USS WASP

USS Wasp (CV-18)

Wasp was commissioned as an Essex-class aircraft carrier in November of 1943. In May of 1944, she was sent to the Pacific and immediately went into combat. USS Wasp was part of the Marianas Campaign along with other central Pacific combat efforts. Then, she was sent for support of the attack on the Palaus, Okinawa, Formosa, the Philippines, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

Wasp also supported the invasion of Iwo Jima and attacks on Japan during the end of World War II. In October of 1946, the ship returned home and was responsible for transporting service members back to the U.S. until it was decommissioned in February of 1947.

She was modernized in 1948 and recommissioned in 1951 to join the Atlantic Fleet. Wasp was on her way to Gibraltar when she collided with the Hobson, a destroyer minesweeper that sank as a result. Wasp remained intact, but required a trip home to repair the damage done to her bow. Later that year, the ship was reclassified and transferred back to the Pacific in 1953.

In 1956, Wasp became anti-submarine support and she went back to the Atlantic in 1957. During the 1960s, Wasp served as a recovery ship for five manned space missions, and was then decommissioned in 1972. She was sold for scrapping in May of 1973.