Before she launched planes, USS Lexington was meant to fire 16-inch guns. Designed as a battlecruiser to rival Japan’s Kongō-class, she was reborn as an aircraft carrier under the Washington Naval Treaty. Her massive hull and powerful engines made her one of the Navy’s fastest and most formidable ships—until she was lost at Coral Sea, a carrier born from a battlecruiser’s bones. #WWII #USSLexington #BattleOfCoralSea #AircraftCarrier #NavalHistory #WW2History | The Reliable Narrator

USS Lexington wreckage found after 76 years by expedition team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen: http://2wsb.tv/2HdoCj0 The ship, one of the first aircraft carriers, went down during 1942's Battle of the Coral Sea. In all, 216 crew members died in the battle. | WSB-TV