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Read to the end of the article that was excerpted above. The CV-9 you (bd476) posted about was decommissioned in 1969 and scrapped in 1975. The current Essex was commissioned in 1992.

As http://www.essex.navy.mil/history/history.htm states: "USS Essex (LHD 2) is the fifth ship to proudly carry the name Essex. It would not take much research to find each of the four former ships with their name etched in history."

Gondring said: "Read to the end of the article that was excerpted above. The CV-9 you (bd476) posted about was decommissioned in 1969 and scrapped in 1975. The current Essex was commissioned in 1992..."

Gondring, thank you for your input. However, I did read to the end of the article about the USS Essex. In fact I copied a large excerpt of the original article into my post.

The name of the ship which I posted is USS Essex.

From what I have been able to determine, the USS Essex is a name which has been passed on to new ships with similar missions and/or similar classifications once the ship holding the name is retired.

Perhaps you missed the following in my post above:

"The fourth Essex (CV-9) was launched 31 July 1942 by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. sponsored by Mrs. Artemus L. Gates, wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air; and commissioned 31 December 1942, Captain D. B. Duncan commanding.

She was reclassified (CVA-9) on 1 October 1952, and (CVS-9) on 8 March 1960." (Emphasis added.)

From the article it appears that the US Navy names ships according to a combination of tradition, class and mission. The USS Essex has a long tradition of assisting rescue.