Palau burns, July 72, 1944. Lex planes pay a return visit and leave a calling card.

Not all war is shooting. The Lex "crosses the line" in September and April. Scenes include Left: The Royal barber at work, Right: Running the gauntlet. Below, left: The Royal Party approaches (April). Below, right: The Royal Court (September)

Bogeys on the screen. The intercept officer studies the track of an incoming raid on the plotting table before giving instructions to the defending fighters. Left to right: Lt. Com. Winston (since killed on the Franklin), Whitham, Rdm 1/c, Lt. Deaver, Lt. Reed, Lt(jg) Johnson

A Chitose class light carrier lies burning and dead in the water in the Second Battle of the Philippine Sea. Cruisers from the Lex's task group later finished her off with gunfire. Altogether four carriers were sunk in that engagement.

Refuelding at Sea. 1943. This secret weapon made the Navy's far-flung Pacific operations possible. With a rendezvous with tankers, a ask force could keep at sea for months.

Rearming at Sea, 1945. Bombs are swung from an ammunition ship to the Lex, within range of Japanese aircraft.

The Lex "tops-off" the Ault, one of her screen of destroyers. This was a matter of routine every two or three days; by the end of the war, task groups were topping off destroyers within sixty miles of Japan.

Father, E.T. Cope reads the burial service for those who died on November 6, 1944

A Kamikaze strikes the Lexington, November 6, 1944. A "Zeke" dives at a sharp angle from the starbard quarter.

Undeterred by the ship's fire, he holds his heading

and finally strikes the island.

Smoke pours up from the ship's superstructure. For a day and a half, the Lex continued regular operations.

Death on Wings. A target's eye view of the same dive. The bomb is clearly visible beneath the plane; seconds later it was released and the plane struck, just below the position from which this picture was taken, by D.J. Conally, Phom 3/c; one of four photographers on the island at the time, unconsciously snapped this shot before diving behind a protecting bulkhead. He alone survived to see it developed.

Gasoline explosion of a kamikaze plane on the instant of striking the superstructure of a carrier. This picture, perhaps the most graphic record in existence, of what such an explosion is like, was taken aboard the USS Intrepid, and was run as Picture of the Month in the Oct 1945 issue of ALL HANDS.

After the crash. Looking aft along the 20mm. mounts below the island after the plane had struck just above. This record of a small part of the material and the human destruction that came to the Lex on Nov 6, 1944, is included to recall to owners of this book, lest the years bring forgetfullness, what all learned then-that beneath the glory and adventure, the ribbons and glamor. WAR IS HELL

An oiler burns in Ulithi Harbor, Nov 1944, after being torpedoed early in the morning by a Japanese submarine that penetrated the lagoon during the night. Lex men were uneasy spectators.

Radar representation of a typhoon. The "eye" of the storm is clearly visible to the right of the picture. The left, on the opposite edge of the disturbance, can just be discerned the indications of a task group-the compact mass of heavy ships and part of the circling of these blips may be the Lex. The radiating lines are interference from other radars, similar, in effect, to static on the radio.

Storm damage at sea. Part of the starboard walkway, under the forward edge of the flight deck, after a storm.

Christmas scene 1944.

Christmas scene 1944. There is a Santa Claus, even on a warship, and time is taken off to greet him with traditional and not-so-traditionas festivities.

Xmas scene 1944