This past Fourth of July, I had the honor of welcoming nearly 90 new U.S. citizens aboard the USS Lexington, whose permanent home is in Corpus Christi Bay. It was a fitting location to commemorate Independence Day, and also join these new U.S. citizens as they celebrated the many freedoms and opportunities they could now, as Americans, claim as their own.

Standing in the expanse of the 40,000 square feet hangar deck of the USS Lexington, I was reminded of a solemn truth: the freedoms celebrated on Independence Day would be far out of reach were it not for the sacrifices of every man and woman in uniform, past and present.

The USS Lexington CV-16 and her crew represent a hallmark of achievement and sacrifice in our nation’s military history. Commissioned in 1943, this World War II-era Essex-class aircraft carrier served our nation longer and set more records than any other carrier in naval history.

Traveling via the Panama Canal, Lexington arrived in the central Pacific in the summer of 1943. She served in every major naval campaign in the Pacific Theater during World War II—from Tarawa to Tokyo. The miles she steamed in the Pacific alone would have taken her around the world at least seven times.  Lexington spent 21 months in combat, destroying more than 840 enemy aircraft. She also sank or destroyed 300,000 tons of enemy cargo and disabled 600,000 additional tons. Lexington’s guns shot down 15 enemy planes and helped to bring down five more.

Contrary to propaganda published in the Tokyo Rose, which claimed Lexington was sunk by the enemy on multiple occasions, in fact, she was only hit twice during World War II, by kamikaze and torpedo. The Tokyo Rose eventually dubbed Lexington the “Blue Ghost” – partly for her dark blue paint and also due to her reappearance after being “sunk” on so many occasions.

Between Lexington’s crew and her four air groups, she lost more than 220 pilots and sailors. For their heroism in action against enemy forces, the crew of Lexington received the Presidential Unit Citation—one of only nine carriers to receive this award.

Decommissioned briefly after the war, Lexington was reactivated in the 1950s. While prepared for conflicts such as Lebanon, Laos, and the Cuban missile crisis, she did not engage again in actual combat, but served out much of the remainder of her career as a training carrier.

The USS Lexington was decommissioned for good on November 26, 1991. Due to the efforts of the Corpus Christi Area Economic Development Commission and various community leaders, Corpus Christi was selected by the U.S. Navy out of several other competing communities to serve as the permanent home of the USS Lexington CV-16.

Today, the carrier is home to USS Lexington Museum on the Bay, which offers visitors guided tours of the 910-foot, 16-deck, 33,000-ton aircraft carrier. She also offers overnight educational camps, during which students can tour the ship’s mazes and tunnels, make trips through the chow line, bunk in original crew quarters, and try their luck with the flight simulator and virtual battle stations.

I am proud that Texas is home to this national, historic treasure. Although her days of battle are long over, today the USS Lexington stands to remind us and educate the next generations of Americans about the many sacrifices that have been made to secure our freedoms and way of life.

Sources: USS Lexington Museum on the Bay; Department of the Navy – Naval Historical Center; Historic Naval Ships Association