USS Helena War Diary September 1942
Page 2 of 3 pages




USS Wasp (CV-7) was a United States Navy aircraft carrier commissioned in 1940 and lost in action in 1942.

She was the eighth ship named USS Wasp, and the sole ship of a class built to use up the remaining tonnage
allowed to the U.S. for aircraft carriers under the treaties of the time. As a reduced-size version of the
Yorktown-class hull, Wasp was more vulnerable than other United States aircraft carriers available at the
opening of hostilities.

Wasp was initially employed in the Atlantic campaign where Axis naval forces were perceived as less capable
of inflicting decisive damage. After supporting the occupation of Iceland in 1941, Wasp joined the British Home
Fleet in April 1942 and twice ferried British fighter aircraft to Malta.

As a consequence of lower-risk assignments, Wasp was one of the few United States carriers to survive
destruction in the Pacific aircraft carrier battles of 1942. Wasp was then transferred to the Pacific in June 1942
to replace losses at the battles of Coral Sea and Midway.

After supporting the invasion of Guadalcanal, Wasp was sunk by the Japanese submarine I-19 on 15 September 1942.



Forward



Home

CL-50

CL-50 Archive Index

Fold3 Index