Warship Pictorial 33 - USS LEXINGTON CV-2
by Steve Wiper
Classic Warships Books
reviewed by Timothy Dike

Steve Wiper is at it again, releasing several new titles at the 2010 Nationals. This one at first glance appears to be a rerun of the Lexington Class Carrier Photo Album. However it is a more in-depth look at the Lexington during her 1937 thru 1942 career.
 
Since the previous book was released more photos have been found and Steve includes them in this new book. As always they are reproduced with the maximum amount of detail possible. The photos are nicely captioned and show the important features of the ship. They show the dramatic transformation the ship went thru leading up to and during World War Two. Most of these photos have never appeared in public before. click to
enlarge images
Also included are the May 1941 refit drawings and a portion of her final refit drawings from April 1942. Copies of documents listing changes made to the carrier are provided as well. 
 There have always been a lot of questions about the carriers rebuilding in April 42 before her loss at the Battle of the Coral Sea and this book should finally lay all of those to rest. Of particular interest is the labeled photos pointing out the locations of the 50 cal and 1.1" gun mounts as well as other notable features. Some images have been pulled from film footage and enhanced to show many of the shadowy details in new light. Images of the destroyers attending to the Lexington in her final moments is equally fascinating. 
Conclusions:

One word, Wow! This book is a fresh look at the Lexington that is a must have for modelers and historians alike. The images are better than anything you can find on the web and the drawings really clear up a lot of questions. Even the back cover is informative as one photo clearly shows Lex in blue in October 1941! 

The book is in the standard 8-1/4" x 11" soft book format with 72 pages. There are 70 black and white photos, one colorized photo on the front cover and four color photos of her on the back cover.

This is Warship Pictorial 33 - USS LEXINGTON CV-2 by Steve Wiper Published by Classic Warships Publishing
ISBN 978-0-9823583-3-4 with a Retail: $18.00 US. For a list of vendors that carry the Warship Pictorial series see the Classic Warships website.
 

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