USS Wasp (CV-18)

USS Wasp (CV-18)
USS Wasp underway in 1967
History
United States
NameWasp
NamesakeWasp[1]
BuilderFore River Shipyard
Laid down18 March 1942
Launched17 August 1943
Commissioned24 November 1943
Decommissioned17 February 1947
Recommissioned28 September 1951
Decommissioned1 July 1972
Reclassified
  • CVA-18, 1 October 1952
  • CVS-18, 1 November 1956
Stricken1 July 1972
FateScrapped, 1973
General characteristics
Class and typeEssex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement
Length
  • 820 feet (249.9 m) (wl)
  • 872 feet (265.8 m) (o/a)
Beam93 ft (28.3 m)
Draft34 ft 2 in (10.41 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range14,100 nmi (26,100 km; 16,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement2,600 officers and enlisted men
Armament
Armor
Aircraft carried
  • 36 × Grumman F4F Wildcat
  • 36 × Douglas SBD Dauntless
  • 18 × Grumman TBF Avenger

USS Wasp (CV/CVA/CVS-18) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous Wasp (CV-7), which was sunk 15 September 1942. Wasp was commissioned in November 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning eight battle stars. Like many of her sister ships, she was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, but was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she operated mainly in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean. She played a prominent role in the manned space program, serving as the recovery ship for five Project Gemini missions: Gemini IV, Gemini VI, Gemini VII, Gemini IX, and Gemini XII. She was retired in 1972, and sold for scrap in 1973.

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