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The U.S.S. Essex was the lead ship of the largest class of aircraft carriers built by any nation. Optimized for World War II combat, 24 Essex-class ships were built, but only 15 were completed in time to see combat during the war. Surprisingly durable, Essex-class ships were modernized and served until the early 1990s when the last of them, Lexington, retired from training duties. Several have been preserved as memorials.
Essex arrived at Pearl Harbor in May, 1943 and entered combat with raids on Marcus Island in August, Wake Island in October and the Gilbert Islands in November, where she supported the landings on Tarawa, followed by the assault on the Marshalls in early 1944. In February, Essex and eight other aircraft carriers staged a two-day devastating assault on Truk, bastion of the Japanese fleet. The same carrier force struck the Marianas in late February. Essex departed the Pacific for a short overhaul in San Francisco after this raid, but was back in combat by May of 1944, hitting Wake and Marcus again before supporting the invasion of the Marianas during June - August 1944. By September, Essex was attacking Palau and Mindanao, followed by raids in the Ryukyus in October. For the remainder of 1944 she continued her frontline action, striking Okinawa and Formosa, covering the Leyte landings and taking part in the battle for Leyte Gulf (24-25 October 1944). Essex returned to Ulithi for replenishment at the end of October 1944 and then went right back into combat with attacks on Manila, during which she was hit on the port forward edge of the flight deck by one of the first kamikaze attacks, causing extensive damage and killing 15 men.
Quickly repaired, Essex continued supporting the re-capture of the Philippines and launched strikes against Formosa, Sakishima Gunto, Okinawa and Luzon in December,1944. In 1945, Essex supported the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and engaged in strikes throughout the western Pacific, including the final strikes against the Japanese mainland in July and August of 1945. Following the end of the war, Essex was placed out of commission in reserve at Bremerton, Washington.
The Korean war brought several Essex-class carriers out of reserve, including Essex herself. The ship made three combat tours in Korea, being the first carrier to launch jet aircraft on combat missions in September of 1951. Following the Korean war, Essex was modernized at Puget Sound with an angled flight deck and other improvements designed to make the ship more effective in handling jet aircraft and also capable of handling and storing nuclear weapons. Essex operated in the Pacific and Atlantic as a combat carrier until 1960, when she was modified as an anti-submarine support carrier, a role she served in until finally decommissioned on July 30, 1969. Stricken from the naval register in 1973, Essex was sold for scrap two years later in 1975. (DBoyer 2007)
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