By Al Adcock color by Don Greer, illustrated by John Lowe
| Squadron Signal publications has released it's second in it's series of On Deck books. This one covers the USS Lexington CV-16 from her launching to her preservation as a Museum ship. Named in honor of the first Lexington CV-2 lost at the Battle of Coral Sea, the new Lexington was one of many Essex Class fleet carriers to serve the US Navy. The Blue Ghost as she was nicknamed brought the war to the Japanese and fought in most of the late war actions. After a period in the reserve fleet, the Lexington was given an a new lease on life with angled deck and was reclassified CVA-16. As newer carriers designs were entering the fleet, she was again reclassified to CVS-16 to support anti-sub operations. Lexington was again reclassified, this time as CVT-16 the Navy's training carrier where she helped train the next generation of aircrew. In 1991 she was decommissioned from the Navy and is now serving on as a Museum in Corpus Christi, Texas. | |
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As the title implies, this book takes you on deck, with many photo's in color and black and white showing what happens on a carrier deck. One of the neat features in this book is the drawings showing the uniforms worn by the different deck personnel. |
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| You will find plenty of detail shots showing the island at various periods of her career. The book favors the World War Two years, and her role as a Training carrier. But there are also photo's of the 50's and 60's appearance. Besides the island shots there are a number of pictures showing everything from her armament and radar to the arresting cables and deck fittings. |  |
| There are two sets of color profiles showing the Lexington
in her WW2 fit and her later appearance with angled deck and island modifications
as in the image on the right.
There are color profiles of some of the airwings that operated on the Lexington, with squadron marking shown. The photos of aircraft on deck will be very valuable to the modeler looking for references. Deck tractors and even the old Tilley are featured in these pages. This is not the end all reference book on the Lexington, but combine this book with Squadrons Lexington in Detail and Scale, and Essex Class Carriers in Action and you have a great addition to your ship reference library. |
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 There
are 200 illustrations in this 80 page 8-1/4" x 11" soft cover book, with
a retail price of $14.95, or $12.95 via Squadrons online website. Special
thanks to Squadron Mail
Order for providing the sample for review |
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