Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index Five ships of the United States Navy have been named USS Essex, after the town of Essex, Massachusetts. The first Essex was a 32-gun sailing frigate launched in 1799, one of the heroes of the War of 1812. The second Essex was an ironclad steamer in the American Civil War. The third Essex was a wooden screw steamer launched in 1876, one of the last ships of the "Old Navy". The fourth Essex (CV-9) was an aircraft carrier commissioned in 1942 and active in both World War II, the Korean War, and the Apollo program, finally decommissioning in 1969. The fifth Essex (LHD-2) is an amphibious assault ship commissioned 1992 and on active service in 2003. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.