Essex (CVS 9) - Naval Cruise Book

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A LEGEND IS BORN

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FOREWORD AS THIS QJUNTRY HAS GROWN, SO HAS GROWN THE LEGEND OF ESSEX - A LEGEND SPANNING TWO CENTURIES: ENDURING THE AGE OF WOODEN SHIPS AND IRON MEN , THE IRONCLAD EX- PERIMENT, THE ADVENT OF AVIATION, AND THE THRESHOLD OF SPACE. SHE HAS PROVEN STRONG THROUGH THE ACTIVE CONFLICTS OF HER COUNTRY AS-WELL-AS THE LONG PERIODS OF ITS PEACEFUL IDEOLOGICAL STRUGGLE. h THE ESSEX OF TODAY, YOUR ESSEX, WAS LAUNCHED INTO THE ROARING INFERNO OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR, CARRYING WITH HER THE FLICKERING LIGHT OF THE FREE WORLD. HER SUCCESSES READ LIKE A CHRONOLOGY 'OF THE FINAL TWO YEARS OF THE WAR IN THE PACIFIC. HER CONTEMPORARIES CALLED HER QUEEN - QUEEN OF THE FLEET'f. T0 THE READER THIS BOOK MARKS THE TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR OF THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER ESSEX, AMERICA'S SENIOR-MOST CARRIER ON THE SEAS. TO THE NAVY IT COMMEMORATES THE NAME OF A SHIP WHICH, FROM 1799, HAS PLAYED AN INTEGRAL ROLE IN THE DESTINY OF HER COUNTRY ...... FOR THAT DESTINY HAS SO OFTEN BEEN IN HER HANDS. 4

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AMERICA WAS YOUNG. WHILE STRUGGLING TO ESTAB- LISH ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STABILITY UNDER HER NEW CONSTITUTION, THE UNITED STATES FACED CON- TINUED THREATS FROM FRENCH NAVAL FORCES AGAINST A NEW AND THRIVING MARITIME INDUSTRY. TO PROTECT THESE INTERESTS, CONGRESS PASSED SEVERAL ACTS TO ESTABLISH A TOKEN NAVAL FORCE AND ON 30 JUNE 1798, THE ACT WHICH ENABLED ESSEX TO BE BUILT CAME INTO BEING. THIS ACT ALLOWED THE PRESIDENT TO ACCEPT VESSELS OF WAR FROM PRI- VATE CITIZENS ON THE CREDIT OF THE UNITED STATES. IN RESPONSE TO THIS ACTION, 23 CITIZENS OF SALEM, MASSACHUSETTS OPENED A PATRIOTIC SUBSCRIP- TION ON 17 JULY 1798 TO BUILD A VESSEL OF WAR FOR THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. AND SO IT CAME TO PASS THAT A LEGEND WAS BORN. ON 25 OCTOBER 1798, A MEETING OF THE SPONSORS OF THE FIRST ESSEX WAS HELD T0 DETERMINE THE TYPE OF VESSEL TO BE BUILT. FROM THE SALEM GAZETTE OF 26 OCTOBER 1798 CAME THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCE- MENT WHICH READ IN PART: AT A MEETING IN THIS TOWN ON TUESDAY LAST, OF THOSE GENTLEMEN WHO HAVE SUBSCRIBED TO BUILD A SHIP FOR THE SERVICE OF THE UNITED STATES, IT WAS VOTED UNANIMOUSLY TO BUILD A FRIGATE OF 32 GUNS, AND TO LOAN THE SAME TO THE GOVERNMENT ....... A MONTH LATER, THE FRIGATE'S BUILDER, ENOCH BRIGGS, ADVERTISED FOR SHIPBUILDING MATERIALS IN A RINGING APPEAL: TAKE NOTICE! YE SONS OF FREE- DOM! STEP FORTH AND GIVE YOUR ASSISTANCE IN BUILDING THE FRIGATE TO OPPOSE FRENCH INSOLENCE AND PIRACY! LET EVERY MAN IN POSSESSION OF A WHITE OAK TREE FEEL AMBITIOUS TO BE FOREMOST IN HURRYING DOWN THE TIMBER TO SALEM .... WHERE NOBLE STRUCTURE IS TO BE FABRICATED TO MAIN- TAIN YOUR RIGHTS UPON THE SEAS AND MAKE THE NAME OF AMERICA RESPECTED AMONG THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD! YOUR LARGEST AND LONGEST TREES ARE WANTED ...... FOUR TREES ARE WANTED FOR THE KEEL, WHICH ALTOGETHER WILL MEASURE 146 FEET IN LENGTH, AND HEW 16 INCHES SQUARE. PLEASE CALL ON THE SUBSCRIBER, WHO ...... WILL PAY THE READY CASH . THE FRIGATE WAS LAUNCHED ON 30 SEPTEMBER 1799, BEFORE A CROWD OF 12,000 PEOPLE. THE EXPECTED WAR WITH FRANCE DID NOT MATERIALIZE, BUT IN THE WAR OF 1812 THE FIRST ESSEX COMPILED A RECORD OF BATTLE UNEQUALED BY ANY OTHER MAN-OF-WAR AND BY THE CLOSE OF 1813, ESSEX WAS THE ONLY VESSEL OF WORTH TO BE OPERATING: ALL OTHERS HAVING BEEN CAPTURED, DAMAGED, OR SUNK. OF WOODEN SHIPS 3, y. , , U-. V, . , , . V, . f , X, ' ..,f' - 1 - f K , ! 1 . ff XX A fix y . 1 X 1' ,121 ,Z I 5. m-ascii: