Commissioned in 1943, the USS Lexington (CV-16) acts as a living testimony to just how resilient and mighty the United States Navy can be. This Essex-class aircraft carrier was originally named the USS Cabot but was renamed to honor the USS Lexington (CV-2), which was lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea. She became nicknamed “The Blue Ghost”.
The USS Lexington joined the Fifth Fleet at Pearl Harbor and immediately found itself playing a pivotal role in nearly every major operation in the Pacific Theater of World War II. In combat during 21 months, her aircraft destroyed 372 enemy planes in the air and 475 on the ground. An astonishing 900,000 tons of enemy cargo was sunk or damaged by this carrier. Her guns brought down 15 Japanese aircraft and helped shoot down five more. The resiliency and combat spirit thus placed this vessel as a very proud symbol of American naval strength.
Immediately after the Second World War, the USS Lexington was briefly decommissioned but reactivated in 1955. Throughout the Cold War, modernization and name changes saw her change through various designations, such as being named an attack carrier with the number CVA-16 and later as an anti-submarine carrier with the number CVS-16. The carrier had its significant moments during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, joining the naval blockade of Cuba.
In 1962, USS Lexington commenced active service as a training carrier, CVT-16, homeported in Pensacola, Florida. She served that function until the ship was decommissioned in 1991. The ship was then turned over to Corpus Christi, Texas, where she became a floating museum. Since it arrived in 1992, the USS Lexington has served as a naval aviation museum and educational facility and has become one of the most popular tourist attractions. As in the past, the museum has operated in a self-sufficient manner, dependent only upon grants, donations, admissions, and special events.
Moreover, the USS Lexington Museum encourages every visitor to experience military artifacts arranged in 16 decks and over 20 aircraft from the National Museum of Naval Aviation. The Flight Deck has access to wheelchairs. Due to the LEX LIFT elevator, now all visitors can view this historical wonder.
The USS Lexington has made other popular culture appearances, serving as a filming location for the 1976 movie “Midway” and the 1988 miniseries “War and Remembrance.” More recently, she was featured in the 2001 film “Pearl Harbor” and a 2014 Pepsi commercial for the Super Bowl.
The plan is truly to make sure the Greatest Generation is remembered along with those who made the sacrifice during World War II since the USS Lexington had a rather colorful history and is still around today as a museum.