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NavSource Online: Aircraft Carrier Photo Archive

Courtesy of CAPT Gene Oleson, CHC, USN (Ret)
(bluejacket.com)

USS WASP (CV-7)

Unit Awards, Campaign and Service Medals and Ribbons

Precedence of awards is from top to bottom, left to right
Top Row: American Defense Service Medal ("A" device) / American Campaign Medal
2nd Row: European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (1 star) / Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal (1 star) / World War II Victory Medal

Ordered	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Stricken
*Wasp Class Aircraft Carrier*
19 Sep 1935	1 Apr 1936	4 Apr 1939	25 Apr 1940	2 Nov 1942
Builder: Bethlehem Steel Corp., Quincy, Mass.

Named to commemorate seven US warships which had previously borne the name. A "Wasp" is "any of numerous winged hymenopterous insects possessing smooth, slender bodies, and an abdomen attached by a narrow stalk. They have well-developed wings, biting mouthparts, and often administer painful stings."
Authorized by an Act of 27 March 1934 as a tonnage replacement for the Langley (CV-1).
Displacement restricted to the remaining carrier tonnage allowed under the Washington Treaty.
Fitted with a folding, T-shaped, deck-edge elevator (the ancestor of the much larger units installed in later carriers).

Fate: Hit by two torpedoes from Japanese submarine I-19, 15 Sep 1942, while operating in the Southwestern Pacific in support of forces on Guadalcanal. Gasoline fires became rapidly uncontrollable and she had to be abandoned. Scuttled by USS Lansdowne (DD-486).

Destroyers Laffey (DD-459), Duncan (DD-485), Lansdowne, Lardner (DD-487) and Farenholt (DD-491) rescued over 2,000 survivors, including the Task Force commander (RADM Noyes) and Wasp's commanding officer (CAPT Sherman.) Most of them were taken to Noumea aboard Laffey, Lansdowne and cruisers Salt Lake City (CA-25) and Helena (CL-50). One hundred and ninety-three of her crew were lost with the ship and remain on active duty.

Specifications
(As built, 1940)
Displacement: 14,700 tons standard (design); 19,116 tons full load
Dimensions (wl): 688' x 80.75' x 20' / 209.7 x 24.6 x 6.1 meters
Dimensions (max.): 741.25' x 109' / 225.9 x 33.2 meters
Armor: 60-lb STS conning tower; 3.5" (side), 50-lb (deck) over steering gear
Power plant: 6 boilers (565 psi); steam turbines; 2 shafts; 75,000 shp
Speed: 29.5 knots
Endurance (design): 12,000 nautical miles @ 15 knots
Armament: 8 single 5"/38 gun mounts; 4 quad 1.1"/75 machine gun mounts; 24 .50-cal machine guns
Aircraft: 80+
Aviation facilities: 2 elevators (+ 1 deck-edge); 2 flight-deck and 2 hangar-deck hydraulic catapults
Crew: 1,800 (ship's company + air wing) (peacetime)

Click on Thumbnail for Full Size Image	Size	Image Description	Source
NS020711	108k	Postcard showing USS *Wasp* anchored in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, while "dressed" with flags for Navy Day, 27 October 1940. Note the old flush-deck destroyer in the right distance.	Richard Leonhardt
NS020701	251k	Starboard bow, December 27 1940. Image # (80-G-463431)	National Archives
NS020712	92k	USS *Wasp* (CV-7) off the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia, on 8 January 1942, following overhaul. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives (# 19-N-27320).	Michael Mohl
NS020703	52k	Underway in the Atlantic, sometime in March 1942. Note that the hangar catapult outrigger, barely visible in this photo, is folded down. (Thanks to Robert Hurst).	USN
NS020702	106k	USS *Wasp* (CV-7) entering Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 26 May 1942. An escorting destroyer is in the background. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-12240).	NHC
NS020704	50k	Undated, starboard side view, Underway. (Atlantic).	USN
NS020706	161k	USS *Wasp* (CV-7) in port in June 1942, with a motor launch coming alongside. Probably taken in San Diego Harbor, California. Planes on deck, some with wings folded, include SB2U scout bombers and F4F-4 fighters. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-K-447).	Scott Dyben
NS020708	41k	Wartime photo. Date and place unknown.	Submitted by Clint Wingrove from the collection of his grandfather Joseph L. Wingrove. BM/2c. USN, USS Phoenix CL-46, 1939-45
NS020705	87k	USS *Wasp* (CV-7) burning and listing after she was torpedoed by the Japanese submarine I-19, on 15 September 1942, while operating in the Southwestern Pacific in support of forces on Guadalcanal. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-16331).	USN
NS020710	55k	USS O'Brien (DD-415) is torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during the Guadalcanal Campaign, 15 September 1942. USS *Wasp* (CV-7), torpedoed a few minutes earlier, is burning in the left distance. O'Brien was hit in the extreme bow, but "whipping" from the torpedo explosion caused serious damage to her hull amidships, leading to her loss on 19 October 1942, while she was en route back to the United States for repairs. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives (photo # 80-G-457818).	NHC

View the USS Wasp (CV-7)
DANFS History entry located on the Hazegray & Underway Web Site.

Crew Contact and Reunion Information Web Sites

Date:
Place:
Contact:	Mr. Robert J.Smith
Address:	10687 N. 300 E. Morristown, In. 46161
Phone:	765-763-7298
E-mail:	waspcv7@svs.net
Web site:
Remarks:

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Last update: 9 December 2007