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 (CV-9). Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in April 1941; launched in July 1942; commissioned in December 1942.

Yorktown (CV-10) (name changed from Bon Homme Richard in September 1942). Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in December 1941; launched in January 1943; commissioned in April 1943.

Intrepid (CV-11). Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in Decenber 1941; launched in April 1943; commissioned in August 1943.

Hornet (CV-12) (name changed from Kearsarge in January 1943) . Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in August 1942; launched in August 1943; commissioned in November 1943.

Franklin (CV-13). Built by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company, Newport News, Virginia. Keel laid in December 1942; launched in October 1943; commissioned in January 1944.

Lexington (CV-16) (name changed from Cabot in June 1942). Built by the Bethlehem Steel Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. Keel laid in July 1941; launched in September 1942; commissioned in February 1943.

Bunker Hill (CV-17). Built by the Bethlehem Steel Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. Keel laid in September 1941; launched in December 1942; commissioned in May 1943.

Wasp (CV-18) (name changed from Oriskany in November 1942). Built by the Bethlehem Steel Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. Keel laid in March 1942; launched in August 1943; commissioned in November 1943.

Bennington (CV-20). Built by the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Keel laid in December 1942; launched in February 1944; commissioned in August 1944.

Bon Homme Richard (CV-31). Built by the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York. Keel laid in February 1943; launched in April 1944; commissioned in November 1944.


Essex class "as-built" design characteristics:


Displacement: 27,100 tons (standard)

Dimensions: 872' (length overall); 93' (hull); 147' 6" (over flight deck and projections)

Powerplant: 150,000 horsepower, steam turbines, four propellers, 33 knot maximum speed

Aircraft (average operational complement, October 1944): 90 planes, including 38 F6F day fighters, 4 F6F night fighters, 27 SB2C scout-bombers, 18 TBM torpedo planes, 3 F6F photographic planes.
Gun Armament: Twelve 5"/38 guns in four twin and four single mountings plus a large (and variable) number of 40mm and 20mm machine guns.