Lexington class Aircraft carrier
USS Lexington, in early configuration with tapered bow and original armament
Class Overview
Type:	Aircraft carrier
Name:	Lexington
Number of ships:	Six ordered as battlecruisers, two launched and commissioned as carriers
Preceded by:	USS Langley (CV-1)
Succeeded by:	USS Ranger (CV-4)
General characteristics
Displacement:	Designed: 36,000 / 38,746 tons 1942: 50,000 tons
Length:	888 ft (270.7 m)
Beam:	106 ft (32.31 m)
Draught:	24 ft 3 in (7.39 m)
Propulsion:	Design: 16 × boilers at 300 psi; Geared turbines and electric drive 4 × shafts; 180,000 shp
Speed:	33.25 knots
Range:	10,000 nautical miles at 10 knots
Protection:	Belt: 5–7 inches 2 inch protective 3rd deck 3 inch flat to 4.5 inch over steering gear
Complement:	2,122
Armament:	4 × twin 8 inch 55 caliber guns 12 × single 5 inch guns
Aircraft:	91
Ships of the class
USS Lexington (CV-2), USS Saratoga (CV-3)

The Lexington class aircraft carriers were the first operational aircraft carriers in the United States Navy (USS Langley was a strictly developmental ship which only served for a short time as an active fleet unit before being converted to a seaplane tender AV-3). The ships were laid down and partly built as battlecruisers before being converted to carriers while under construction. Saratoga, the third ship, was more complete than the second ship, Constellation, when the vessels were under consideration for conversion, so Saratoga was continued and Constellation was scrapped. Successful wide-scale operations with these ships, compared to the very limited operations possible with the much smaller USS Ranger convinced the Navy that larger carriers were more effective than smaller ones, a trend which has continued through the years; the modern day Nimitz class supercarriers are one hundred percent larger in tonnage than the Midway class ships of fifty years ago. The Aircraft Carrier USS Lexington, Public domain photo from history. ... The USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3) was the United States Navys first aircraft carrier. ... The sixth USS Ranger (CV-4) was the first ship of the United States Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier. ... The fourth USS Lexington (CV-2), nicknamed the Gray Lady or Lady Lex, was the second aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. ... The fifth USS Saratoga (CV-3) was the third aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. ... The USS Langley (CV-1/AV-3) was the United States Navys first aircraft carrier. ... HMS Hood (left) and the battleship HMS Barham (right), in Malta, 1937. ... The sixth USS Ranger (CV-4) was the first ship of the United States Navy to be designed and built from the keel up as an aircraft carrier. ... Tonnage is a measure of the size or cargo capacity of a ship. ...

The original battlecruiser design studies had much in common with Lord Fisher's "large light cruiser" concept, studies were made on low-displacement battlecruisers with virtually no armor, armed with up to twenty guns in five quadruple turrets of 12" guns. A semi-finalized design came forth in 1916 with ten 14" guns in two twin and two triple turrets and very thin armor, with half of the boilers above the protective deck, on a displacement of 36,500 tons. By the time the battlecruiser design had been finalized, the ships had a conventional displacement of over 43,000 tons and were conventionally armed with eight 16" guns and 16 6" guns, though for commonality's sake the secondary battery probably would have been changed to a mixed battery of 5" anti-surface and anti-air guns before installation, and replaced by a uniform battery of dual 5"/38 DPs during World War II. The canceled battlecruisers were the last-ever use of the two-gun turret in US Navy ships, the subsequent WWII-era "fast battleships" used triple turrets exclusively.

As commissioned, the aircraft carriers had a heavy cruiser-style battery of four dual 8" gun turrets; the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair (later Bureau of Ships, now NAVSEA) had no confidence in aircraft as armament and equipped the vessels with the heavy guns even though they would have ripped up the flight deck if ever fired in anger. Their official displacement on commissioning was 33,000 tons (in accordance with the Washington Treaty) even though in reality both ships were well in excess of that, 36,000 tons standard displacement and nearly 40,000 tons fully loaded with fuel, ammunition, aircraft and gasoline. Shortly after Pearl Harbor, both ships' 8" batteries were lifted off of them for use as shore-defense guns in Hawaii; these weapons were replaced on Saratoga with 5" DP guns that were more suitable for carrier use. Lexington was sunk in the Coral Sea before receiving her new guns. The ships set the pattern for future American carrier design: Very large, long ships, with a topside flight deck, starboard-side island combining command and control spaces and the ship's funnels, and a capacious, remarkably deep hangar deck. With 17'6" clear height, the Lexingtons' hangars were the deepest of any carriers until the postwar Forrestal class carriers. The Bureau of Construction and Repair was a sub-department in the United States Navy and was key in the building of warships, like Iowa class battleships, during the Depression (under the Preliminary Design Branch). ... The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the U.S. Navys five systems commands, or materiel organizations. ... Combatants United States Empire of Japan Commanders Husband Kimmel (USN), Walter Short (USA) Chuichi Nagumo (IJN), Mitsuo Fuchida (IJNAS) (1st aerial wave), Shigekazu Shimazaki (IJNAS) (2nd aerial wave) Strength 8 battleships, 8 cruisers, 29 destroyers, 9 submarines, ~50 other ships, ~390 planes 6 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 3 cruisers, 9...

Of the six cancelled battecruisers, two were named for battles (Lexington and Saratoga) and four for famous past ships of the U.S. Navy (Consellation, Constitution, United States and TK). Although the first purpose-built carriers pre-WWII were named for earlier ships, e.g., Wasp and Ranger, in the grest expansion after Pearl Harbor, battle names came to predominate. , which continued to be the name source for aircraft carriers until CV-66 USS America. CV-67 John F. Kennedy started a trend of naming carriers for political figures, a trend which continues as of this writing. The exceptions prior to John F. Kennedy were CV-42 USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (named for the late president), CV-38 USS Shangri-La (named for the fictional city, which had been used as a code name for USS Hornet (CV-8) early in the war), CVL-49 USS Wright (named for the Wright Brothers), CV-59 Forrestal (named for James V. Forrestal) and CV-63 Kitty Hawk (again named in honor of the first flight). To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... USS (CVA/CV-67) (or Big John) is a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. ... USS (CVB/CVA/CV-42) was the second of three Midway class aircraft carrier, serving in the United States Navy from 1945 to 1977. ... Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States (1861-1865) The majority of this article is about heads of states. ... The USS Shangri-La (CV-38) (also CVA-38, CVS-38) was an Ticonderoga-class aircraft carrier. ... The seventh USS Hornet (CV-8) of the United States Navy was an aircraft carrier of World War II, notable for launching the Doolittle Raid, as a participant in the Battle of Midway, and for action in the Solomons before being mortally wounded in the Battle of the Santa Cruz... The second USS Wright (CVL-49) was a Saipan-class light aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, later converted to the command ship CC-2. ... The Wright brothers, Orville (August 19, 1871–January 30, 1948) and Wilbur (April 16, 1867–May 30, 1912), are Americans generally credited with making the first controlled, powered, heavier-than-air human flight on December 17, 1903. ... USS Forrestal (CVA-59) (later CV-59 and AVT-9) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier, the lead ship of a new class of supercarriers, named after Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal. ... James Vincent Forrestal (February 15, 1892–May 22, 1949) was a Secretary of the Navy and the first United States Secretary of Defense (1947 - 1949). ... The second USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63) is an aircraft carrier in the United States Navy. ...

The Lexington class carriers were the largest aircraft carriers in the fleet until the late-war Midway-class carriers, and had the deepest hangar decks in the world until the early-50s Forrestal-class supercarriers. The Midway class aircraft carrier was one of the longest lived carrier designs in history. ... The Forrestal-class aircraft carriers were a four-ship class designed and built for the United States Navy in the 1950s. ...

There were two Lexington-class carriers: CV-2 USS Lexington (also called "Lady Lex") and CV-3 USS Saratoga (also called "Sister Sara"). Lady Lex was sunk in the Battle of Coral Sea in 1942; Saratoga survived to be disposed of in the Bikini Atoll nuclear tests after the war.

For the history of the class prior to the decision to convert two units, please see Lexington class battle cruiser. The Lexington class battlecruisers (assigned hull classification symbols CC-1 through CC-6), authorized under the 1917-1919 building programs, were the only ships of their type ever ordered by the United States Navy. ...