First of twenty-four: the Essex

A ship designed without a treaty

USS Essex (CV-9) was laid down at Newport News, Virginia, on 28 April 1941, before the United States was at war. She was launched on 31 July 1942 and commissioned on 31 December 1942, with Captain Donald B. Duncan in command.

She was the first of a new kind of fleet carrier. The earlier Yorktown-class ships had been designed under the limits of the naval treaties. Essex was designed after those limits fell away, and she was larger, better protected and able to carry more aircraft. The Navy ordered many more of her design. By NHHC's count, 24 ships of the Essex class were eventually commissioned, more than any other class of U.S. fleet carrier.

A photograph from May 1943

Among the official U.S. Navy photographs held by the National Archives is one catalogued as 80-G-68097. According to the original Navy caption, as preserved by the Naval Historical Center, it was taken at 1615 in May 1943 from a blimp of airship squadron ZP-14. Navy blimps flew patrols and escort work along the Atlantic coast, and from that vantage point the photographer looked down on the whole length of the new carrier as she ran at sea.

The same caption counts what was parked on her flight deck: 24 SBD Dauntless scout bombers aft, about 11 F6F Hellcat fighters in the after part of the midships area, and about 18 TBF/TBM Avenger torpedo planes amidships. Every one of those aircraft had a pilot, and many had a gunner and radioman. Every one needed plane handlers, ordnancemen, mechanics and a flight deck crew who worked them in all weather.

That month, after an accelerated shakedown cruise, Essex sailed for the Pacific.

Into the Pacific

Her war began in earnest with the strike on Marcus Island at the end of August 1943, and it went on for the rest of the war. Essex took part in the fighting that carried the fleet across the Central Pacific and toward Japan. For World War II service she received the Presidential Unit Citation and 13 battle stars.

Her first air groups flew aircraft much like the ones in that May 1943 photograph. In time, newer models and new squadrons took their place, but the ship's work stayed the same: launch, recover, rearm, and do it again.

A long second life

Essex did not end her career in 1945. She earned four more battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation for Korean War service. In October 1968 she was the prime recovery carrier for Apollo 7, the first crewed Apollo flight. She was decommissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 30 June 1969.

Why the first ship matters

A lead ship carries a particular weight. Her crew learn the problems the yard did not foresee, and the ships that follow benefit from their reports. The class that followed Essex became the backbone of the Navy's carrier force for the rest of the war and long afterward.

When we look at that photograph from 1943, we see a ship at the start of a long career and a crew who did not yet know what lay ahead.

Our Essex Flat-Tops collection is made in honor of the class, and the crews who served in them.

Harborborne is an independent brand and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Navy or Department of Defense.