USS Lexington, Military museum and aircraft carrier in Corpus Christi, United States.
USS Lexington is an Essex-class aircraft carrier moored in Corpus Christi, Texas, as a museum ship. Its long, flat flight deck carries the white number 16 near the forward edge, and a tall grey mast with antennas and a radar array rises from the centre. Below the deck, the grey hull has a darker waterline, and safety nets and railings line the deck edge.
Laid down as Cabot at Quincy, Massachusetts, on 15 July 1941, the carrier was renamed Lexington on 16 June 1942 after USS Lexington (CV-2) was sunk at the Coral Sea. Commissioned on 17 February 1943, she served as Admiral Marc Mitscher's flagship and earned 11 battle stars. Decommissioned in 1991, she was donated to Corpus Christi as a museum ship and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003.
The ship's nickname, "Blue Ghost", came from Tokyo Rose's four broadcasts claiming Lexington had been sunk, after which she was said to reappear as a blue ghost. Crewmen of the repair party hit at Kwajalein survived because a couch absorbed the blast. Prisoners at camps in northern Honshu wrote "THANKS LEX" on their roofs after her aircraft dropped food.
The museum ship is moored in Corpus Christi Bay, and visitors enter from the shore side before climbing to the flight deck. The hangar deck and much of the flight deck can be toured on foot, but the island, gun galleries and engine spaces are reached by steep ladders and narrow passages. Allow several hours to cover the route.
Japanese radio broadcasts announced the Lexington sunk four times, and Tokyo Rose reportedly called her the "Blue Ghost" each time she reappeared. The nickname stuck, alongside "Lady Lex", carried over from the earlier carrier of the same name lost at the Coral Sea in 1942.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 92,131 contributors worldwide.
