USS Wasp (CV-7) was an American aircraft carrier, the keel of which was laid in 1936, launched in April 1939, and entered service with the US Navy in April 1940. The length of the ship was 226 m, width 24.6 m, and her displacement at the time of launching was 19,200 tons. The maximum speed of the USS Wasp aircraft carrier oscillated around 29-30 knots, and its main armament consisted of 80 on-board planes.
The USS Wasp was the only ship of her type. It was created as a smaller Yorktown class unit, in keeping with the obligations of the Washington Treaty of 1922. The aircraft carrier was therefore built on the basis of the experience gained from the operation of Lexington ships. What is noteworthy, the American designers, despite the significantly reduced displacement, managed to maintain the possibility of basing almost the same number of planes as on the Yorktown! USS Wasp at the time of entering the line in the US Navy was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, within which it carried out, among others: transports of planes to Malta at the beginning of 1942. From mid-1942, however, it operated in the Pacific. From August this year, he supported American operations in the Guadalcanal and Solomon Islands region. The USS Wasp was sunk on September 15, 1942 as a result of a torpedo attack by the Japanese submarine I-19 during its voyage to New Caledonia.