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USS Essex CV-9 Aircraft Carrier
The USS ESSEX was the lead ship of the Essex Class of aircraft carriers and the fourth ship in the Navy to bear the name. 
Building of USS Essex CV-9The keel of the Essex CV-9 was laid in the spring of 1941 by the Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) in Virginia. It was commissioned on December 31, 1942 and reached the Pacific Fleet in August 1943.
Improvements on this first of the Essex Class of carriers over the Yorktown Class included more armor protection, better facilities for handling ammunition, safer and greater fueling capacity and more effective damage-control equipment. These new carriers did not abide by the post WWI 1922 Five-Power Treaty. The Essex displaced over 27,000 tons dry and over 40,000 tons loaded. The CV-9 was built with a flight deck of 862 feet and hanger deck of 654 feet. When the Essex first went to sea it carried about 90 aircraft comprising of 36 fighters, 37 dive-bombers and 18 torpedo-bombers. Aviation fuel capacity was 240,000 gallons. There was no flight deck catapult and initial plans for a transverse hanger deck catapult were dropped during building. A port flight deck catapult and SK and SC air search radar and Mk 4 fire control radars were added later. Most early WWII aircraft did not need a catapult to takeoff.
CV-9 had a crew of 268 officers and 2363 men. Other specifications in 1943 were 1 deck-edge elevator, 2 centerline elevators, draft of 30.8 feet, top speed of 33 knots, Propulsion system: 8 boilers, Propellers: four, 150,000 shp (110 MW), 4 arresting cables, 12 5-inch (12.7 cm) 38 caliber guns, 32 40mm guns and 44 20mm guns.
Flight Deck ESSEX 1943
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 3rd 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 38.3 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). She returned to the United States shortly after Japan's surrender and was placed out of commission in January 1947.
Reconstructed to SCB-27A design by the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Work began in February 1949; recommissioned in January 1951. Designated SCB-27, the modernization was very extensive, requiring some two years. To handle much heavier, faster aircraft, flight deck structure was massively reinforced. Stronger elevators, much more powerful catapults, and new arresting gear was installed. The original four twin 5"/38 gun mounts were removed. The new five-inch gun battery consisted of eight weapons, two on each quarter beside the flight deck. Twin 3"/50 gun mounts replaced the 40mm guns, offering much greater effectiveness through the use of proximity-fuzed ammunition.
A distinctive new feature was a taller, smaller island. To better protect aircrews, ready rooms were moved to below the armored hangar deck, with a large escalator on the starboard side amidships to move airmen up to the flight deck. Internally, aviation gasoline storage was increased by nearly half and its pumping capacity enhanced. Also improved were electrical generating power, fire protection, and weapons stowage and handling facilities. All this added considerable weight: displacement increased by some twenty percent. Blisters were fitted to the hull sides to compensate, widening waterline beam by eight to ten feet. The ships also sat lower in the water, and maximum speed was slightly diminished.
The Essex made two Korean War deployments, in August 1951 - March 1952 and in July 1952 - January 1953, introducing the F2H "Banshee" jet fighter to combat operations. ENS Neil Armstrong flying combat missions off the Essex in a F9F-2 Panther 125122 Squadron VF-51 sliced through a cable strung by the North Koreans expressly for the purpose of bringing down aircraft. Aircraft lost elevator control but was able to fly back to K-3 and pilot bailed out Sep 3, 1951. Pilot Armstrong later was the first man to walk on the Moon.
Her designation was changed to CVA-9 in October 1, 1952. Following the Korean armistice, she went to the Western Pacific twice more, in 1953-54.
Received SCB-125 refit in 1955-56 Emerging from the shipyard in 1956 with a new angled flight deck and enclosed "hurricane"bow, Essex was now able to safely operate high-performance aircraft. After another WestPac deployment, she was transferred to the Atlantic Fleet in mid-1957. She participated in the Lebanon intervention in mid-1958 where her pilots flew 2780 reconnaissance missions. Then she steamed through the Suez Canal to the Western Pacific to operate in the Taiwan area patrolling the Formosa Straits to counter Red China threats in the Second Taiwan Strait Crisis.
On March 8, 1960, the Essex became CVS 9 an anti-submarine warfare support aircraft carrier.
By Don Roberts “Three Navy Commanders got us together and said you will never talk about what we’re doing for the rest of your life or you’re going to a federal prison, So, I kept my mouth shut for 35 years.”
The Essex set sail March 6, 1961, from its port at Quonset Point, R.I. The ship’s usual mission was to cruise the East Coast with its destroyer escorts and search for Soviet submarines. Stopping in Norfolk, Va., the Essex took on larger than usual supplies of food and ammunition. High ranking Navy, Army and Air Force brass held late-night meetings aboard ship. The ship also took on a supply of jet fuel, unusual since the Essex carried only propeller-driven aircraft. But the cargo that really got Roberts’s attention was 200 aluminum caskets. The Essex set out from Norfolk April 2. As the ship neared Jacksonville, Fla., the Navy’s new A-4 attack jets arrived. In the pre-dawn hours of April 15, jets began launching from the Essex’s deck. In the next days, bodies were spotted in the water and were brought aboard. Smoke could be seen rising just over the horizon from Cuba. Over the next several days, the crew listened as CIA operatives stationed on the Isle of Pines (now known as the Isle of Youth) pleaded for more air support. By April 27, it was over. The Essex returned to Quonset Point May 2.
On Oct. 24, 1962 USS Essex (CVS 9) along with the carriers CVS 15, CVAN 65 and CVA 62 took position as part of the Naval Quarantine of Cuba, as imposed by order of President John F. Kennedy following the discovery of offensive nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba, placed there by the Soviet Union. Quote from Sea Stories By William Fouts "The Essex (CVS-9) arrived in GITMO in early Oct 1962 for shakedown from the Yard. The following morning we were underway setting up the Cuban Blockade. We were the Command Ship for that task until relieved by the USS Ranger. We were on the Blockade for a total of 31 days and then returned to our home port of Quonset Point, R.I."
Apollo 7: The Essex picked up Mission Commander Walter M. Schirra, Command Module Pilot Donn F. Eisele, and Lunar Module Pilot R. Walter Cunningham on 2 October 1968 after a splashdown north of Puerto Rico.
ESSEX was decommissioned 30 June 1969. She was stricken from the Navy List on 1 June 1973, and sold by the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) for scrapping 1 June 1975.
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