Billionaire finds ‘Lady Lex’, the warship that saved Australia
IT WAS 11.13am on May 8 1942 when a band of sailors on USS Lexington spotted 54 Japanese war planes closing in.
The Battle of the Coral Sea, the first in history between aircraft carriers, had raged for five days off Australia’s east coast, but this would prove the deadly denouement. An onslaught of Japanese bombs and torpedoes turned the US ship – nicknamed “Lady Lex” – into a fireball. After a desperate fight, she sank two miles to the sea bed, along with 35 of her own planes.
Lexington became known as “the ship that saved Australia”, and the Japanese victory proved pyrrhic. The country’s attempt to cut Australia off from US supply lines had failed, and it suffered crucial losses of pilots and ships.
Lady Lex was presumed lost forever. But 76 years after slipping below the waves, the ship has been found, in remarkable condition.
It was discovered by Paul Allen, the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, who now scours the oceans looking for wrecks.
Video footage taken by Mr Allen’s 250ft submersible, the research vessel Petrel, 500 miles off Australia’s east coast, showed aircraft scattered around the remnants of Lexington.
They included Grumman F4F Wildcat fighters and two Douglas TBD Devastator torpedo bombers resting on top of each other, still bearing the fivepointed star insignia of the United States Army Air Forces.
On one aircraft, an emblem of Felix the Cat, the cartoon character, was still visible, along with four miniature Japanese flags indicating “kills” from the Battle of the Coral Sea.
The vessel was heavily battle scarred but her nameplate could still be clearly read. A five-inch gun on the port side still had the rifling inside the barrel.
Mr Allen said he wanted to “remember her brave crew who helped secure the first strategic US win in the Pacific”. He added: “To pay tribute to the USS Lexington, and the brave men that served on her, is an honour. As Americans, all of us owe a debt of gratitude to everyone who served and who continue to serve our country for their courage, persistence and sacrifice.”
At the time of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the Japanese were hoping to reach Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea, and to cut off Australia from the US.
They also hoped to draw the US navy into an ambush. USS Lexington and USS Yorktown took on three Japanese ships, managing to sink the aircraft carrier Shoho, and inflict significant damage on another carrier, Shokaku.
It was the first naval battle in which the opposing ships never came within sight of each other, instead acting as launch pads for planes. Lexington was ultimately hit by at least two torpedoes on her port side, as well as aerial bombs. A secondary explosion led to the ship being engulfed in flames. The crew battled on for six hours before the order to abandon ship was given by Frederick Sherman, the ship’s captain.
Some 216 crew members died, but 2,770 were rescued, along with a dog called Wags, the ship’s mascot. Lexington was crippled and the destroyer USS Phelps scuttled her with torpedoes to prevent her being captured.
Watching her sink, one of the ship’s officers reportedly said: “She’s going down with her head up. Dear old Lex, a lady to the last.”
A month later, the US navy turned the tide of the war in the Pacific at the Battle of Midway.
Admiral Harry Harris, who was recently announced by Donald Trump, the US president, as the new ambassador to Australia, is the son of a USS Lexington survivor.
He said: “As the son of a survivor of the USS Lexington, I offer my congratulations to Paul Allen and the expedition crew for locating the Lady Lex.
“We honour the valour and sacrifice of the Lady Lex’s sailors, and all those Americans who fought in World War II, by continuing to secure the freedoms they won for all of us. Our Navy’s strength comes from those who have gone before. This is our heritage.”