USS Essex (CVS-9)

USS Essex (CVS-9) was an aircraft carrier commissioned in 1942, serving as the lead ship of the Essex-class carriers for the United States Navy. During World War II, Essex participated in major Pacific Theater operations, including strikes against the Gilbert and Marshall Islands, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and attacks on the Japanese home islands. After the war, she underwent modernization and was redesignated as an anti-submarine warfare carrier (CVS) in 1959. Essex continued to serve through the Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, and early Vietnam War before being decommissioned in 1969.