The ten ships of the Essex class, with the thirteen closely-related Ticonderoga class carriers and the Oriskany, a highly modified sister that was the prototype of the SCB-27 modernization program, constituted the industrial age's largest class of heavy warships. In fact, a total of thirty-two was ordered, with twenty-four entering service between 1942 and 1950. Two more were cancelled while under construction and six others before their keels had been laid down.
The preceding Yorktown class carriers formed the basis from which the Essex class was developed. Intended to carry a larger air group, and unencumbered by the now-obsolete naval limitations treaties, USS Essex was over sixty feet longer, nearly ten feet beamier and more than a third heavier. A longer, wider flight deck and a deck-edge elevator facilitated more efficient aviation operations, enhancing the ships' offensive and defensive air power. Machinery arrangement and armor protection was greatly improved. These features, with the provision of more anti-aircraft guns, gave the ships much-enhanced survivability. In fact, two of them, Franklin and Bunker Hill, came home under their own power after being greviously damaged.
Their construction greatly accelerated, the Essexes and the first few Ticonderogas formed the backbone of the Navy's mobile air striking power during the climactic years of the Pacific War. With their larger contemporaries of the Midway class, these carriers sustained the Navy's air power through the rest of the 1940s, during the Korean War era and beyond. Even after the arrival of the Forrestal-type "super carriers", the Essex class and its sisters remained vital elements of naval strength. By the mid-1950s, fourteen of them of them had been modernized along the lines of Oriskany, with all but one of those being further updated under the SCB-125 program to facilitate operation of high-performance fighters and heavy attack aircraft.
Korean War and subsequent Cold War needs ensured that twenty-two of the twenty-four ships had extensive post-World War II service, all initially with attack air groups. As bigger carriers entered the fleet, seven of the Essex class and eleven Ticonderogas were reassigned to the anti-submarine warfare mission. Unmodernized ships began to leave active service in the late 1950s, but three had about a decade of additional duty as helicopter assault transports for the Marine Corps. The updated units remained active until age and budget shortfalls drove them from the high seas from the late 1960s into the middle 1970s. However, one of the very first of the type, USS Lexington, ran on until 1991 as the Navy's training carrier. She then became a museum, a new role that also employs three of her siblings, Yorktown , Intrepid, and Hornet.
The Essex class numbered ten ships, all built in
three east coast shipyards:
Essex class "as-built" design characteristics:
This page features limited pictorial coverage of Essex class aircraft carriers, as built, with links to pages concerning related classes, modified versions and individual ships.
For views of the closely-related Ticonderoga class
and the various later modifications of the design, see:
For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy fleet aircraft carriers, see: Fleet Aircraft Carriers -- Overview and Special Image Selection.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: 80-G-471017 USS Yorktown (CV-10) Operating at sea, circa mid-1943, with a TBF "Avenger" flying over her bow. This photo may have been taken during carrier trials for the SB2C "Helldiver". Most of the planes on her flight deck are of that type. Photographed by Lieutenant Commander Charles Kerlee, USNR. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 106KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 97340 USS Bon Homme Richard (CV-31) Tied up at Carrier Pier # 2, Naval Air Station, Alameda, California, on 27 October 1945. USS Commencement Bay (CVE-115) is in the right background. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-373816 USS Essex (CV-9) Underway at sea during the Okinawa Campaign, 20 May 1945. Note that her air group contains both F4U and F6F fighters. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-K-14466 (Color) USS Hornet (CV-12) Operating near Okinawa, 27 March 1945. The ship is painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 3a. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 87KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 53254 USS Intrepid (CV-11) Off Newport News, Virginia, on 16 August 1943, the day she went into commission. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 630 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-K-102 (Color) USS Lexington (CV-16) Photographed from USS Cowpens (CVL-25) during raids in the Marshalls and Gilberts Islands, November-December 1943. She is painted in camouflage Measure 21. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 600 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-367248 USS Franklin (CV-13) Operating near the Marianas, 1 August 1944. Photographed from USS Hornet (CV-12). Franklin is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 6a. At this time, Design 6a was applied only to her starboard side. She wore Design 3a on the port side. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 600 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-294131 "Murderers' Row" Third Fleet aircraft carriers at anchor in Ulithi Atoll, 8 December 1944, during a break from operations in the Philippines area. The carriers are (from front to back): USS Wasp (CV-18), USS Yorktown (CV-10), USS Hornet (CV-12), USS Hancock (CV-19) and USS Ticonderoga (CV-14). Wasp, Yorktown and Ticonderoga are all painted in camouflage Measure 33, Design 10a. Photographed from a USS Ticonderoga plane. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 600 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-221142 USS Wasp (CV-18) Underway at sea in the vicinity of Trinidad, with planes parked forward, apparently in preparation for landing aircraft, 22 February 1944. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 595 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-68097 USS Essex (CV-9) Underway at 1615 hrs. during May 1943, in position 37 05'N, 74 15'E, as photographed from a blimp from squadron ZP-14. Among the aircraft parked on her flight deck are 24 SBD scout bombers (parked aft), about 11 F6F fighters (parked in after part of the midships area) and about 18 TBF/TBM torpedo planes (parked amidships). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 138KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-419959 USS Yorktown (CV-10) Ordnancemen working on bombs amid F6F-3 "Hellcat" fighters parked on the carrier's hangar deck, circa October-December 1943. Other crewmen are watching a movie in the background. Bombs appear to include two 1000-pounders and one 500-pounder. Photographed by Lieutenant Charles Kerlee, USNR. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 111KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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For more views of Essex class aircraft carriers,
see:
For views of the closely-related Ticonderoga class
and the various later modifications of the design, see:
For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy fleet aircraft carriers, see: Fleet Aircraft Carriers -- Overview and Special Image Selection.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 24 September 2001
Caption corrected and coding updated 9 June 2006