Essex (CVA 9) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 9 text:

; I I To lon| sleep and aeep silence tney have |one, Deep amon trie never tot|otten. Carl Sandburg i fiUr Stf.iaJ.-on 6 t, QUarcfi 9, 1955 i.;.ile.i(irit fi.inurr tirade) Q i.s in vnarleA tl ' alt ?rA, llo)t CtJv t iuiiitfr c ' un.ulron 6-V, CfprU 15 1955

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lo our ship — her purpose is peace, her metliod is power ; And her crew — as shipmates excel, so the ship excels; And their country — with liberty and justice for all ; And those who waited at home — with love and patience for our safe return; J. his book is dedicated.

Page 10 text:

The present ESSEX is the first aircraft carrier of her class, the fourth man-of-war to carry a name which has been written in the annals of United States naval history from 1799 to the present time. Named for Essex county in Massachusetts, the first ESSEX was completed on September 30, 1799, at a cost of | 139,362. 141 feet in length, she could have been neatly stowed into one corner of the hangar deck. During her three cruises, she became the first U. S. man-of-war to double the Cape of Good Hope and a unit of the first squadron ever sent by the U. S. to the Mediterranean. Under the command of Captain David Porter during the War of 1812, the ESSEX reached Valparaiso, Chile, on her third cruise in March, 1813, being the first man-of-war to show our flag in the Pacific. She raised havoc in the Pacific, capturing 12 of 20 British whalers reported on the West Coast. One of the prizes taken, a small ship with 20 light guns, was renamed the ESSEX JUNIOR and utilized as an auxiliary. Late in March of 1814 both ships were finally captured by the British frigate PHOEBE and sloop CHERUB off Valparaiso, the ESSEX JUNIOR being per- mitted to convey the Americans back to New York. The second ESSEX was originally a ferry boat called the NEW ARA, built in 1856 and purchased for $20,000 on September 20, 1861. She was converted into an ironclad center wheel steamer and placed under the command of Captain David D. Porter, son of the famed skipper of the previous ESSEX. The second ESSEX saw action during the Civil War on the side of the Union. In one engagement she sighted the C. S. Ram ARKANSAS, which the Confederates hastily beached and burned without giving battle on August 6, 1862. The second ESSEX was sold at public auction in November, 1865. A wooden screw steamer, the third ESSEX was commissioned in 1876. Her career was as quiet as the times. She cruised to Africa and Asia, then was used as an apprentice training ship until placed out of commission in April, 1898. Recalled to duty during World War I, the ESSEX was used as a training ship until sold and stricken from the Navy List in 1930. The keel of the present ESSEX was laid in April, 1941, and she was launched July 31, 1942, at a cost of approximately $69,000,000, over 500 times greater than the cost of the first ESSEX. Mrs . Artemus L. Gates, wife of the then Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, sponsored the launching. Rushed to completion to bolster naval striking power in the Pacific, the ESSEX was commissioned December 31, 1942, at Norfolk Navy Yard. In a terse message to his officers and men the ship ' s skipper. Captain D. B. Duncan, said, It is my intention and expec- tation that between us we shall make the name of ESSEX carry fear and destruction to our enemies, with praise to our friends, and be an everlasting credit to our country and our flag. -. ' :;:. .: