totalnavy.com
Online Resource for all things Navy
132 Prospect Ave  - Woodmere, NY 11598

Phone: 718-471-5464    Email click here   Fax 718-337-7115
Main Website Ship Catalogue Paints & Displays How to Build a Ship! Navy Ball Caps
How to Books Decals Photo- Etching Ship Art Prints Main Website

Our Customer Service is open weekdays from 9:00 am to 8:30 pm EST time call us if you need help. 718-471-5464

      Toll free 800 - 845-1140

Shipping will be added to all orders, we always endeavor to give you the best rate >>> Click for Rates.

If you have any questions or need help email us, call us or click here for HELP

 

Angled Deck Essex Class Carriers Cold War, Vietnam War Configuration

USS Intrepid CVA- 11

USS Intrepid as she looked in Vietnam it has arrived!

Not MSRP 379.00 but our price $Gone you save over $100.00

The Essex Class Carriers from 1950's to the 1980's

New USS Intrepid, angled deck version... will include over
1000 parts, over 30 inches long
It will have full hangar deck & elevators that can me modeled up or down positions.
Aircraft included are 5 each of A-4, F-8, EA-1F, EA-1B, and UH-2B
 Includes 4 sheets of photo etch.

Kit # A601 $Gone


Can I make my ship other than the Intrepid?
Yes but you need 3 things Deck Numbers, Island Numbers
and names for the fantail. I have both for you.

Deck #s and Ship names from GMM & Island #s from Totalnavy.

15.00 for both sets!

 

 

We have added hyperlinks to each Carrier Click your Ship below!

Attention all Essex Aircraft Carrier veterans you can now build
a replica of the ship you served on in a detailed plastic Model.

CV-9 Essex CV-10 Yorktown CV-11 Intrepid
CV-12 Hornet CV-13 Franklin CV-14 Ticonderoga
CV-15 Randolph CV-16 Lexington CV-17 Bunker Hill
CV-18 Wasp CV-19 Hancock CV-20 Bennington
CV-21 Boxer CV- 31 Bon Homme Richard CV-32 Leyte
CV-33 Kearsarge CV-34 Oriskany CV-36 Antietam
CV-37 Princeton CV-38 Shangri-La CV-39 Lake Champlain
CV-40 Tarawa CV-45 Valley Forge CV-47 Philippine Sea

Essential Skills Scale Modeling


Were you a teenager the last time
you built a model?


A step-by-step introduction to scale modeling basics.
Beginning scale modelers are full of questions:
What kinds of models are there? What kinds of tools
do I need? What glue works best?
How do I put a model together?
How are the decals applied?
Finally, Kalmbach offers answers to
all these beginner questions and more.

This new book is filled with more pictures
and how to articles than their other book.


List $21.95  Our Price BK01 19.95


Back to Catalogue

Essex Class Carriers

  The Essex class of carriers was, though you may argue that point, in my opinion the best weapon in the world when commissioned, and stayed the best carrier class until the Midway class became available in October of 1945.  

    The Essex class was the successor of Hornet. Just as Hornet, it was designed after the limitations of the Washington Treaty were lifted in1936, and it was thus not necessary to obey to any rules other than those dictated by common sense. As a result, a class was devised which was to follow five main rules:  

  1. They were to be able to carry four squadrons of 18 planes, plus another squadron in reserve.
  2. They were to be able to launch and recover planes faster than usual.
  3. The were to carry 25% spares for her planes, as it was thought that US carriers would stay longer at sea than her counterparts.
  4. They were to be survivable in combat and able to serve a long time.
  5. They were to be upgradeable.

Each of these rules was followed. When USS Essex was commissioned into the Navy in early January, 1943, the US Navy had received all it had wanted. The carrier was able to carry up to a hundred planes, and, due to a aircraft lift to the port side of the flight deck, she was able to recover her planes while storing them in the hangar, and likewise for launching.  

    The ships were also highly survivable. During the two years the Essex class saw service in the Pacific, none of them was sunk, not even under the worst circumstances. This includes the devastation of USS Franklin, hit by two bombs off Okinawa in March 1945, during the preparations for the landing there. She suffered horrible fires aft, destroying planes and exploding "friendly" bombs. With 724 dead and 265 wounded, the carrier's captain was given permission to abandon the ship, but refused and saved Franklin. Bunker Hill, Admiral Marc Mitscher's flagship, was hit by two Kamikazes in May, 1945, and survived as well, with 389 dead or missing, and 264 wounded.
This may be to a great part attributed to the reluctance of the crews to let their ships die, but also to the rugged construction inherent in this class.  

    The Essex class saw heavy service in the Pacific, beginning with the occupation of the Gilbert Islands in Mid-1943, and the second carrier raid on Rabaul, with Essex, Bunker Hill and the light carrier Independence. Throughout the war, the Essex class was the spearhead of all Central Pacific operations, and temporarily supported the South Pacific thrust of General Mac Arthur. Planes from these carriers were responsible for the decimation of Japanese air units in the Marianas, the Philippines, Formosa, and eventually Japan itself. With these carriers, the US Navy build up what was called the "Air Navy", and with these carriers, the US Navy became the most powerful navy in the world.  
The Essex class was also highly adaptable to modern technologies, and although not important in the World War 2 context, the Essex class was to receive steel and angled flight decks to permit operation of jet fighters. The service of these great ships was
welcome addition to the US Forces in Korea and in Vietnam.
The last Essex was scrapped in 1989.  

  Ships in class: 

Back to Catalogue