Therefore, the Lexington designers spent

the most of their time on the hull’s strength. After many proposals and calculations,

they arrived at the ideal solution – only to

change the design again. In 1917 the Americans found out that Britain and Japan

were designing even larger battle cruisers

equipped with 381 mm and 406 mm caliber guns. Lexington class too was to receive new 406 mm caliber guns (16 inches).

There were to be eight of them in total – a

pair in each of four turrets. The secondary

armament was to consist of sixteen 152 mm

caliber guns. The new type of boilers allowed to reduce their total number to 20 and

number of stacks to five. Another change

occurred in 1918 after the aforementioned

British HMS Hood was launched.

At that time, it was the largest warship in

the world and left a great impression on

the American officials. The British Navy

allowed a single designer to work with the

Americans. He also brought HMS Hood

drawings with him. The result was the

lengthening and widening of the hull and

changes in the armor protection. Further

boilers’ improvement led to the reduction

of their total number to 16. Only two stacks

remained. All those changes brought the

displacement up to 44,200 tons and hull

length to 266 meters. The maximum speed

was reduced to 33 knots.

Washington Naval Conference

USS Lexington is being moved by harbor tugs, January 1928. The ship entered the service a month ago, but her

maiden voyage was still ahead of her.

1922 by signing the agreement prohibiting

the building of new battleships and battle

cruisers and also limited the parameters

of other classes of vessels. The large battleships under construction were to be

scrapped but the Americans, British and

Japanese were allowed to complete them

as the aircraft carriers. In the USA the

affected ships were Lexington class. Out of

six of these vessels Constellation, Ranger,

Constitution and United States were sold

for the scrap metal. Lexington and Saratoga were converted to the aircraft carriers.

This conversion carried with it several

advantages, but disadvantages as well.

New ships retained the good armor and

anti-torpedo protection. They also featured

larger ammunition storages which naturally stored the aviation bombs and torpedoes instead of gun shells. On the contrary

the aviation fuel tanks were smaller, the

hangars’ capacity lower and the flight deck

narrower in comparison to the aircraft carriers built for their purpose from the start.

At the time of the decision to convert her

from a battle cruiser to an aircraft carrier

Lexington was 24 % built. While in the past

it took years to work on a similar project

this time the new design was ready and

approved in four months. The displacement

was reduced by 4,000 ton which was primarily achieved by eliminating the main

gun turrets with their barbettes.

Originally the Lexington class, and also

the cancelled class of South Dakota battleships were to receive Mark 2 406 mm

caliber guns with 50 caliber long barrels.

Those had been designed in 1916 and 71 of

them were manufactured. Gradually 68 of

them were taken over by the Army who installed them in the coastal batteries. The

weight of one gun was 129 tons and could

fire one ton projectile to the 41 km distance.

They served in the coastal batteries from

1924 until 1947 but did not fire a single shot

in anger. The main 406 mm guns were removed however, Lexington retained the powerful gun armament. All over the world

there were admirals in charge of fleets

who matured on the battleships and nei-

Photo: U. S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation

Photo: U. S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation

The construction of six ships according to

the latest design was ultimately decided in

1919 and the work gradually started in 1920

and 1921. It did not last long. In November 1921 the American Secretary of State

Charles Evans Hughes invited the world

naval powers to a conference in Washington D.C. The reason was to leash the arm

race which had been launched again and

proved to be too expensive. The USA, Britain, Japan, France and Italy participated

in the conference which ended in February

Photo: U. S. Navy National Museum of Naval Aviation

HISTORY

Gunnery practice from the 203 mm caliber guns, January 1928.

10

INFO Eduard

From the top USS Saratoga (CV-3), USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Langley (CV-1)

in Puget Sound, 1929.

November 2022