WWII aircraft carrier wreckage found
Tech billionaire funded efforts to locate sunken ship
The first torpedo hit the USS Lexington’s port side at about 11 a.m. on the last day of the Battle of the Coral Sea, a critical point in the United States’ war against Japan. Within minutes, another torpedo landed, followed by three bombs from Japanese dive bombers.
Fires raged, but they were under control two hours later. Still, the consecutive hits from the Japanese navy would eventually spell the end for the aircraft carrier known as Lady Lex. Fuel tanks from underneath were ruptured, causing an explosion that shook the warship. Capt. Frederick C. Sherman ordered his men up to the flight deck.
By 5 p.m., he yelled, “Abandon ship!”
Men jumped into the warm water and were immediately rescued by nearby cruisers and destroyers. Sherman and his executive officer, Cmdr. M.T. Seligman, were the last ones to leave before Lady Lex sank into the Coral Sea on May 8, 1942, the end of the fourday naval battle between Allied forces from the United States and Australia, and the Imperial Japanese Navy. A little more than 200 crew members died, part of the price the United States paid to help protect its ally, Australia, from Japan during World War II.
About 2,770 survived, including Wags, the captain’s dog.
The remains of Lady Lex would stay on the floor of the Coral Sea for the next 76 years, until they were found by a billionaire who spends some of his fortune recovering the lost wreckage of previous wars. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen on Monday announced the discovery of the USS Lexington about 500 miles off the eastern coast of Australia, two miles below the surface of the Coral Sea.
“To pay tribute to the USS Lexington and the brave men that served on her is an honor,” Allen said. “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.”
Allen, a Seattle-based entrepreneur and philanthropist who also invests in environmental causes, had bought a 250-foot research vessel called R/V Petrel and retrofitted it with state-of-the-art equipment capable of diving 3 1/2 miles, according to his website. Allen has used the vessel in expeditions that led to the discovery of several historic warships and artifacts.
The USS Indianapolis was recovered from the bottom of the Philippine Sea in August, more than 70 years after a Japanese submarine fired six torpedoes toward the 610-foot heavy cruiser, dividing it in pieces. About 800 of the nearly 1,200 crew members made it off the ship before it sank, but many died of dehydration and starvation as they floated helplessly in shark-infested waters for four days.
The Battle of the Coral Sea lasted from May 4 to May 8, 1942.