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USS Wasp (CV-18)

USS Wasp (CV-18)
History
United States
Name: USS Wasp
Namesake: Wasp
Builder: Fore River Shipyard
Laid down: 18 March 1942
Launched: 17 August 1943
Commissioned: 24 November 1943
Decommissioned: 17 February 1947
Recommissioned: 28 September 1951
Decommissioned: 1 July 1972
Reclassified:
  • CV to CVA 1 October 1952
  • CVA to CVS 1 November 1956
  • see SCB-27 and SCB-125 for conversion information
Struck: 1 July 1972
Fate: Scrapped in 1973
General characteristics
Class and type: Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:
  • As built:
  • 27,100 tons standard
  • 36,380 tons full load
Length:
  • As built:
  • 820 feet (250 m) waterline
  • 872 feet (266 m) overall
Beam:
  • As built:
  • 93 feet (28 m) waterline
  • 147 feet 6 inches (45 m) overall
Draft:
  • As built:
  • 28 feet 5 inches (8.66 m) light
  • 34 feet 2 inches (10.41 m) full load
Propulsion:
  • As designed:
  • 8 × boilers 565 psi (3,900 kPa) 850 °F (450 °C)
  • 4 × Westinghouse geared steam turbines
  • 4 × shafts
  • 150,000 shp (110 MW)
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/h)
Range: 20,000 nautical miles (37,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement:
  • As built:
  • 2,600 officers and enlisted
Armament:
  • As built:
  • 4 × twin 5 inch (127 mm) 38 caliber guns
  • 4 × single 5 inch (127 mm) 38 caliber guns
  • 8 × quadruple 40 mm 56 caliber guns
  • 46 × single 20 mm 78 caliber guns
Armor:
  • As built:
  • 2.5 to 4 inch (60 to 100 mm) belt
  • 1.5 inch (40 mm) hangar and protectice decks
  • 4 inch (100 mm) bulkheads
  • 1.5 inch (40 mm) STS top and sides of pilot house
  • 2.5 inch (60 mm) top of steering gear
Aircraft carried:
  • As built:
  • 90–100 aircraft
  • 1 × deck-edge elevator
  • 2 × centerline elevators

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 missions: Gemini IV, Gemini VI, Gemini VII, Gemini IX and Gemini XII. She was retired in 1972 and sold for scrap in 1973.

The ship was laid down on 18 March 1942 at Quincy, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem Steel Company, and renamed Wasp on 13 November 1942. She was launched on 17 August 1943, sponsored by Miss Julia M. Walsh, the sister of Senator David I. Walsh of Massachusetts, and commissioned on 24 November 1943, Captain Clifton A. F. Sprague in command.

Following a shakedown cruise which lasted through the end of 1943, Wasp returned to Boston for a brief yard period to correct minor flaws which had been discovered during her time at sea. On 10 January 1944, the new aircraft carrier departed Boston; steamed to Hampton Roads, Virginia; and remained there until the last day of the month, when she sailed for Trinidad, her base of operations through 22 February. She returned to Boston five days later and prepared for service in the Pacific. Early in March, the ship sailed south; transited the Panama Canal; arrived at San Diego on 21 March; and reached Pearl Harbor on 4 April.


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