ORIGINAL: rustysi
Could've been the result of av-gas fumes that had spread throughout the ship. At least that's the way I've heard it.
Ther e was a board of enquiry afterwards by the USN to determine why the Lexington caught fire so quickly and burned out of control when the damage it sustained from the IJN attack should have been survivable.
Nobody was blamed but the main problem was identified as follows :
Being an early conversion from a Battle Cruiser, the ship had large av-gas tanks built into its integral structure, and not separate too but supported by the box-like structure (which all pure CV's had).
It was the whip derived by the near misses and not the actual damage which caused the ship to buckle from the shock waves, and the vulnerable av-gas tanks to crack and fracture. Leakages were quickly plugged, but fumes began to spread throughouth the ship.
There was a n unconfirmed report submitted to the board of enquiry that, to rid the ship of its lethal fumes, all the doors and hatches were opened and fans set up to ventilate as many spaces as possible. Apparently one fan began to spark through faulty wiring which caused the initial explosion, although this has always remained unconfirmed.
The ship was still largely outfitted to a peace-time standard, with many inflammable fittings which quickly caught ablaze.
The board of enquiry recommended a lot of damage control training for all ship personnel in as realistic conditions as possible.
Secondly, it recommended the use of inert gasses to purge the av-gas pipes and hoses whenever an air-raid was detected.
Finally it recommended to get rid of all inflammable fittings on board the ships (including the life-vests) and replace with non-inflammable ones. In many cases this meant lots of lining and use of asbestos wherever possible!
It did nothing about the wooden flight decks or the largea mount of wood used in the panelling and building of the ships internal structure, which was specifically to keep weight down and the number of aircraft carried, up.