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USS Lexington Named AWS Historical Welded Structure
American Welding Society District 18 Director John Mendoza presented the AWS Historical Welded Structure Award to the USS Lexington (CV-16, later CVA-16, CVS-16, CVT-16, and AVT-16) on July 22. The ceremony was held aboard the Lexington in Hanger Bay 2 at the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay in Corpus Christi, Tex. Accepting the award on behalf of the Lexington were Lexington Hull Technician Rick Black and Lexington Exhibits Director Tommy Campbell - Fig. 1. Other dignitaries attending the ceremony included AWS Corpus Christi Section Chairman Tommy Campbell and Texas State College AWS Student Chapter Advisor Raul Robles.

Fig. 1 - Pictured during the Historical Welded Structure Award presentation in honor of the USS Lexington are, from left, District 18 Director John Mendoza, Texas State College AWS Student Chapter Advisor Raul Robles, USS Lexington Hull Technician Rick Black, USS Lexington Exhibits Director Charles Reustle, and Corpus Christi Section Chairman Tommy Campbell.

The USS Lexington, a 27,000-ton Essex-class aircraft carrier, was commissioned on September 23, 1942, and launched on February 17, 1943, from the Bethlehem Steel Shipyard in Quincy, Mass. - Fig. 2. She is the fourth U.S. naval ship to be name the USS Lexington. Originally slated to be named the USS Cabot, a petition was submitted to the Secretary of the Navy by the vessel's construction work force that asked she be named the USS Lexington in honor of the CV-2 aircraft carrier of the same name that was mortally damaged by fires and explosions on the afternoon of May 8, 1942, during World War II's Battle of the Coral Sea - Fig. 3.

The USS Lexington (CV-16) served the United States longer and set more records than any other carrier in the history of naval aviation. After her launch, she participated in training maneuvers then joined the 5th Fleet at Pearl Harbor. During World War II, she took part in most major operations in the Pacific Theater and spent 21 months in combat.

Fig. 2 -The USS Lexington steams through floating ice in Boston Harbor, Boston, Mass., on February 17, 1943, the day she first went into commission. Note snow on her flight deck, and open catapult track on the starboard side, forward. (Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

Her first combat operation was in the September-October raids on Tarawa and Wake. In November and December 1943, she participated in the campaign to seize bases in the Gilbert Islands and batter down Japanese forces in the Marshalls. It was during the attacks on Kawjalein on December 4, 1943, that she was hit in the stern with a torpedo during a night air attack, knocking out her steering gear.

By March 1944, after two months of shipyard repairs, Lexington was back in the war zone and took part in raids in the central Pacific and New Guinea over the next few months. In June, she supported the Marianas invasion and won the Battle of the Philippine Sea - Fig. 4. Lexington continued her strikes on enemy targets in the central and western Pacific, including the October 24 Battle of Leyte Gulf, where her planes joined in sinking Japan's superbattleship and scored hits on three cruisers, and the February 1945 Iwo Jima operation, until she headed to Puget Sound for an overhaul. Lexington was once again combat bound in May when she returned to participate in the last two months of the Pacific War. After hostilities ended, Lexington remained in the Pacific in a support capacity, flying precautionary patrols over Japan and dropping supplies to prisoner of war camps on Honshu, until leaving Tokyo Bay on December 3, 1945, carrying homeward bound veterans to San Francisco. During her World War II service, she received the Presidential Unit Citation and 11 battle stars.

Fig. 3 - The third USS Lexington (CV-2) burning and sinking after her crew abandoned ship during the Battle of Coral Sea on May 8, 1942. Note the planes parked aft, where fires have not yet reached. (U.S. Naval Historical Center photograph.)

Lexington was nicknamed "The Blue Ghost" by propagandist Tokyo Rose because she never wore the camouflage paint of the other U.S. carriers, and because she was reported by the Japanese as sunk four times.

Lexington was decommissioned in Bremerton, Wash., in April 1947, and "mothballed" for the next six years. In 1953, an extensive, two-year modernization of the carrier was undertaken. In August 1955, Lexington was recommissioned as an attack aircraft carrier (redesignated CVA-16). She now featured an angled flight deck and other improvements to accommodate high-performance aircraft. Assigned to San Diego as her home port, she operated off California until May 1956, when she left for a six-month deployment with the 7th Fleet. In all, Lexington was deployed five to the western Pacific between 1956 and 1961.

In 1962, Lexington was ordered to relieve the USS Antietam in the Atlantic as the Navy's training carrier and was redesignated CVS-16. However, she resumed her duty as an attack carrier during the Cuban Missile Crisis and did not relieve the Antietam at Pensacola until December 29, 1963.

Fig. 4 - An F6F-3 "Hellcat" fighter prepares to land aboard USS Lexington (CV-16) during the "Marianas Turkey Shoot" phase of the Battle of the Philippine Sea, June 19, 1944. Note the manned 40-mm guns in the foreground, and 20-mm guns along the starboard side of the flight deck. (Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.)

In July 1969, Lexington was redesignated CVT-16 and AVT-16 in 1978. For 29 years, she operated in the Gulf of Mexico as a training carrier for student naval aviators. She was decommissioned on November 26, 1991.

Since October 14, 1992, USS Lexington has served as the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay in Corpus Christi, Tex. She is now used to educate, entertain, and inspire. The museum offers Science-Aboard-Ship education programs for students and conducts youth overnight encampments. For more information on the USS Lexington Museum on the Bay, visit its Web site at www.usslexington.com.

The curators of the Lexington were grateful for the recognition brought to the museum by the naming of this award. Plans call for the Historical Welded Structure plaque to be installed on her quarterdeck.

The Extraordinary Welding Award Program

The AWS Historical Welded Structure Award is part of AWS's Extraordinary Welding Award Program, which also includes the Outstanding Development in Welded Fabrication Award. The Historical Welded Structure Award honors structures at least 35 years old that have had a significant impact on history. It celebrates the advances made in welding and the importance it plays in the development of key products. The Outstanding Development in Welded Fabrication Award acknowledges more recent technological breakthroughs in welding.

To nominate a structure, ship, bridge, or other feat of engineering that has led to advances in welding design and processes, please contact AWS Communications/Public Relations Manager Amy Townsend at the American Welding Society, 550 NW LeJeune Rd., Miami, FL 33126, telephone (800) 443-9353 ext. 308, outside the U.S. dial (305) 443-9353 ext. 308, or e-mail her at townsend@aws.org.

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