Sunday, February 8, 2009

USS Lexington in Corpus Christi....we found that you can tour it. And we may do that one of these days


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2 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 9, 2009 at 8:54 AM

    now that is a toy I would like to own. would point the big guns at the boom box guys and have a few air craft as back up. I think one Black Hawk chooper would do. :-)+ love the beach pictures. Hal

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  2. AnonymousJune 4, 2010 at 3:39 PM

    Was stationed on the Lex from 73 to 77 as an ABEAN, working catapults & arresting gear. Here is a sad story that everyone stationed on the Lex from 73 to 77 will remember. It is about an OIL RIG ! The Lex was home port in Pensacola,FL. One day,word was received of bad weather coming in. Hurricane winds was predicted. When this happens,a Naval ship that is docked, must leave port as to keep it from being banged up against the dock.We would circle around the hurricane and follow behind it until it ends. This is what the Lex did. Late that night,maybe 9 or 10pm, we receive word that an Oil rig in the Gulf is in trouble. The wind is so bad that we are unable to immediately go to the rig. So, we wait until the morning. When we finally get to the area of the rig the next day,the water is so calm. Like glass. The sky was so blue and clear. There was a bright flourasant orange, craft floating in the water. It looked like a bright orange mini-space ship. We learned that it was a rescue boat from the oil rig. Divers jumped into the water and the Lex pulled up close to the enclosed-orange rescue boat. We tied a wench and began to pull the life-boat out of the water.......Dead bodies began to fall out,like gold fish out of a fish bowl. Old, young...all manner of nationality. All dead ! They were laid out on hanger of the ship. Rigor had set in and the bodies were in all manner of forms. Some with arms out-stretched.I have seen nothing sadder in my 55 years of life. We later learned that the hurricane had hit the oil rig so fast that the last person getting into the life boat was not able to shut the door,thus making it water tight. Plus, the stabilizer on the bottom of the life boat,broke off as it was toppled off of the rig. It turned upside once it hit the water. Everybody drowned because they were strapped into their seats. The Lex was very quiet for 1 week as the shock and pain set in for every sailor that experienced this. I have not really told this story to many people. But, I am doomed to never forget it ...........

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