However on 32 ships ordered, at V-Day, only 17 saw service, most mothballed after WW2 and the remainder unfinished being completed on a new design inaugurated by USS Oriskany.
Thanks to this, they transitioned to jet service, and soldiered on in Kore and Vietnam, the last being deactivated afterwards, and some lingering into the s, four ultimaterly preserved. They contituted the bedrock of USN carrier operations for close to four decades. Between the wars they projected U. In all, 17 ships entered service, some were bvadly damaged in operations kamikzae attacks and⦠typhoon Cobra which showed the value of a hurricane bow. The Essex class were originally just improved Yorktown class carriers when first thought of in September as the started of the war made irrelevant all naval limitations treaties.
Final plan approved for CV-9, September This went for other modifications such as a better armour with the new STS steel composite, more secured avgaz tanks and ammunition, pumps and fuel lines, fireproofing of the hangar, more and heavier lifts and catapults to adapt to upcoming models. When ordered in July , just a month after BuShips was created, based on a still very reasonable 27, tonnes standard making them lighter than the CV-2 class Lexington.
Of this 32 carriers program it was believed the first would be commissioned by late or early and the president approve the suggestion of converting ten available light cruiser hulls into light fleet carriers as an interim. She would not entered service for a few months however, and the whole class really reached its zenith in with at least ten operational and other about to be.
In September however, the whole program was cancelled, leaving more than a dozen ships in the slipways, in various stages of completion, inclusing pre-launch stage in various yards. This left some though decisions about either completing these ships or sent then to the scrapyard. The CVLs light interim carriers were of far less utility and apart conversions, they acted as helicopter carriers like surviving CVEs and were retired before the Vietnam war. But the large Essex class were just oo valuable to be scrapped.
