May 21, 2024 • 7 mins
On this episode of Our American Stories, our regular contributor, Anne Clare, tells the story of a unique aircraft carrier, the USS Lexington.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
The USS Lexington was the first aircraft carrier to deploy
air to surface missiles, and it selled enough miles to
circle the globe eight times, standing as tall as a
nineteen story building. There's much more to this warship. Here's
(00:35):
our regular contributor and Claire with a story.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I was in elementary school when I saw my first
aircraft carrier. My family and I had gone to visit
my aunt and uncle in South Carolina. My uncle had
retired from the Navy and was working at Patriots Point,
where there are a number of US names vessels that
are now museums. He took us up onto the flight
(01:04):
deck of the USS Yorktown. This would be the Yorktown,
not that was sunk at Midway, but the one that
was named after it, that served at the end of
World War Two. And I just recall standing on that
enormous flight deck and just being in awe and kind
of fascinated by these huge ships that were just so unique.
(01:30):
As an adult moving to the Pacific Northwest, I ended
up with the opportunity to see a few more aircraft carriers,
though the ones I've seen out here are not museums.
They're still sailing, which is even more impressive. They're just
really interesting ships. As I was doing some reading and
history recently though about some of the very first aircraft
(01:51):
carriers in the United States Navy, I was impressed not
so much by size or uniqueness, but by their versatility,
especially when I got into the story of the USS Lexington.
The USS Lexington was the fourth US ship to bear
(02:12):
that name, the name of the place where the American
Revolution started, Lexington. It was also the second aircraft carrier
produced by the United States. However, at first it wasn't
supposed to be an aircraft carrier. The Lexington was laid
down in nineteen twenty one in Quincy, Massachusetts as a
(02:32):
battle cruiser. In nineteen twenty two, they switched gears and
converted her into an aircraft carrier, the second one, as
I said, following the Langley, which was also converted from
a different type of ship. The Lady lex was launched
in twenty five and commissioned in twenty seven, and, along
with the Saratoga, which was the following aircraft carrier, the
(02:54):
third one the Lexington was sent to operate in the
Pacific Ocean. Now, while the Lexington was a ship with
capabilities for war, Lady lex also served in some unique
ways during peacetime. She started out as a battle cruiser,
changed to an aircraft carrier, and then when Nita Rose
(03:15):
became a temporary power plant. In nineteen twenty nine, the
US stock market crashed and the Great Depression began, and
on top of the economic disaster, the city of Tacoma,
Washington faced a serious power shortage. The city depended on
hydroelectric power from Lake Cushman and the Nisqually River. But unfortunately,
(03:40):
on top of all the other troubles in the world,
unusual cold weather and a drought the previous fall meant
that there simply wasn't enough build up of water behind
the dams to power the city. So as they sought
for a solution, they found it in the Lexington. They
brought it an aircraft carrier of all things. On December fifteenth,
(04:05):
nineteen twenty one, the Lexington was hooked up at Tacoma's
Baker Dock to the city's electrical grid, and for twelve
hours each day, the Lexington generated and transmitted about twenty
thousand kilowats of power, and this went on for quite
some time. The calendar page turned and Lexington was still
there into January, but by January sixteenth of nineteen thirty
(04:29):
enough water had built up behind the dams to serve
Tacoma's needs again and the crisis was averted. The Lexington
was able to return to her regular duties now. The
following year, the Lexington was actually called upon for another
mission of mercy, transporting disaster relief supplies and personnel to
the aftermath of a terrible earthquake and fire in Managua, Nicaragua.
(04:52):
Of course, peacetime missions weren't the only missions that the
Lexington had to be involved in. On December seventh, ninet
eighteen forty one, fortunately the Lexington was not in Pearl
Harbor along with other aircrafts. She was out to sea.
At this time, the Lexington was busy transporting marine planes
to Midway Highland, but once America entered World War Two,
(05:17):
the Lexington became involved as well. In nineteen forty two,
Admiral Nimitt sent the aircraft carriers USS Yorktown and USS Lexington,
along with several American and Australian cruisers to meet a
Japanese fleet including three aircraft carriers in the Coral Sea.
(05:38):
Now the Lexington suffered multiple hits in the ensuing battle.
The crew worked furiously to repair the Lady Lex and
put out the fires burning within her, and for a
while it appeared they were succeeding, But twelve minutes after
the ship's log reported that all the fires below decks
were put out, the following entry was logged and I
quote heavy explodeon felt which vented up forward bomb elevator
(06:03):
lost communication with central station. More explosions ended up shaking
the Lexington and the systems failed. New fires blazed in
spite of all the cruise efforts. In the end, Lexington
was abandoned and scuttled. There there she rested undisturbed until
where remains rediscovered in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
And a beautiful job on the production by Madison Derricutt
and a special thanks to Anne Clair for sharing with
us the story of the USS Lexington, otherwise known as
Lady Lex and Lady Lex saw action in the Coral Sea,
but Lady Lex also helped in other ways, becoming a
power plant for the city of Tacoma. And also providing
(06:52):
relief to the people of Nicaragua after a natural disaster.
Luckily for Lady Lex, she was not in Pearl Harbor
in nineteen forty one. She was busily transporting planes to
Midway Island. The story of Lady les here on Our
American Stories. Lie Hibibe here the host of Our American Stories.
(07:33):
Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from
across this great country, stories from our big cities and
small towns. But we truly can't do the show without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, go
to Olamerican Stories dot com and click the donate button.
Give a little, give a lot. Go to Alamerican Stories
(07:55):
dot com and give
This is Lee Habib and this is our American Stories,
the show where America is the star and the American people.
The USS Lexington was the first aircraft carrier to deploy
air to surface missiles, and it selled enough miles to
circle the globe eight times, standing as tall as a
nineteen story building. There's much more to this warship. Here's
(00:35):
our regular contributor and Claire with a story.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
I was in elementary school when I saw my first
aircraft carrier. My family and I had gone to visit
my aunt and uncle in South Carolina. My uncle had
retired from the Navy and was working at Patriots Point,
where there are a number of US names vessels that
are now museums. He took us up onto the flight
(01:04):
deck of the USS Yorktown. This would be the Yorktown,
not that was sunk at Midway, but the one that
was named after it, that served at the end of
World War Two. And I just recall standing on that
enormous flight deck and just being in awe and kind
of fascinated by these huge ships that were just so unique.
(01:30):
As an adult moving to the Pacific Northwest, I ended
up with the opportunity to see a few more aircraft carriers,
though the ones I've seen out here are not museums.
They're still sailing, which is even more impressive. They're just
really interesting ships. As I was doing some reading and
history recently though about some of the very first aircraft
(01:51):
carriers in the United States Navy, I was impressed not
so much by size or uniqueness, but by their versatility,
especially when I got into the story of the USS Lexington.
The USS Lexington was the fourth US ship to bear
(02:12):
that name, the name of the place where the American
Revolution started, Lexington. It was also the second aircraft carrier
produced by the United States. However, at first it wasn't
supposed to be an aircraft carrier. The Lexington was laid
down in nineteen twenty one in Quincy, Massachusetts as a
(02:32):
battle cruiser. In nineteen twenty two, they switched gears and
converted her into an aircraft carrier, the second one, as
I said, following the Langley, which was also converted from
a different type of ship. The Lady lex was launched
in twenty five and commissioned in twenty seven, and, along
with the Saratoga, which was the following aircraft carrier, the
(02:54):
third one the Lexington was sent to operate in the
Pacific Ocean. Now, while the Lexington was a ship with
capabilities for war, Lady lex also served in some unique
ways during peacetime. She started out as a battle cruiser,
changed to an aircraft carrier, and then when Nita Rose
(03:15):
became a temporary power plant. In nineteen twenty nine, the
US stock market crashed and the Great Depression began, and
on top of the economic disaster, the city of Tacoma,
Washington faced a serious power shortage. The city depended on
hydroelectric power from Lake Cushman and the Nisqually River. But unfortunately,
(03:40):
on top of all the other troubles in the world,
unusual cold weather and a drought the previous fall meant
that there simply wasn't enough build up of water behind
the dams to power the city. So as they sought
for a solution, they found it in the Lexington. They
brought it an aircraft carrier of all things. On December fifteenth,
(04:05):
nineteen twenty one, the Lexington was hooked up at Tacoma's
Baker Dock to the city's electrical grid, and for twelve
hours each day, the Lexington generated and transmitted about twenty
thousand kilowats of power, and this went on for quite
some time. The calendar page turned and Lexington was still
there into January, but by January sixteenth of nineteen thirty
(04:29):
enough water had built up behind the dams to serve
Tacoma's needs again and the crisis was averted. The Lexington
was able to return to her regular duties now. The
following year, the Lexington was actually called upon for another
mission of mercy, transporting disaster relief supplies and personnel to
the aftermath of a terrible earthquake and fire in Managua, Nicaragua.
(04:52):
Of course, peacetime missions weren't the only missions that the
Lexington had to be involved in. On December seventh, ninet
eighteen forty one, fortunately the Lexington was not in Pearl
Harbor along with other aircrafts. She was out to sea.
At this time, the Lexington was busy transporting marine planes
to Midway Highland, but once America entered World War Two,
(05:17):
the Lexington became involved as well. In nineteen forty two,
Admiral Nimitt sent the aircraft carriers USS Yorktown and USS Lexington,
along with several American and Australian cruisers to meet a
Japanese fleet including three aircraft carriers in the Coral Sea.
(05:38):
Now the Lexington suffered multiple hits in the ensuing battle.
The crew worked furiously to repair the Lady Lex and
put out the fires burning within her, and for a
while it appeared they were succeeding, But twelve minutes after
the ship's log reported that all the fires below decks
were put out, the following entry was logged and I
quote heavy explodeon felt which vented up forward bomb elevator
(06:03):
lost communication with central station. More explosions ended up shaking
the Lexington and the systems failed. New fires blazed in
spite of all the cruise efforts. In the end, Lexington
was abandoned and scuttled. There there she rested undisturbed until
where remains rediscovered in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
And a beautiful job on the production by Madison Derricutt
and a special thanks to Anne Clair for sharing with
us the story of the USS Lexington, otherwise known as
Lady Lex and Lady Lex saw action in the Coral Sea,
but Lady Lex also helped in other ways, becoming a
power plant for the city of Tacoma. And also providing
(06:52):
relief to the people of Nicaragua after a natural disaster.
Luckily for Lady Lex, she was not in Pearl Harbor
in nineteen forty one. She was busily transporting planes to
Midway Island. The story of Lady les here on Our
American Stories. Lie Hibibe here the host of Our American Stories.
(07:33):
Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from
across this great country, stories from our big cities and
small towns. But we truly can't do the show without you.
Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not
free to make. If you love what you hear, go
to Olamerican Stories dot com and click the donate button.
Give a little, give a lot. Go to Alamerican Stories
(07:55):
dot com and give
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