USS Lexington found in Coral Sea

[Alan Mighty]

USS Lexington found: Paul Allen finds aircraft carrier

[sailormed]

Thanks for posting. That battle was one of my study subjects on the military academie. Plus I lived in New Guinea for many years. Good work from Paul Allen.

[markpierce]

The day before the Lexington sunk, USS Lexington and USS Yorktown sunk the Japanese carrier Shoho. "Scratch one flat top."

Wonder if the Shoho will be found.

[Lepke]

In December, 1929, the Lexington supplied power to Tacoma, WA when the city had a power shortage. In 30 days the carrier supplied 4.25 million kwh.

[Steadman Uhlich]

The USS Lexington (aka "Lady Lex") has been found!

This is the first underwater footage of her wreckage.
She was sunk during the Battle of the Coral Sea, near Australia, about 500 miles off, during WW2.
_________
From CNN:
"The Lexington was lost in May 1942 along with 216 of its crew and 35 aircraft during what is considered the first carrier battle in history -- the Battle of the Coral Sea.

Along with the USS Yorktown, the Lexington and its fleet faced off against three Japanese aircraft carriers and is credited with helping to stop Japan's advances on New Guinea and Australia.
The battle occurred just one month before the US Navy "surprised Japanese forces at the Battle of Midway and turned the tide of the war in the Pacific for good," according to Allen.
"The Battle of the Coral Sea was notable not only for stopping a Japanese advance but because it was the first naval engagement in history where opposing ships never came within sight of each other," read the statement from Allen.
US ships were able to rescue more than 2,000 sailors before the Lexington ultimately sank from the damage sustained from a bombardment of Japanese torpedoes."
_____________
Wikipedia article has more details:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(CV-2)

[StuM]

Approximate location she sank Lat 15°20′S Long 155°30′E:

[JPA Cate]

Fairly deep out there.

Ann

[StuM]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Fairly deep out there.

Ann

Apparently they found it at 3000 metres.

[El Pinguino]

Back in the dreamtime when I was a pup growing up in Melbourne, Straya, 'Coral Sea Day' was on the calender ... US warships used to visit Melbourne and - ultra cool - 'fighter jets' would fly over the city and - sometimes - my school....

Dunno when it ceased to be memorable....

[Alan Mighty]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Back in the dreamtime when I was a pup growing up in Melbourne, Straya, 'Coral Sea Day' was on the calender ... US warships used to visit Melbourne and - ultra cool - 'fighter jets' would fly over the city and - sometimes - my school....

Dunno when it ceased to be memorable....

Still is commemorated as Coral Sea Week in early May each year. Not just a day.

In 2017, the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Aus prime minister visited the US. See: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...325d84f423ae95

How much effort goes into the commemoration depends on how much the Aus govt of the day budgets for events and whether the US govt of the day arranges for ship visits. Political decisions, in other words.

In the past year or four, the Aus govt has chosen to budget big money to commemorate events in Europe in 1914-18. Such decisions are made by the govt of the day without seeking a mandate from the people at an election or plebiscite.

The govt-funded Australian War Memorial, run by yet another failed politician appointed by his mates in the govt of the day, has also focused much on the 1914-18 war. Again, a choice by a govt run by a political party or two that seek to represent one or two particular bits of the population.

One of other major political parties in Aus, the one that is currently not in power or in office, has in the past had leaders who argued that the Pacific War was much more relevant to Australians than the ties to a few tiny islands off the western coast of Europe. And it's worth noting that that political party was in power and in office at the time of the Battle of the Coral Sea.

That's part of the political reality of Aus. One political party has its power base in the remnants of the English officer class who used to rule the eastern colonies of Aus from Sydney. No accident that the current prime minister carries, as the second part of his calling name, the family name of one of those English colonial governors (one who was temporarily deposed by a rebellion among the English colonial army. I'll give you a hint, the same ex-colonial governor is famous for a mutiny on a UK naval ship in the S Pac). And has his family home on the shore of the harbour in Sydney.

Your experiences in Melbourne are significant. Melbourne was never the home of the English colonial ruling class. It was a city of modernity, trading with the world, first and a city of colonial rule second.

The ANZAC Day Commemoration Committee, a govt-funded NGO, does have public education material on the Battle of the Coral Sea on its website. See: https://anzacday.org.au/ww2-the-battle-of-the-coral-sea

[Alan Mighty]

Battle of Coral Sea:

[Tetepare]

I'm no fan of technology for its own sake, but I hope some day technology permits us as humans to visit these deep memorials.

Finding Lex is one thing. I hope some day they find Cmdr. Bill Ault's aircraft. Beloved William Ault, with his gunner Bill Butler led the attack on Shokaku.

Having bombed Shokaku, both Ault and Butler were both injured. Though the aircraft was still airworthy, they could not locate Lexington, despite radio contact.

Ault and Bulter signed off with "OK, so long people. We got a thousand pound hit on the flattop" and disappeared into history.

The Battle for Hell's Island is an excellent account of the air groups that fought over these South Pacific waters.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by El Pinguino

Back in the dreamtime when I was a pup growing up in Melbourne, Straya, 'Coral Sea Day' was on the calender ... US warships used to visit Melbourne and - ultra cool - 'fighter jets' would fly over the city and - sometimes - my school....

Dunno when it ceased to be memorable....

According to this, it remains memorable as "the Battle for Australia".

Each year since 1946 Coral Sea Week has been celebrated in Australia with marches by service personnel from both Australia and the USA, and official functions for visiting American dignitaries. These celebrations express gratitude to the United States for its part in the battle, and the support given to Australia by America in World War 2.

More recently the commemorative emphasis has moved from the ‘Battle that saved Australia’ to the broader concept of the ‘Battle for Australia’, held on the first Wednesday in September. This now marks not only the Battle of the Coral Sea, but also the contribution and significance of all those who helped defend Australia at its most vulnerable time – the men on the Kokoda Track, the airmen in northern Australia and Papua, the sailors and merchant seamen keeping supply lines open, and the men and women in Australia in the services, as civilian workers, or volunteers on the home front.

➥ https://anzacday.org.au/ww2-the-battle-of-the-coral-sea

Ooops - I see Alan Mighty beat me to it.

[Steadman Uhlich]

TO Everyone who has posted up above:

Thanks for adding your detailed comments and anecdotes about this topic, I enjoyed reading them, especially learning how Australians commemorate the battle, and more (e.g. the two lost naval aviator's last words).

Another example of how much can be learned here on CF!