USS Lexington (CV-2) wreck found .. 4 March 2018 [revised]

[Mark Allen M]

Thanks Mac, it reads well for me. All great stuff. This thread has to be one of the best I've seen in a long time. It's been a pleasure to be able to be involved in it. I've certainly learned a lot from all you guys. Thanks TBDude.

[Mark Allen M]

possibly a radar?


Look closely and you can see a Baritone Horn in the photo


Another piece of the flight deck in the debris field. What is that baseplate for? You can see the wires coming out of it. The crew flying the ROV identified this piece as being in front of the funnels. — at Coral Sea.


Tube boiler or heat exchanger?


The tag from the mount in the previous photo.


What was this cart used for?


this large section of flight deck was in the debris field.


A magazine for an Oerlikon 20mm gun


Tool Box


This is a mount for a 20mm gun. There were some magazines for Oerlikon 20mm close by so it was probably a mount for one of those

[Boxman]

. . .

What was this cart used for?
. . .

Here's a photo of a similar cart aboard Lexington in the '30s (?).
This is from the SDASM's collection on the Flickr Commons:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarch ... 448342429/

[Stan_W]

I don't think that the poor ole Devastator has been shown this much love in decades.

Here are the rest of the planes I believe went down with the Lex.

3978 F4F-3 VF-2
3979 F4F-3 VF-2
3981 F4F-3 VF-2
3982 F4F-3 VF-2
3986 F4F-3 VF-2
3987 F4F-3 VF-2
3993 F4F-3 VF-2
4003 F4F-3 VF-2
4005 F4F-3 VF-2

2104 SBD-2 VB-2 B-2
2113 SBD-2 VB-2 B-14
2115 SBD-2 VB-2 B-3
2116 SBD-2 VB-2 B-11
2121 SBD-2 VB-2 B-10
2127 SBD-2 VB-2 B-8
2143 SBD-2 VB-2 B-12
2157 SBD-2 VB-2 B-17
2163 SBD-2 VB-2 B-7
2176 SBD-2 VB-2 B-9
2186 SBD-2 VB-2 B-15
4655 SBD-3 VB-2 B-18

4534 SBD-3 VS-2
4537 SBD-3 VS-2
4641 SBD-3 VS-2

Sorry if they're hard to read. I took them from an excel spreadsheet & the columns don't display here the way I want them to.

Mac

Great list Jim. I've been looking at the Wildcat bunos from a couple of sources and there may actually be more Wildcats lost aboard Lex and 1 Yorktown bird that landed aboard due to fuel shortage (buno2531). My sources primarily have been the Joe Baugher buno lookup site and the book Volume I: U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps And U.S. Coast Guard Aircraft Lost During World War Ii - Listed By Ship Attached by Douglas E. Campbell PHD. There is some disparity between the lists as well. Here are some links.
http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/ ... ries1.html
https://books.google.com/books?id=s1hIA ... on&f=false
Not too surprisingly, the aircraft buno 3986 (known to be F-13 assigned to Gayler, flown by O'hare on 4-10-42 for photoshoot.) is on all of the lists. I believe it is this Wildcat we see on the bottom painted as F-5.

Last edited by Stan_W on Fri Mar 16, 2018 10:30 am, edited 1 time in total.

[bdk]

Both look like a gasoline powered APU.

. . .

What was this cart used for?
. . .

Here's a photo of a similar cart aboard Lexington in the '30s (?).

[Robert61267]

possibly a radar?

Yes! That looks like a CXAM radar antenna. From memory, Lex received a CXAM-1 in late '41-ish.

Bob

[t308]

possibly a radar?

Yes! That looks like a CXAM radar antenna. From memory, Lex received a CXAM-1 in late '41-ish.

Bob

Indeed. it's a -1. Here's one on Ranger.

[CoastieJohn]

Another piece of the flight deck in the debris field. What is that baseplate for? You can see the wires coming out of it. The crew flying the ROV identified this piece as being in front of the funnels. — at Coral Sea.

Looking at the base plate with the number of bolts used to secure it and the ring gear partially visible at the bottom of it, would be a mount for some type of gun? Maybe a 20mm??

[Jim MacDonald]

I checked the TBD Maintenance & Erection Manual hoping to find maintenance notes on whether the wing flotation bags would be removed from the plane for inspection & pressure testing. No luck. The notes did talk about unfolding the bags for inspection & refolding them, but did not mention removal from the plane or pressure testing. They were operated by Co2 & there was a hand pump that could be operated in the cockpit to keep them topped off after the plane had ditched.

Stan,

I left BuNo 2531 off the list because I wasn't sure if my info was accurate. I compiled the list from (shameless plug) my website. The sources for my database was the USN & USMC Overseas Loss List microfilm and WWII USN Accident Reports microfilm. I think you'll find my database easier to search through & more info on reason for the loss & full crew names than the two links you included in your post. Or at least I hope you will.

Mac

[Garth]

This looks to be an early photo of the LEX?

It’s a actually a really good pic of Sara, late pre-War or more likely early War before her first torpedo hit and the repair/refit that saw the removal of her 8” guns. But after installation of her CXAM-1 (which is blotted out by censors)

Lex wore Measure 1/5 cammo pre war and until her sinking. That’s Measure 12 in the pic, meaning it isn’t Lex.

[Dan Johnson II]

Lynn, If you had to choose and it could only be one, which of the TBD's would you have recovered? From reading your comments there are clearly some more interesting/historic birds in the batch but they may not be the most intact. Which would answer the majority of your questions?

[Robert61267]

What is that baseplate for? You can see the wires coming out of it.

If its right in front of the funnel but behind where the bridge was, perhaps the base for the tripod mast? It would make sense for there to be wires inside of it, probably for electric power. Just an idea.

[Robert61267]

Lex wore Measure 1/5 cammo pre war and until her sinking. That’s Measure 12 in the pic, meaning it isn’t Lex.

Respectfully, it very likely is the Lex. In the Steve Wiper book, he states that she wore 12 briefly, painting up in it in August, 1941. Then, she repainted in October to Measure 1 with the false bow wave.

There's something else, too. Note that the carrier in the photo has a small funnel cap forward. So did Lex, and I'm pretty sure that Sara did not during this time period. Good photos of her are lacking during this time period, but what there is doesn't show the cap, at least nothing that I can find.

Bob

[Kyleb]

What did the censors remove from the belly of the SBD in that picture?

[CAPFlyer]

The trapeze and bomb shackles. I don't think there was any ordinance carried at that time which could have been that small.