Wasp (CVS 18) - Naval Cruise Book

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I I W 5 ' IIZIIIIIUII ,Q ll X l I l a '!,.'g', , , ,, , ', ,, P The 40,000-ton antisubmarine warfare carrier o to ay is e seven I f I 'T'f.I4 of a number of ships to bear the proud name WASP. f, 1g9Ifit X aflig x WASP I was one of the 14 original vessels to bear the colors of the .ff f,fjjl7fs,f 1-QNX continental Navy during the American Revolution. Sheuwas commis- g i l, 4- sioned in 1775 and was inthe first squadron to sail on a military mission E She participated in the first capturefof enengytterritory an: aligtgldi ff' 5,5 V l g, 1' Xyjff5l'L jijig.-.5-if in the first capture of an enemy m3ll'0 'Wa - er many C0 q M3219- L-1'- 2 the high seas, she was dashed to pieces on the eastern shore of IVlary- land during a storm in late 1777. h 18 b .It f U t - U ti gf ' , WASP ll, a sloop-of-war wit guns, was ui or service a I ,l I 'I ' ' Washington and launched in 1806. She was engaged in several battles ' I WASP I on the high seas with the English in the war of 1812. Her moist famous I c battle was with the H.lVl.S. EROLIC, a 22-gun vessel. This gallant , victory was short-lived however, foglthe WASP ?llltiSdSOOI'gj Caplrlfsduggeil Ate. 74-gun English ship of the line. e was rel 9 an SHI 9 WQSXK' the British flag and was lost in a storm' at sleab tb I f d t . INS WASP III had a career which was co or u , u rie an 'mys CVIOUS. ZH 4 As an 18-gun ship-of-war, she carried a crew of 140 and displaced 509 tons. She defeated the H.Nl.S. REINDEER and H.lVl.S. AVON and I wi,-il., H! captured 13 prizes during her two years with the fleet. On October 9, 1814, she was last seen by a Swedish brig off the Cape Verde Islands. Her destination presumably was theSpanish lVlain, but she was never 9I l il'.'If, Q heard from again, and her fate remains one of the unsolved mysteries K 'II I I 7,4 I flfl 7B,Q', E5f9 l of the sea. I IIi.5t?ttt QQ I WASP IV, the American Civil War WASZ, was a stegel-hulled, sided -cfqg ae?-P -f I I . fffgse E., wheel steamer. Originally a British bloca e runner, s e was cap ure off Charlestown, South Carolina, in 1863. Combining sail and steam to P gain a fine speed for the period, she was used as a dispatch and spe- I wAsP ii cial service vessel. She served in the East Indies and in South Atlan- I tic squadron from 1865 to the time of her decommissioning in 1876. .. - , WASP V was a 630 ton converted private yacht that was bought by I ,I If the Navy in 1898. She served as a gunboat in the Spanish-American MftfIX War and later as a station ship in Port Royal and finally as a training I ship for the Navy lVlilitia before she was sold in 1921. ff'f 'fQfI.' if I' -. . During World War I, a small privately owned vessel named WASP was ,ff llkgxgr f . x . fy! 113. iff ff,-1-YQlLI QK-gg carried briefly on the Navy list. However, she was soon returned to fff 1, f rx Null her owners and never saw any active service. ,,f,f7',l, V,-tyixl T 1, WASP vi - the ship for which the present wAsP is named - was !f!Q,ff ff w Tjiigrfx launched in 1939. She was one of the new mobile airbases of the fleet. K' ' X 'X 'I ..ra if ' If 1 ,45 4 . 1 '9 ,gf f 'I ,7 A I l X 5 I tiff f I If X, I my ii A li TL ,CQ is , X f f ' I M i , X X l X I 4 lx X X K A X y I ,. A ix If Li H l-Ire ll H Xkx tffffriyfzfr NWN tl 1 Q Mk X f ' f-'77 , A: l' iff Q' , If 1' . is g g 1 ff , i LICXNAX Xi if in Isl! 'F gk A A lwxl lyk min l it l . gg. Ig . I gl 51 s..ui'n2-EXEI' ,kd -'hi '4f5: 'Q' w 2 J.:'?ji.,e5i. -lf -I-5 - M wAsP ui I During the early days of World War Il, she did convoy duty inthe Atlantic, and in Nlarch of 1942 she twice ferried deck-loads of Spitfire fighters to bolster the island of Nlalta. ln July of 1942 the WASP pro- ceeded to the South Pacific to send her air wing into the island cam- paigns. ln Task Force 18 and Task Force 61, she led the attack against the Tulagi-Guadalcanal area. She was hit by torpedoes and later destroyed by American forces on 15 September 1942. - f 7 I I J, - ' m l ff Ami-Ei ,M if-flxs, X 1 A' 27x ,ff gm I HF? T . Xxigif in Gm 'Ili I! X I' gi.-T!-- - Y' 1 hbx' X ,. 1. ff ig, F T ' I -- 'I' ff I W ,sf ,Q vm -4 ,f R .TI .:- Y... 1. nl A 1 -Tr u J' I 51:31-. 1 3 4. 4 I ,ef 'A-I-A -IIIIIII ' ,iff 'sl 3- ' --mein ur tiX7 ' ft ,.,,- -'Jf amen. WASP IV wA5p V I I f l I x X ,f I X5 X r x . Q5 I rg ' its -. -'X . I U I - Iii? . X 'SX I- MW 1 lg I .w l'--HW Il ' V- . - -N' ': X1 ,g rf - 'I i W X 'T' Y N I H 'I I. -.Q-'Iles ' 5 realm. h.r7- 455' 1' ft' I ' TFT? Im wi'-nifty-'3l .If4'It T5 11 f --fs - . 'i Lis-2..3ff !2'F'-'f- -i-1 ' c -iT?t 'ig . - -4--SJQEEE - 'wif ' -I f 4 I - ' .... -1- - '- as J - . 1 -s Lf -LJ ' s c'm'x-cf-fi.-, ------ . - far- .-555-.2-J ' 'cf--ft-ee-:sk ' -. 'J' -4- 9 ' ' ' ' ' ' ' . - , - -. --A ,X .-- - -,im -- jf X.- 5- M - -iff A I . - -'T1:7il ' f- K Kg g - . Nm in 4 1.3, jgjir - ,. 5.1 pgs -3, H ff-' K N a--1 .7 'j --' , Y, ff - , -A -P , A? gas- Eg- Egg. ,V , '11, 4 1.1 ' -4- ' Wi l l 7 ' - AY. . A .

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WASP 960

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TODAY'S WASP The USS WASP of today is basically an Essex-class carrier with major conversions to meet the needs of modern aircraft operations. The streamlined hurricane bow, the angled deck and mirror landing system, and improved cata- pults are the major changes which have been made in the original designs. WASP Vll was commissioned in November of 1943. Her World War ll record reads like a history of the Pacific campaign: Wake, Tinian, Guam, lwo Jima, Mindinao,l.uzon, Palau Formosa,Hong Kong, Okinawa, and finally Yokosuka, and Tlokyo. March of 1945 found WASP heading north to strike at airfields and naval bases in Japan. lt was on that trip that WASP received her only serious injury in the war. A bomb pierced the flight and hanger decks, killing 102 men, with many more injured. Yet, less than an hour later, WASP was again ready to launch aircraft. Later in the same week WASP countered with what has become known as the busiest week in the history of carrier warfare. In just seven days, WASP damaged two enemy carriers, slapped three bombs into a heavy cruiser, blasted a cargo ship, and probably sank a submarine, and destroyed 20 Japanese aircraft. The summer of 1945 saw WASP in Admiral Halsey's Third Fleet. In a series of strikes, unique because of the nearly complete absence of enemy airborne resistance, WASP pilots pounded the Japanese homeland. Then suddenly, the fighting was over...but the action was not. WASP plowed into a typhoon with winds reaching 78 knots and had 30 feet of her bow stove in. Despite the severe damage and foreshortened fl ightdeck, WASP launched her planes on gratifying missions of mercy. Carrying food, medicine, and long-deserved luxuries to American prisoners of war in Japan, she earned a commendation as satisfying as any ever received by a ship in the fleet, when newly- liberated fellow Americans pieced together a sign and affixed it to the roof of one of the hovels in which they had been imprisoned for so long. lt read: Men of Bataan- Corregidor Thank WASP Assigned temporary duty as a troop transport, WASP ferried thousands of men from ships and islands in the Pacific to Pearl Harbor, the first step home. ln January of 1947, WASP was placed out of commission, in reserve, attached to the U.S. Atlantic Reserve Fleet. WASP came outofretirementin September of 1951, during the Korean Conflict, completely overhauled, to meet there- quirements of the Jet Age.She was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet and completed one tour with the U.S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. ln October 1953, WASP joined the Pacific Fleet. Her new area of operations was the Far East where she parti- cipated in the re-grouping of the Chinese Nationalist forces in the Tachen lslands in 1955. ln the spring of 1955, WASP was overhauled and con- verted into the 40,000-ton ship she is today, with hurricane .QQLX 'slflfg L DTDQQDX' F' f--2-' P J, ' -1 Lf' ,- f- - ig X 17 'LS' --5 -.-, ' . 6-jffg, i. Af sxffi K! i XX' -Qxiix Q Q ui 'E . X gf 1, ',1, ' - If xxixx , --r- -X A f it ' ff A il XXV ,W -Xji ' X ill li' ' - .fd-'.,'s--7 -X i 'Q x-as-ifffrgrxfl-4--'rf H'-f A I 'TTZTQ1 WASP VI I l - - bow and angled deck. After an extensive Western Pacific cruise, WASP returned to California and was designated an Anti-Submarine Warfare Support Carrier. In January 1957, she switched her home port from San Diego, California to Boston, Massachusetts, via Cape Horn. ln September 1957, WASP took part in NATO maneuvers in the North Atlantic. Following the NATO cruise, WASP underwent a major overhaul in the Boston Navy Yard. She then proceeded to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for a shake-down cruise, arriving back in Boston the last part of April. On 12 May 1958, WASP sailed from the United States for her deployment with the U.S. Sixth Fleet inthe Mediter- ranean. The crisis of the Middle East found WASP patrol- ling the waters off Lebanon. But her officers and men still had shore leave and liberty,visiting Rhodes, Greece, Athens, Greece, Naples, Italy, Izmir, Turkey, Bari, Italy, Cannes, France. After these five months of anti-submarine opera- tions in the Mediterranean, WASP returned to her home port, Boston, Mass. on October 11, 1958. She was then designated the flagship of Commander Task Group BRAVO. BRAVO was formed as an experimental antisubmarine task group with the mission of accelerating the development of hunter-killer group tactics, doctrines, and equipment. On June 11, 1959, while participating in New York City's 350th anniversary celebration markingthe discovery of the Hudson River, WASP was honored by an informal visit by Vice President Richard M. Nixon. During 1959, WASP played host to 40,000 citizens of the Boston area in a ten day Salute to Boston program and held open house , ASW lectures and material presentations in New York City, Quebec, Canada, and Bermuda. During this summercruise, when some 250 NROTC Midshipmen were trained on board WASP's regularly assigned Helicopter and S2F squadrons were replaced by Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 5 and Air Anti-Submarine Squadron 32. Tragedy struck WASP on August 18, 1959 when a runa- way Helicopter engine exploded causing a blazing inferno in Hangar Bay No. 1 and taking the lives of two of her shipmates. After over an hour of combined efforts of WAS P's officers and men and Task Group Bravo destroyers, the fire was brought under control. WASP made naval history on February 8, 1960 when she became the first ship of her size to proceed up the Mystic River which divides the Boston areas of Chelsea and Charlestown, Mass. WASP put to sea on 11 June 1960 after a record 4 months overhaul in the Boston Naval Shipyard completed in three months and ten days. On board washer newly commissioned Anti-Submarine Air Group 52.