Evening star., 1945-08-16
Carrier Lexington Takes 2 Hits,
But Gets 862 of Enemy|s Planes
Coptoin Says Big l.
Was in 90 Pet. of Navy
Bottles in Past Year

!, Bottles in Past Year
!, The aircraft carrier Lerino-
}. ton has seen tDide action and
taken seuere punishment in the
Pacific ,Dar, When this story tDos
Dritten reporters tDere dlloUed to
inspect her tDhile she Dds In dry-
dock for general overhaul. A
comn1uniQue from Admiral
Chester w. Nirnitz on July 10
identified the Lexington as back
in action at that time.
By the Associated Press.
BREMERTON, WASH, Apr. 2;
Delayed).-The queen of the air.
craft carriers. the Lexington, snug
gled in a drydock at the Puge'
Sound Navy Yard today enjoying
the oceanic equivalent Of q beauty
treatment after two years Of dealing
death to the Japanese and fighting
off their replies In kind.
She has taken two hits-a torpedo
on Kwajalein and a suicide planes
flaming crash dive last year of the
Philippines. She has sailed within
So miles Of Tokyo and sent heI
planes in to lash the Japanese.
And to think" Capt. Thomas H
Robbins, her skipper, said, II had
to come here to get leaky deck"
The captain, whose home is In
Washington, D. c., paused a mo-
ment in relating the story of the
big L" to glare at the ceiling where
hammers whanged. A couple OF
pans from the galley were on the
floor to catch the drops. Reporters
mere for the first civilian inspection
of wartime overhaul at Bremerton
grinned and the skipper went back
to his statistics.
Got S62 Planes.
The ships own guns have knocked
down Is planes, but her aircraft
have smashed 372 in the air and
erased Ats on the ground. The
big LIS" pilots have sent to the
bottom 300,075 tons of enemy ship
ping, damaged another $500 tons
and assisted in the sinking of four
enemy aircraft carriers.
The Lex" has steamed nearly
100000 miles since she was placed
in commission February II. 1943.
Once she returned to Bremerton-
to have that torpedo damage cleaned
up. Damage from the suicide plane
attack, which caused 14o casualties,
was repaired of Luzon.
The skipper paused in the telling.
60 grab some men," he said. "I
don't care who you grab. I don't
care what they say. They may tell
you the ship stinks. Go see the
blue jackets. They have the heart
and soul and life of the ship"
The reporters went out among
the 2,o0o-odd crew members and
picked at random and found none
who said the ship stinks. Mostly
they called her, with a touch of
reverence, THE Lex" and to some
she was "the Old Girl"
There was Seaman 1/c Joe Mann
of North Tazewell, Va, who lost a
buddy when the suicide plane
crashed into the carriers island.
Joe likes to fire 5-inchers at jap
anese planes.
Firing In Half Second.
Rubin Borah of Brooklyn, boat
swain's mate 2/c, who weighs 225
pounds, was playing rummy when
general quarters sounded.
He said: I'VE hit the gun and
had it loaded, cooked and firing in
half second fiat. We had it firing
before the gong stopped. One Of
the planes came right in at my quad.
Every barrel was firing. The Jap
plane exploded in a big ball Of flame
anad landed Is feet down in front
of us.
II think our quad got him."
There were no heroics In their
voices. 1t. Bartholomew c. Thiba-
deau of San Francisco hadn't met
anybody, he said, who wasn't scared.
"But you get used to 1t and every
body does his job"
Chief Water Tender Kenneth H.
Morse of Solana Beach, Calf, re-
membered that Capt. (now rear ad-
miraD Felix B. Stump was in COM
mand when "the Lex" took the tor
pedo on Kwajalein. They were
praying for the moon to go down
when about so planes came in. The
Lexington's guns scored their first
kill by downing three, put in 1t.
Kenneth L. johnson of Seattle. But
one torpedo reached the carrier.
Told Them Not to Worry.
an never forget the orders from
Capt. Stump" Mr.. Morse said. HE
told us: Don't worry-I1l do the
worrying That made us feel a lot
better, even though we were out Of
control for half an hour"
Some Of the boys were plank
owners"-crewmen who had been
aboard since the LEX" was COM
missioned. There are 20 officers and
$40 enlisted men in this group. Since
they've been with her the Old Girl
has crossed the international date
line 7 times and the equator 20
times, taken 1888 plane landings,
served her crew 3,729, 1872 meals.
Capt. Robbins put emphatic en-
phasis to the suggestion Of pride
in the talk of the crew.
Il say I think this Is the finest
ship in the American Navy, If not
in any navy" the skipper said. "It's
the finest from the bottom deck to
the bridge. I only came aboard In
January. My contribution to the
ship Is just a trif1e. What 1t Is. I
found on arriving aboard.
"The Lexington has been in 90
per cent of the Nays battles in the
past year."
BY the time this reaches print
the drip pans will be OF the cap
tain's floor and the Lex and her
crew will be back In the Navy's
battle. Her flight deck is warm
with activity and her guns ready.
AS Joe Mann said: We've got to
see the pilots have q place to land
when they get back"
Capt. Robbins and his wife, Mrs.