First Ten U.S. Fleet Aircraft Carriers (by launch date)   Name Designation Launch Date Notes 1 Langley CV 1 24 Aug 1912 Converted from a collier on 20 March 1922; lost 27 Feb 1942 2 Saratoga CV 3 7 Apr 1925 Sunk at Bikini atom bomb tests 25 July 1946 3 Lexington CV 2 3 Oct 1925 Lost at Battle of Coral Sea 8 May 1942 4 Ranger CV 4 25 Feb 1933 Scrapped in Feb 1947 5 Yorktown CV 5 4 Apr 1936 Lost 7 Jun 1942 after Battle of Midway 6 Enterprise CV 6 3 Oct1936 Scrapped September 1958 7 Wasp CV 7 4 Apr 1939 Lost 15 Sep 1942 after being torpedoed by Japanese submarine 8 Hornet CV 8 14 Dec 1940 Hit at the Battle of Santa Cruz; lost 27 October 1942 9 Essex CV 9 31 Jul 1942 Scrapped 10 Lexington CV 16 26 Sep 1942 Decommissioned Nov 1991 Content provided by: Larry Gormley, HistoryShots Source(s): U.S. Warships of World War II, Paul H. Silverstone