Fleet Problem IX catches Lexington under battleship fire

Lexington was ordered to attack battleships reported twenty-two miles away, although they were actually about fifteen miles distant. The battleships emerged from a rain squall and fired before her aircraft could take off, continuing for twenty-three minutes. Short aircraft ranges and the absence of radar made such close encounters recur in the fleet problems. Lexington escaped through speed and another squall after launching aircraft under fire, but the umpires did not credit those aircraft's attacks against Black. Although the estimated damage merited a notional sinking, the umpires kept her in the exercise to preserve carrier training opportunities. They restricted flight operations for a time and reduced her speed to eighteen knots.