Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that answer the question.
Query: When was USS Lexington (CV-2) built?
Christened by Helen Rebecca Roosevelt, the wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Theodore Douglas Robinson, "Lexington" was launched on 3 October 1925. She was commissioned on 14 December 1927 with Captain Albert Marshall in command. By 1942, the ship had a crew of 100 officers and 1,840 enlisted men and an aviation group totaling 141 officers and 710 enlisted men.
The British ferrying service was well under way when the Lend-Lease Act became law on 11 March 1941. With the North Atlantic sea lanes vulnerable to German U-boat attacks, Major General Henry H. Arnold established the Air Corps Ferrying Command on May 29, 1941, to deliver lend-lease aircraft overseas from the USA. Commanded and organized by Brig. Gen. Robert Olds, the mission of the new command was, first, "to move aircraft by air from factories to such terminals as may be designated by the Chief of the Air Corps," and second, "to maintain such special air ferry services [i.e., air transport services] as may be required to meet specific situations." These were broad powers, and working within them, the Ferrying Command eventually expanded far beyond the limits imagined by those responsible for its creation. The second assignment provided specific authority for the establishment of a military air transport service over the North Atlantic between the USA and the United Kingdom, a project which had been under consideration for some months.
In 1940, Admiral William Halsey recommended construction of naval auxiliaries for pilot training. In early 1941 the British asked the US to build on their behalf six carriers of an improved "Audacity" design but the US had already begun their own escort carrier. On 1 February 1941, the United States Chief of Naval Operations gave priority to construction of naval auxiliaries for aircraft transport. U.S. ships built to meet these needs were initially referred to as auxiliary aircraft escort vessels (AVG) in February 1942 and then auxiliary aircraft carrier (ACV) on 5 August 1942. The first U.S. example of the type was . Operation Torch and North Atlantic anti-submarine warfare proved these ships capable aircraft carriers for ship formations moving at the speed of trade or amphibious invasion convoys. U.S. classification revision to escort aircraft carrier (CVE) on 15 July 1943 reflected upgraded status from auxiliary to combatant. They were informally known as "Jeep carriers" or "baby flattops". It was quickly found that the escort carriers had better performance than light carriers, which tended to pitch badly in moderate to high seas. The "Commencement Bay" class was designed to incorporate the best features of American CVLs on a more stable hull with a less expensive propulsion system.
A short film about the Panama Canal featured the "Rushville Victory" crossing was made entitled ""Ocean to Ocean: Panama Canal""; it shows the crossing of the "Rushville Victory" through the Panama canal to demonstrate how the canal worked. The film is now part of a DVD titled ""USN Oil Tankers Supply and Cargo Ships"" by Campbell films, with a running time of 8:10 min. 
In 1948, the SS "Rutland Victory" was sold to the American President Lines of San Francisco and renamed the SS "President Fillmore. In 1962, the boat was sold to Victory Shipping Enterprises Inc. from Wilmington, Delaware and renamed SS "Smith Victory. In 1965, Victory Shipping Enterprises renamed it the SS "US Victory. The vessel was later sold to Transpacific Container Services of Liberia in 1969 and renamed the SS "Oriental Arrow. In 1969, Transpacific Container Services converted it to a 7,511 g.t. container ship and in 1972, it was sold to Universal Enterprise Inc. of Monrovia, Liberia, and renamed the SS "Oriental Ace".
Upon America's entry into World War I on April 6 of 1917, "LV-71" continued to operate as she had for the past several years. On August 6, 1918, exactly one year and four months after the United States' declaration of war on Germany, the lightship was on station off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, when her crew sighted the American cargo ship SS "Merak" sinking nearby. The "Merak" had been sailing off Diamond Shoals from New York City to the West Indies when Commander Waldemar Kophamel, of the submarine "U-140", attacked her with torpedoes. One of "Merak"s crewmen spotted the wake of a torpedo, so the ship took to evasive maneuvers and grounded in the process. The Germans then surfaced and began bombarding the Americans with a deck gun, but the ship's crew successfully escaped without being harmed. "LV-71" rescued the survivors; her skipper Master Walter Barnett then sent out a warning to alert friendly ships in the area of a U-boat's presence in the vicinity of the lightship. The signal was intercepted by "U-140," which quickly returned to the scene and sank "LV-71" with gunfire after letting her twelve-member crew and the survivors of the "Merak" row towards shore in a lifeboat. The two sinkings occurred about twelve miles off the coast; residents of the nearby town of Hatteras could hear the sounds of the naval gunfire. "LV-71" was the first and only United States lightship sunk by enemy action.
Over the course of its 37-year history, the Roach shipyard had many notable achievements to its credit. In 1874 it built "City of Peking" and "City of Tokio", the two largest gross-tonnage ships ever built in the United States to that date and the second largest in the world after the experimental British behemoth . In 1883 it constructed America's first steamer with a steel-plated hull. The yard played a key role in the so-called "Birth of the New Navy" when it built the four "ABCD ships"—the U.S. Navy's first steel ships. It also established a reputation for itself as a builder of lavishly outfitted "night boats" for the Long Island Sound trade, and in its last years, built the first three American ships to be powered by steam turbines. In total, the Delaware River Works built 179 ships between 1871 and 1908, including 10 warships for the U.S. Navy.
Amphibious command ships (LCC) of the United States Navy are large, special purpose ships, originally designed to command large amphibious invasions. However, as amphibious invasions have become less likely, they are now used as general command ships, and serve as floating headquarters for two, forward deployed, numbered Fleet commands. Currently, they are assigned to the 6th and 7th fleets as flagships.
On 30 December 1942, the Navy announced that recruits in training and all future recruits would be trained at Hunter College in the Bronx, New York City. Hunter College was chosen because of its space, location, ease of transportation, and the willingness of the college to make its facilities available. Captain William F. Amsden, also a recipient of the Navy Cross in World War I, was named the commanding officer. On 8 February 1943, the college was commissioned the U.S. Naval Training Center, the Bronx, and became known as USS Hunter. Nine days later, approximately 2,000 recruits began their six weeks of training.
The boot camp training objectives for the women were intended to be similar to those of the men. The range of instruction included: Navy ranks and rate; ships and aircraft of the fleet; naval traditions and customs; naval history; and emphasis on physical fitness. Between 17 February 1943 and 10 October 1945, some 80,936 WAVES, 1,844 SPARS, and 3,190 women Marines completed the training course. The SPARS and Marine reservists used the Navy's training center until the summer of 1943, at which time they established their own training centers.
The Japanese government kept a close eye on activities in the Philippines for violations of the 1922 treaty. During the typhoon season of 1928, VT Squadron Five which operated Martin torpedo aircraft out of Manila, arrived in Subic Bay on a routine training flight. A typhoon suddenly veered toward Subic Bay and the plane crews had to lay down ramps to haul the seaplanes up on the beach. The pontoons were filled with water and the planes lashed down. When the typhoon had passed, the undamaged planes were refloated and returned to their tenders at Manila.
SS "Ancon was an American cargo and passenger ship that became the first ship to officially transit the Panama Canal in 1914. The ship was built as Shawmut" for the Boston Steamship Company by the Maryland Steel Company, Sparrows Point, Maryland and put into Pacific service operating out of Puget Sound ports for Japan, China and the Philippine Islands. "Shawmut" and sister ship "Tremont" were two of the largest United States commercial ships in service at the time and the company eventually found them too expensive to operate.
On February 1, 1966, the day after the carrier began flying missions from Yankee Station, Lieutenant, Junior Grade Dengler launched from the "Ranger" with three other aircraft on an interdiction mission against a truck convoy that had been reported in North Vietnam. Thunderstorms forced the pilots to divert to their secondary target, a road intersection located west of the Mu Gia Pass in Laos. At the time, U.S. air operations in Laos were classified "secret". Visibility was poor due to smoke from burning fields, and upon rolling in on the target, LTJG Dengler and the remainder of his flight lost sight of one another. Visibility was poor, and as Dengler rolled his Skyraider in on the target after flying for two-and-a-half hours into enemy territory, he was hit by anti-aircraft fire.
After the war, both longtime president Edmund Fontaine and former Confederate General Williams Carter Wickham served as president of the Virginia Central and oversaw its expansion towards Covington. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad was formed in 1868 from the merger of the Virginia Central Railroad and the Covington and Ohio Railroad, and had expanded westward to the Ohio River by 1873 after new financing from Collis P. Huntington was recruited. The new railroad (reorganized as the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway in 1878) expanded eastward in the 1880s via the Peninsula Subdivision to Newport News. The Chesapeake and Ohio operated for over one hundred years until it was reorganized through merger as CSX Transportation in the 1980s. Today, CSX, Amtrak, and the Buckingham Branch Railroad still use portions of the old Virginia Central line for freight and passenger rail service.
The United States Naval Academy was founded in 1845 on the site of Fort Severn, and now occupies an area of land reclaimed from the Severn River next to the Chesapeake Bay. The Annapolis area was the home of a VLF-transmitter called NSS Annapolis, which was used by the United States Navy to communicate with its Atlantic submarine fleet. Students that attend the Naval Academy are enrolled in school for four years with a following five year commitment to serving in the Marine Corps or Navy. There is a typical average of around 4,500 students enrolled.
After the end of the Civil War in 1865, the U.S. government auctioned off the hundreds of ships it had requisitioned during the war at firesale prices, depressing the market and leaving American shipyards with no work. The result was that most American shipyards, along with marine engine specialists, failed. Not only the Westervelt shipyard, but the whole shipbuilding industry in New York was badly affected by the slump, being practically wiped out in the ensuing years. As the demise of shipbuilding after the war afforded him little opportunity to recover from his losses, the firm was dissolved in 1868, with no large surplus of assets. By this time Westervelt had constructed 247 ships with his partners, more than any other American shipbuilder in his day.
SS "Manhattan" was an oil tanker constructed at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts that became the first commercial ship to cross the Northwest Passage in 1969. Having been built as an ordinary tanker in 1962, she was refitted for this voyage with an icebreaker bow in 1968–69. Registered in the United States at the time, she was the largest US merchant vessel as well as the biggest icebreaker in history.
On 12 May 1968 airlifters in Vietnam as they were called upon to evacuate the camp at Kham Duc. Although two C-130s, one of which was from the 374th, were shot down and others were damaged, they managed to bring out about half of the camps defenders while US Army and USMC helicopters brought out the remainder who did not exfiltrate out on the ground. Lt. Col. Daryl D. Cole was awarded the prestigious MacKay Trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year for flying his badly damaged C-130A out of Kham Duc. Lt. Col. John Delmore's crew crash landed at Kham Duc but were quickly rescued by US Army personnel.
The United States Coast Guard traces its origin to the founding of the Revenue Cutter Service on 4 August 1790 which merged with the United States Life-Saving Service on 28 January 1915 to establish the Coast Guard. The United States Air Force was established as an independent service on 18 September 1947; it traces its origin to the formation of the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps, which was formed 1 August 1907 and was part of the Army Air Forces before becoming an independent service as per the National Security Act of 1947. The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps was formerly considered to be a branch of the United States Armed Forces from 29 July 1945 until its status as such was revoked on 3 July 1952.
The National Museum of the American Sailor is located at Naval Station Great Lakes, the home of the Navy's only "Boot Camp." The museum was founded in 1991 by the Great Lakes Naval Museum Foundation. In 2008, the museum moved into its current location in Building 42, the Hostess House, which was designed in 1942 by prominent architect Gordon Bunshaft of the prestigious architectural firm Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill (SOM). During World War II, the facility served as a welcome center for almost one million Sailors who entered boot camp before joining the fleet. After the war, the building served various functions until it fell into disrepair and was considered for demolition. However, it was recognized as a classic example of modern American architecture and repurposed for the establishment of the a museum which opened January 12, 2009. By adopting the Hostess House as its home, the National Museum of the American Sailor connects enlisted Sailors, Navy families, and the general public to this unique architectural treasure and the central role it played in the Navy's wartime history.
The "Belle of Louisville" is the oldest operating steamboat in the United States, and the oldest operating Mississippi River-style steamboat in the world. She was laid down as "Idlewild" in 1914, and is currently located in Louisville, Ky.
The San Francisco Bay Naval Shipyard was a short-lived shipyard formed in 1965 as the combination of the San Francisco Naval Shipyard (aka Hunters Point) and the Mare Island Naval Shipyard. The combined yards were the largest naval shipyard in the world, but the desired cost savings did not materialize, and the two yards reverted to separate existences in February 1970. The shipyard was used for radioactive testing when the United States was testing the atomic bomb. The site has since been contaminated. Now the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard is a Superfund site, as designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). It is the Navy's job to clean up the site to "reasonable" levels to those who live adjacent to the shipyard.
The first American 2-8-4s were built for the Boston and Albany Railroad in 1925 by Lima Locomotive Works. The railroad's route across the Berkshire mountains was a substantial test for the new locomotives and, as a result, the name "Berkshire" was adopted for the locomotive type.
In March 1942, "Lexington"s eight-inch turrets were removed at Pearl Harbor and replaced by seven quadruple 1.1-inch gun mounts. In addition 22 Oerlikon 20 mm cannon were installed, six in a new platform at the base of the funnel, 12 in the positions formerly occupied by the ship's boats in the sides of the hull, two at the stern, and a pair on the aft control top. When the ship was sunk in May 1942, her armament consisted of 12 five-inch, 12 quadruple 1.1-inch, 22 Oerlikon cannon, and at least two dozen .50-caliber machine guns.
The ship was designed to reach , but "Lexington" achieved from during sea trials in 1928. She carried a maximum of of fuel oil, but only of that was usable, as the rest had to be retained as ballast in the port fuel tanks to offset the weight of the island and main guns. Designed for a range of at a speed of , the ship demonstrated a range of at a speed of with of oil.
USS "Lexington" (CV-2), nicknamed "Lady Lex", was an early aircraft carrier built for the United States Navy. She was the lead ship of the ; her only sister ship, , was commissioned a month earlier. Originally designed as a battlecruiser, she was converted into one of the Navy's first aircraft carriers during construction to comply with the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922, which essentially terminated all new battleship and battlecruiser construction. The ship entered service in 1928 and was assigned to the Pacific Fleet for her entire career. "Lexington" and "Saratoga" were used to develop and refine carrier tactics in a series of annual exercises before World War II. On more than one occasion these included successfully staged surprise attacks on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The ship's turbo-electric propulsion system allowed her to supplement the electrical supply of Tacoma, Washington, during a drought in late 1929 to early 1930. She also delivered medical personnel and relief supplies to Managua, Nicaragua, after an earthquake in 1931.
Williams received his commission as an ensign in the Navy. He attended the Navy Supply Corps School for new junior officers, which was then located on Harvard Business School's campus. Following the completion of his initial training, Williams was assigned to the aircraft carrier USS "Lexington" (CV-2), where he served as a dispersing officer (or paymaster) for a 2,000-person crew. The USS "Lexington" was deployed to the Pacific Ocean theater. In May 1942, the USS "Lexington" was sunk by Japanese forces during the Battle of the Coral Sea. During the evacuation of the "Lexington", Williams swung from a line onto the deck of an American destroyer that had arrived to rescue the crew of the sinking aircraft carrier.