The Essex class aircraft carrier was one of a series of twenty four capital ships in service with the US Navy between 1942 and 1991. They were used during World War II and the Cold War. Being more advanced than the Yorktown class that preceded them, they provided the United States of America with the powerful striking force it needed to win the war in the Pacific. After the war, they were modernized, with a new propulsion system, radars, and a larger flight deck. The last one to be decommissioned from service was the USS Lexington (CV-16) in 1991.
The Essex class aircraft carriers formed the core of the US Navy's Fast Carrier Task Force, which played a major part in the defeat of the Japanese fleet in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The design was essentially an enlarged Yorktown, unrestrained by the Washington Naval Treaty restrictions. The Essex class was built in three groups: Group 1 comprised 5 ships; Group 2, 18 ships; and Group 3, only 1 ship, totaling 24 aircraft carriers. The original plan was to build 32 ships, but 8 were cancelled in March 1945 as the United States was already winning the war.
Although they were involved in major combat actions, none of the Essex class aircraft carriers was lost during the war. Some of them had been damaged by kamikaze attacks, but they were repaired and put back into action. The USS Franklin was hit by two 500-lb (225-kg) bombs on March 19, 1945. These bombs penetrated the flight deck, landing on the hangar deck, causing fuel to explode, but the carrier did not sink. It would later be repaired.
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| Above, the USS Intrepid (CV-11) sailing off the coast of the Philippines at the end of 1944. |
The aircraft carriers of the Essex class
The USS Essex (CV-9), the lead ship of the class, was commissioned in December 1942. The USS Yorktown (CV-10); Intrepid (CV-11); Hornet (CV-12); Franklin (CV-13); Ticonderoga (CV-14); Randolph (CV-15); Lexington (CV-16); Bunker Hill (CV-17); Wasp (CV-18); Hancock (CV-19); Benington (CV-20); Boxer (CV-21); Bon Homme Richard (CV-31); Leyte (CV-32); Kearsarge (CV-33).
Technical Description
The Essex class carrier was of convention design, with a long, unobstructed flight deck, an open bow, and a large island to starboard. This included the funnel, which was smaller than the ones in previous carriers. The Essex class carriers also had much better protection than the ones that preceded them. They had an additional armored deck at the hangar level, but it still did not have an armored flight deck as in the British Royal Navy carriers. The flight deck was fitted with two catapults. The carriers were equipped with three large elevators, with one of them being a deck-edge elevator, which proved extremely useful and popular. They had a heavy defensive armament, such as twelve 127-mm AA guns. During World War II, each one of them carried 36 fighters, 36 dive-bombers, and 18 torpedo-bombers, totaling 90 aircraft aboard.
In the postwar period, the Essex class carriers underwent a complicated series of modifications and rebuilds, almost all of them aimed at trying to keep pace with the introduction with ever larger and heavier jet aircraft. These modifications included an angled flight deck, new steam catapult, and new and more powerful propulsion systems, with new high-pressure boilers and geared steam turbines. The upgrade allowed some of these carriers to take part in the Vietnam War.
Specifications (original design)
Type: aircraft carrier
Displacement: 27,208 tons (standard); 34,881 tons (full load)
Length: 265 m (872 feet)
Beam: 45 m (147.5 feet)
Draft: 8.4 m (27.7 feet)
Propulsion System: 4 Westinghouse geared steam turbines, with 4 shafts, and 8 boilers, generating 150,000 sHP.
Maximum Speed: 32.7 knots
Range: 14,100 nautical miles (26,110 km)
Armament: twelve 127-mm (5-inch) and thirty two 40-mm AA guns.
Aircraft: 90
Compliment: 2,682 sailors, officers, and pilots
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| The USS Essex (CV-9), the first of the series and lead ship of her class. |
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| The USS Lexington (CV-16), fully modernized and upgraded, with an angled flight deck. |