Technically, I think she was scuttled to avoid capture.

An interesting battle, just a few weeks before the Battle of Midway. Evenly matched fight between the IJN and US Navy with honors distributed between both sides. While a US Navy destroyer did deliver the coup de gras, the Lexington had been reduced to a sinking hulk by its own exploding avgas caused by leaks due to damage caused by Japanese bombs and torpedoes. But the US Navy did enough damage to the Japanese to make them cancel a planed invasion of Port Moresby in New Guinea. First major setback for the Japanese, and was all downhill for them for the rest of the war.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Yes , a US destroyer delivered the final blow.

Fortunately the casulities were low.Once she was gone a new Lexington was built CV-16,
You can visit in Corpus Christi.Go to the lower levels Fire room/Engine Room that was my world for a long time(not this ship)
Just image the extreme noise and high temp(100-130degree)

Looks in good condition based on the photos; the fighter plane looked very well preserved for spending 75+ years underwater.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

Article said the wreckage was 2 miles underwater - that's pretty deep. I imagine there would be more coral buildup and deterioration if had gone down in shallower waters.

That is so cool, thanks. Was hoping someone could confirm that the planes are F4F Wildcats. I like the history of the planes from that era.

The airplane in the link is a Grumman F-4F-3 Wildcat.

Bit of trivia. The dash-3 Wildcat didn't have folding wings and it only had four 50 caliber machine guns vs. the folding wing and six 50 caliber machine guns that were the "improvements" made to the follow-on dash-4. However, because of the extra weight and the reduced firing time (because fewer rounds were loaded for each of the six guns in a dash-4 vs the number of rounds loaded per gun in a dash-3), many pilots thought the dash-4 was a step backwards. But the folding wing did allow more airplanes to be carried on the ship.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Thanks for the explanation on the differences between the dash-3 and the dash-4. I didn't know that. Super interesting that many pilots preferred the earlier version, but easy to understand. I love that stuff.

Very cool. The F-4F is interesting because it appears it has a "Felix the Cat" squadron emblem on the fuselage just underneath the forward part of the canopy, but I'm not sure that particular squadron was embarked on the Lexington. That squadron lives on as VF-31:

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Thanks for pointing that out. It sure as hell looks like that Felix the Cat emblem. Super cool.

Fighting Three (VF-3) was the fighter squadron on the Lexington until it was sunk in 1942.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Either the Wikipedia page I read was wrong or I just plain misread it. I thought it said VF-3 was on the Saratoga (sister ship to the Lexington).

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

It is confusing (and Wiki isn't very clear). Lexington began WW II with VF 2, equipped with Brewster Buffalos. When Saratoga was sent back to the US to be repaired after it was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine, VF 3 was transferred to Lexington and VF 2 went ashore to convert to Wildcats. VF 3 was the fighter squadron on Lexington during the Feb-Mar actions near Rabaul where Butch O'Hare won the Medal of Honor. But VF 2 managed to complete their transition to the Wildcat in time to replace VF 3 on board Lexington in April before the Battle of Coral Sea. (I didn't realize they had replaced each other before.)

http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/Airgroups/CV-2.html

(edit) The Wildcat shown in the link appears to have the VF 3 "Felix the Cat" squadron patch just below the canopy. Could be VF 3 left "their" planes on the Lexington when VF 2 came back on board? (Or a VF 3 pilot slapped one of their "zaps" onto a VF 2 Wildcat!)

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

That may actually be O'Hare's plane! See this link: http://worldwarwings.com/...eck-important-think/

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

I don't understand why they think it might be O'Hare's plane ? Based solely on the 4 kills.

I didn't realize that was Thatch's squadron until I read the article.

"The sunken fighter that captured the world’s attention is a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat which was part of a group known as The Tomcatters. This squadron was led by John “Jimmy” Thatch who is known for creating the combat tactic the Thatch Weave"

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

Yeah, that doesn't make sense. According to the embedded tweet, O'Hare flew side number F-13, which doesn't look like the side number in the sunken aircraft photo.

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Slowguy

(insert pithy phrase here...)

Yeah, I wondered about that too. Not to mention that they said O'Hare was flying F13, and it doesn't seem like that's the number on the side. Super cool if it does turn out to be his.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

https://forum.keypublishing.com/...ngton-and-TBDs-found

An interesting discussion on the plane. There's a number of websites discussing it. I could get lost in this for days.

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"I think I've cracked the code. double letters are cheaters except for perfect squares (a, d, i, p and y). So Leddy isn't a cheater... "

Thanks for the updated link. That's a much more clear image of the plane. You couldn't really see the kills in the earlier released pic, and it's obviously the Felix the Cat emblem.

I agree that it's speculation that it is O'Hare's plane solely based on the four kills. Too bad that barnacles are covering where the pilot's name would have been. Still fascinating!