One of the best places to visit in Corpus Christi, the historic USS Lexington aircraft carrier-turned-museum offers exciting and entertaining adventures along with its fascinating exhibits. Guests can spend a day (or even a night) learning about naval history through escape rooms, flight simulations, 3D movies, guided and self-guided tours, virtual battle stations, overnight campouts, and more.

One of the most popular tours is a self-guided flight deck experience, which offers an up-close look at 20 National Naval Aviation Museum aircraft, anti-aircraft guns, landing gear, and the navigation bridge.

During World War II, the original aircraft carrier USS Lexington, launched in 1925, was sunk by the Japanese in the Battle of the Coral Sea. That episode of the sinking of the Lexington occurred on May 8, 1942. Within a year, the US Navy already had a new USS Lexington aircraft carrier in service, the CV-16. This ship was launched on September 23, 1942 and its entry into service took place on February 17, 1943.

Initially it was going to be called USS Cabot but its name was changed in memory of the sunken aircraft carrier, and as a sign of the fast recovery capacity of the US.

After fighting in the Pacific Theater, once World War II ended, he was withdrawn from service on April 23, 1947.

In 1953 it entered a modernization process to be able to operate jet fighters. An oblique landing strip and steam catapults to launch the planes were fitted to it, and the ship's island was remodeled. After that process, it returned to service on August 15, 1955, being converted into a training aircraft carrier in 1969 (in order to train US Navy and Marine pilots). He continued to serve for 22 more years until he was definitively retired on November 8, 1991.