USS Wasp (CV-7)

Wasp entering Hampton Roads
Class overview
Name	Wasp class
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	Yorktown class
Succeeded by	Essex class
Built	1936–1940
In commission	1940–1942
Planned	1
Completed	1
Lost	1
History
United States
Name	Wasp
Namesake	Wasp
Ordered	19 September 1935
Builder	Fore River Shipyard
Laid down	1 April 1936
Launched	4 April 1939
Sponsored by	Mrs. Charles Edison[1]
Commissioned	25 April 1940
Stricken	15 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
Fate	Scuttled after attack by the Japanese submarine I-19, 15 September 1942[2][a]
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Aircraft carrier
Displacement	14,700 long tons (14,900 t) (standard) 19,116 long tons (19,423 t) (full load)
Length	688 ft (209.7 m) (waterline) 741 ft 3 in (225.9 m) (overall) 727 ft (222 m) (flight deck)
Beam	80 ft 9 in (24.6 m) (waterline) 109 ft (33.2 m) (overall)
Draft	20 ft (6.1 m)
Installed power	70,000 shp (52,000 kW) 6 × water-tube boilers
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × steam turbines
Speed	29.5 knots (54.6 km/h; 33.9 mph)
Range	12,000 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	8 × 5 in (127 mm) guns 16 × 1.1 in (28 mm) AA guns 24 × 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns
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 carried	Up 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.

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