Wreckage of World War II ship USS Lexington found 76 years later off Australia’s east coast
Photographs of the well-preserved wreck discovered in the Coral Sea show the warship’s nameplate and guns.
A search team led by Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen has found the wreckage of an American aircraft carrier that sank during World War II off the coast of Australia, the US Navy said on Monday. The USS Lexington was lost during the Battle of the Coral Sea against Japan in May 1942.
Allen’s philanthropic company Vulcan found the wreck of USS Lexington, along with 11 of its 35 aircraft, 3 km underwater in the Coral Sea, around 800 km off the east coast of Australia. Photographs of the well-preserved wreckage show Lexington’s nameplate and guns.
An exciting announcement regarding USS Lexington (CV-2)!
— U.S. Pacific Command (@PacificCommand) March 5, 2018
Though Lexington was lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea, the valiant efforts of her men crippled IJN carriers Shōkaku and Zuikaku so that they were unable to take part at Midway, setting the stage for an Allied victory. https://t.co/KaAPsOtRqO
“Lady Lex” went down with 35 planes. So far, #RVPetrel has found 11 of them. Here’s a look at two Douglas TBD-1 Devastators, resting on top of each other, and a close up of a Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat. https://t.co/19CuqvopwB pic.twitter.com/FEWZYD0iEo
— Paul Allen (@PaulGAllen) March 6, 2018
Lexington went down during the Battle of the Coral Sea against Japan in May 1942, which killed 216 crew members.
“As the son of a survivor of the USS Lexington, I offer my congratulations to Paul Allen and the expedition crew of Research Vessel Petrel for locating ‘Lady Lex,’” head of the US Pacific Command Admiral Harry Harris said, according to the BBC.
Spokesperson for Vulcan Robert Kraft said the warship was on their priority list “because she was one of the capital ships that was lost” during the war.
In August 2017, Vulcan had discovered the wreckage of a World War II cruiser, the USS Indianapolis, on the bed of the Pacific Ocean. A Japanese submarine had torpedoed the vessel in July 1945.
