Lexington and aviation-fuel vapors

At the Battle of the Coral Sea, Lexington absorbed two torpedo hits and bomb damage, shifted fuel across the ship to correct her list, and continued recovering aircraft before launching a replacement combat air patrol. One torpedo ruptured aviation-fuel storage, while the other damaged the water main and flooded machinery spaces. Sparks ignited undetected gasoline vapour at 12:47, disabling the principal damage-control station and the refuelling system even though flight operations continued. Further explosions started severe hangar fires, disrupted electrical power, and destroyed water pressure until machinery spaces had to be evacuated. The crew abandoned the carrier in an orderly evacuation, and Phelps later sank the still-floating ship with torpedoes. British leak monitoring, automatic fuel drawdown, and different tank positioning offered preventive measures, while recognized American remedies had been delayed by the bureau system. Lexington's battlecruiser origins also constrained the position of aviation equipment within the hull. The immediate damage-control response kept the ship operating, but it could not arrest a fuel-vapour hazard that had gone undetected.