Wasp (CVS 18) - Naval Cruise Book

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FORMER COMMANDING OFFICERS , ., Z..4I,.fi- ,'eWi - if. ' f.xm' Zi9K 675 it E.H.C FREDERICKS Coptoin, USN 1958-1959 Born in New England, North Dakota, Edward Fredericks graduated from the Naval Academy in 1933. He served on the NORTHAMPTON and, in 1937, received his Wings , He served as a Flight Instructor at Pensacola, fol- lowing U.S. entry into World War ll, until February 1943, when he reported as Air Officer on board the Aircraft car- rier MONTEREY and was awarded the Bronze Star with Combat NV . After several tours of duty, Captain Fredericks as- sumed command of the WASP in July, 1958. He was relieved on 26 August 1959 by Captain lngram. CARLYLE INGRAM Cciptoin, USN 1959-1960 A native of Milledgeville, Georgia, Captain Carlyle lngram was graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy with th . . . e class of 1934. He earned his wings in 1937. During World War ll he commanded anti-Submarine Squadron 3 D10 and Patrol Squadron 53, he also served on the Staff of Command Fleet Air Wing Four in the Aleu-- tians and the Chief Staff Officer, Naval Air Bases, Twelfth Naval District during 1944-45. Captain lngram is entitled to wear the Navy Com- mendation Medal, American Defense Medal Cone starb, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific, Campaign Medal, Victory Medal World War ll andthe Navy Occupation Medal. Captain lngram assumed command of the anti-subma- rinecarrier WASP on August 26, 1959, and was relieved by Captain C. A. Karaberis on June 11, 1960. He is presently in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, in Washington. li fy fi gmc? . X5 'S 3 ., .t 0 , wits. .. . zftbffrix 4 , 'S 1 S .1 1 ' V1.5 . . , x Sf. if Tx? X f 9- ' ' 5 sk file s X Ss Q PSX X 1 W iS Q 'ff 4, , 4, s 2 is T gg 5 9 1 Q ix X l at N CES: X X . S X Sec t +-As Rx s H Q .. . A 'N 11 1.. V O fx' H . . is be , ai' - f 5

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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.

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TCJDAY'S CAPTAIN CQNSTANTINE A. KARABERIS Ccipfciin, USN A native of Lewiston, Maine, Captain Constantine A. Karaberis attended public schools in Manchester, N. H., and was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy from New Hampshire in 1931, graduating in 1935 with the Bachelor of Science degree. He advanced through the various grades and was appointed to Captain with date of rank of July 1, 1954. He served as a junior officer in the aircraft carrier USS SARATOGA, having gunnery, communication and en- gineering duties, until 1937, when he reported for flight training to the Naval Air Station, Pensacola, Fla. He was designated a Naval Aviator in February 1939, and was as- signed to duty in the aviation unit of USS HONOLULU. While serving as Senior Aviator of that cruiser in 1941, he received a Letter of Commendation from the Secretary of the Navy and was awarded the Admiral William A. Moffet Memorial Trophy for aviation safety in competition with all cruiser and battleship aviation units. On board the HONOLULU at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked the U.S. Fleet there on December 7, 1941, he was detached in May 1942 for duty as Flight Instructor at the Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Fla. ln July 1943 he joined Fleet Air Wing EIGHT for training at Sanford, Fla. From January to September 1944 he served as Air Officer of the escort carrier USS SHAMROCK BAY in the Pacific and Atlantic. After brief duty as Operations Officer at the Naval Air Station, San Diego, Calif., in March 1945 he reported as Executive Officer of the escort carrier USS WAKE ISLAND. His ship was twice struck by Japanese suicide planes off Okinawa, receiving the Navy Unit Commendation for operations againstthe enemy during the Spring of 1945. Captain Karaberis was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V for meritorious achievement as the ship's Executive Officer during those operations, contributing materially to the out- standing record ofthe embarked air squadron in inflicting damage on the enemy... Leaving the WAKE ISLAND in April 1946, he next served as an instructor in aviation at the General Line School, Newport, R.l. Then, following a three-months' refresher course at the Naval Air Station, Corpus Christi, Texas, he served as Commanding Officer of Patrol Squadron TWO tAlaska Rotation? and from March to June 1950, as Operations Officer on the Staff of Commander Fleet Air Wing FOUR, Whidbey Island, Washington. 7 l He completed the Strategy and Logistics Course at the Naval War College, Newport, R.l., in June 1951 and then was assigned as Executive Officer of the Naval Air Station, Alameda, Calif, He served as Chief Staff Officer to Commander Fleet Air Wing TWO from June 1953 to June 1954, and then had two years' duty as Commanding Officer of Air Transport Squadron 23, operating in Japan and the Far East. ln September 1956, he was assigned to duty in the Bureau ofAeronautics, Navy Department, Washington, D.C., and from October 1958 to May 1960, he served as Chief of Staff to Commander Anti-Submarine Defense Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet, at Norfolk, Va. On June 9,1960 he assumed command of the antisubmarine aircraft carrier, USS WASP, Flagship for Commander Carrier Division 14 CCommander Task Group BRAVOD- In addition to the Bronze Star Medal with Combat V , the Navy Unit Commendation and the Letter of Com- mendation, he is entitled to wear the American Defense Service Medal Ctwo starsb, the American Campaign Medal the World War ll Victory Medal, the China Service Medal CExtendedJ, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Service Medal and the United Nations Service Medal. Captain Karaberis is married to the former Avis Estelle Moore of Murfreesboro, Tenn., their home is now in Boston.