USS Wasp (CV-7)

Wasp entering Hampton Roads
Class overview
NameWasp class
Operators United States Navy
Preceded byYorktown class
Succeeded byEssex class
Built1936–1940
In commission1940–1942
Planned1
Completed1
Lost1
History
United States
NameWasp
NamesakeWasp
Ordered19 September 1935
BuilderFore River Shipyard
Laid down1 April 1936
Launched4 April 1939
Sponsored byMrs. Charles Edison[1]
Commissioned25 April 1940
Stricken15 September 1942
Honors and
awards
American Defense Service Medal ("A" device) / American Campaign Medal/European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (1 star) / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1 star) / World War II Victory Medal
FateScuttled after attack by the Japanese submarine I-19, 15 September 1942[2][a]
General characteristics (as built)
TypeAircraft carrier
Displacement
Length
Beam
  • 80 ft 9 in (24.6 m) (waterline)
  • 109 ft (33.2 m) (overall)
Draft20 ft (6.1 m)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × steam turbines
Speed29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph)
Range12,000 nmi (22,000 km; 14,000 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Complement
  • 1,800 officers and men (peacetime)
  • 2,167 (wartime)
Sensors and
processing systems
CXAM-1 radar[3]
Armament
Armor
  • 1.5 in (38 mm) conning tower
  • 3.5 in (89 mm) side and 1.25 in (32 mm) deck over steering gear
Aircraft carriedUp to 100
Aviation facilities
  • 3 × elevators
  • 4 × hydraulic catapults (2 flight deck, 2 hangar deck)

USS Wasp (CV-7) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier commissioned in 1940 and lost in action in 1942. She was the eighth ship named USS Wasp, and the sole ship of a class built to use up the remaining tonnage allowed to the U.S. for aircraft carriers under the treaties of the time. As a reduced-size version of the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier hull, Wasp was more vulnerable than other United States aircraft carriers available at the opening of hostilities. Wasp was initially employed in the Atlantic campaign, where Axis naval forces were perceived as less capable of inflicting decisive damage. After supporting the occupation of Iceland in 1941, Wasp joined the British Home Fleet in April 1942 and twice ferried British fighter aircraft to Malta.

Wasp was then transferred to the Pacific in June 1942 to replace losses at the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. After supporting the invasion of Guadalcanal, Wasp was hit by three torpedoes from Japanese submarine I-19 on 15 September 1942. The resulting damage set off several explosions, destroyed her water-mains and knocked out the ship's power. As a result, her damage-control teams were unable to contain the ensuing fires that blazed out of control. She was abandoned and scuttled by torpedoes fired from USS Lansdowne later that evening. Her wreck was found in early 2019.

  1. ^ Cressman, Robert J. (20 April 2018). "Wasp VIII (CV-7) 1940–1942". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  2. ^ Evans, Japanese Navy, pp. 179–180; Hammel, Carrier Strike, pp. 24–41.
  3. ^ Macintyre, Donald, Capt. RN (Ret.) (September 1967). "Shipborne Radar". Proceedings. 93 (9/775). United States Naval Institute.


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