Friday, March 24, 2006
USS Lexington
March 23 to March 24
Cold north winds blew in from Canada (I’m not sure if that’s true but it sounds good!), so we spent most of the 23rd in the trailer with the furnace on. It was still cool on the 24 th, but it was sunny so we headed down to Corpus Christie and the aircraft carrier USS Lexington aka CV-16, aka “the blue ghost”. The ship was launched September 23, 1942, saw active duty in a number of wars, decommissioned in 1991 and was opened as a museum in October 1992. We had a great day exploring the different areas of the ship and viewing the many exhibits that were displayed, many of which are in the maze of cabins and areas below the hanger deck, perhaps it was more like a snakes and ladder game, as you whet up and down many stairs which looked more like ladders. Then there is the single escalator, that was not running (used to quickly move pilots from their ready rooms to the hanger deck. They have converted an area at the bow of the boat into a large screen theater which featured a couple of Imax films.
USS Lexington
A-4F Skyhawk II
F-14A Tomcat
AH-1S Cobra helicopter
Anti-aircraft guns
One of several caricatures that were painted on the ship --- this one depicts the functions of an aircraft carrier
The flight bridge
One of the passageways in the snakes and ladder game
SNJ-5 Texan
Cold north winds blew in from Canada (I’m not sure if that’s true but it sounds good!), so we spent most of the 23rd in the trailer with the furnace on. It was still cool on the 24 th, but it was sunny so we headed down to Corpus Christie and the aircraft carrier USS Lexington aka CV-16, aka “the blue ghost”. The ship was launched September 23, 1942, saw active duty in a number of wars, decommissioned in 1991 and was opened as a museum in October 1992. We had a great day exploring the different areas of the ship and viewing the many exhibits that were displayed, many of which are in the maze of cabins and areas below the hanger deck, perhaps it was more like a snakes and ladder game, as you whet up and down many stairs which looked more like ladders. Then there is the single escalator, that was not running (used to quickly move pilots from their ready rooms to the hanger deck. They have converted an area at the bow of the boat into a large screen theater which featured a couple of Imax films.
USS Lexington
A-4F Skyhawk II
F-14A Tomcat
AH-1S Cobra helicopter
Anti-aircraft guns
One of several caricatures that were painted on the ship --- this one depicts the functions of an aircraft carrier
The flight bridge
One of the passageways in the snakes and ladder game
SNJ-5 Texan
If you wish you can sign our guest book
We have added a web page with a map of our current location and route to date