Wasp (CV 18) - Naval Cruise Book

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Indiana Siluer Service. Valued at se- veral thousand dollars, this set is now on display in a lighted cabinet in WASP ward- room. Originally presented to the battle- ship INDIANA by the people of that state on 4 July, 1898, the service was slightly damaged when hit hy a mortar fragment during the Battle nt Santiago, Cuba. deck was strengthened, new arresting gear and heavy capacity catapaults were in- stalled. All guns and turrets were removed from the flight deck, her displacement in- creased, and her gasoline storage capacity enlarged to accommodate jet aircraft. As CVA-18, she was recommissioned on 10 September. when CAPT Burnham C. Mc- Caffrec assumed command. On 28ApriI, 1952, while enroute to Gi- braltar and conducting night flying opera- tions in the mid-Atlantic, the bow of the WASP was shattered by collision with the Destroyer Minesweeper HOBSON. The full circumstances surrounding this famous tra- ,-:-ff :rife - fs.. 'ifr- gedy can never be told because ofthe loss at sea ofcrucial HO BSON personnel. WASP returned to New York with 52 HOBSON survivors of the catastrophe. On 2 june, 1952, WASP, at Gibraltar. relieved TARAWA and joined CARDIV 6. After conducting flight operations be- tween good-will visits to Mediterranean ports, she was relieved by LEYTE in September. The following day she de- parted for Scotland, and, during Septem- ber, as a unit of TF 175, was engaged in NATO operations in Northern Europe. She departed from Portsmouth, England, in September, 1952 and arrived at Norfolk in October, 1952. ln September, 1953, WASP got under- way on a world cruise of seven and one- half months. the first leg of which involved her return to the Mediterranean. After passing through the Suez Canal, she oper- ated out of Subic Boy, P.l. before sailing for japan. WAS P participated in the regrouping of Chinese Nationalists in the Tachin ls- lands. o huge lift of more than 30,000 mili- tary and civilian personnel as well as10,000 tons of equipment. As a member of Vice Admiral Pride's Seventh Fleet, WAS P fiew 1.200 sorties and established what may well have been a new record by catapul- ting 12 jets in 3 minutes and nine seconds. President Eisenhower's commendatian read: Yours was a difficult and delicate assignment. On behalf of a grateful Ameri- can people, well done! ln April, 1954, she was relieved by the BOXER and departed for her new home port of San Diego. A year later she entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard where she received the new angle deck and hurricane bow as well as electronics and other additions. On 1 December she re-turned to duty with the Pacific Fleet. On 7 December, 1955, WASP was presented the CNO's award for fiscal year 1955 as the outstanding carrier in the Paci- tic Fleet for aviation safety. Once again in the Pacific, she assisted in the search for survivors of a Navy patrol plane shot down in August, 1956, off the coast of China. She returned to San Diego in October, 1956, and departed for her new home port, Boston, on 31 january, 1957. On 1 November, 1956, WASP was re- designated a CVS. As such she is now officially part of the Navy's ASW program. Remaining in the Boston area only long enough to qualify carrier pilots and learn the rudiments of ASW, WASP participated in the 1957 NATO cruise, comprised ofthe largest armada ever assembled in peace- time. After participating in SEASPRAY, FEND- OFF and STRIKEBACK, WASP returned to Boston for major overhaul, receiving the new ABC washdown system, Sector Ray gear, and other modern equipment. In November she entered drydock in Boston, emerging from her yard period on 10 March, 1958, when she departed for het' Cuba Shakedown. Beginninig a new Phase of her history, WASP is here shown during her first major overhaul after being re- d9SiQnated CVS. In the yards in Boston, Winter Of 1957, she received ad- ditional equipment for her ASW mission.

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when a WASP plane, high above the ship. began to fire into his left wing. The kami- kaze smoked and blazed but continued to roar down on the WASP. The ship's gunners then took over, concentrating a perfect cone offire on the diving craft until, when it seemed that he could not possibly miss the carrier, his right wing disinte- grated, causing him to veer. He crashed into the sea hard by the starboard bow: a litter of debris fluttered down on the WASP's flight deck. On 15 August, when the fighting should have been over, twojapanese planes moved in toward the carrier before WASP pilots. flying a still-cautious CAP, sent them into the sea. This was the last time WASP pilots shot at a japanese enemy. The fighting was over but WASP found more excitement when she plowed into a typhoon with winds reaching 78 knots. About 30 feet of her bow were stove in. Although this damage increased flying hazards by diminishing flight-deck length. WASP continued to fly aircraft-now on missions of mercy or patrol. The planes carried food, medicine and long-deserved luxuries to American POWs at Narumi, near Nagoya. These men afhxed a sign to Battle lineup. This pic- ture shows the fighting fleet in Ulithi Atol iii December, 1944. From foreground to back- ground: WASP CCV-182 YORKTOWN fCV-101. HORNET fCV-121, HAN- COCK fCVL-9l, TICON- DEROGA ICV-141, and LEXINGTON KCV-161. IH fe ls if ' if 1-1 Affr.. T 1 '.:.i'l Y Fld. the roof of one of the hovels in which they had been inprisoned. lt read Men of Bataan-Correqictor-Thank WASP ' The ship was ordered to Boston for Navy Day. 1945, where she received a rousing welcome and was open to the general public for inspection and sighi- seeing. From Boston she sailed to New York to undergo modifications making her suitable for troop transportation. On com- v . 5 5, ,s.,.h-h...l..i-V-:Q 5 x s. ,h-l--5--5' ' e .e s .v--H ev-'A '- X 5 .B .S.B -51--5 5 5. x 5 5, 1, in MH. i li.-ASI- s scum' included 222 aircraft shot douii i runiiiiiie' 225 TSM. 335 ships damaged. pletion of these alterations in November, 1945, she was capable of accommodating 5.500 enlisted and approximately 400 ofticer passengers besides her ship's com- pany. Additional personnel could be berthed on cots. ln january, 1947, CV-18 was decom- missioned and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. ln the summer of19li8 she moved into the Shipyard in New York, where her flight l ..-nd

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