Paul Allen keeps doing it. This time, his research ship, Petrel, has located the final resting place of USS Lexington (CV-2), the nation’s first real fleet carrier.
“On March 5th 2018, the research vessel RV Petrel, led by billionaire Paul Allen, discovered the wreck of Lexington during an expedition to the Coral Sea. She lies at nearly 2 miles below the surface and 500 miles off the coast of Eastern Australia. An ROV confirmed the identity of the wreck by finding her nameplate on her stern. She lies in three sections. The main section lies upright. A mile to the west, the bow and stern sections lie across from each other, with the bridge lying by itself between the three sections. Further to the west, a concentration of aircraft consisting of seven Douglas TBD-1 Devastators, three Douglas SBD Dauntlesses, and a single Grumman F4F Wildcat was also located.”
Note the lifeboat panel behind the cockpit has popped free
The F4F-3 of Ens. Dale W. Peterson and later Lt Albert Butch Vorse. Fox-5 was a VF-2 ship, transferred in from VF-3, and the deck crews did not have time to over-paint Felix during the Battle of the Coral Sea..
TBD Tare-3 of Vt-2 flown by Ensign N. A. Sterrie USNR who claimed a hit on the carrier Shoho during second attack. Tare-4 flown by Lt. R. F. Farrington USN who claimed a hit during first attack. This is amazing as there are only four known TBDs in existance anywhere in the world– all crashed. Only 130 were made and 35 lost at Midway alone
TBD Tare-5. Dig the meatball.
Here are a list of the Aircrafts that went down with Lexington:
TBD-1 271 VT-2
TBD-1 273 VT-2
TBD-1 275 VT-2
TBD-1 290 VT-2
TBD-1 291 VT-2
TBD-1 300 VT-2
TBD-1 313 VT-2
TBD-1 320 VT-2
TBD-1 339 VT-2
TBD-1 346 VT-2
TBD-1 1514 VT-2
TBD-1 1516 VT-2
SBD-2 2104 VB-2
SBD-2 2113 VB-2
SBD-2 2115 VB-2
SBD-2 2116 VB-2
SBD-2 2121 VB-2
SBD-2 2127 VB-2
SBD-2 2143 VB-2
SBD-2 2157 VB-2
SBD-2 2163 VB-2
SBD-2 2176 VB-2
SBD-2 2186 VB-2
SBD-2 2188 VB-2
F4F-3A 3964 VF-3
F4F-3 3976 VF-3
F4F-3 3978 VF-3
F4F-3 3979 VF-3
F4F-3 3981 VF-3
F4F-3 3982 VF-3
F4F-3 3986 VF-3
F4F-3 3987 VF-3
F4F-3 3993 VF-3
F4F-3 4003 VF-3
F4F-3 4005 VF-3
F4F-3 4016 VF-3
F4F-3 4021 VF-3
F4F-3 4035 VF-3
SBD-3 4534 VS-2
SBD-3 4537 VS-2
SBD-3 4557 VS-2
SBD-3 4623 VS-2
SBD-3 4631 VS-2
SBD-3 4632 VS-2
SBD-3 4633 VS-2
SBD-3 4638 VS-2
SBD-3 4641 VS-2
SBD-3 4655 VB-2