1920 жылдарғы АҚШ Әскери-теңіз күштерінің «Лексингтон» классы ұшақ тасушылары

Pair of aircraft carriers for the United States Navy during the 1920s

The Lexington class aircraft carriers were a pair of aircraft carriers built for the United States Navy (USN) during the 1920s, the Lexington and Saratoga. The ships were built on hulls originally laid down as battlecruisers after World War I, but under the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, all U. S. battleship and battlecruiser construction was cancelled. The Treaty, however, allowed two of the unfinished ships to be converted to carriers. They were the first operational aircraft carriers in the USN and were used to develop carrier aviation tactics and procedures before World War II in a series of annual exercises. They proved extremely successful as carriers and experience with the Lexington class convinced the Navy of the value of large carriers. They were the largest aircraft carriers in the USN until the s were completed beginning in 1945. The ships served in World War II, seeing action in many battles. Although Lexington was sunk in the first carrier battle in history (the Battle of the Coral Sea) in 1942, Saratoga served throughout the war, despite being torpedoed twice, notably participating in the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in mid 1942 where her aircraft sank the Japanese light carrier Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō. She supported Allied operations in the Indian Ocean and South West Pacific Areas until she became a training ship at the end of 1944. Saratoga returned to combat to protect American forces during the Battle of Iwo Jima in early 1945, but was badly damaged by kamikazes. The continued growth in the size and weight of carrier aircraft made her obsolete by the end of the war. In mid 1946, the ship was purposefully sunk during nuclear weapon tests in Operation Crossroads.

The Lexington class ships were originally designed to be battlecruisers, with heavy guns, high speed, and moderate armor protection. The Navy laid down six ships of the class in 1919–20. When the battlecruisers were cancelled under the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, two of the unfinished ships were designated for completion as carriers. Lexington and Saratoga were selected since they were the most advanced of the six ships in construction. Conversion became a series of compromises and mixed blessings which would not have arisen had they been "specifically designed carriers" from the outset. On the plus side, the ships would have better anti torpedo protection, larger magazines for aircraft bombs and, with the aft elevator 28 feet (9 m) higher than otherwise, more room for aircraft landings. On the minus side, a converted battlecruiser would be slower than a specifically designed carrier, have 16 percent less hangar space, less emergency fuel and, with "narrower lines" aft, not as wide a runway for which to aim. Costs were similar. A brand new aircraft carrier was estimated at $27.1 million. Conversion of a Lexington class was $22.4 million, not counting the $6.7 million already sunk into them. Added together, the figure rose to $28.1 million. The bottom line, with the signing of the treaty, was that any capital ships under construction by the five signatories (the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy and Japan) had to be canceled and scrapped. For battlecruisers, this encompassed the United States Lexington class, Japan's , and Great Britain's G3 battlecruisers. For the U. S. Navy, the choice seemed clear. If it scrapped all six Lexingtons in accordance with the treaty, it would throw away $13.4 million that could otherwise go toward aircraft carriers. The Navy opted for the latter course. The next challenge the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair faced was the tonnage cap set by the treaty. Carriers were to be no more than 27,000 tons. An exception, spearheaded by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Theodore Roosevelt Jr. and added to the treaty, allowed capital ships under conversion to go up to 33,000 tons, an increase of 6000 tons. This would almost not be enough for a conversion without removing half the power plant, something the Navy General Board did not consider an option. Creative interpreting of a clause in the treaty allowed a potential way out of this situation. Without this clause, conversion might not have been feasible. Estimates made in 1928 for the two ships put Lexington at an actual tonnage of 35,689 tons and Saratoga at 35,544. On official lists, the number given was 33,000 tons, with the footnote, "[this number] does not include weight allowance under Ch. 2, pt. 3, Sec. 1, art. (d) of Washington Treaty for providing means against air and submarine attack". This tonnage was used by these ships for their entire careers. One of their innovative features was a relatively new kind of bow called the bulbous bow or Taylor bow, named after its inventor, Rear Admiral David W. Taylor, who served as Chief Constructor for the U. S. Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair in World War I. The result of a series of towing tests begun in 1910, this bow reduced water resistance by an average of six percent at high speeds, supported the forecastle and reduced bending stress on the hull. A disadvantage was the formation of a thick layer of water, part of the bow wave, which would creep up along the forward side of the hull at higher speeds, although this could be reduced to some degree by careful design of this area.

These ships were given a teak flight deck. Their hangar had a clear height of 20 feet (6 m) The hangar was 424 feet (129 m) long and its width varied from , constrained by the bulky funnel uptakes and boat compartments. The height of the hangar was not exceeded on an American aircraft carrier until the ships appeared in the mid 1950s. Aircraft repair shops, 108 feet (33 m) long, were aft of the hangar and below them was a storage space for disassembled aircraft, 128 feet (39 m) long. The hangar was divided by a single fire curtain just forward of the aft aircraft elevator. A flywheel powered aircraft catapult, 155 feet (47 m) long, was fitted at the bow; it could launch a aircraft at a speed of It was removed in 1934 as unnecessary. but these numbers increased once the Navy adopted the practice of tying up spare aircraft in the unused spaces at the top of the hangar. In 1936, her air group consisted of 18 Grumman F2F 1 and 18 Boeing F4B 4 fighters, plus an additional nine F2Fs in reserve. Offensive punch was provided by 20 Vought SBU Corsair dive bombers with 10 spare aircraft and 18 Great Lakes BG torpedo bombers with nine spares. Miscellaneous aircraft included two Grumman JF Duck amphibians, plus one in reserve, and three active and one spare Vought O2U Corsair observation aircraft. This amounted to 79 aircraft, plus 30 spares. Before the Battle of the Eastern Solomons in mid 1942, Saratogas air group consisted of 90 aircraft, comprising 37 Wildcats, 37 Dauntlesses and 16 Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers. In early 1945, the ship carried 53 Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters and 17 Avengers.

Turbo electric propulsion had been chosen for the battlecruisers because American companies struggled to produce the very large geared turbines necessary for such big ships and was retained when they were converted into aircraft carriers. "[Turbo electric drive] was efficient, rugged and always reliable. But it was also heavy, intricate, and not easy to maintain and keep tuned up." The machinery also required special ventilation measures to dissipate heat and to keep out any salt air. Even with this and elaborate insulation measures, protection from moisture or from flooding due to battle damage or other causes remained problematic and it posed the danger of high voltage to the crew if damaged.

The Bureau of Construction and Repair was not then convinced that aircraft could be an effective and sufficient armament for a warship. Thus the design as carriers included a substantial gun battery of eight 8"/55 caliber guns in four twin gun turrets, two pairs of superfiring turrets fore and aft of the island. These turrets were mounted above the flight deck on the starboard side, two before the bridge, and two behind the funnel. The guns in theory could fire to both sides, but it is probable that if they were fired to port (across the deck) the blast would have damaged the flight deck. The guns could be depressed to −5° and elevated to +41°; they were loaded at an angle of +9°. They fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of ; this gave a maximum range of
The Lexington class' anti aircraft (AA) armament consisted of a dozen 5"/25 caliber guns, six on each side of the ship on single mounts. They had a maximum elevation of +85°. As built, the ships were not fitted with any light AA guns, but a few water cooled M2 Browning anti aircraft machine guns were fitted shortly after commissioning and the numbers gradually increased over the 1930s. Lexington had 24 of these guns aboard when she was sunk in early 1942. Their projectiles had a muzzle velocity of , but an effective range of only They had a rate of fire of 550–700 rounds per minute and were exceedingly reliable, however, their projectiles were too light and too short ranged so they were replaced by license built Oerlikon 20 mm autocannon beginning in 1942. The Oerlikon fired , high explosive shells at a muzzle velocity of Its maximum range was although the effective range was under The cyclic rate of fire was 450 rounds per minute, but the practical rate was between 250 and 320 rounds per minute owing to the need to reload magazines. Saratoga mounted 52 of these guns in late 1942. The Navy had been developing a quadruple 1.1 inch light AA gun since the early 1930s, but it was delayed with teething problems, so five single 3"/50 caliber Mk 10 AA guns were installed in 1940 as temporary replacements. They fired shells at a muzzle velocity of At +85° elevation they had an anti aircraft ceiling of 29800 feet (9083 m). The Navy made plans to remove the gun turrets in 1940 and replace them with four twin 5"/38 caliber dual purpose gun turrets (the standard mounting on U. S. battleships and cruisers). At the same time, the 25 caliber guns were to be replaced with more 5"/38 guns on a two for three basis to compensate for their greater weight. The guns fired projectiles at a muzzle velocity of at a rate of fire up to 20 rounds per minute. Against surface targets they had a range of
Five quadruple 1.1 inch gun mounts were finally fitted aboard the Lexington class ships in late 1941 and early 1942. The projectiles had a muzzle velocity of and an effective range of The maximum rate of fire was 150 rounds per minute although the frequent need to reload the eight round magazines reduced that. The gun was not successful in service and it was replaced by the license built Bofors 40 mm gun beginning in late 1942. The , high explosive shell was fired at a muzzle velocity of Its maximum range was although the effective range was around The cyclic rate of fire was 160 rounds per minute. The guns were fitted in quadruple and twin gun mounts in increasing numbers over the war. Saratoga had 23 quadruple and two twin mounts in early 1944. The eight inch guns and turrets of both ships were reused as coast defense weapons on Oahu.

The two superfiring eight inch turrets had a Mk 30 rangefinder at the rear of the turret for local control, but the guns were normally controlled by two Mk 18 fire control directors, one each on the fore and aft spotting tops. A 20 feet (6 m) rangefinder was fitted on top of the pilothouse to provide range information for the directors. Saratoga received a RCA CXAM 1 early warning radar in February 1941 during a refit in Bremerton. The antenna was mounted on the forward lip of the funnel with its control room directly below the aerial, replacing the secondary conning station formerly mounted there. She also received two FC (Mk 3) surface fire control radars in late 1941, although these were both removed along with her main armament in January 1942. The new dual purpose guns were controlled by two Mk 37 directors, each mounting an FD (Mk 4) anti aircraft gunnery radar. When the 1.1 inch guns were replaced by 40 mm guns in 1942, the directors for the smaller guns were replaced by five Mk 51 directors. Additional radars were added during 1942 and the ship's electronics were modernized during her refit in January 1944.