displacement: 27,100 tons
length: 872 feet
beam: 93 feet; extreme width at flight deck: 147½ feet
draft: 28 feet 7 inches
speed: 33 knots
complement: 3,448 crew
armament: 12 five-inch guns
class: Essex
The fourth Essex (CV-9) was launched 31 July 1942 by Newport News
Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. sponsored by Mrs. Artemus L. Gates, wife of
the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air; and commissioned 31 December
1942, Captain D. B. Duncan command ing. She was reclassified (CVA-9) on 1
October 1952, and (CVS-9) on 8 March 1960.
Following her shakedown cruise Essex sailed to the Pacific in May
1943 to begin a succession of victories which would bring her to Tokyo Bay.
Departing Pearl Harbor, she participated with Task Force 16 (TF 16) in carrier
operations against Marcus Island (31 August 1943); was designated flagship
of TF 14 and struck Wake Island (5-6 October); launched an attack with Task
Group 50.3 (TG 50.3) against the Gilbert Islands where she also took part
in her first amphibious assault, the landing on Tarawa (18-23 November).
Refueling at sea, she cruised as flagship of TG 50.3 to attack Kwajalein
(4 December). Her second amphibious assault delivered in company with TG
58.2 was against the Marshalls (29 January-2 February 1944).
Essex in TG 68.2 now joined with TG 58.1 and 58.3, to constitute the
most formidable carrier striking force to date, in launching an attack against
Truk (17-18 February 1944) during which eight Japanese ships were sunk. En
route to the Marianas to sever Japanese supply lines, the carrier force was
detected and received a prolonged aerial attack which it repelled in a
businesslike manner and then continued with the scheduled attack upon Saipan,
Tinian and Guam (23 February).
After this operation Essex proceeded to San Francisco for her single
wartime overhaul. She then joined carriers USS Wasp (CV-18) and USS
San Jacinto (CVL-30) in TG 12.1 to strike Marcus Island (19-20 May 1944)
and Wake (23 May). She deployed with TF 58 to support the occupation of the
Marianas (12 June-10 August); sortied with TG 38.3 to lead an attack against
the Palau Islands (6-8 September), and Mindanao (9-10 September) with enemy
shipping as the main target, and remained in the area to support landings
on Peleliu. On 2 October 1944, she weathered a typhoon and 4 days later departed
with TF 38 for the Ryukyus.
For the remainder of 1944 she continued her frontline action, participating
in strikes against Okinawa (10 October), and Formosa (12-14 October), covering
the Leyte landings, taking part in the battle for Leyte Gulf (24-25 October),
and continuing the search for enemy fleet units until 30 October when she
returned to Ulithi, Caroline Islands, for replenishment. She resumed the
offensive and delivered attacks on Manila and the northern Philippine Islands
during November. On 25 November, for the first time in her far-ranging operations
and destruction to the enemy, Essex received injury. A kamikaze hit
the port edge of her flight deck landing among planes gassed for takeoff,
causing extensive damage, killing 15, and wounding 44.
This "cramped her style" very little. Following quick repairs we find her
with 3d Fleet off Luzon supporting the occupation of Mindoro (14-16 December).
She rode out the typhoon of 18 December 1944 and made special search for
survivors afterwards. With TG 3 8.3 she participated in the Lingayen Gulf
operations, launched strikes against Formosa, Sakishima, Okinawa, and Luzon.
Entering the South China Sea in search of enemy surface forces, the task
force pounded shipping and conducted strikes on Formosa, the China coast,
Hainan, and Hong Kong. Essex withstood the onslaught of the third
typhoon in four months (20-21 January 1945) before striking again at Formosa,
Miyako Shima and Okinawa (26-27 January).
During the remainder of the war she operated with TF 58, conducting attacks
against the Tokyo area (16-17, and 25 February) both to neutralize the enemy's
airpower before the landings on Iwo Jima and to cripple the aircraft
manufacturing industry. She sent support missions against Iwo Jima and
neighboring islands, but from 23 March to 28 May 1945 was employed primarily
to support the conquest of Okinawa.
In the closing days of the war, Essex took part in the final telling
raids against the Japanese home islands (10 July-15 August 1945). Following
the surrender, she continued defensive combat air patrols until 3 September
when she was ordered to Bremerton, Wash., for inactivation. On 9 January
1947, she was placed out of commission in reserve.
Modernization endowed Essex with a new flight deck, and a streamlined
island superstructure, on 16 January 1951 when recommissioned, Captain A.
W. Wheelock commanding.
After a brief cruise in Hawaiian waters she began the first of three tours
in Far Eastern waters during the Korean war. She served as flagship for Carrier
Division 1 and TF 77. She was the first carrier to launch F2H Banshee
twinjet fighters on combat missions; on 16 September 1951 one of these planes,
damaged in combat, crashed into aircraft parked on the forward flight deck
causing an explosion and fire which killed seven. After repairs at Yokosuka
she returned to frontline action on 3 October to launch strikes up to the
Yalu River and provide close air support for U.N. troops.
On 1 December 1953 she started her final tour of the war, sailing the China
Sea with the Peace Patrol. From November 1954 to June 1955 she engaged in
training exercises, operated for three months with the 7th Fleet, assisted
in the Tachen Islands evacuation, and engaged in air operations and fleet
manuevers off Okinawa.
In July 1955 Essex entered Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for repairs
and extensive alterations, including installation of an angled flight deck.
Modernization completed, she rejoined the Pacific Fleet in March 1956. For
the next 14 months the carrier operated off the west coast, except for a
six-months cruise with the 7th Fleet in the Far East. Ordered to join the
Atlantic Fleet for the first time in her long career, she sailed from San
Diego on 21 June 1957, rounded Cape Horn, and arrived in Mayport, Fla., on
1 August.
In the fall of 1957 Essex participated as an anti-submarine carrier
in the NATO exercises, Strike Back, and in February 1958 deployed
with the 6th Fleet until May when she shifted to the eastern Mediterranean.
Alerted to the Middle East crisis on 14 July 1958 she sped to support the
U.S. Peace Force landing in Beirut, Lebanon, launching reconnaissance and
patrol missions until 20 August. Once again she was ordered to proceed to
Asian waters, and transitted the Suez Canal to arrive in the Taiwan operational
area where she joined TF 77 in conducting flight operations in the Formosa
Straits during the PROC's shelling of Quemoy and Matsu islands before rounding
the Horn and proceeding back to Mayport.
Essex joined with the 2d Fleet and British ships in Atlantic exercises
and with NATO forces in the eastern Mediterranean during the fall of 1959.
In December she aided victims of a disastrous flood at Frejus, France.
In the spring of 1960 she was converted into an ASW Support Carrier and was
thereafter homeported at Quonset Point, R.I. She operated as flagship of
Carrier Division 18 and Antisubmarine Carrier Group Three. She conducted
rescue and salvage operations off the New Jersey coast for a downed blimp;
cruised with midshipmen, and was deployed on NATO and CENTO exercises. In
November 1960, she joined the French navy in Operation Jet Stream.
Essex was decommissioned 30 Jun 1969. She was stricken from the Navy
List on 1 Jun 1973, and sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service
(DRMS) for scrapping 1 Jun 1975.
Essex received the Presidential Unit Citation, and 13 battle stars
for World War II service; four battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation
for Korean war service.
