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3. General description of the carrier.

a. The Lexington is a thirty-five thousand (35,000) ton carrier, eight hundred and eighty six feet long, of two hundred and thirteen thousand (213,000) horsepower, with a top speed of thirty-five knots per hour.  The upper or flight deck is a flat deck covered with a layer of teakwood which gives an area of eight hundred and eighty-six (886) feet by approximately one hundred (100) fest for operation, except for an "island" on the stargoard [[starboard]] side amidship which contains the turrets, bridge, masts, and funnels.  The following sketch gives a general outline of this deck.

[[image - top view sketch of the flight deck of the Lexington]]

The fore part of the deck contains two tracks for "starting guns" for the take off and a rail catapult for seaplanes.  Opposite the "island" are two flush elevators leading to the hangar deck.  The forward one is large enough to handle the pursuit planes.  The landing gear occupies the last three hundred and twenty (320) feet of the flight deck and extends from the stern to the after turret.  The deck in the landing area is eighty-five (85) feet wide and the gear itself sixty-five feet wide. 

b. Immediately below the after part of the flight deck is the hangar deck, about sixty-five feet wide by four hundred feet long, capable of handling approximately fifty planes set up.  Aft of the hangar deck are the machine shops, dope room, engine over-haul, and test blocks,  These shops can care for complete overhaul of engines and planes.  Forward of the hangar deck are quarters, mess, etc.

4. Method of operating planes.

a. Planes are spotted for the take off on the flight deck in any order desired.  Due to the restricted area, if the full complement of planes are to be used, spotting is a baborious [[laborious]] and it requires considerable moving time to change the spotting once it has been set.  With four squadrons operating, it would require at leaset [[least]] two hours to invert the order of spotting.  Therfore every effort is made to spot in the order desired, and once spotted, no