b'U . S .M i l i t a r yIn 2023, two major benchmarks in the history of the USS Lexington (CV-16) were celebratedthe 80th anniversary of its commissioning, and the continuation of the 30th anniversary of the first year of its opening as a museum in Corpus Christi Bay.The Legacy of CV-2In the months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Im-perial Japanese Navy enjoyed a series of successes in the Pacific, not unlike early victoriesabove :The first USS Lexington (CV-2) aircraft carrier, launched in scored by the Germans as it blitzed through one European country after another. 1925 and lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942. Over the first half of 1942, the Japanese navy was successful in its attacks on Hong Kong,below :The new USS Lexington (CV-16) carrier in sea trials, three Singapore, and Malaya (now Malaysia), and took strategic targets throughout the South Pa- months after being commissioned in February 1943.cific including a base in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, the Philippines, Wake Island, the Dutch East Indies, and Guam.The Japanese strategy was to isolate the Australian navy from joining its American allies, which culminated with the Battle of the Coral Sea, during early May 1942. In the first major conflict between American and Japanese naval forces, and the first battle at sea in which fire was originally initiated by aircraft, a Japanese carrier was damaged by forces from the USS Yorktown (CV-5), and the first USS Lexington (CV-2) carrier was hit by a torpedo that ignited onboard ordnance and was ordered scuttled at sea after damage was assessed as catastrophic.While the Japanese advance toward Australia was turned back in the Coral Sea, the loss of the Lexington dealt a huge psychological blow to the country, which in short order, sparked 114THE COASTAL BEND GUIDE TheCoastalBend.com'