The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-06-06
ID LAY KEEL FOR GREATEST WARSH|P Lexington Will Set New Pace for War Vessels
 of Future
By Associated Press

Quincy, Mass, May 29.-The keel of the worlds biggest warship VIII be laid down here within six months. The battle cruiser Lexington, combining in degree urequalled by any ship of war now buiit or building the qualities of powerful ar nIament and high speed, has taken form in drawings and awaits the arrival Of ma-
 terials to be advanced from the hands of the architect to those of the builder.
 By fall, it is estimated, the prospective queen of the United States navy will be-
 come ship under construction instead
 of an ambitious plan.
 The Lexington is the name-ship of class of battle-cru!sers which will give IIncle Sam within four years fleet Of
 six big-gun fighting ships unmatched by anything then afioat. Her sister ships, the Constellation, Saratoga, Ranger, Con- stitution and United States, are also un- der contract They bring names out of the old navy with which to develop Tor
 the first new capital vessels of the post war fleet a traditional background for l fresh exploits.
 With the others of it's class. the Lex ington will be a whale of ship. It Will displace 43.2OO tons and will have the power of 1SO0O0 horses, as measured Tn mechanical terms. It's length Of Sl4 rect l is within 46 feet of the length Of the Leviathan, monster passenger liner. The | 1O1 4 feet of width of the Lexington VIII
 make that floating gun platform broader | than any passenger ship.
 | The Lexington, which is to be equipped with electric drive, will attain a speed o1 35 knots. This cruiser speed, higher thar | that of many destroyers, is the object o1 much of the designing that entered into
 the creation of the Lexington class. Ar nor will be sacrificed to make possible the 35-knot speeG-the main belt belns only inches thick at its maximum, as compared with the 12-inch steel belt or most battleships-but armament Will bf of tremendous epower. The Lexlngtor thus will have not only the strategic ad vantage of high speed but will be able to fire heavier charge over greater distance than any other battleship fol which the plans are known
 The Lexington in action will speak with a voice of 16-inch guns, of which she will have S. The navies of Great Britain France and Italy contain no gun greater than 15 inches, and that of Japan in cludes 16-irch guns only on battleships
  cor struction. Unlike the dreadnough class reliance on big guns exclusively the Lexington will carry 16 6-inch guns as a secondary armament.
 l Taking a page from the naval lessons of the war. the designers of the Lexing
 ton have equipped the ship with 4 anti
 aircraft guns, s torpedo tubes 4 of whicf are submerged and on deck) and witf
 means of defense against aerial bomb. and aerial torpedoes Defense agains
 submarine torpedoes will be obtained | through fore and aft torpedo defense bulkheads, by which the stability of thu vessel will be preserved no matter where she is pierced. Under any conditions other than explosion. it is claimed, thu Lexington class of warshpa should prove unsuitable.
 An indication of the Lexington's great
 ness is afforded by comparison with tho
 British warship Hood, which when it i: