Combat Command

Book excerpt: COMMANDING THE LEXINGTON DURING THE BATTLE OF THE CORAL SEA I saw the enemy torpedo planes coming in on both bows. The air was full of antiaircraft bursts and the din was terrific. I motioned to the helmsman for a hard left rudder, just as the enemy planes started disgorging their fish. The water in all directions seemed full of torpedo wakes. Bombs were dropping all around us. Great geysers of water from near misses were going up higher than our masts, and the ship shuddered from the explosions of the ones that hit. The enemy planes split up to fire on both bows, the hardest maneuver for us to counter. Then I remember seeing two wakes coming straight for our port beam, and there was nothing I could do about them. The wakes approached the ship’s side, and I braced myself for the explosion.... COMBAT COMMAND