At 7:52 p.m., the Lexington went down in a cloud of hissing steam, taking the bodies of more than a hundred of her crew with her. About a minute later, a tremendous underwater explosion was felt and heard for miles around, even on the other ships of the American task force a full ten miles away. It was “Lady Lex’s” last defiant roar. She was on her way into the abyss.
