Customer Reviews

Queen of the flat-tops;: The U.S.S. Lexington and the Coral Sea battle,

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of the Lexington's air crews in history's first
confrontation between opposing aircraft carriers.

This book in authentic. Written by a newsman
on board the Lexington during the action, it
names pilots, describes actual missions and
air battles between our Grumman F3F and F4F
Wildcats among other planes inferior to the
faster and more maneuverable Japanese Zero
and describes how the American pilots managed
to give good account of themselves. Lt. Butch
O'Hare and his squadron mates are included.
You will not be cheated by this historical account.

This story was written back in 1942, so it is rather dated as far as WWII history is concerned. The U.S.S. Lexington was a battle cruiser converted to an aircraft carrier while still in the shipbuilding process. This famous aircraft carrier was one of the handful the U.S. kept in the Pacific to hold back the Japanese onslaught at the beginning of World War II.
Johnson details the life of the ship prior to her sinking. He interviews the crew and gets the feel for life aboard an aircraft carrier. Since he is writing in 1942, he details the force formation the Lex was sailing with, by saying Cruiser I, or Carrier II. Carrier II is obviously the Yorktown. References to the enemy are in a derogatory and rascist manner, so this sets the book back.
This book gives a good feel to what is was like in 1942. The U.S. was battling for its life, and the enemy were evil. News was censored, so journalists couldn't not report everything. A nice read for a WWII era book.

Written in 1942, this book can be considered an item of war propaganda. However, despite this reality, it still is a reasonably realistic description of life aboard an aircraft carrier in World War II. The Lexington was an American aircraft carrier that was destroyed in the battle of the Coral Sea by Japanese forces. This battle was distinctive in that it was the first naval battle carried out entirely by aircraft, the ships in the two opposing fleets never came within sight of each other. In terms of losses, it was generally a draw; both sides lost at least one carrier, although at the end the advantage went to the Americans. Until that time, the Japanese had carried out a string of victories, so even a draw could be considered an American victory. Furthermore, given the overwhelming superiority of American productive capability, the American losses could be made up while the Japanese generally could not.
Johnston describes life aboard the Lexington as pleasurably rough, the American sailors are depicted as determined fighting men dedicated to defeating the Japanese at all costs, including their lives. There is no hint of internal dissension, conflict or wavering in a crisis. To read the book it is necessary to adopt an attitude of retrospective tolerance towards the style of expression of the times. For example, a Negro member of the crew is referred to as a "boy", even though he is risking his life to rescue crewmen trapped in smoke-filled compartments. If you can accept the modern lack of political correctness and the tone of war propaganda, then you can enjoy this book.

Although this was not a book about the original Lexington which I was after, I enjoyed reading this one too. I have quite an ifinity with the Coral sea Lexington. Quite a story.