The Essex class was a class of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. The 20th century's most numerous class of capital ship, the class consisted of 24 vessels, which came in "short-hull" and "long-hull" versions. Thirty-two ships were ordered, but as World War II wound down, six were canceled before construction, and two were canceled after construction had begun. No Essex-class ships were lost to enemy action even though several sustained crippling damage. The Essex-class carriers were the backbone of the U.S. Navy's combat strength during World War II from mid-1943 on, and, along with the three Midway-class carriers added just after the war, continued to be the heart of U.S. naval strength until the supercarriers came into the fleet in numbers during the 1960s and 1970s.
The preceding Yorktown-class aircraft carriers and the designers' list of trade-offs and limitations forced by arms control treaty obligations shaped the Essex class’ development – a design sparked by the Japanese and Italian repudiation of the limitations proposed in the 1936 revision of the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 (as updated in October 1930 in the London Naval Treaty). Effectively, this rejection allowed all five signatories to resume the interrupted naval arms race of the 1920s in early 1937.
At the time of the repudiations, both Italy and Japan had colonial ambitions, intending on or already conducting military conquests. With the demise of the treaty limitations and the growing tensions in Europe, naval planners were free to apply both the lessons they had learned operating carriers for fifteen years and those of operating the Yorktown-class carriers to the newer design.
Designed to carry a larger air group, and unencumbered by the latest in a succession of pre-war naval treaty limits, Essex was over sixty feet longer, nearly ten feet wider, and more than a third heavier. A longer, wider flight deck and a deck-edge elevator (which had proven successful in the one-off USS Wasp (CV-7)) facilitated more efficient aviation operations, enhancing the ship's offensive and defensive air power.
Machinery arrangement and armor protection were greatly improved from previous designs. These features, plus the provision of more anti-aircraft guns, gave the ships much enhanced survivability. In fact, during the war, none of the Essex-class carriers was lost and two, USS Franklin (CV-13) and USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), came home under their own power and were successfully repaired even after receiving extremely heavy damage. Some ships in the class would serve until well after the end of the Vietnam War and newer classes, including supercarriers, had been introduced. More details
At the time of the repudiations, both Italy and Japan had colonial ambitions, intending on or already conducting military conquests. With the demise of the treaty limitations and the growing tensions in Europe, naval planners were free to apply both the lessons they had learned operating carriers for fifteen years and those of operating the Yorktown-class carriers to the newer design.
Designed to carry a larger air group, and unencumbered by the latest in a succession of pre-war naval treaty limits, Essex was over sixty feet longer, nearly ten feet wider, and more than a third heavier. A longer, wider flight deck and a deck-edge elevator (which had proven successful in the one-off USS Wasp (CV-7)) facilitated more efficient aviation operations, enhancing the ship's offensive and defensive air power.
Machinery arrangement and armor protection were greatly improved from previous designs. These features, plus the provision of more anti-aircraft guns, gave the ships much enhanced survivability. In fact, during the war, none of the Essex-class carriers was lost and two, USS Franklin (CV-13) and USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), came home under their own power and were successfully repaired even after receiving extremely heavy damage. Some ships in the class would serve until well after the end of the Vietnam War and newer classes, including supercarriers, had been introduced. More details