient of 11 battle stars and the Presidential Unit Citation. Following the war, Lexington was decommissioned, but was modernized and reactivated in the early 1950s. In her second career, she operated both in the Atlantic/Mediterranean and the Pacific, but spent most of her time, nearly 30 years, in Pensacola, FL as a training carrier. Lexington was decommissioned in 1991, with an active service life longer than any other Essex-class ship. Following her decommissioning, she was donated for use as a museum ship. In 2003, Lexington was designated a National Historic Landmark and is the oldest remaining fleet carrier in the world.
While still active, Lexington, with the blessing and cooperation of the Navy, served as a filming location at sea for two different films. The films were the feature movie Midway and the TV miniseries War and Remembrance. In both cases, she was altered to the extent possible to resemble other vessels, Enterprise (for War and Remembrance) and Yorktown (for Midway) by adding antiaircraft cannons and operating World War II-vintage Navy aircraft. As a museum Lexington was also used (though tied up to her pier) for filming of the 2001 film Pearl Harbor, where she was altered to resemble a Japanese carrier, as well as Hornet.

Lexington is set up with 5 self-guided tours that are easy to navigate. Given that you are in a shipboard environment and you will need to navigate narrow passages, ladders and ship hatches which are designed with the sole purpose to damage knees and noggins. The five different routes cover 100,000 square feet and eleven decks, so you get to see a good portion of the ship. You explore at your own pace and will discover the many stories behind the ship. You can tour in any order, but make sure you see it all. Each tour is unique and features interactive displays to take your adventure to a whole new level. If you have questions along the way, look for “yellow shirt” volunteers (many of whom served on USS Lexington!) They know all the ins and outs of the ship and are happy to assist you.

Since you enter the ship on the hanger deck this is the tour route you are likely to take in first.  During wartime this deck stored as many as 60 aircraft. Maintenance, refueling and rearming of these aircraft took place here. Unchanged in size since WWII, the hangar deck measures 654 feet by 70 feet, is 17.5 feet high, and covers 40,000 square feet. The deck is divided into three bays that could be sealed off by electrically operated fire doors. Each bay contains its own conflagration (CONFLAG) station for station damage control. For an extra fee there is a 15 set F/A-18 flight simulator that you can experience.

On the flight deck tour you will see how high-speed catapult launches, arrested landings, air operations and aircraft refueling all took place on this 910-foot long and 142-foot wide airport. The original flight deck was a long rectangle but jet aircraft demanded a separate landing and take-off area, so in the 50’s the ship underwent major modifications including the angled flight deck, which allowed her to serve another 36 years. Points of interest on deck are take-off and landing control stations and arresting gear, anti-aircraft gun mounts and many vintage aircraft.

The Foc’sle (Folk’Sell) tour takes you through the forward part of the ship and consists of those decks just below the flight deck. Foc’sle is a vernacular for forecastle, a forward upper deck area that extends to the bow. The Foc’sle Tour begins on the starboard side of the hangar deck towards the bow (front of the ship). The forecastle is the area of the ship where the equipment to raise and lower the anchors is located. Anchoring was a complex maneuver performed by boatswain mates (“bosuns”) who operated and maintained the equipment. The anchoring process was precisely coordinated between the bridge and the foc’sle. In addition to this equipment, the foc’sle area is now used for various exhibits.

The gallery tour takes you through the warfighting part of the ship. This is an area where information is gathered and evaluated and battle plans are formed. Since Lexington served over a long period of time and underwent many overhauls and conversions she had several different configurations.  Each display takes the time to explain what era you are looking at and what the area was before that conversion This tour area is below the flight deck and consists of the Combat Information Center (CIC), which collected and evaluated all information on the status of USS Lexington, other friendly ships, and enemy forces. The CIC directed the ship’s performance in close coordination with the air operations center (AirOps) and the carrier air traffic control center (CATCC) next door.

In the lower decks tour you will learn how USS Lexington was powered by one of the most efficient and dependable propulsion systems ever installed on a U.S. warship. The power plant consists of four turbine engines fired by eight boilers, that created 150,000-horse power and a top speed of 33 knots. Since I have experience in Naval Engineering I was disappointed that more of the engineering spaces are not available for tour but I think this is an area where the general public would have little interest. Also on this route see how the up to 3,000 crewmembers lived during months at sea. This tour route also has the “Warbirds & Warships Scale Model Gallery”.

A MEGAtheater (similar to IMAX) was added in the forward aircraft elevator space. Lexington was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003. The ship is carefully maintained, and areas of the ship previously off-limits are becoming open to the public every few years. One of the most recent examples is the catapult room.