Sketching the "Blue Ghost"

Missy and I had a great time in Corpus Christi last weekend at my beautiful niece’s wedding.  I had a little free time and was able to get a quick sketch from the seawall of the Lexington.  I sketched this with a Micron .03 in my Moleskine watercolor sketchbook.  Watercolor wash added at home.  We didn't have time to tour the ship, but by all accounts, it's an incredible tour!  Now I have a reason to go back!

The USS Lexington, known as "The Blue Ghost", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy.  Lexington was commissioned in February 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, receiving the Presidential Unit Citation and 11 battle stars for World War II service. Like many of her sister ships, Lexington was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, but was modernized and reactivated in the early 1950s, being reclassified as an attack carrier, and then an antisubmarine carrier. In her second career, she operated both in the Atlantic/Mediterranean and the Pacific, but spent most of her time, nearly 30 years, on the east coast as a training carrier.  She was decommissioned in 1991, remaining active longer than any other Essex-class ship, and was donated for use as a museum ship in Corpus Christi, Texas. Lexington was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003. Though her surviving sisterships Yorktown, Intrepid, and Hornet carry lower hull numbers, Lexington was laid down and commissioned earlier, making Lexington the oldest remaining aircraft carrier in the world.