Essex-class aircraft carrier

USS Philippine Sea (CVA-47) underway in 1955
Class overview
Name	Essex class
Builders	Newport News Shipbuilding Fore River Shipyard Brooklyn Navy Yard Philadelphia Naval Shipyard Norfolk Naval Shipyard
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Yorktown class USS Wasp (CV-7)
Succeeded by	Midway class
Subclasses	Ticonderoga class
Cost	US$68–78 million (1942)[1]
Built	1941–1950
In commission	1942–1991
Planned	32
Completed	24
Cancelled	8
Retired	24
Preserved	USS Yorktown (CV-10) USS Intrepid (CV-11) USS Hornet (CV-12) USS Lexington (CV-16)
General characteristics (all stats as built)
Type	Aircraft carrier
Displacement	Standard: 30,800 long tons (31,300 t) Full load: 36,380 long tons (36,960 t)
Length	872 ft (265.8 m) oa (short-bow units) 888 ft (270.7 m) oa (long-bow units)
Beam	93 ft (28.3 m) wl 147.5 ft (45.0 m) max
Draft	27.5 ft (8.4 m)
Installed power	8 Babcock & Wilcox boilers 150,000 shp (110,000 kW)
Propulsion	Westinghouse geared turbines 4 × screw propellers
Speed	33 knots (37 mph 60.6 km/h)
Range	20,000 nmi (37,000 km) at 15 kn (28 km/h)
Complement	268 officers, 2,363 enlisted
Sensors and processing systems	1 × SK air-search radar 1 × SC air-search radar 2 × SG surface-search radar 1 × SM fighter-direction radar (later units) 2 × Mk 4 fire-control radar (earlier units) 2 × Mk 12 fire-control radar (later units) 2 × Mk 22 height-finding radar (later units) 10–17 × Mk 51 AA directors
Armament	12 × 5-inch (127 mm) /38 caliber guns 32 to 72 × 40 mm Bofors guns 55 to 76 × 20 mm Oerlikon cannon
Armor	Belt: 2.5–4 in (64–102 mm) on .75 in (19 mm) STS Decks: 2.5 in (64 mm) STS hangar deck; 1.5 in (38 mm) STS 4th deck
Aircraft carried	90–100
Notes	[2]

The Essex class is a retired 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. Fourteen saw combat during World War II. None were lost to enemy action, though several sustained crippling damage due to kamikaze attacks. Essex-class carriers were the backbone of the U.S. Navy from mid-1943 and, with the three Midway-class carriers added just after the war, continued to be the heart of U.S. naval strength until supercarriers joined the fleet in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Several of the carriers were rebuilt to handle heavier and faster aircraft of the early jet age, and some served until well after the Vietnam War. Of the 24 ships in the class, four of the carriers: Yorktown, Hornet, Lexington, and Intrepid, have been preserved as museum ships.