Essex class aircraft carriers

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 71. Chapters: USS Wasp, Essex class aircraft carrier, USS Yorktown, USS Ticonderoga, USS Intrepid, USS Oriskany, USS Hancock, USS Lexington, USS Franklin, USS Hornet, USS Essex, USS Randolph, USS Antietam, USS Philippine Sea, USS Bennington, USS Kearsarge, USS Bunker Hill, USS Boxer, SCB-27, USS Leyte, USS Bon Homme Richard, SCB-125, USS Reprisal. Excerpt: USS Wasp (CV/CVA/CVS-18) was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. The ship, the ninth US Navy ship to bear the name, was originally named Oriskany, but was renamed while under construction in honor of the previous Wasp (CV-7), which was sunk 15 September 1942. Wasp was commissioned in November 1943, and served in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, earning eight battle stars. Like many of her sister ships, she was decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, but was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career she operated mainly in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and Caribbean. She played a prominent role in the manned space program, serving as the recovery ship for three missions: Gemini VI, VII, and IX. She was retired in 1972 and sold for scrap in 1973. The ship was laid down on 18 March 1942 at Quincy, Massachusetts, by the Bethlehem Steel Company, and renamed Wasp on 13 November 1942. She was launched on 17 August 1943, sponsored by Miss Julia M. Walsh, the sister of Senator David I. Walsh of Massachusetts, and commissioned on 24 November 1943, Captain Clifton A. F. Sprague in command. Following a shakedown cruise which lasted through the end of 1943, Wasp returned to Boston for a brief yard period to correct minor flaws which had been discovered during her time at sea. On 10 January 1944, the new aircraft carrier departed Boston; steamed to Hampton Roads, Virginia; and remained there until the last day of the month, when she sailed for Trinidad, her base of operations through 22 February. She returned to Boston five days later and prepared for service in the Pacific. Early in March, the ship sailed south; transited the Panama Canal; arrived at San Diego, California on 21 March; and reached Pearl Harbor on 4 April. Following training exercises in Hawaiian waters, Wasp steam