It would not be an exaggeration to regard the US Navy’s WWII-era Essex-class carriers as a historic bridge into what the world now understands as the age of the aircraft carrier.
The sizable vessels are floating cities that operate as symbols of national power projection and can project massive amounts of attack power from the ocean.
The arrival of the Essex-class, built with a larger deck to accommodate new kinds of emerging aircraft and a larger overall fleet size, enabled a new generation of maritime air attacks.
The timing could not have been more optimal for the US Navy, as Essex carriers were able to blast onto the scene in WWII, in position to operate new, much more capable and lethal deck-launched aircraft.
For example, the WWII era ushered in the combat arrival of several new carrier-launched aircraft, such as the highly effective Grumman F4F-3 Wildcat and Brewster F2A-3 Buffalo.
The Essex-class became so crucial to the war in the Pacific that they inspired Navy decision-makers to abandon plans for a new fleet of ultra-large massive Montana-class battleships in favor of adding more Iowa-class ships better positioned to escort and protect carriers.
Aircraft Carriers in the Pacific
The largely maritime Pacific, known for decades for its“tyranny of distance, presented significant challenges for a US force interested in projecting air and ground power from the Sea.
The necessary amount of land mass was simply unavailable, and carriers were the only way the US Navy could bring air attacks directly into combat operations.
There were no land runways or opportunities to import fixed-wing attack power in any measurable way. Yet, air support was critical in key Pacific warfare engagements such as the Battle of Midway or amphibious assault on Iwo Jima.
As many as 14 Essex-class carriers fought in WWII, and, surprisingly, none were lost to enemy attack despite being damaged on several occasions by Japanese Kamikaze attacks.
Therefore, the Essex-class carrier proved the unparalleled value of projecting power from the Sea in large-scale warfare, as US Navy ship-launched aircraft proved decisive in the Pacific.
The success of the Essex-class is a significant reason why the US Navy built as many as 24 of them, including a mixture of “short hull” and “long hull” versions.
In total, the Navy planned to build as many as 32 Essex-class ships, yet the fleet size was decreased following the end of WWII.
Heavily-Armed Essex-Class
Unlike the US Navy carriers, which “preceded” them, the Essex class was engineered and configured to carry a large, far more robust, carrier air group.
The boats were more than 60 feet longer and more than a third heavier than Yorktown-class carriers.
The larger deck space enabled aircraft launched by the Essex-class to project a much greater degree of offensive air-attack power.
The Essex-class carriers were also heavily armed with anti-aircraft guns and protected by new generations of armor, moving well beyond what was possible with the previous Yorktown-class.
The ships were also highly durable, something of great significance to a carrier because not only were no Essex-class carriers lost in the war in the Pacific, but several showed an impressive ability to sustain damage and continue operations.
For example, the USS Franklin and USS Bunker Hill were both heavily damaged by Japanese attacks, yet they were able to return home using their own power and undergo successful repairs.
The WWII performance of the Essex-Class boats arguably influenced and informed the decades that followed in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s, time periods somewhat “defined” by the power and capability of aircraft carriers.
This is likely why the US Navy and the White House have supported the idea of maintaining a substantial fleet of carriers for years and worked to sustain a large-scale protective international Naval presence.
About the Author: Kris Osborn
Kris Osborn is the Military Technology Editor of 19FortyFive and President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.
