Pretty much what it says. Ships must be on active duty (comissioned) by that date. Not sure if a thread just like this one has already been done, I'm only here since 2010...
I'll post my choices first and justify them in later posts:
CV - Yorktown
BB - Nagato
CA - Takao
Cl - Edinburgh
DD - Sims
DE/CV/FF - Orsa
SSK – O19
MTB – S Boat M1937