USS Wasp

1942

Solomon Sea, I-19, the six-torpedo salvo Location: Coral Sea, SE of San Cristóbal Island · Coordinates: 12.43°S 164.00°E · Casualties: 193 · Survivors: ~2,000 · Depth: 4,500 m · Cause: submarine torpedo — Struck by three torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-19 (Takakazu Kinashi, commanding) at 14:44 on 15 September 1942 while covering the Guadalcanal reinforcement convoy. Part of the most damaging single torpedo salvo in submarine history: of the six torpedoes fired, three also hit USS O'Brien and USS North Carolina. Aviation fuel lines ruptured and damage-control pumps failed; she was scuttled by USS Lansdowne that evening. · Fate: abyssal · located 2019 · Type: aircraft carrier · Wasp class · Tonnage: 14,700 tons · Crew: 2167 · Flag: United States · Launched: 1939 American Wasp-class aircraft carrier, covering the Guadalcanal reinforcement convoy. Struck by three torpedoes from the Japanese submarine I-19 at 14:44 on 15 September 1942: part of the most damaging single salvo of torpedoes in submarine history, three of six also hit USS O'Brien and USS North Carolina. 193 dead. Aviation fuel lines ruptured and damage-control pumps failed; scuttled by USS Lansdowne that evening. Found in 2019 by Paul Allen's team in 4,500 metres. The Vessel USS Wasp (CV-7) was a reduced-displacement fleet aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, commissioned at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, on 25 April 1940. She was 226 metres long, 14,700 tons standard displacement, approximately 60 per cent the size of the contemporary Yorktown-class carriers. Her reduced size was a specific consequence of the 1936 London Naval Treaty's carrier tonnage limits: the United States had 15,000 tons of remaining carrier tonnage available under the treaty and had built Wasp to fit the allocation precisely. Her smaller size imposed significant compromises. Her air group was 76 aircraft (smaller than a Yorktown's 90); her bunkerage was sufficient for approximately 9,000 nautical miles at 15 knots (shorter-legged than her full-sized sisters); and her armour protection was limited to splinter-proofing against bomb fragments. She was, at her commissioning, the most austere American fleet carrier in service. Her first eighteen months of service were in the Atlantic. She participated in the North African convoy runs of late 1940, the Malta relief operations of April and May 1942 (ferrying 47 British Spitfires to the besieged island), and the 1941 Allied occupation of Iceland. She transferred to the Pacific in June 1942 after the loss of USS Lexington and the damage to USS Yorktown. Her commanding officer was Captain Forrest Sherman, 45, a career naval aviator who had commanded a destroyer squadron before his carrier assignment. The Disaster The six-torpedo salvo fired by I-19 at 14:44 on 15 September 1942 is the most damaging single torpedo salvo in the history of submarine warfare. Three of the six torpedoes struck USS Wasp. Two others continued through the American formation past Wasp and struck the battleship USS North Carolina (one torpedo hit; moderate damage) and the destroyer USS O'Brien (one torpedo hit; eventually fatal damage). The sixth torpedo missed and continued to the horizon. No single submarine in any war has ever inflicted more damage with a single salvo. The three torpedo hits on Wasp struck in quick succession on her starboard side between 14:45 and 14:46: one forward, one amidships, one aft. The hits ignited her forward aircraft-fuel storage, ruptured her damage-control water mains, and produced a series of secondary explosions as the compartments flooded. Wasp's damage control response was comprehensive but her scale had made her vulnerable: with less redundancy than her Yorktown sisters, she had fewer options when multiple systems failed simultaneously. Captain Sherman ordered abandon-ship at 15:20 on 15 September 1942, 35 minutes after the first torpedo strike. The evacuation proceeded in relatively good order because the weather was calm and the escorting destroyers were able to come alongside. 193 of her 2,167 crew died, most in the initial torpedo strikes. 1,974 survived. Wasp burned through the afternoon, steadily flooding; at 21:00 on 15 September the destroyer USS Lansdowne fired fi