Early aircraft carrier construction was done on a ship-by-ship basis. Langley was a conversion from a collier; Lexington and Saratoga were initially laid down as battle cruiser hulls; Ranger was a transition from these to the four carriers that saved the Pacific—Yorktown, Enterprise, Wasp, and Hornet. Then came the Essex-class carriers. It might well be argued that these twenty-four carriers, quickly mass-produced with only minor modifications, were the determining factor in winning the war in the Pacific. Japanese industry simply could not match this outpouring of construction. Note: Do not confuse carriers bearing the same name. The first Lexington (CV-2), Yorktown (CV-5), Wasp (CV-7), and Hornet (CV-8) were sunk and replaced with Essex-class namesakes.
Note: CVL-22 through CVL-30 were classified as “light aircraft carriers” and designated CVL. Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), commissioned November 26, 1944, led the final eleven of the Essex-class CVs commissioned between 1945 and 1950. Despite the fine carriers now preserved as floating museums—Yorktown (CV-10), Intrepid (CV-11), Hornet (CV-12), Lexington (CV-16), and the postwar Midway (CV-B41)—it is a shame that the venerable Saratoga (CV-3) and Enterprise (CV-6) were not preserved. Saratoga met its end in a trial atomic blast in 1946, and Enterprise, despite many efforts to save the ship during the late 1940s and 1950s, was finally given up for scrap with the understanding that its proud name would live on in the navy’s first nuclear-powered carrier, CVN-65.
Source: Adapted from “The Carriers” at www.navy.mil/navydata/ships/carriers/cv-list.asp