USS Essex (CV-9)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Essex.

USS Essex in June 1967
History
United States
NameEssex
NamesakeUSS Essex (1799)[citation needed]
Ordered3 July 1940
BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding
Laid down28 April 1941
Launched31 July 1942
Commissioned31 December 1942
Decommissioned9 January 1947
Recommissioned15 January 1951
Decommissioned30 June 1969
Reclassified
  • CVA-9, October 1952
  • CVS-9, March 1960
Stricken1 June 1973
FateScrapped, 1973
General characteristics
Class and typeEssex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement
Length
  • 820 feet (249.9 m) (wl)
  • 872 feet (265.8 m) (o/a)
Beam93 ft (28.3 m)
Draft34 ft 2 in (10.41 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range14,100 nmi (26,100 km; 16,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement2,600 officers and enlisted men
Armament
Armor
Aircraft carried

USS Essex (CV/CVA/CVS-9) was an aircraft carrier and the lead ship of the 24-ship Essex class built for the United States Navy during World War II. She was the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in December 1942, Essex participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning the Presidential Unit Citation and 13 battle stars. Decommissioned shortly after the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), eventually becoming an antisubmarine aircraft carrier (CVS). In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, playing a role in the Cuban Missile Crisis. She also participated in the Korean War, earning four battle stars and the Navy Unit Commendation. She was the primary recovery carrier for the Apollo 7 space mission.

She was decommissioned for the last time in 1969 and sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service for scrap on 1 June 1973.[1]

  1. ^ "USS Essex (CV-9)". U.S. Navy. 11 June 2009. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.