There have been five United States ships named Lexington.

• It began in 1776 when the Continential Congress purchased a brig, named Wild Duck, used by the Maryland Committee of Safety to transport gun powder, and renamed it Lexington.
  
• The second Lexington was a sloop-of-war and was in commission from March 1826 to February 1855.
  
• A side-wheel steamer, after carrying passengers between Pittsburgh PA and New Orleans LA, became the third Lexington in 1861. This ship was decommissioned in June 1865.
  
• The fourth Lexington was an aircraft carrier built in Quincy MA and commissioned in December 1927. After a brilliant war record this Lexington sank at the Battle of the Coral Sea on 8 May 1942.
  
• The fifth Lexington, as this founders plaque indicates, was also built in Quincy MA.

  USS Lexington Founders Plaque

Hull Designations

CV 16

Decommissioned

Bremerton Shipyard

Recommissioned

CVA 16
CVS 16
CVT 16
AVT 16

Decommissioned

FEB 1943 TO MAR 1947

23 APRIL 1947

APR 1947 TO JUL 1955

15 AUGUST 1955

AUG 1955 TO SEP 1962
OCT 1962 TO DEC 1968
JAN 1969 TO JUN 1978
JUL 1978 TO NOV 1991

8 NOVEMBER 1991