USS Wasp (CVA-18). From Our Navy magazine, First of March, 1954.

Photo was taken circa 1951-1952, just after SCB-27A modernization, with Carrier Air Group 1 (CVG-1) aboard.

On April 26, 1952 Wasp collided with destroyer minesweeper Hobson (DMS-26) while conducting night flight operations in the Atlantic, en route to Gibraltar. Hobson was cut in two and sank. Rapid rescue operations saved 61 men, but Hobson lost 176 of her crew, including her skipper. Although Wasp sustained no personnel casualties her hull was severely damaged, with a 30 x 50-foot bite gouged out of the bow. With the carrier urgently needed for duty in the Mediterranean, preparations for repairs were begun immediately.

Wasp carefully proceeded to Bayonne, N.J., entered drydock there on 8 May and her damaged bow was cleared out with blow torches. The following day, the bow of aircraft carrier Hornet (CV-12) —then undergoing conversion in Brooklyn, N.Y.— was cut off and floated by barge across the bay. It was fitted into position under Wasp that afternoon, with steel plates to close any remaining gaps, and workers began round-the-clock welding operations. This remarkable repair task, which including replacing 61 lifeboats and refitting the carrier's anchor chain, was completed in only 10 days, enabling the carrier to get underway on 21 May. Shifting south to Norfolk, the crew spent a short three days preparing for deployment and Wasp sailed east across the Atlantic on 24 May.

(NS021863) Damaged section of Wasp's bow is shown as water drains from Bayonne drydock.

(NS021863a) Cradled Hornet bow is moved into position under Wasp just before the "welding ceremony."

(See also NS021294.)

From "All Hands" magazine, July 1952 issue.

USS Wasp (CVA-18) at sea in the Far East, 5 January 1955, at the time of the Tachen Islands evacuation.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97508).

USS Wasp somewhere in the Pacific, 1955. We were on board from K-3 [airfield] Korea on way to Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Our squadron VMC-1, USMC was relocating. The carrier was headed to San Diego, then to San Francisco to get a canted deck [1]. This is a shot of the Marine Gun Detachment practicing. I remember when we landed in Hawaii I thought the whole island moved when we docked.

[1] Archive Manager note: Wasp returned to San Diego in April 1955, then entered the San Francisco Naval Shipyard in May for a 7-month conversion and overhaul that included installation of a "canted" flight deck (as it was known at the time) and a "hurricane" bow.

USS Wasp (CVS-18) underway in a photo probably taken in the late 1950s, early in her CVS career, location unknown. Note the early-type landing area markings on her angled deck area.

Quonset Point, RI, October 1957.

Quonset Point, RI, October 1957. Seen from USS Tarawa (CVS-40).

Quonset Point, RI, October 1957.

USS Wasp (CVS-18) in formation with destroyers and aircraft of Anti-submarine Task Group Bravo, in the Mediterranean Sea, 19 August 1961. All escorts are Gearing-class DDEs. Planes overhead include ten S2F and two AD-5Ws. Two HSS-1 helicopters are flying just above the ships.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph (# USN 1057640).

USS Wasp (CVS-18) underway in the 1960s, location unknown.

Wawasee (YTM-367) and USS Wasp (CVS-18) underway in Boston Harbor, 7 September 1964.

Gemini IV Space Flight, June 1965 — The Gemini IV space capsule is lifted aboard USS Wasp (CVS-18) on 7 June 1965, after completing a 62 revolution flight around the Earth in 97 hours and 56 minutes. The spacecraft, crewed by Astronauts James A. McDivitt and Edward H. White, landed about 48 miles short of its target and some 400 miles east of Cape Kennedy, Florida, at 12:12 PM Eastern Standard Time on 7 June. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Gemini IV mission covered over 1,600,000 miles in the longest multimanned space flight yet flown.

Caption information comes from the original NASA caption.

Official National Aeronautics and Space Administration Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97511).

USS Wasp (CVS-18) underway, circa early 1967. This photograph was included with a 11 February 1967 USS Wasp press release, concerning her appearance at New Orleans' Mardi Gras festivities.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97509).

This photo was also used for the official US Navy Press Kit Photograph covering the Large Scale Maritime Exercise Silver Tower, September 16–27, 1968: "USS Wasp (CVS-18) (Antisubmarine Warfare Carrier) Flagship Silver Tower ASW Carrier Group One, Rear Admiral Thomas R. McLellan U.S. Navy." (Thanks to Robert M. Cieri.)

USS Wasp (CVS-18) at GITMO during ORI, 1968.

USS Wasp (CVS-18) at sea in the Atlantic, with two SH-3 Sea King helicopters flying by in the foreground, 9 May 1969. Photographed by Ph2 Stabe.

Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center (# NH 97510).

The antisubmarine warfare support carrier USS Wasp (CVS-18) departs May 1970 from the Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, R.I., for a European cruise. US Navy photo by E. F. Capece (# K-83571).

Aerial view of the Carrier Pier at NAS Quonset Point, Rhode Island, 23 September 1970. It shows USS Intrepid (CVS-11), left and USS Wasp (CVS-18), right.

Official US Navy Photograph (# USN-1151462) by PH3 James Phillips.