THE STING OF THE WASP

The eighth USS Wasp (CV-7), an aircraft carrier, was built on a reduced size version of the Yorktown-class hull. The Navy sought to squeeze an air group onto a ship with nearly 25% less displacement than the Yorktown-class.  Wasp was constructed with low-power machinery, no armor, and - most significantly - no protection from torpedoes. The end result was a ship with major
inherent design flaws. These flaws, combined with the crew’s lack of damage control experience in the early WW II, would prove to be fatal on 15 September 1942, in the South Pacific.

Click HERE to read the article.