CV-2 Lexington Class - History
The aircraft carriers Lexington and Saratoga were originally planned as the first two cruisers of a six-vessel Lexington class authorized and appropriated for on August 29, 1916, as part of a three-year program of naval construction. Laid down on September 25, 1920, at the Camden, New Jersey, yard of the New York Shipbuilding Company, Saratoga was completed as a result of a post-WWI naval arms race with Britain, Japan, France, and Italy in which construction efforts focused on capital ships -- namely battleships and battle cruisers.
The naval arms race, as well as growing interest in naval aviation, conspired to redesign Saratoga before its launch. In the early 1920s the Royal Navy completed the former battlecruisers HMS Furious and HMS Argus as aircraft carriers. Despite Congressional insistence that all new ship construction focus on capital ships, the US Navy received funds to convert the collier Jupiter (AC-3) into an aircraft carrier. Conversion of the hybrid ship at Norfolk Navy Yard took two years before USS Langley (CV-1) emerged as the US Navy's first aircraft carrier on March 22, 1922. By that time, however, plans were already being considered for the conversion of the cruisers Lexington and Saratoga into fully functional fleet carriers. Tests aboard the Langley were to influence greatly the final designs of the two ships under conversion.
At first, the US Navy contemplated the construction of a 39,000-ton aircraft carrier and initial design of it was started February 24, 1921. By July 1921 the Navy had evolved them into a 39,000 ton carrier design carrying 4 twin 8-inch/55 gun turrets (two forward and two abaft the island structure), and 12 single 5-inch/25 guns. These plans were laid aside the following November. Because of the 135,000-ton limitation in aircraft carriers, the General Board recommended the conversion of the two battle cruisers to carriers. Each was limited to 33,000 tons, with an additional 3000 tons permissible if protecting armor were added.
The Board considered building a 30-knot carrier to operate with the Scouting Force, and a smaller, 24-knot carrier for the Battle Force. It also weighed the possibility of constructing three separate carriers within the tonnage limitations: one at 10,000 tons and 15 knots, another at 20,000 tons and 29.5 knots, and a third at 35,000 tons at 33 or 34 knots. Instead, it returned to the battle cruisers and went ahead with plans to convert them. The Langley was not an influencing factor in carrier tonnage limitations since it was officially listed as an experimental ship.
Before Langley was commissioned, Craven became Commandant of the Ninth Naval District, relieved March 7, 1921 by Capt. William A. Moffett, who became the last Director of Naval Aviation. On July 26, 1921 that office was abolished, replaced by the newly authorized Chief of the Bureau of Aeronautics, which Moffett assumed.
Much of the work that went into the design of the abandoned 39,000-ton carrier was adapted in the design of the battle cruiser conversions. These plans were worked up by the New Design Section of the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Draftsman Ernest A. Perham gave a detailed report on the progress of construction:
"During February 1921, the first scheme for the stowage of planes in the hangar was begun and to date, October 1922, we have drawn up 18 schemes and not even the latest has progressed beyond the pencil stage. There had been a feeling, not definite enough to be called a requirement, that the ship should carry 100 planes, two-thirds in the hangar ready for use, and one-third completely assembled in the reserve stowage. The first few schemes were as fragmentary as the data on which they were based. It was necessary to start as early as possible as there was absolutely neither data nor precedent to work on, and every scheme made, however poor, gave us so much more training. Scheme #7 was the first that was based on a hangar of the island type of ship, and even then we were considering a land plane of 70-foot wing spread for a large plane. When scheme #8 was worked up, the sizes of the elevators had been settled and we worked on the basis of a plane of maximum size, 60-foot wing spread. Scheme #11 was the first in which we used planes that Aeronautics considered would meet their requirements. The small plane, a flying boat of 30-foot wing spread, had appeared several schemes earlier and the large or bombing plane was the Davis Douglas type, of 50-foot wing spread. The wings of the small plane were arranged to take off bodily and those of the larger were designed so that the ends would fold back."
The post-war naval arms race led to several conferences, conventions, and treaties. The Washington Naval Conference of 1921-1922 led to international agreement to limit the numbers, sizes, and armament of naval vessels. Under the treaty, many of the battleships and cruisers then under construction could either be scrapped or converted to aircraft carriers.
The Lexington (CC-1) class was to be a 35,000 ton battlecruiser, 850-feet in length, and capable of 35 knots. Already in the ways were the keels of two battle cruisers destined for the scrap heap as a result of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. A clause within this treaty permitted their conversion to aircraft carriers. This idea formed the foundation of the US Navy decision to complete the first two of its Lexington (CC-1) class battlecruisers as aircraft carriers.
Anticipating the order to scrap the six Lexington class cruisers, the Navy prepared plans to convert one of the cruisers into a carrier. When the conference agreed to scrapping the cruisers, the U.S. converted two ships, Lexington and Saratoga, into aircraft carriers. The incomplete hulls of the two cruisers were redesignated CV-2 and CV-3 on July 1, 1922, the day Congress approved their conversion. These converted battle cruisers were to become USS Lexington (CV-2) and USS Saratoga (CV-3). At that time, work on Saratoga had progressed to the point where the cruiser hull had received its armored barbettes and decks were being laid. All of this work had to be torn out to reconstruct Saratoga as a carrier.
Japan followed suit, converting the battle cruiser Akagi and the battleship Kaga into fleet carriers. The remaining four American battlecruisers (CC-3 thru 6) were cancelled in accordance with the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.
Armor considerations were the subject of brisk correspondence between various Bureaus. Preliminary studies offered a long, sloping, protective deck at the sides, beginning six feet below the water line and rising to about six feet above, to the flat third deck. The armor was five or six inches thick at the slopes and three inches on the flat. Further studies by the New Design Section produced a change in these plans, shrinking the flat deck plating to 2¾ inches, with a side belt 12½ feet deep, seven inches thick at the top and four at the bottom. The Bureau of Ordnance raised "serious objection." The General Board reviewed the problem and recommended the inclined deck armor. A new contract plan narrowed the belt to 8½ feet, seven inches thick at the top, four inches at the bottom, a deck 4½ inches thick on the slopes and 2¼ inches on the flat.
The matter of battery was also problematical. Under the treaty, eight-inch guns were allowed for this type vessel. Also scheduled for installation were anti-aircraft guns and torpedo tubes.
The Bureau of Aeronautics believed in January 1922 that anti-aircraft guns were not necessary. In a letter written on the 16th of that month, BUAER stated: "The necessary defense of an airplane carrier against aircraft should be the aircraft carried on the carrier. It should therefore not be necessary to install anti-aircraft guns on board an airplane carrier." BUAER also advocated six-inch guns instead of eight. But the General Board took exception to these objections the following April: "The after eight-inch guns are an important part of the airplane carrier's armament; six-inch guns would complicate the battery and would not be as efficient . . . . The carrier may be able under many conditions to defend itself with some success with its own aircraft. The primary mission, however, of those aircraft is not the defense of their carrier, so it may well happen that they will not be available for defense when most needed for that purpose. Aircraft will, of course, be useless as defensive weapons at night and under certain conditions of weather. Having these points in mind, the General Board considered it necessary to provide a strong anti-torpedo, antiaircraft battery in spite of the encroachment of that battery on the clear deck space forward. Should experience in service and the development of tactics justify the removal of any or all of the guns, they can be removed with almost no expense or delay, while it would be a long and expensive job to install these guns after the ship is completed, should such installation then appear necessary."
The draftsman Perham discussed elevator machinery. In a report, he wrote as follows: "The topic of elevator machinery was actively taken in hand February 1921. Some consideration was given to wire rope hoist, but the obvious difficulties caused its rejection. "Screw actuated elevators appealed greatly because of the feature of absolute control . . . . AS the investigation progressed, practical objections arose, such as the wear on the screw, methods of aligning and especially the impracticabiIity of obtaining the necessary speed. The Otis Elevator Company then recommended hydraulic plunger elevators, and as the locations could be obtained for the plungers, the Bureau readily consented to the adoption of this type. As finally worked out, the speed of the large elevator, 20 x 60 feet in size, is to be 60 feet per minute and that of the smaller one, 30 x 36 feet, is to be 120 feet per minute. When both are run at the same time, they will be capable of making round trips every four minutes."
Fire protection came into consideration and a fire foam protective system was adopted, supplemented by a complete sprinkling system in the hangar and reserve plane stowage. In original designs, a flight deck clear of obstructions was considered basic. Wind tunnel tests were conducted and on July 6, 1921, the island type was approved. On June 27, the General Board reported: "The adoption of the smoke pipe type (island type) [is recommended] as the experiments in the wind tunnel show that in the flush deck type the gasses are drawn in against the ship's side and across the deck even with a slight cross wind. As no attempt has ever been made to dispose of such an enormous volume of gasses without the use of a smoke pipe, the success would be doubtful."
Turntable catapults were considered necessary for a long period for the launching of small planes. But in January 1922, BUAER knocked them out of the design as being "not required." The Bureau did, however, recommend the installation of catapults in the flight deck. In a letter dated January 18, 1922, it stated by way of explanation. "The preliminary mission of the carrier is to get planes in the air quickly, both torpedo planes and combat [fighter] planes. Due to lack of operating experience, it is impossible to tell at this time whether this can be accomplished without the use of catapults and, if not, how many catapults will be necessary; hence, it is deemed imperative that at least two catapults be provided-one forward and one aft-with structural provisions to increase this number to three forward and three aft, should operating experience prove this to be necessary." The compressed air catapult was installed in the Langley. Though seldom used, launchings from it contributed to future design. The Saratoga and Lexington were equipped with fly-wheel type catapults when the two carriers were commissioned.
Saratoga was the first launched, sliding down the ways into the Delaware River on April 7, 1925. The first of the two Lexington-class carriers, Saratoga's launch was the heaviest warship launch on record and in the top dozen heaviest launches for merchant and naval vessels up to that time. The launching program noted that "the new Saratoga, aircraft carrier, when completed and commissioned...will be the largest and fastest craft of its kind in the world." Fitting out Saratoga took two years; the carrier was commissioned on November 16, 1927, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Departing Philadelphia on a shakedown cruise on January 6, 1928, Saratoga's first aircraft landed on board on January 11.
On October 3, 1925, USS Lexington slid down the ways of the Fore River yards of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., at Quincy, Mass. There were 30,000 people cheering as aircraft swept low overhead. Three hours after the launching, she was towed to a pier in the shipyards for the installation of machinery and the completion of her inner structure. On December 14, 1927, she was formally commissioned. Nearly a month earlier, on November 16, USS Saratoga had been commissioned CV-3. She had been constructed by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, Camden, New Jersey.
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