USS Lexington Memorial

The USS Lexington Memorial is a group of five monuments beside the Lexington Visitors Center, each honoring one of the five U.S. Navy ships named USS Lexington. Among them are two World War II aircraft carriers: the CV-2, lost at the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942, and the CV-16, which served through the war and for decades afterward and is now a museum ship in Corpus Christi, Texas.

The memorial was installed in 1988 through the joint cooperation of the crews of the CV-2 and CV-16 and the Lexington Lions Club. The ships share the name of the town, site of the first battle of the American Revolution in April 1775. The connection is renewed each year on Patriots’ Day, when the Lions Club and surviving crew members of the two carriers gather to commemorate the role played by the ships named Lexington.

What to Know

• Patriots’ Day falls on the third Monday in April.
• The monuments are outdoors and viewable year-round.
• The memorial is listed by Lexington Tourism among the town’s historical attractions.