Evening star., 1942-07-31
New Aircraft Carrier
Essex 10 Belaunched
In Ceremony Today
Goes Down Woys After
IS Months. First Of
10 Under Construction
BY CLAUDE A. MAHONEY,
Star Stan Correspondent.

" OUUSV NOVStIu(tBOU
by CLAUDE A. MAHONEY,
star stan Correspondent
NEWPORT NEWS, Va, July 81
The United States Navy launche.
the aircraft carrier Essex here to.
day at the Newport News Shipbuild.
ing & Drydock Co., the first carrier
to come OF the ways since this Ma
ton had its bitter lesson on ali
power in the Pearl Harbor attack
on December 7, 194l.
The Essex is first of the class
bearing her name, which includes
the following now under construc-
ton: Bon Homme Richard, Intrepid
kearsarge, Cabot, Franklin, Han
cock, Bunker Hill, Oriskany and
Ticonderoga, each of approximately
5000 tons. Although the Navy now
does not give. exact figures as to
strength, James Fighting Ships, the
authoritative international guide to
the worlds naval forces. says pub
htly that they will carry up to 80
Names and have defensive 4-inch
sfmor and heavy protective deck.
New Ships Authorized.
The Essex slides down the ways
when the world is excited about the
Importance of the carrier in naval
battles and when naval experts are
studying their charts of whole en-
gagements fought in this war with
oRt surface craft ever coming into
r4nge of each other. News of the
blttles of Java, the Coral Sea and
oehers recently caused the Congress
authorize 100000 tons of new
opmbat ships in the following new
atnd carrier-minded ratios:
Aircraft carriers ---- soc, 900 tons
Cruisers --------- 500, 900 tons
Oestroyers and destroyer
Sescort vessels -,---- 0OO, 900 tons
In addition, the bin authorized the
Secretary of the Navy to take over
spme 100 small patrol craft. Although
the whole trend indicated that the
6attleship was being relegated to
much lower point in the Naval es-
teem, the Senate on June rs rejected
. proposal by Senator Clark, Demo-
crat, of Missouri, to halt work on the
battleships now under construction
until the carrier program had been
pushed forward. The building pro-
gram was thus left more or less to
the judgment Of the Navy.
Mrs. Gates Sponsor.
Emphasizing the urgency of the
building program, the Navy is sliding
the Essex into the historic James
River with q minimum of ceremony,
There is to be no formal speaker,
and no interruption OF work in the
gigantic yard. Mrs. -Artemus, L.
Gates. wife of the Assistant Secre-
tary Of the Navy for Air, will break
the traditional bottle OF champagne
over the bow, and the ship will be
released late this afternoon for its
hot skid down the ways. The
Misses Alessandra and Anne Cheney
Of Saunderstown, r. l., nieces Of
Mrs. Gates, will be maids of honor.
A few ranking naval officers OF the
5th district will be present, as well as
. small contingent OF officers and
newspaper reporters from Washing
ton, who are making the trip in a
naval plane.
AS further emphasis on the speed
UP in the building program, it was
noted that the carrier is being
launched only Is months and three
days after her keel was swung into
place here on April 28, 1941.
The new carrier swellS a fleet of
mobile air landing spots much
smaller than the Navy would prefer
just now, but is an addition to a no
mean fleet of carriers. The Navy
has no word on conversion of mer-
chantmen into carriers, but Jane s
reports several; and on the other
side Of the ledger, the Navy admits
that the Yorktown was put out OF
commission in the historic battle of
Midway. and that the Lexington was
lost In the equally historic battle Of
the Coral Sea. The Yorktown is of
about 10000 tons, and carried some
thing Ike IS planes. 1t had eight
6.inch guns and secondary anti
aircraft batteries. The Lexington.
originally laid down as a battle
cruiser, carried about the same num-
Der Of planes.
Proudly af1oat now, however, and
undoubtedly all in the far-flung
battle zones that this war encom-
passes, the United States has the
carriers Enterprise and the new
Hornet, the latter the newest up to
the Essex, and both Of some &c, 600
tons with an 85-plane capacity each:
the Ranger of $4,000 tons, the Wasp
OF more than $4,000 and the Sara
toga, almost a sister ship OF the ILL.,
1eted Lexington.
The new Essex has nlustrIous an
esstors. The first Essex was a ship
o9 36 guns, 300 men and $50 tons,
built at Salem, Mass, in 1899. She
was the first United States man OF
wAr to double the Cape of Good
Hope. She made a second cruise
into the Mediterranean to quen ac-
dvities of the Barberry pirates.
The second Essex was ferryboat
that vas converted into q steamer
OF 6l4 tons. She was active in Civil
War campaigns at Fort Henry,
Tenn: VickSburg and at Baton
Rouge. The third Essex was a
wooden screw steamer built in 1874
at EaS. Boston, Mass, by Donald
Mackay. builder of MANY famed
clipper ships. She was commissioned
IN 1875 and assigned to North At
lantic duty. Decommissioned in 1898,
she was loaned to the State of Min
nesota for use OF the Naval Reserve,
and was stricken from the Navy list
IN 1880 and sold the same year.