David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:33pm
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LHA - Tarawa Class Amphib
Function: Primary landing ships, resembling small aircraft carriers, designed to put troops on hostile shores.
Description: Modern U.S. Navy amphibious assault ships are called upon to perform as primary landing ships for assault operations of Marine expeditionary units. These ships use Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), conventional landing craft and helicopters to move Marine assault forces ashore. In a secondary role, using AV-8B Harrier aircraft and anti-submarine warfare helicopters, these ships perform sea control and limited power projection missions.
Background: Amphibious warships are uniquely designed to support assault from the sea against defended positions ashore. They must be able to sail in harm's way and provide a rapid built-up of combat power ashore in the face of opposition. The United States maintains the largest and most capable amphibious force in the world.
General Characteristics, Tarawa Class
Builders:
Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, MI
Power Plant:
Two boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts, 70,000 total shaft horsepower
Date Deployed:
May 29, 1976 (USS Tarawa)
Length, Overall:
820 feet (249.94 meters)
Beam:
106 feet (32.31 meters)
Displacement:
39,400 long tons (40,032 metric tons) full load
Speed:
24 knots (27.62 miles per hour)
Crew:
Ship's Company: 82 officers, 882 enlisted
Marine Detachment: 1,900 plus
Armament:
Two RAM launchers
Two 5 inch/54 cal. MK-45 lightweight guns
Two Phalanx 20 mm CIWS mount
Six 25 mm Mk 38 machine guns
Aircraft:
(Actual mix depends upon mission)
Nine CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters
12 CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters
Six AV-8B Harrier attack planes
Ships:
USS Tarawa (LHA-1), San Diego, CA
USS Saipan (LHA-2), Norfolk, VA
USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3), Sasebo, Japan
USS Nassau (LHA-4), Norfolk, VA
USS Peleliu (LHA-5), San Diego, CA
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:34pm
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AGF11 - USS Coronado Comm
Function: Serves as a flagship.
Description: Command ships provide communications and accommodations for fleet commanders and staff. Ships are equipped air and surface radars, helicopter, chaff launchers and an electronic warfare suite.
Background: These ships were converted from amphibious warships for employment as command ships. Amphibious warships are uniquely designed to support assault from the sea against defended positions ashore. They must be able to sail in harm's way and provide a rapid built-up of combat power ashore in the face of opposition. The United States maintains the largest and most capable amphibious force in the world.
General Characteristics, USS Coronado
Builders:
As LPD-11: Lockheed Shipbuilding
& Construction Co.
Conversion:
To AGF11: Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA
Power Plant:
Two boilers, geared turbines, two shafts, 24,000 shaft horsepower
Date Deployed:
November 14, 1970 (USS Blue Ridge)
Length, Overall:
570 feet (173.74 meters)
Beam:
100 feet (30.48 meters)
Displacement:
16,912 long tons (17,183.41 metric tons)
Speed:
21 knots (24.2+ miles per hour, 38.95+ kph)
Crew:
516 ship's company, 120 flag staff
Armament:
Two Phalanx close-in-weapons systems
Two 12.7 mm MGs
Aircraft:
Two light helicopters
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:34pm
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CG47 - Ticonderoga Class
Function: Surface Action Combatant with multiple target response capability.
Description: Based on the DD963 Spruance class destroyer hull, the Ticonderoga is the first non-nuclear cruiser since the CG26 Belknap class guided missile cruiser, commissioned in 1964. The Ticonderoga uses the same gas turbine propulsion system as the Spruance, though it lacks hull stabilizers and is equipped with supplemental Kevlar armor to provide additional protection in critical areas. With 27 cruisers slated for construction over a period of 14 years, construction was broken up into four separate "blocks" to take advantage of technological advancements.
Since the commissioning of the final Ticonderoga class cruiser (CG73 USS Port Royal) the class has undergone three technology "block" upgrades.
Block I: Includes CG47 and CG48. Block I represents the "baseline" design, incorporating fore and aft Mk 26 Mod 5 missile launchers, 2 SH-2F Seasprite LAMPS I ASW/Recon helicopters, and the AN/SPY-1A radar.
Block II: Includes CG49-CG51. Replaces the 2 SH-2F LAMPS I helicopters with 2 SH-60B Seahawk helicopters (LAMPS III.) In addition the RAST haul down helicopter landing system is also incorporated and SM-2MR Block II Standard missile is introduced.
Block III: Includes CG52-CG55. Mk 26 Mod 5 missile launchers are removed and replaced with fore and aft Mk 41 Mod 0 Vertical Launch Systems (VLS.) In addition, the Ticonderoga's anti-ship and land strike potential are increased with the introduction of VLS launched Tomahawk cruise missiles.
Block IV: Includes CG56-CG58. The class' ASW capabilities are improved with the addition of the SQQ-89(V)3 towed passive sonar array. Later retrofitted with UYK-43/44 combat information system.
Block V: Includes CG59-CG73. Encompassing the remaining cruisers, the Aegis radar is upgraded to the AN/SPY-1B and the combat information systems are upgraded to the UYK-43/44 standard.
Following the completion of class' production run, a number of weapon and electronic systems upgrades have been introduced, improving the combat and sensor capabilities of the class. The Block IV SM-2 has replaced the SM-2MR Block II, which, coupled with improved tracking ability, gives the class a Theater Ballistic Missile Defense (TBMD) capability. In addition, improvements have been made in Tomahawk guidance capabilities. In order to improve small craft targeting and tracking, the Mk 15 Mod 2 Phalanx Close In Weapon System (CIWS) is being upgraded with thermal imaging units, though the weapon systems are slated to be replaced with the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM block I) beginning in 2001.
History: Commissioned on 22 January, 1983, the Ticonderoga represents a revolution in surface warfare ship design. Though similar in design to earlier ships (specifically the DD963 Spruance class destroyer), the Ticonderoga class differs in that its primary weapon system is not a weapon at all, but the powerful SPY-1 Aegis radar. Capable of acquiring, tracking, and engaging multiple targets simultaneously, the Aegis system sets a new standard in Surface and Anti-Air Warfare. Furthermore, the Aegis system can integrate itself with the weapon and combat information systems of other ships in the battle group, to coordinate and direct the actions of the entire group. This capability allows the Ticonderoga cruiser battle groups to operate effectively and for an extended period in any Anti-Air, Anti-Submarine, Anti-Surface or strike environment.
General Characteristics, Ticonderoga Class
Cost:
About $1 billion each
Builders:
Ingalls Shipbuilding: CG 47-50, CG 52-57, 59,62, 65-66, 68-69, 71-73
Bath Iron Works: CG-51,58,60-61,63-64,67,70
Power Plant:
4 General Electric LM 2500 gas turbine engines; 2 shafts with controllable reversible pitch propellers, 80,000 shaft horsepower total
Date Deployed:
January 22, 1983 (USS Ticonderoga)
Crew:
24 Officers, 340 Enlisted
Sensors:
Radars:
1 AN/SPY-1 phased array air search and fire control radar
1 AN/SPS-49 air search radar
1 AN/SPS-55 surface search radar
1 AN/SPS-64 surface search radar
1 AN/SPQ-9A gunfire control radar
4 AN/SPG-62 fire control illuminators
Sonars:
One AN/SQS-53 hull mounted sonar
One AN/SQR-19 towed array sonar
One AN/SQQ-89 ASW combat system
Countermeasures:
One Mk 36 Mod 2 Super Rapid-Blooming Off Board Chaff System (SRBOC)
One AN/SLQ-32(v)3 electronic warfare suite
One AN/SLQ-25 towed torpedo decoy (Nixie)
Length, Overall:
567 feet (172.82 meters)
Beam:
55 feet (16.76 meters)
Displacement:
9,600 long tons (9,754.06 metric tons) full load
Speed:
30+ knots (34.52+mph, 55.55+ kph)
Armament:
Guns:
Two Mk 45 5"/54 caliber Lightweight Gun Mounts
Torpedos:
Two Mk 32 Mod 14 triple torpedo tubes firing either the Mk 46 Mod 5 or Mk 50 ASW torpedoes
CG52 - CG73 Vertical Launch ASROC with Mk 46 Mod 5 or Mk 50 ASW torpedoes
Missiles:
Tomahawk cruise missiles
Standard 2MR Surface to Air missile
Vertical Launch ASROC torpedoes
CG47-CG51 Missiles launched from fore and aft twin rail launchers
CG52-CG73 Missiles launched from 2 forward mounted Mk 41 Vertical Launch Systems (VLS)
Two aft mounted Harpoon Missile Quad-Cannister Launcher
One Mk 15 Mod 2 Close-In Weapon System (2 mounts)
Aircraft:
Two SH-2 Seasprite (LAMPS) in CG 47-48
Two SH-60 Sea Hawk (LAMPS III)
Ships:
USS Ticonderoga (CG 47), Pascagoula, MI
USS Yorktown (CG 48), Pascagoula, MI
USS Vincennes (CG 49), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Valley Forge (CG 50), San Diego, CA
USS Thomas S. Gates (CG 51), Pascagoula, MI
USS Bunker Hill (CG 52), San Diego, CA
USS Mobile Bay (CG 53), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Antietam (CG 54), San Diego, CA
USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55), Norfolk, VA
USS San Jacinto (CG 56), Norfolk, VA
USS Lake Champlain (CG 57), San Diego, CA
USS Philippine Sea (CG 58), Norfolk, VA
USS Princeton (CG 59), San Diego, CA
USS Normandy (CG 60), Norfolk, VA
USS Monterey (CG 61), Norfolk, VA
USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Cowpens (CG 63), San Diego, CA
USS Gettysburg (CG 64), Norfolk, VA
USS Chosin (CG 65), Pearl Harbor, HI
USS Hue City (CG 66), Mayport, FA
USS Shiloh (CG 67), San Diego, CA
USS Anzio (CG 68), Norfolk, VA
USS Vicksburg (CG 69), Mayport, FA
USS Lake Erie (CG 70), Pearl Harbor, HI
USS Cape St. George (CG 71), Norfolk, VA
USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), Norfolk, VA
USS Port Royal (CG 73), Pearl Harbor, HI
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:34pm
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CV63 - Kitty Hawk Class A
Function: Centerpiece and Flagship of the Navy's "Forward....from the sea..." power projection mission.
Description: Hosting 85 aircraft and carrying enough supplies to sustain her Air Wing and escorts for 90 days, the modern U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, in effect, represents a mobile piece of American real estate, capable of projecting the power and influence of the United States any where in the world. With the end of the Cold War the Navy carrier mission has shifted from maintaining Sea Lanes of Communication and confronting the Soviet Navy to addressing regional threats to U.S. interests. While still fully capable of dominating the open seas, the Navy, through the Carrier Battle Groups, now focuses on supporting near-shore "littoral zone" and inshore U.S. ground operations. While the Ticonderoga class Guided Missile Cruisers and Arleigh Burke class Guided Missile Destroyers possess an awesome amount of firepower, they lack the flexibility of the carrier air wing. By swapping out and adjusting the number of aircraft aboard, the aircraft carrier can tailor its air wing to meet mission needs. Deployed in 1961, The Kitty Hawk and the Constellation are the only conventional carriers still on active duty with the U.S. Navy, with the Kitty Hawk also being the only forward-deployed conventional carrier. These carriers are expected to remain in service until 2008.
General Characteristics, Kitty Hawk Class
Builders:
CV 63 - New York Ship Building Corp., Camden, NJ
CV 64 - New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, NY
Power Plant:
Eight Foster & Wheeler boilers, four Westinghouse steam turbines, four shafts, 280,000 total shaft horsepower
Date Deployed:
April 29, 1961 (USS Kitty Hawk)
Length, Overall:
1062.5 feet (323.85 meters)
Flight Deck Length:
252 feet (76.81 meters)
Beam:
130 feet (39.62 meters)
Displacement:
Approx. 80,800 long tons (82,096.69 metric tons) full load
Speed:
30+ knots (34.52+mph, 55.55+ kph)
Crew:
Ship's Company: 3,150 - Air Wing: 2,480
Armament:
Three Mk 29 Launchers for NATO Sea Sparrow (RIM-7M) Surface to Air missile
One Mk 15 Mod 2 Close-In Weapon System (3 mounts)
Sensors:
One AN/SPS-48 air search radar
One AN/SPS-49 air search radar
One AN/SPS-67 surface search radar
One AN/SPS-64 navigational radar
Three Mk 91 fire control directors (Sea Sparrow)
Countermeasures:
One Mk 36 Mod 2 Super Rapid-Blooming Off Board Chaff System (SRBOC)
One AN/SLQ-29 electronic warfare suite
One AN/SLQ-25 towed torpedo decoy (Nixie)
Aircraft:
85
Ships:
USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Constellation (CV-64), San Diego, CA
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:34pm
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CVN65 - Enterprise Class
Function: Centerpiece and Flagship of the Navy's "Forward....from the sea..." power projection mission.
Description: Hosting 85 aircraft and carrying enough supplies to sustain her air wing and escorts for 90 days, the modern U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, in effect, represents a mobile piece of American real estate, capable of projecting the power and influence of the United States any where in the world. With the end of the Cold War the navy carrier mission has shifted from maintaining Sea Lanes of Communication and confronting the Soviet Navy to addressing regional threats to U.S. interests. While still fully capable of dominating the open seas, the Navy, through the Carrier Battle Groups, now focuses on supporting near shore "littoral zone" and inshore U.S. ground operations. While the Ticonderoga class Guided Missile Cruisers and Arleigh Burke class Guided Missile Destroyers possess an awesome amount of firepower, they lack the flexibility of the carrier air wing. By swapping out and adjusting the number of aircraft aboard, the aircraft carrier can tailor its air wing to meet mission needs. The Enterprise is the first American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and is expected to remain in service until 2013, when it will be replaced by the CVX-78.
General Characteristics, Enterprise Class
Builders:
Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, VA
Power Plant:
Eight Westinghouse A2W nuclear reactors, four geared steam turbines, four shafts
Date Deployed:
November 25, 1961 (USS Enterprise)
Length, Overall:
1,040 feet (335.64 meters)
Flight Deck Length:
252 feet (76.81 meters)
Beam:
133 feet (40.54 meters)
Displacement:
89,600 long tons (91,037.91 metric tons) full load
Speed:
30+ knots (34.52+mph, 55.55+ kph)
Crew:
Ship's Company: 3,350 - Air Wing 2,480
Armament:
Three Mk 29 Launchers for NATO Sea Sparrow (RIM-7M) Surface to Air missile
One Mk 15 Mod 2 Close-In Weapon System (3 mounts)
Sensors:
One AN/SPS-48 air search radar
One AN/SPS-49 air search radar
One AN/SPS-67 surface search radar
One AN/SPS-64 navigational radar
Three Mk 91 fire control directors (Sea Sparrow)
Countermeasures:
One Mk 36 Mod 2 Super Rapid-Blooming Off Board Chaff System (SRBOC)
One AN/SLQ-32(v)3 electronic warfare suite
One AN/SLQ-25 towed torpedo decoy (Nixiee)
Aircraft:
85
Ship:
USS Enterprise (CVN 65), Norfolk, VA
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:34pm
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DD963 - Spruance Class De
Function: Gas turbine destroyer configured for Anti-Submarine and Strike Warfare.
Description: Spruance class destroyers operate in support of carrier battle groups, surface action groups, amphibious groups and replenishment groups. The Spruance class destroyers primarily perform antisubmarine warfare duty while guided missile destroyers like the Arleigh Burke are multi-mission (ASW, anti-air and anti-surface warfare) surface combatants. The addition of the Mk-41 Vertical Launch System to the destroyers has greatly expanded their role in strike warfare. The Spruance class destroyers were the first large U.S. Navy warships to employ gas turbine engines as their main propulsion system and are undergoing extensive modernizing. The upgrade program includes addition of vertical launchers for advanced missiles on 24 ships of this class, in addition to an advanced ASW system and upgrading of its helicopter capability. Spruance class destroyers are expected to remain a major part of the Navy's surface combatant force into the 21st century.
General Characteristics, Spruance Class
Cost:
About $1 billion each
Builders:
Ingalls Shipbuilding
Power Plant:
Four General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines, two shafts, 80,000 shaft horsepower length
Date Deployed:
Sept. 20, 1975 (USS Spruance)
Crew:
30 officers, 352 enlisted
Sensors:
Radars:
One AN/SPS-40E air search radar
One AN/SPS-55 surface search radar
One AN/SPQ-9A gunfire control radar
One AN/SPG-60 fire control illuminator
Sonars:
One AN/SQS-53 hull mounted sonar
One AN/SQR-19 towed array sonar
One AN/SQQ-89 ASW combat system
Countermeasures:
One Mk 36 Mod 2 Super Rapid-Blooming Off Board Chaff System (SRBOC)
One AN/SLQ-32(v)3 electronic warfare suite
One AN/SLQ-25 towed torpedo decoy (Nixie)
Length, Overall:
563 feet (171.6 meters)
Beam:
55 feet (16.76 meters)
Displacement:
9,100 tons (9,246.04 metric tons) full load
Speed:
30+ knots (34.52+mph, 55.55+ kph)
Armament:
Guns:
2 Mk 45 5"/54 caliber Lightweight Gun Mounts
Torpedos:
2 Mk 32 Mod 14 triple torpedo tubes firing either the Mk 46 Mod 5 or Mk 50 ASW torpedoes
Vertical Launch ASROC with Mk 46 Mod 5 or Mk 50 ASW torpedoes
Missiles:
Tomahawk cruise missiles
NATO Sea Sparrow (RIM-7M) Surface to Air missile
Vertical Launch ASROC torpedoes
Missiles launched from 2 forward mounted Mk 41 Vertical Launch Systems (VLS)
Two Mk 141 Harpoon Missile Quad-Cannister launchers
One Mk 15 Mod 2 Close-In Weapon System (2 mounts)
Ships:
USS Spruance (DD 963), Mayport, FA
USS Paul F. Foster (DD 964), Everett, WA
USS Kinkaid (DD 965), San Diego, CA
USS Hewitt (DD 966), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Elliot (DD 967), San Diego, CA
USS Arthur W. Radford (DD 968), Norfolk, VA
USS Peterson (DD 969), Norfolk, VA
USS Caron (DD 970), Norfolk, VA
USS David R. Ray (DD 971), Everett, WA
USS Oldendorf (DD 972), San Diego, CA
USS John Young (DD 973), San Diego, CA
USS O'Brien (DD 975), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Briscoe (DD 977), Norfolk, VA
USS Stump (DD 978), Norfolk, VA
USS Moosbrugger (DD 980), Mayport, FA
USS John Hancock (DD 981), Mayport, VA
USS Nicholson (DD 982), Mayport, FA
USS Cushing (DD 985), Pearl Harbor, HI
USS O'Bannon (DD 987), Mayport, FA
USS Thorn (DD 988), Norfolk, VA
USS Deyo (DD 989), Norfolk, VA
USS Fife (DD 991), Everett, WA
USS Fletcher (DD 992), Pearl Harbor, HI
USS Hayler (DD 997), Norfolk, VA
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:34pm
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FFG7 - Oliver Hazard Perr
Function: Guided Missile Frigate configured for Anti-Submarine and Protection of Shipping missions.
Description: Oliver Hazard Perry class guided missile frigates were designed to function primarily as a cost effective ASW platform with limited Anti Air capabilities. Intended to provide open ocean escort of supply convoys and amphibious warfare ships in a low to medium threat environment, the O.H. Perry lacks the ability to perform multiple threat missions or to survive independently in high threat situations.
General Characteristics, Oliver Hazard Perry Class
Cost:
About $1 billion each
Builders:
Bath Iron Works
Power Plant:
Two General Electric LM 2500 gas turbines, 1 shaft with 1 reversable variable pitch screw, 41,000 shaft horsepower
Date Deployed:
December 17, 1977 (USS Oliver Hazard Perry)
Crew:
13 officers, 287 enlisted
Sensors:
Radars:
One AN/SPS-49 air search radar
One AN/SPS-55 surface search radar
One Mk 92 Fire Control System
Sonars:
One AN/SQS-53 hull mounted sonar
One AN/SQR-19 towed array sonar
One AN/SQQ-89 ASW combat system
Countermeasures:
One Mk 36 Mod 2 Super Rapid-Blooming Off Board Chaff System (SRBOC)
One AN/SLQ-32(v)3 electronic warfare suite
One AN/SLQ-25 towed torpedo decoy (Nixie)
Length, Overall:
453 feet (139.4 meters)
Beam:
45 feet (13.5 meters)
Displacement:
4,100 tons (4,165.80 metric tons) full load
Speed:
30+ knots (34.52+mph, 55.55+ kph)
Armament:
Guns:
One Mk 75 3"/62 caliber Lightweight Gun Mount
One Mk 15 Mod 2 Close-In Weapon System (1 mount)
Torpedoes:
Two Mk 32 Mod 14 triple torpedo tubes firing either the Mk 46 Mod 5 or Mk 50 ASW torpedo
Missiles:
Standard SM-1MR Surface to Air missile
Harpoon Anti Ship Missile
One Mk 13 Guided Missile Launcher (for Harpoon and Standard missiles)
Aircraft:
Two SH-60 Seahawk LAMPS III helicopters
Ships:
USS McInerney (FFG 8), Mayport, FA
USS Wadsworth (FFG 9), San Diego, CA
USS George Philip (FFG 12), San Diego, CA
USS Samuel Eliot Morison (FFG 13), Mayport, FA
USS Sides (FFG 14), San Diego, CA
USS Estocin (FFG 15), Norfolk, VA
USS John A. Moore (FFG 19), San Diego, CA
USS Boone (FFG 28), Mayport, FA
USS Stephen W. Groves (FFG 29), Pascagoula, MI
USS John L. Hall (FFG 32), Pascagoula, MI
USS Jarrett (FFG 33), San Diego, CA
USS Underwood (FFG 36), Mayport, FA
USS Crommelin (FFG 37), Pearl Harbor, HI
USS Curts (FFG 38), San Diego, CA
USS Doyle (FFG 39), Mayport, FA
USS Halyburton (FFG 40), Norfolk, VA
USS McClusky (FFG 41), San Diego, CA
USS Klakring (FFG 42), Norfolk, VA
USS Thach (FFG 43), San Diego, CA
USS De Wert (FFG 45), Mayport, FA
USS Rentz (FFG 46), San Diego, CA
USS Nicholas (FFG 47), Norfolk, VA
USS Vandegrift (FFG 48), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Robert G. Bradley (FFG 49), Mayport, FA
USS Taylor (FFG 50), Mayport, FA
USS Gary (FFG 51), Yokosuka, Japan
USS Carr (FFG 52), Norfolk, VA
USS Hawes (FFG 53), Norfolk, VA
USS Ford (FFG 54), Everett, WA
USS Elrod (FFG 55), Norfolk, VA
USS Simpson (FFG 56), Norfolk, VA
USS Reuben James (FFG 57), Pearl Harbor, HI
USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG 58), Norfolk, VA
USS Kauffman (FFG 59), Norfolk, VA
USS Rodney M. Davis (FFG 60), Everett, WA
USS Ingraham (FFG 61), Everett, WA
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:34pm
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LHD - Wasp Class Amphibio
Function: Primary landing ships, resembling small aircraft carriers, designed to put troops on hostile shores.
Description: Modern U.S. Navy amphibious assault ships are called upon to perform as primary landing ships for assault operations of Marine expeditionary units. These ships use Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC), conventional landing craft and helicopters to move Marine assault forces ashore. In a secondary role, using AV-8B Harrier aircraft and anti-submarine warfare helicopters, these ships perform sea control and limited power projection missions.
Background: Amphibious warships are uniquely designed to support assault from the sea against defended positions ashore. They must be able to sail in harm's way and provide a rapid built-up of combat power ashore in the face of opposition. The United States maintains the largest and most capable amphibious force in the world. Wasp class ships are the largest amphibious ships in the world. The lead ship, USS Wasp (LHD-1), was commissioned in July 1989 in Norfolk, VA. The Guam (LPH 9), the last of the Iwo Jima Class, was decommissioned August 25, 1998.
General Characteristics, Wasp Class
Builders:
Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, MI
Power Plant:
Two boilers, two geared steam turbines, two shafts, 70,000 shaft horsepower
Date Deployed:
July 29, 1989 (USS Wasp)
Length, Overall:
844 feet (257.30 meters)
Beam:
106 feet (32.31 meters)
Displacement:
Approx. 40,500 long tons (41,150 metric tons) full load
Speed:
20+ knots (23+ miles per hour)
Crew:
Ship's Company: 104 officers, 1,004 enlisted
Marine Detachment: 1,894
Armament:
Two NATO Sea Sparrow launchers
Three 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts
Eight .50 caliber machine guns
Aircraft:
Assault: 42 CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters
Sea Control: 5 AV-8B Harrier attack planes; 6 ASW helicopters
Ships:
USS Wasp (LHD-1), Norfolk, VA
USS Essex (LHD-2), San Diego, CA
USS Kearsarge (LHD-3), Norfolk, VA
USS Boxer (LHD-4), San Diego, CA
USS Bataan (LHD-5), Norfolk, VA
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD-6), San Diego, CA
USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), Norfolk, VA
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David
Sat January 3, 2004 11:51pm
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T-AGM Missile Range Instr
Function: Missile range instrumentation ship provides a platform for monitoring foreign missile launchers for SALT Treaty verification.
History: The USNS Observation Island was built as a "Mariner" class merchant ship; launched Aug. 15, 1953; and acquired by the Navy on Sept. 10, 1956, for use as a Fleet Ballistic Missile test ship. The vessel was converted at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and was placed in reserve from September 1972. On Aug. 18, 1977, the Observation Island was reacquired by the U.S. Navy from the Maritime Administration and transferred to Military Sealift Command and reclassified as T-AGM 23.
Description: The USNS Observation Island operates worldwide, monitoring compliance with strategic arms treaties and supports U.S. military weapons test programs. Observation Island carries an Air Force shipborne phased-array radar System for collection of data on missile tests. The ship is operated by Military Sealift Command for the U.S. Air Force Technical Applications Center at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida.
General Characteristics, USNS Observation Island
Builders:
New York Shipbuilding
Conversion:
Maryland Shipbuilding and Drydock Corporation
Power Plant:
Two boilers; one GE turbine; 19,250 hp (14.36 MW); one shaft
Length, Overall:
564 feet (171.91 meters)
Beam:
76 feet (23.16 meters)
Displacement:
13,060 long tons (13,269.59 metric tons) light; 17,015 tons (17,288.06 metric tons) full load
Speed:
20 knots (23 mph, 37.05 kph)
Crew:
65 civilians (20 officers, 35 technicians)
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David
Sun January 4, 2004 12:31am
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SSBN726 - Ohio Class Flee
Function: America's current Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine.
Description: Since the first Poseidon submarines took to the seas in 1960, the sole purpose of the Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine has been strategic deterrence. Given their wide operational area (70% of the world's surface is covered by water) the SSBN represents the most survivable and unreachable "leg" of America's land, sea, and air nuclear deterrence tripod. Built to accommodate the Improved Trident I ballistic missile and relying on advances pioneered by the Narwhal's natural circulation reactor as well as the advanced sensor capabilities of the Los Angeles class fast attack submarines, the Ohio class SSBNs are the most advanced ballistic missile submarines in the world. Virtually undetectable at operating speed and depth, the Ohio class SSBN can maneuver with impunity through the world's oceans and given the submarine's sensory capabilities an Ohio class boat will detect and maneuver around any threat long before the threat can acquire the SSBN. Of the eighteen Ohio class SSBNs currently in service, the first eight were designed to fire 24 Trident I Submarine Launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (SLICBM) each of which carries 10 Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) warheads. The remaining ten were designed to carry the more powerful Trident II SLICBM each of which carries 12 MIRVs. Current Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) conditions limit the number of MIRVs to eight per missile. In 1992 the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) was signed, limiting member nations to 14 SSBNs each. As a result, only four of the original eight will be backfitted with the Trident II missile, while the rest will either be converted to SSGN cruise missile boats, Special Operations support ships (similar to the SSN640 class) or decommissioned.
General Characteristics, Ohio Class
Builders:
General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
Power Plant:
One S8G nuclear reactor, two geared steam turbines, one shaft, 60,000 shaft horsepower
Date Deployed:
November 11, 1981 (USS Ohio)
Length, Overall:
560 feet (170.69 meters)
Beam:
42 feet (12.80 meters)
Displacement:
18,750 long tons (19,000.1 metric tons) submerged
Speed:
20+ knots (23.02+ miles per hour, 37.05 +kph)
Crew:
15 Officers; 140 Enlisted
Armament:
Mk 48 ADCAP Torpedoes, launched from four 533mm torpedo tubes
Radar:
1 AN/BPS-15 navigation and fire control radar
Sonar:
One TB-16 passive towed sonar array
One AN/BQR-19 navigation sonar
One AN/BQQ-6 low frequency spherical bow sonar array
One AN/BQS-13 active sonar
Optics:
One Type 2 attack periscope
One Type 18 search periscope
Countermeasures:
WLR-10 acoustic intercept receiver
WLR-8 surveillance reciever
WLY-1 acoustic countermeasures system
Mk 2 torpedo decoy
Ships:
Homeported at the Naval Submarine Base, Bangor, WA:
USS Ohio (SSBN-726)
USS Michigan (SSBN-727)
USS Florida (SSBN-728)
USS Georgia (SSBN-729)
USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN-730)
USS Alabama (SSBN-731)
USS Alaska (SSBN 732)
USS Nevada (SSBN 733) I
Homeported at the Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, GA:
USS Tennessee (SSBN-734)
USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735)
USS West Virginia (SSBN-736)
USS Kentucky (SSBN-737)
USS Maryland (SSBN-738)
USS Nebraska (SSBN-739)
USS Rhode Island (SSBN-740)
USS Maine (SSBN-741)
USS Wyoming (SSBN-742)
USS Louisiana (SSBN-743)
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David
Sun January 4, 2004 12:31am
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SSN21 - Seawolf Class Att
Function: America's last Cold War Fast Attack Submarine.
Description: Following the tradition for unchallenged dominance established by the Los Angeles class submarines, the Seawolf class submarines are the most technologically advanced and lethal Attack Submarines in the world. The Seawolf submarines exceed the capabilities of the Los Angeles class boats in all respects. In addition to having twice the number of torpedo tubes (eight) the tubes are also of a larger design which allows the current Mk 48 ADCAP torpedo to "swimout" under its own power rather than launched with a blast of high pressure air. This allows the Seawolf to have a much lower launch "signature" than earlier boats. The Seawolf was also designed with a more efficient hull design, advanced sound absorbing material, as well as improved propulsion and powerplant systems. This allows the Seawolf to achieve a higher top speed as well as a higher low noise "silent" speed. Finally, the major components on the Seawolf are modular in construction and were made to be easily replaced as upgrades in technology became available. This results in a much faster and more efficient refit period as new equipment becomes available. Designed to perform every mission currently given to fast attack boats, the Seawolf's performance and capabilities allow it to take on the additional mission of hunting and eleminating threat Ballistic Missile submarines (SSBN.) Unfortunately, this performance does not come without a price, and with the downsizing of military forces and budgets following the end of the Cold War, the 3 billion dollar price tag per submarine was deemed prohibitively high. Consequently, production of the Seawolf was halted at three boats. Replacing the Seawolf will be the NSSN774 Virginia class New Attack Submarine, a smaller, less expensive design which incorporates many of the technological advantages of the Seawolf submarines.
General Characteristics, Seawolf Class
Cost:
About $3 billion each
Builders:
General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
Power Plant:
One General Electric PWR S6W nuclear reactor, two geared steam turbines, one shaft with shrouded pumpjet propulsor, 52,000 shaft horse power
Length, Overall:
353 feet (107.6 meters)
Beam:
40 feet (12.2 meters)
Displacement:
16,912 long tons (17,183.41 metric tons)
Speed:
35+ knots submerged
Crew:
134
Armament:
Mk 48 ADCAP Torpedoes, launched from eight 660mm torpedo tubes
Tomahawk anti-ship/ land attack missiles, launched from a 12 tube vertical launch system (VLS)
Sensors:
BSY-2 combat data system
Radar:
1 AN/BPS-16 navigation and fire control radar
Sonar:
1 TB-16 passive towed sonar array
1 TB-29 passive "thin line" towed sonar array
1 AN/BQG-5 wide aperture flank array
1 AN/BQQ-5 low frequency spherical bow sonar array
1 AN/BQS-24 close range active sonar (ice detection)
Mine and Ice Detection and Avoidance System (MIDAS)
SADS-TG active detection sonar
Countermeasures:
WLR-9 acoustic intercept receiver
WLQ-4 ESM
WLY-1 torpedo decoy
Ships:
USS Seawolf (SSN 21), Groton, CT
USS Connecticut (SSN-22), Groton, CT
USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), under construction
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David
Sun January 4, 2004 12:31am
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SSN637 - Sturgeon Class F
Function: America's front-line fast attack nuclear submarine during the '60s and '70s.
History: Following in the steps of the Skipjack and Permit class nuclear submarines, the Sturgeon class incorporated a a new hull design and sensor package. Larger than either of the two earlier designs while using the same reactor plant, the Sturgeon sacrificed speed for increased weapons payload and crew efficiency. Beginning with the Archerfish (SSN678) the hull was lengthened an additional 10 feet. In addition to their regular duties as anti submarine platforms, the Sturgeon class submarines were also tasked with coastal reconnaissance and electronic intelligence gathering. Furthermore, between 1982 and 1991 six 637 class boats (SSN 678-680, 682, 684, and 686) were modified to carry the SEAL Dry Deck Shelter (DDS.) The DDS is a submersible air lock and storage area allowing for the transporting, delivery and recovery of SEAL teams and all their associated equipment. The Sturgeon class submarines were slowly phased out of front line service by the faster, more capable Los Angeles class submarines during the 80's and 90's though those still in service continue to perform intelligence gathering and support special operations missions.
General Characteristics, Sturgeon Class
Builders:
General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
General Dynamics Quincy Shipbuilding Division
Ingalls Shipbuilding
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
San Francisco Naval Shipyard
Newport News Shipbuilding
Power Plant:
One S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one shaft, 15,000 shaft horse power
Date Deployed:
March 3, 1967 (USS Sturgeon)
Length, Overall:
292 feet (89 meters)
SSN 678-687 302 feet (91.44 meters)
Beam:
32 feet (9.75 meters)
Draft:
28.8 feet
Displacement:
4,780 tons submerged
SSN 678-687 4,960 tons submerged
Speed:
20+ knots (23.02+ miles per hour, 37.05 +kph)
Crew:
12 Officers, 95 Enlisted
Armament:
Mk 48 ADCAP Torpedoes, launched from four 533mm torpedo tubes.
Harpoon anti-ship missiles (tube launched)
Tomahawk anti-ship/ land attack missiles (tube launched)
Sensors:
BSY-2 combat data system
Radar:
1 AN/BPS-14/15 navigation and fire control radar
Sonar:
1 TB-16 passive towed sonar array
1 TB-23 passive "thin line" towed sonar array
1 AN/BQG-5 wide aperture flank array
1 AN/BQQ-2/5 low frequency spherical bow sonar array
1 AN/BQS-12/13 active sonar array
1 AN/BQR-6 active sonar array (in submarines equipped with the BQQ-2)
1 AN/BQR-7 passive sonar array (in submarines equipped with the BQQ-2)
Optics:
1 Type 2 attack periscope
1 Type 18 search periscope
Countermeasures:
WLR-9 acoustic intercept receiver
WLQ-4 ESM
Ships:
USS Parche (SSN-683), Bangor, WA
USS L. Mendel Rivers (SSN-686), Norfolk, VA
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David
Sun January 4, 2004 12:31am
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SSN640 - Benjamin Frankli
Function: Benjamin Franklin class Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine converted for special operations support.
History: Commissioned on December 10, 1965 as the second of the Benjamin Franklin class Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines (SSBN) the USS Kamehameha served as an SSBN through 1992, conducting a total of 63 deterrent patrols. Following her withdrawl from the SSBN fleet, Kamehameha was extensivly modified to support Navy special operations missions. To create additional living space the entire ballistic missile section was removed and turned into living quarters where embarked special operations personnel could rest, train, plan operations, and maintain their equipment in relative comfort (especially when compared to the cramped quarters associated with the much smaller Sturgeon and Los Angeles class Fast Attack Submarines.) In addition, Kamehameha was modified to accommodate two Dry Deck Shelters (DDS) as well as 2 SEAL Delivery Vehicles. With the decommissioning of her sister ship, the USS James K Polk (SSN645) in 1999, the Kamehameha remains the only converted SSBN in active service.
General Characteristics, Benjamin Franklin Class
Builders:
Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Power Plant:
One S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one shaft, 15,000 shaft horse power
Date Deployed:
December 12, 1965 (USS Kamehameha)
Length, Overall:
425 feet (129.6 meters)
Beam:
33 feet (10.06 meters)
Draft:
28.8 feet
Displacement:
8,250 tons submerged
Speed:
25 knots submerged
Crew:
140
Armament:
Mk 48 ADCAP Torpedoes, launched from four 533mm torpedo tubes
Harpoon anti-ship missiles (tube launched)
Tomahawk anti-ship/ land attack missiles (launched from a 12 tube Vertical Launch System (VLS) )
Sonar:
1 AN/BQR-15 passive towed sonar array
1 AN/BQR-19 active sonar array
1 AN/BQR-7 passive sonar array
Ships:
USS Kamehameha (SSN-642), Pearl Harbor, HI
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David
Sun January 4, 2004 12:31am
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SSN671 - USS Narwhal Fast
Function: One-of-a-kind prototype built off of the Sturgeon class SSN design.
History: Literally in a class by herself, the USS Narwhal was the only submarine of the Sturgeon class to be built with a prototype natural circulation nuclear reactor. Because the natural circulation powerplant did not need noise generating pumps to circulate the reactor coolant, at the time of her construction the Narwhal was the quietest submarine in the world. Coupled with the most advanced sensors and combat systems available, the Narwhal was without peer in the performance of her duties. Given her superior performance, Narwhal was ideally suited to perform intelligence gathering eavesdropping missions; during the course of her career Narwhal deployed overseas seventeen times and was awarded the Navy Unit Commendation, three Meritorious Unit Commendations, five Battle Efficiency "E" awards, four Engineering "E" awards, the Antisubmarine Warfare "A", the Communications "C", and the Supply "E" awards.
General Characteristics, USS Narwhal
Builders:
General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
Power Plant:
One S5W nuclear reactor, two steam turbines, one shaft, 15,000 shaft horse power
Date Deployed:
July 12, 1969; decommissioned January 5, 1999
Length, Overall:
314 feet (95.7 meters)
Beam:
38 feet (11.58 meters)
Draft:
28.8 feet
Displacement:
5,350 tons submerged
Speed:
20+ knots (23.02+ miles per hour, 37.05 +kph)
Crew:
120
Armament:
Mk 48 ADCAP Torpedoes, launched from 4 533mm torpedo tubes
Harpoon anti-ship missiles (tube launched)
Tomahawk anti-ship/ land attack missiles (tube launched)
Radar:
1 AN/BPS-14/15 navigation and fire control radar
Sonar:
1 TB-16 passive towed sonar array
1 TB-23 passive "thin line" towed sonar array
1 AN/BQG-5 wide aperture flank array
1 AN/BQQ-2/5 low frequency spherical bow sonar array
1 AN/BQS-12/13 active sonar array
1 AN/BQR-6 active sonar array (in submarines equipped with the BQQ-2)
1 AN/BQR-7 passive sonar array (in submarines equipped with the BQQ-2)
Optics:
1 Type 2 attack periscope
1 Type 18 search periscope
Countermeasures:
WLR-9 acoustic intercept receiver
WLQ-4 ESM
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David
Tue August 9, 2005 12:21pm
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USS Wasp CV 7 25 Apr 1940
USS Wasp CV 7 25 Apr 1940 15 Sep 1942
USS Wasp (CV-7) entering Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 26 May 1942. An escorting destroyer is in the background.
displacement: 14,700 tons
length: 741 feet 4 inches
beam: 80 feet 8 inch; extreme width at flight deck: 109 feet
draft: 19 feet 11 inches
speed: 29? knots
complement: 2,367 crew
armament: 8 five-inch guns, 16 1.1-inch guns, 16 .50-cal. machine guns
aircraft: 80
class: Wasp
The eighth Wasp(CV-7) was laid down on 1 April 1936 at Quincy, Mass., by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Co., launched on 4 April 1939; sponsored by Mrs. Charles Edison, the wife of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy Charles Edison; and commissioned on 25 April 1940 at the Army Quartermaster Base, South Boston, Mass., Capt. John W. Reeves, Jr., in command.
Wasp remained at Boston through May, fitting out, before she got underway on 5 June 1940 for calibration tests on her radio direction finder gear. After further fitting out while anchored in Boston harbor, the new aircraft carrier steamed independently to Hampton Roads, Va., anchoring there on 24 June. Four days later, she sailed for the Caribbean in company with USS Morris (DD-417).
En route, she conducted the first of many carrier qualification tests. Among the earliest of the qualifiers was Lt. (jg.) David T. McCampbell, who later became the Navy's top-scoring "ace" in World War II. Wasp arrived at Guantanamo Bay in time to "dress ship" in honor of Independence Day.
Tragedy marred the carrier's shakedown. On 9 July, one of her Vought SB2U-2 Vindicators crashed two miles from the ship. Wasp bent on flank speed to close, as did the plane-guarding destroyer Morris. The latter's boats recovered items from the plane's baggage compartment, but the plane itself had gone down with its crew of two.
Wasp departed Guantanamo Bay on 11 July and arrived at Hampton Roads four days later. There, she embarked planes from the 1st Marine Air Group and took them to sea for qualification trials. Operating off the southern drill grounds, the ship and her planes honed their skills for a week before the Marines and their planes were disembarked at Norfolk, and the carrier moved north to Boston for post-shakedown repairs.
While civilian workmen from the Bethlehem Steel Co. came on board the ship to check their workmanship and to learn how it had stood up under the rigors of shakedown, Wasp lay alongside the same pier at which she had been commissioned. While at Boston, she fired a 21-gun salute and rendered honors to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose yacht, USS Potomac (AG-25), stopped briefly at the Boston Navy Yard on 10 August.
Wasp departed the Army Quartermaster Base on the 21st to conduct steering drills and full-power trials. Late the following morning, she got underway for Norfolk. For the next few days, while USS Ellis (DD-164) operated as plane guard, Wasp launched and recovered her aircraft: fighters from Fighter Squadron (VF) 7 and scout-bombers from Scouting Squadron (VS) 72. The carrier put into the Norfolk Navy Yard on 28 August for repair work on her turbines ? alterations which kept the ship in dockyard hands into the following month. Drydocked during the period from 12 to 18 September, Wasp ran her final sea trials in Hampton Roads on 26 September 1940.
Ready now to join the fleet and assigned to Carrier Division (CarDiv) 3, Patrol Force, Wasp shifted to Naval Operating Base (NOB), Norfolk from the Norfolk Navy Yard on 11 October. There she loaded 24 P-40s from the 8th Army Pursuit Group and nine O-47As from the 2d Observation Squadron, as well as her own spares and utility unit Grumman J2Fs on the 12th. Proceeding to sea for maneuvering room, Wasp flew off the Army planes in a test designed to compare the take-off runs of standard Navy and Army aircraft. That experiment, the first time that Army planes had flown from a Navy carrier, foreshadowed the use of the ship in the ferry role that she performed so well in World War II.
Wasp then proceeded on toward Cuba in company with USS Plunkett (DD-431) and USS Niblack (DD-424). The carrier's planes flew routine training flights, including dive-bombing and machine gun practices, over the ensuing four days. Upon arrival at Guantanamo, Wasp's saluting batteries barked out a 13-gun salute to Rear Admiral Hayne Ellis, Commander, Atlantic Squadron, embarked in USS Texas (BB-35), on 19 October.
For the remainder of October 1940 and into November, Wasp trained in the Guantanamo Bay area. Her planes flew carrier qualification and refresher training flights while her gunners sharpened up their skills in short-range battle practices at targets towed by the new fleet tug USS Seminole (AT-65). While operating in the Culebra, Virgin Islands, area, Wasp again teamed with the aviators of the 1st Marine Air Wing, giving the flying Leathernecks practice in carrier take-offs and landings.
Her work in the Caribbean finished, Wasp sailed for Norfolk and arrived shortly after noon on 26 November. She remained at the Norfolk Navy Yard through Christmas of 1940. Then, after first conducting degaussing experiments with USS Hannibal (AG-1), she steamed independently to Cuba.
Arriving at Guantanamo Bay on 27 January 1941, Wasp conducted a regular routine of flight operations into February. With USS Walke (DD-416) as her plane guard, Wasp operated out of Guantanamo and Culebra, conducting her maneuvers with an impressive array of warships ? Texas, USS Ranger (CV-4), USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37), USS Wichita (CA-45) and a host of destroyers. Wasp ran gunnery drills and exercises, as well as routine flight training evolutions, into March. Underway for Hampton Roads on 4 March, the aircraft carrier conducted a night battle practice into the early morning hours of the 5th.
During the passage to Norfolk, heavy weather sprang up on the evening of 7 March. Waspwas steaming at standard speed, 17 knots, a pace that she had been maintaining all day. Off Cape Hatteras, a lookout in the carrier spotted a red flare arcing into the stormy black night skies at 2245. The big ship swung around to head in the direction of the distress signal while a messenger notified the captain, who reached the bridge in an instant. Capt. Reeves himself took the conn, as a second set of flares was seen at 2259.
Finally, at 2329, with the aid of her searchlights probing the wet night, Wasp located the stranger in trouble. She proved to be the lumber schooner George E. Klinck, bound from Jacksonville, Fla., to Southwest Harbor, Maine.
The sea, in the meantime, worsened from a state 5 to a state 7. Wasplay to, maneuvering alongside at 0007 on 8 March 1941. At that time, four men from the schooner clambered up a swaying jacob's ladder buffeted by gusts of wind. Then, despite the raging tempest, Wasp lowered a boat, at 0016, and brought the remaining four men aboard from the foundering 152-foot schooner.
Later that day, Wasp disembarked her rescued mariners and immediately went into drydock at the Norfolk Navy Yard. The ship received vital repairs to her turbines. Port holes on the third deck were welded over to provide better watertight integrity, and steel splinter shielding around her 5-inch and 1.1-inch batteries was added. After those repairs and alterations were finished, Wasp got underway for the Virgin Islands on 22 March, arriving at St. Thomas three days later. She soon shifted to Guantanamo Bay and loaded marine stores for transportation to Norfolk.
Returning to Norfolk on 30 March, Waspconducted routine flight operations out of Hampton Roads over the ensuing days and into April. In company with USS Sampson (DD-394), the carrier conducted an abortive search for a downed patrol plane in her vicinity on 8 April. For the remainder of the month, Wasp operated off the eastern seaboard between Newport, R.I., and Norfolk conducting extensive flight and patrol operations with her embarked air group. She shifted to Bermuda in mid-May, anchoring at Grassy Bay on the 12th. Eight days later, the ship got underway in company with USS Quincy (CA-39), USS Livermore (DD-429), and USS Kearny (DD-432) for exercises at sea before returning to Grassy Bay on 3 June. Wasp sailed for Norfolk three days later with USS Edison (DD-439) as her antisubmarine screen.
After a brief stay in the Tidewater area, Wasp headed back toward Bermuda on 20 June 1941. Waspand her escorts patrolled the stretch of the Atlantic between Bermuda and Hampton Roads until 5 July, as the Atlantic Fleet's neutrality patrol zones were extended eastward. Reaching Grassy Bay on that day, she remained in port a week before returning to Norfolk sailing on 12 July in company with USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37), USS Grayson (DD-435), USS Anderson (DD-411), and USS Rowan (DD-405).
Following her return to Norfolk on the 13th, Wasp and her embarked air group conducted refresher training off the Virginia capes. Meanwhile, the situation in the Atlantic had taken on a new complexion, with American participation in the Battle of the Atlantic only a matter of time, when the United States took another step toward involvement on the side of the British. To protect American security and to free British forces needed elsewhere, the United States made plans to occupy Iceland. Wasp played an important role in the move.
Late on the afternoon of 23 July, while the carrier lay alongside Pier 7, NOB Norfolk, 32 Army Air Force (AAF) pilots reported on board "for temporary duty." At 0630 the following day, Wasp's crew watched an interesting cargo come on board, hoisted on deck by the ship's cranes: 30 Curtiss P-40s and three PT-17 trainers from the AAF 33d Pursuit Squadron, 8th Air Group, Air Force Combat Command, home-based at Mitchell Field, N.Y. Three days later, four newspaper correspondents ? including the noted journalist Fletcher Pratt ? came on board.
The carrier had drawn the assignment of ferrying those vital Army planes to Iceland because of a lack of British aircraft to cover the American landings. The American P-40s would provide the defensive fighter cover necessary to watch over the initial increment of American occupying forces. Wasp consequently cast off from Pier 7 and slipped out to sea through the swept channel at 0932 on 28 July, with USS O'Brien (DD-415) and USS Walke as plane guards. USS Vincennes (CA-44) later joined the formation at sea.
Within a few days, Wasp's group joined the larger Task Force (TF) 16 ? consisting of USS Mississippi (BB-41), Quincy, Wichita, five destroyers, USS Semmes (AG-24), USS American Legion (AP-35), USS Mizar (AF-12), and USS Almaack (AK-27). Those ships, too, were bound for Iceland with the first occupation troops embarked. On the morning of 6 August 1941, Wasp, Vincennes, Walke, and O'Brien parted company from TF 16. Soon thereafter, the carrier turned into the wind and commenced launching the planes from the 33d Pursuit Squadron. As the P-40s and the trio of trainers droned on to Iceland, Wasp headed home for Norfolk, her three escorts in company. After another week at sea, the group arrived back at Norfolk on 14 August.
Underway again on 22 August, however, Wasp put to sea for carrier qualifications and refresher landings off the Virginia capes. Two days later, Rear Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, Commander Cruisers, Atlantic Fleet, shifted his flag from USS Savannah (CL-42) to Wasp, while the ships lay anchored in Hampton Roads. Underway on the 25th, in company with Savannah, USS Monssen (DD-436) and Kearny, the aircraft carrier conducted flight operations over the ensuing days. Scuttlebutt on board the carrier had her steaming out in search of a German heavy cruiser, Admiral Hipper, which was reportedly roaming the western Atlantic in search of prey. Suspicions were confirmed for many on the 30th when the British battleship HMS Rodney was sighted some 20 miles away, on the same course as the Americans.
In any event, if they had been in search of a German raider, they did not make contact with her. Wasp and her escorts anchored in the Gulf of Paria, Trinidad, on 2 September, where Admiral Hewitt shifted his flag back to Savannah. The carrier remained in port until 6 September, when she again put to sea on patrol "to enforce the neutrality of the United States in the Atlantic."
While at sea, the ship received the news of a German U-boat unsuccessfully attempting to attack the destroyer USS Greer (DD-146). The United States had been getting more and more involved in the war; American warships were now convoying British merchantmen halfway across the Atlantic to the "mid-ocean meeting point" (MOMP).
Wasp's crew looked forward to returning to Bermuda on 18 September, but the new situation in the Atlantic meant a change in plans. Shifted to the colder climes of Newfoundland, the carrier arrived at Placentia Bay on 22 September and fueled from USS Salinas (AO-19) the following day. The respite in port was a brief one, however, as the ship got underway again, late on the 23d, for Iceland. In company with Wichita, four destroyers, and the repair ship USS Vulcan (AR-6), Wasp arrived at Hvalfjordur, Iceland, on the 28th. Two days earlier, Admiral Harold R. Stark, the Chief of Naval Operations had ordered American warships to do their utmost to destroy whatever German or Italian warships they found. The "short-of-war" operations were drawing frightfully close to the real thing!
With the accelerated activity entailed in the United States Navy's conducting convoy escort missions, Wasp put to sea on 6 October in company with Vincennes and four destroyers. Those ships patrolled the foggy, cold, North Atlantic until returning to Little Placentia Bay, Newfoundland, on the 11th, anchoring during a fierce gale that lashed the bay with high winds and stinging spray. On 17 October, Wasp set out for Norfolk, patrolling en route, and arrived at her destination on the 20th. The carrier soon sailed for Bermuda and conducted qualifications and refresher training flights en route. Anchoring in Grassy Bay on 1 November 1941, Wasp operated on patrols out of Bermuda for the remainder of the month.
October had seen the incidents involving American and German warships multiplying on the high seas. Kearny was torpedoed on 17 October, Salinas took a "fish" on the 28th, and in the most tragic incident that autumn, USS Reuben James (DD-246) was torpedoed and sunk with heavy loss of life on 30 October. Meanwhile, in the Pacific, tension between the United States and Japan increased almost with each passing day.
Wasp slipped out to sea from Grassy Bay on 3 December and rendezvoused with USS Wilson (DD-408). While the destroyer operated as plane guard, Wasp's air group flew day and night refresher training missions. In addition, the two ships conducted gunnery drills before returning to Grassy Bay two days later.
Wasp lay at anchor on 7 December 1941, observing "holiday routine" since it was a Sunday. In the Pacific, the Japanese broke the Sunday morning peace in a devastating surprise attack on the Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Their daring attack plunged the United States into World War II in both oceans. On 11 December, Germany and Italy followed Japan into war against the United States.
Meanwhile, naval authorities felt considerable anxiety that French warships in the Caribbean and West Indies were prepared to make a breakout and attempt to get back to France. Accordingly, Wasp, USS Brooklyn (CL-40), and two destroyers, USS Sterett (DD-407) and USS Wilson, departed Grassy Bay and headed for Martinique. Faulty intelligence gave American authorities in Washington the impression that the Vichy French armed merchant cruiser Barfleur had gotten underway for sea. The French were accordingly warned that the auxiliary cruiser would be sunk or captured unless she returned to port and resumed her internment. As it turned out, Barfleur had not departed after all, but had remained in harbor. The tense situation at Martinique eventually dissipated, and the crisis abated.
With tensions in the West Indies lessened considerably, Wasp departed Grassy Bay and headed for Hampton Roads three days before Christmas, in company with USS Long Island (AVG-1), and escorted by USS Stack (DD-406) and Sterett. Two days later, the carrier moored at the Norfolk Navy Yard to commence an overhaul that would last into 1942. After departing Norfolk on 14 January 1942, Wasp headed north and touched at Argentia, Newfoundland, and Casco Bay, Maine, while operating in those northern climes. On 16 March, as part of Task Group (TG) 22.6, she headed back toward Norfolk. During the morning watch the next day, visibility lessened considerably; and, at 0650, Wasp's bow plunged into Stack's starboard side, punching a hole and completely flooding the destroyer's number one fireroom. Stack was detached and proceeded to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where her damage was repaired.
Wasp, meanwhile, made port at Norfolk on the 21st without further incident. Shifting back to Casco Bay three days later, she sailed for the British Isles on 26 March, with Task Force (TF) 39 under the command of Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Jr., in USS Washington (BB-56). That force was to reinforce the Home Fleet of the Royal Navy. While en route, Rear Admiral Wilcox was swept overboard from the battleship and drowned. Although hampered by poor visibility conditions, Wasp planes took part in the search. Wilcox' body was spotted an hour later, face down in the raging seas, but it was not recovered.
Rear Admiral Robert C. Giffen, who flew his flag in USS Wichita, assumed command of TF-39. The American ships were met by a force based around the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh on 3 April 1942. Those ships escorted them to Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands.
While the majority of TF 39 joined the British Home Fleet ? being renumbered to TF 99 in the process ? to cover convoys routed to North Russia, Wasp departed Scapa Flow on 9 April, bound for the Clyde estuary and Greenock, Scotland. On the following day, the carrier sailed up the Clyde River, past the John Brown Clydebank shipbuilding facilities. There, shipyard workers paused long enough from their labors to accord Wasp a tumultuous reception as she passed. Wasp's impending mission was an important one ? one upon which the fate of the island bastion of Malta hung. That key isle was then being pounded daily by German and Italian planes. The British, faced with the loss of air superiority over the island, requested the use of a carrier to transport planes that could wrest air superiority from the Axis aircraft. Wasp drew ferry duty once again. Having landed her torpedo planes and dive bombers, Wasp loaded 47 Supermarine Spitfire Mk. V fighter planes at the King George Dock, Glasgow, on 13 April 1942, before she departed the Clyde estuary on the 14th. Her screen consisted of Force "W" of the Home Fleet ? a group that included the battlecruiser HMS Renown and antiaircraft cruisers HMS Cairo and HMS Charbydis. USS Madison (DD-425) and USS Lang (DD-399) also served in Wasp's screen.
Wasp and her consorts passed through the Straits of Gibraltar under cover of the pre-dawn darkness on 19 April, avoiding the possibility of being discovered by Spanish or Axis agents. At 0400 on 20 April, Wasp spotted 11 Grumman F4F-4 Wildcat fighters on her deck and quickly launched them to form a combat air patrol (CAP) over Force "W".
Meanwhile, the Spitfires were warming up their engines in the hangar deck spaces below. With the Wildcats patrolling overhead, the Spitfires were brought up singly on the after elevator, spotted for launch, and then given the go-ahead to take off. One by one, they roared down the deck and over the forward rounddown, until each Spitfire was aloft and winging toward Malta.
When the launch was complete, Wasp retired toward England, having safely delivered her charges. Unfortunately, those Spitfires, which flew in to augment the dwindling numbers of Gladiator and Hurricane fighters, were tracked by efficient Axis intelligence and their arrival pinpointed. The unfortunate Spitfires were decimated by heavy German air raids which caught many planes on the ground.
As a result, it looked as if the acute situation required a second ferry run to Malta. Accordingly, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, fearing that Malta would be "pounded to bits," asked President Roosevelt to allow Wasp to have "another good sting." Roosevelt responded in the affirmative. Rising to the occasion, Wasp loaded another contingent of Spitfire Vs and sailed for the Mediterranean on 3 May 1942. Again, especially vigilant for submarines, Wasp proceeded unmolested. This time, the British aircraft carrier HMS Eagle accompanied Wasp, and she, too, carried a contingent of Spitfires bound for the "unsinkable aircraft carrier," Malta.
The two Allied flattops reached their launching points early on Saturday, 9 May, with Wasp steaming in column ahead of Eagle at a distance of 1,000 yards. At 0630, Wasp commenced launching planes ? 11 F4F4s of VF-71 to serve as CAP over the task force. The first Spitfire roared down the deck at 0643, piloted by Sergeant-Pilot Herrington, but lost power soon after takeoff and plunged into the sea. Both pilot and plane were lost.
Undaunted by the loss of Herrington, the other planes flew off safely and formed up to fly to Malta. Misfortune, however, again seemed to dog the flight when one pilot accidentally released his auxiliary fuel tank as he climbed to 2,000 feet. He obviously could not make Malta, as the slippery tank fitted beneath the belly of the plane had increased the range of the plane markedly. With that gone, he had no chance of making the island. His only alternatives were to land back on board Wasp or to ditch and take his chances in the water.
Sergeant-Pilot Smith chose the former. Wasp bent on full speed and recovered the plane at 0743. The Spitfire came to a stop just 15 feet from the forward edge of the flight deck, making what one Wasp sailor observed to be a "one wire" landing. With her vital errand completed, the carrier set sail for the British Isles while a German radio station broadcast the startling news that the American carrier had been sunk! Most in the Allied camp knew better, however; and, on 11 May, Prime Minister Churchill sent a witty message to the captain and ship's company of Wasp: "Many thanks to you all for the timely help. Who said a Wasp couldn't sting twice?"
While Wasp was conducting those two important missions to Malta, a train of events far to the westward beckoned the carrier to the Pacific theater. Early in May, almost simultaneously with Wasp's second Malta run ? Operation Bowery ? the Battle of the Coral Sea had been fought. That action turned back the Japanese thrust at Port Moresby. One month later from 4 to 6 June 1942, an American carrier force smashed its Japanese counterpart in the pivotal Battle of Midway. These two victories cost the United States two precious carriers: USS Lexington (CV-2) at Coral Sea and USS Yorktown (CV-5) at Midway. While the Japanese had suffered the damaging of two at Coral Sea and the loss of four carriers at Midway, the United States could scarcely afford to be left with only two operational carriers in the western and central Pacific ? USS Enterprise (CV-6) and USS Hornet (CV-8). USS Saratoga (CV-3) was still undergoing repairs and modernization after being torpedoed off Oahu in early January 1942.
To prepare to strengthen the American Navy in the Pacific, Waspwas hurried back to the United States for alterations and repairs at the Norfolk Navy Yard. During the carrier's stay in the Tidewater region, Capt. Reeves ? who had been promoted to flag rank ? was relieved by Capt. Forrest P. Sherman on 31 May 1942. Departing Norfolk on 6 June, the last day of the critical Battle of Midway, Wasp sailed with TF 37 which was built around the carrier and the new battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55) and escorted by USS Quincy (CA-39) and USS San Juan (CL-54) and a half-dozen destroyers. The group transited the Panama Canal on 10 June, at which time Wasp and her consorts became TF 18, the carrier flying the two-starred flag of Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes. Arriving at San Diego on 19 June, Wasp embarked the remainder of her complement of aircraft, Grumman TBF-1s and Douglas SBD-3s-10 of the former and 12 of the latter conducting their carrier qualification on 22 and 23 June, respectively, the latter replacing the old Vindicators. On 1 July, she sailed for the Tonga Islands as part of the convoy for the five transports that had embarked the 2d Marine Regiment.
While TF 18 and the transports were en route to Tongatabu, Wasp received another congratulatory message, this time from Admiral Noyes, embarked in the ship. "During the two weeks my flag has been in Wasp I have been very favorably impressed by the fine spirit of her ship's company and the way that all hands have handled their many problems. Since we have been at sea, every day has shown marked improvement in operations. I am sure that when our opportunity comes to strike the enemy in this ocean, Wasp and her squadrons will add more glory to the name she bears." Noyes' hopes were to be realized, but for all too brief a time.
Four days out of Nukualofa harbor, Wasp developed serious engine trouble. The ship's "black gang," however, worked diligently to do the preliminary work in lifting, repairing, and replacing the ship's starboard high-pressure turbine. The work done en route substantially helped enough to allow speedy completion of the repairs after the ship dropped her hook at Tongatabu on 18 July 1942.
Meanwhile, preparations to invade the Solomon Islands were proceeding apace. Up to that point, the Japanese had been on the offensive, establishing their defensive perimeter around the edge of their "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere."
On 4 July, while Waspwas en route to the South Pacific, the Japanese landed on Guadalcanal. Allied planners realized that if the enemy operated land-based aircraft from that key island, then it immediately imperiled Allied control of the New Hebrides and New Caledonia area. Rather than wait until the Japanese were firmly entrenched, they proposed to evict the Japanese before they got too deeply settled. Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley, who had attained a sterling record in London as Special Naval Observer, was detailed to take command of the operation, and he established his headquarters at Auckland, New Zealand. Since the Japanese had gotten a foothold on Guadalcanal, time was of the essence. Preparations for the invasion proceeded apace with the utmost secrecy and speed.
Wasp, together with the carriers Saratoga and Enterprise, was assigned to the Support Force under Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher. Under the tactical command of Rear Admiral Noyes, embarked in Wasp, the carriers were to provide air support for the invasion.
Wasp and her airmen worked intensively practicing day and night operations to hone their skills to a high degree. Pilot qualification and training, necessitated by the ship's recent operations in the Atlantic and by the re-equipment of her air group and newer types of planes, proceeded at an intensive pace and, by the time the operations against Guadalcanal were pushed into high gear, Capt. Sherman was confident that his airmen could perform their mission. "D-day" had originally been set for 1 August, but the late arrival of some of the transports carrying Marines pushed the date to 7 August.
Wasp, screened by USS San Francisco (CA-38), USS Salt Lake City (CA-25), and four destroyers, steamed westward toward Guadalcanal on the evening of 6 August until midnight. Then, she changed course to the eastward to reach her launch position 84 miles from Tulagi one hour before the first rays of sunlight crept over the horizon. A fresh breeze whipped across the carrier's darkened flight deck as the first planes were brought up to prepare for launch. The night offshore was bright, but clouds hung heavily over the assigned objective. So far, so good. No Japanese patrols had been spotted.
At 0530, the first planes from Wasp's air group barreled down the deck: 16 F4F-4s under Lt. Comdr. Courtney Shands. Then, 15 SBD-3s under Lt. Comdr. John Eldridge, Jr. and the TBF-1 flown by the air group commander, Lt. Comdr. Wallace M. Beakley, fitted with a larger gasoline tank in its bomb bay to lengthen its time in the air, followed seven minutes later. At 0557, the first combat air patrol fighter took off.
The early flights of F4Fs and SBDs were assigned specific targets: Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo, Halavo, Port Purvis, Haleta, Bungana, and the radio station dubbed "Asses' Ears." After taking off, the 16 Wildcats split up into sections and raced off to their respective hunting areas. At about 0600, the planes passed over the transport area off Lunga Point, as the ships were preparing to disembark their troops. In the pre-dawn darkness, the ships were almost invisible until the fighters passed directly over them. Soon, the fourth division of Shands' flight climbed to 5,000 feet above Tulagi to serve as CAP for the strafers. The third division broke off and headed for their target ? Haleta ? before Shands took three planes around the northwest tip of Tulagi.
Shands and his wingman, Ensign S. W. Forrer, then swung down the north coast toward Gavatu. The other two headed for Tanambogo, to work over the seaplane facilities there. The Japanese appeared to be caught flat-footed, and the Grummans, arriving simultaneously at daybreak, shot up all of the patrol planes and fighter-seaplanes that were in the area. Fifteen Kawanishi flying boats and seven Nakajima floatplane fighters ? the seaplane derivative of the Mitsubishi Zero ? were destroyed by Shands' fighters that flew almost "on the deck." Shands himself bagged at least four Nakajima single-float fighter seaplanes and one four-engined flying boat. His wingman, Forrer, bagged three floatplane fighters and one patrol plane. Lt. Wright and Ens. Kenton bagged three patrol planes apiece and destroyed a motorboat apparently attempting to tend the flying boats; Ensigns Reeves and Conklin each bagged two and shared a fifth patrol plane between them. In addition, the strafing F4Fs destroyed an aviation fuel truck and a truck loaded with spare parts.
The SBDs, too, laid their bombs "on the money." Post-attack assessment estimated that the antiaircraft and shore battery sites pinpointed by intelligence had been destroyed by the dive bombers in their first attack. So complete was the enemy's unpreparedness that none of Wasp's planes was shot down. Only one plane from the 16 Grummans failed to return, and, in that case, its pilot, Ensign Reeves, put her down on board Enterprise after having run low on fuel.
That was not all, however. At 0704, 12 Grumman TBF-1s, led by Lt. H. A. Romberg, rolled ponderously down the deck, loaded with bombs for use against land targets. Having encountered resistance, the initial landing forces called for help. Romberg's dozen Avengers blasted enemy troop concentrations east of the nob of land known as Hill 281, in the Makambo-Sasapi sector, and the prison on Tulagi Island. "All enemy resistance," the official report later stated, was "apparently effectively silenced by this flight."
The first day's operations against Guadalcanal had proved successful. Some 10,000 men had been put ashore there and met only slight resistance. On Tulagi, however, the Japanese resisted stoutly, retaining about one-fifth of the island by nightfall. Wasp, Saratoga, and Enterprise, with their screens, retired to the southward at nightfall.
Wasp returned the next morning, 8 August 1942, to maintain a continuous CAP over the transport area until noon. These fighters were led by Lt. C. S. Moffett. Meanwhile, she also launched a scouting flight of 12 SBD-3s led by Lt. Comdr. E. M. Snowden. The Dauntlesses searched a sector to a radius of 220 miles from their carrier, extending it to include all of the Santa Isabel Island and the New Georgia group.
The Dauntless pilots sighted nothing that morning and made no contact with the enemy during their two hours in the air. But that was soon to change for the flight leader. At 0815, Snowden sighted a Rufe some 40 miles from Rekata Bay and gave chase. The Japanese airman, seeing that he had been spotted, had no stomach for a fight. He pulled up and attempted to use the clouds for cover. Each time the dogged dive bomber pilot gunned the SBD-3 after him. Twice the Rufe headed for the clouds. Snowden finally pulled within close range, and, using his two fixed .50-caliber guns, fired a short burst that hit home, causing the Rufe to spin into the Solomon Sea.
Meanwhile, a large group of Japanese planes approached from Bougainville, apparently bent upon attacking the transports off Lunga Point. Upon learning of their approach, Rear Admiral Richmond K. Turner ordered all transports to get underway and to assume cruising disposition. The Americans accordingly cleared the decks for action. Wasp's planes took part in the melee that followed, some planes by accident.
Lt. Comdr. Eldridge, again leading a formation of SDB-3s from VS-71, had led his planes against Mbangi Island, off Tulagi, the site of some still fierce Japanese resistance. Eldridge's rear seat gunner, Aviation Chief Radioman L. A. Powers, suddenly spotted a formation of planes coming in from the northeast, but thinking them to be a relief flight, Eldridge continued on his present course. The Americans did a double-take, however, and discovered that the planes were, in fact, enemy. At that instant, six Zeroes showed up and bounced the first section, but showed remarkably little skill in the attack, for they made 12 firing passes but could not down any of the Dauntlesses.
Meanwhile, the leader of the last section of VS-71, Lt. (jg.) Robert L. Howard, spotted a cluster of twin-engined G4M1 Betty bombers heading for the American transports. Howard dove to the attack, but, in his excitement, failed to flip his armament switch to "on." After two runs during which his guns had failed to fire ? thinking that the guns needed to be recharged ? he discovered his error, but too late to do anything about the Mitsubishi bombers. At that moment, four Zeroes, escorts for the bombers, attacked the single SBD.
Howard's rear gunner, Seaman 2d Class Lawrence P. Lupo, handled his twin 30-caliber mount magnificently and kept the enemy fighters at arm's length, his bullets scoring several hits on them as well. After about eight passes, one Zero veered up sharply and made a head-on run that Howard met with simultaneous fire from his fixed .50s. The Zero caught fire like a flying tinder box, passed close aboard the Dauntless' left wing, and crashed in flames amidst the American landing craft far below. At the same time Howard was downing the Zero ahead, Seaman Lupo was firing on another Zero making an attack from the stern. Lupo kept the enemy away, but he had to shoot through his own plane's vertical stabilizer to do it. Eventually the enemy tired of sporting with the SBD and retired to leave Howard and his squadron mates in VS-71 to return safely to their carrier.
At 1807 on 8 August 1942, Vice Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher recommended to Ghormley, at Noumea, that the air support force be withdrawn. Fletcher, concerned by the large numbers of enemy planes that had attacked on the 8th, reported that he had only 78 fighters left (he had started with 99) and that fuel for the carriers was running low. Ghormley approved the recommendation, and Wasp joined Enterprise and Saratoga in retiring from Guadalcanal. By midnight on 8 August, the landing had been a success, having attained its immediate objectives. All Japanese resistance, except for a few snipers, on Gavutu and Tanombogo had been overcome. Early on 9 August, a Japanese surface force engaged an American one off Savo Island and retired at very little cost to themselves. The Allied force suffered loss of four heavy cruisers off Savo Island, including two that had served with Wasp in the Atlantic: Vincennes and Quincy. The early and unexpected withdrawal of the support force, including Wasp, when coupled with Allied losses in the Battle of Savo Island, jeopardized the success of the operation in the Solomons.
After the initial day's action in the Solomons campaign, the carrier spent the next month engaged in patrol and covering operations for convoys and resupply units headed for Guadalcanal. The Japanese, while reacting sluggishly to the initial thrust at Guadalcanal, soon began pouring reinforcements down to contest the Allied forces.
Wasp was ordered south by Vice Admiral Fletcher to refuel and did not participate in the Battle of Eastern Solomons on 24 August 1942. That engagement cost the American force the use of the valuable Enterprise. Saratoga was torpedoed a week later and departed the South Pacific war zone for repairs as well. That left only two carriers in the southwest Pacific: Hornet, which had been in commission for only a year, and Wasp.
On Tuesday, 16 September 1942, those two carriers and North Carolina ? with 10 other warships ? were escorting the transports carrying the 7th Marine Regiment to Guadalcanal as reinforcements. Wasp had drawn the job of ready-duty carrier and was operating some 150 miles southeast of San Cristobal Island. Her gasoline system was in use, as planes were being refueled and rearmed for antisubmarine patrol missions; and Wasp had been at general quarters from an hour before sunrise until the time when the morning search returned to the ship at 1000. Thereafter, the ship was in condition 2, with the air department at flight quarters. There was no contact with the enemy during the day, with the exception of a Japanese four-engined flying boat downed by a Wasp Wildcat at 1215.
About 1420, the carrier turned into the wind to launch eight fighters and 18 SBD-3s and to recover eight F4F-3s and three SBDs that had been airborne since before noon. The ship rapidly completed the recovery of the 11 planes, she then turned easily to starboard, the ship heeling slightly as the course change was made. The air department at flight quarters, as they had done in earlier operations, worked coolly at refueling and respotting the ship's planes for the afternoon mission. Suddenly, at 1444, a lookout called out, "three torpedoes . . . three points forward of the starboard beam!"
A spread of four torpedoes, fired from the tubes of the Japanese submarine I-19, churned inexorably closer. Wasp put over her rudder hard-a-starboard, but it was too late. Two torpedoes smashed home in quick succession while a fourth passed ahead. Both hit in the vicinity of gasoline tanks and magazines.
In quick succession, fiery blasts ripped through the forward part of the ship. Aircraft on the flight and hangar decks were thrown about as if they were toys and dropped on the deck with such force that landing gears snapped. Planes triced up in the hangar overheads fell and landed upon those on the hangar deck. Fires broke out almost simultaneously in the hangar and below decks. Soon, the heat of the intense gasoline fires detonated the ready ammunition at the forward antiaircraft guns on the starboard side, and fragments showered the forward part of the ship. The number two 1.1-inch mount was blown overboard and the corpse of the gun captain was thrown onto the bridge where it landed next to Capt. Sherman.
Water mains in the forward part of the ship proved useless, since they had been broken by the force of the explosions. There was no water available to fight the conflagration forward; and the fires continued to set off ammunition, bombs, and gasoline. As the ship listed to starboard between 10 and 15 degrees, oil and gasoline, released from the tanks by the torpedo hit, caught fire on the water.
Sherman slowed to 10 knots, ordering the rudder put to port to try to get the wind on the starboard bow. He then went astern with right rudder until the wind was on the starboard quarter, in an attempt to keep the fire forward. At that point, some flames made central station untenable, and communication circuits went dead. Soon, a serious gasoline fire broke out in the forward portion of the hanger, within 24 minutes of the initial attack, three additional major gasoline vapor explosions occurred. Ten minutes later, Capt. Sherman consulted with his executive officer, Comdr. Fred C. Dickey. The two men saw no course but to abandon, as all fire-fighting was proving ineffectual. The survivors would have to be gotten off quickly if unnecessary loss of life was not to be incurred.
Reluctantly, after consulting with Rear Admiral Noyes, Capt. Sherman ordered "abandon ship" at 1520. All badly injured men were lowered into rafts or rubber boats. Many unwounded men had to abandon from aft because the forward fires were burning with such intensity. The departure, as Capt. Sherman observed it, looked "orderly," and there was no panic. The only delays occurred when many men showed reluctance to leave until all the wounded had been taken off. The abandonment took nearly 40 minutes, and, at 1600 ? satisfied that no one was left on deck, in the galleries, or in the hangar aft ? Capt. Sherman swung over the lifeline on the fantail and slid into the sea.
Although the submarine hazard caused the accompanying destroyers to lie well clear or to shift position, the "tin cans" carried out the rescue efforts with persistence and determination until USS Laffey (DD-459), USS Lansdowne (DD-486), USS Helena (CL-50), and USS Salt Lake City had 1,946 men embarked. The abandoned ship drifted with her crew of remaining dead. The fires greedily traveled aft; four more violent explosions boomed as night began to fall. Lansdowne drew the duty of destruction, and she fired five torpedoes into the dying ship's fire-gutted hull. Three hit, but she remained afloat. By now, the orange flames had enveloped the stern. The carrier literally floated in a burning pool of gasoline and oil. She sank at 2100 by the bow.
Wasp received two battle stars for her World War II service.
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