#TBT: USS Lexington's longevity honored with Texas historical marker
The USS Lexington has a long and distinguished history of service to country and community. And on Saturday, a Texas historical marker dedication will add to that list.
The Nueces County Historical Commission and USS Lexington Museum on the Bay will dedicate a new state historical marker for the ship at an 11 a.m. ceremony on Feb. 17, the anniversary of the ship’s commissioning 81 years ago.
The USS Lexington that Texans know isn’t the first to carry the name. She is the fourth ship bearing the Lexington name, named for the Battle of Lexington in the Revolutionary War. The previous USS Lexington sank during World War II on May 8, 1942, a victim of Japanese torpedoes during the Battle of the Coral Sea.
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The Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts – only 20 miles from Lexington, Massachusetts and the origin of the Lexington name – heard of the sinking and contacted Navy Secretary Frank Knox to encourage renaming the ship currently being built from Cabot to Lexington. He agreed and the USS Lexington CV-16 was commissioned the following year on Feb. 17, 1943, then headed to the Pacific Theater and spent 21 months in combat.
The combination of her dark blue camouflage with false reports of her sinking prompted propagandist Tokyo Rose to nickname her The Blue Ghost, which her sailors proudly adopted. Over the course of the war, her planes destroyed more than 800 enemy aircraft and sank or destroyed more than 900,000 tons of enemy cargo.
The ship was decommissioned in 1947, but then retrofitted to handle jet aircraft and called back in 1955 for service during the Cold War. She was transferred to Pensacola in 1962, working as a training aircraft carrier. During that time she made regular trips across the Gulf of Mexico, including trips to Corpus Christi. The first took place in May 1963, where she docked at the Humble Pipeline Co. pier on Harbor Island in Port Aransas. Trips continued through the ‘80s, where student pilots from the naval air stations in Corpus Christi, Kingsville and Beeville practiced landings while she remained offshore. She also earned the distinction of being the first aircraft carrier with female crewmembers in 1980.
The Department of Defense planned to retire the Lady Lex in 1984, but granted a reprieve until 1989. Plans were changed again when Ingleside was selected as a homeport in 1985, with the Navy saying she would be docked at the new Naval Station Ingleside. Plans changed however, and Navy officials announced in 1990 the ship would be decommissioned the next year. The USS Lexington was decommissioned Nov. 8, 1991, the longest serving Essex-class carrier in the U.S. Navy.
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Corpus Christi officials began lobbying quickly to have the decommissioned carrier brought to the city, with the plan to transform the ship into a floating museum. On Jan. 23, 1992, the Navy announced the city would be the new home of the Lex, beating out efforts by officials in Mobile, Alabama and Quincy, Massachusetts. By October, the museum began welcoming visitors and celebrated an official dedication on Nov. 14, 1992.
Speakers at the marker dedication Saturday include Nueces County Judge Connie Scott, USS Lexington Museum Executive Director Steve Banta, and Mike Carlisle with the Nueces County Historical Commission, along with a performance by the Veterans Band of Corpus Christi.
Allison Ehrlich writes about things to do in South Texas and has a weekly Throwback Thursday column on local history.
IF YOU GO
USS Lexington Texas Historical Marker Dedication
Where: USS Lexington Museum, 2914 N. Shoreline Blvd.
When: 11 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 17
Information: https://usslexington.com/
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: #TBT: USS Lexington's Texas historical marker honors her long history
