{"nrhp_refnum":"03001043","name":"USS Lexington","other_names":["Cv-16, Cva-16, Cvs-16, Cvt-16, Avt-16"],"category":"structure","location":{"address":"USS Lexington Museum on the Bay, 2914 North Shoreline Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Corpus Christi","county":"Nueces County","state":"TX","lat":27.815457957000035,"lon":-97.38909314799997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-07-31","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2003-07-31","areas_of_significance":["Military"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"USS Lexington (CV-16) is a welded-steel Essex-class aircraft carrier, built by Bethlehem Steel Company in Quincy, Massachusetts, launched in 1942 and now a museum ship at 2914 North Shoreline Blvd. in Corpus Christi, Texas.","why_significant":"The nomination argues Lexington is nationally significant for taking part in almost every major Pacific naval campaign from 1943 to 1945, earning many decorations. It also illustrates Essex-class carrier design and the rise of aviation as the Navy's primary strike weapon. It had the longest service record of the surviving Essex carriers, 1943 to 1991, with nearly thirty years as the Navy's training carrier.","narrative":"USS Lexington (CV-16) is an Essex-class aircraft carrier berthed at Corpus Christi, Texas, where it operates as a museum. Launched in 1942 by Bethlehem Steel at Quincy, Massachusetts, it served in the Pacific from 1943 to 1945, taking part in nearly every major Central Pacific campaign except Okinawa. It received battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation. After the war the ship was modernized in 1953-55 with an angled flight deck, an enclosed bow and steam catapults to handle jet aircraft, and later served for nearly thirty years as the Navy's aviation training carrier until 1991. Although its outward appearance changed, about 90 percent of the crew and machinery spaces remain as built in 1943. Only four Essex-class carriers from the war years survive, and Lexington is one of them. The nomination treats it as an important example of carrier design and of naval aviation's growth into the Navy's main strike weapon.","period_of_significance":"1943-1945","architect_builder":"Bethlehem Steel Company, Quincy Massachusetts","architectural_style":"Other: Essex-class aircraft carrier","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Operated as a floating museum (Recreation and Culture/Museum); a 2001 fire damaged the navigation and flag bridges, which were closed to the public during restoration.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:19.170217-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/53/9709/40970953/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/03001043_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001043/cce3fd5864-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03001043/cce3fd5864-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"USN","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Lexington_(CVS-16)_underway_in_the_1960s.JPEG\" rel=\"noopener\">USN</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Lexington_(CVS-16)_underway_in_the_1960s.JPEG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40970953","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Lexington_(CV-16)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1423093"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/nueces-county/uss-lexington-03001043/"}