USS Wasp (CV-7) Traditional Cache
CP 10 Crew: Making room for CP8, archive.
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This cache was placed for Cachepalooza 7. Cache placement has been approved by Martin Morse, park service specialist.
Obey all speed limits. Do not block gates. All wheels off the pavement. Do not cross the railroad tracks except at the main park road or the US 1 bridge.
USS Wasp (CV-7) was an aircraft carrier in the US Navy named after a sloop from the War of 1812. She was ordered in 1935, built at the Fore River Shipyard (Quincy, Massachusetts), launched in 1939, and comissioned in 1940. The Wasp was a modified version of the Yorktown class of carriers (Yorktown, Enterprise, Hornet) which were all commissioned before the United States joined World War II. Only the Enterprise survived 1942 in the Pacific without being sunk by the Japanese.
Her initial service was patrols in the Atlantic to guard American shipping against U-boats. In April and May 1942, she delivered badly needed British fighter aircraft to the defense of Malta in the Mediterranean. This earned a personal message of thanks from Winston Churchill: "Many thanks to you all for the timely help. Who said a wasp couldn't sting twice?"
In late May 1942, Wasp headed to the Pacific via the Panama Canal to help make up for the loss of the carriers Lexington and Yorktown at the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. She supported the Marine landings on Guadacanal in August 1942, but missed the Battle of the Eastern Solomons late that month because she had gone south to refuel and could not reach the battle area in time.
On September 15, 1942, USS Wasp was escorting a convoy to Guadacanal when she was struck by 3 of 6 torpedoes fired by Japanese submarine I-19. The damage was severe enough that she could not be saved and she went down with the loss of nearly 200 of her crew.
USS Wasp (CV-18) was an Essex-class carrier launched later in the war and named in honor of CV-7.
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cnyzrggb & cvar
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