Cooper Hendricks and Colin Keyes
Staff Writers
The USS Wasp, a ship that served in both the European and Pacific Theaters during the World War II, has been found nearly seven decades after it was sunk. This United States Navy carrier was found at the bottom of the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia. The carrier was sunk by a Japanese torpedo and saw the death of nearly all of her crew.
Microsoft's co-founder Paul Allen had started this in-depth exploration and had done several similar expeditions previously. His organization had located the wrecks of the USS's, Helena, Lexington, Juneau, and Indianapolis.
The Wasp was built in 1940 and would continue its service until it is sinking in 1942, during the Guadalcanal campaign. It was the eighth ship to be named the USS Wasp and held over 2,000 sailors during wartime. This ship was the only operational U.S. carrier in the Pacific until the USS Enterprise was repaired after the battle of Midway.
Rear Admiral Samuel Cox said that "Wasp represented the U.S. Navy at the lowest point after the start of WWII. Her pilots and her aircrew, with their courage and sacrifice, were the ones that held the line against the Japanese when the Japanese had superior fighter aircraft, superior torpedo planes, and better torpedoes," The first year of the war saw some of the hardest loses for the United States in World War II. With the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Guam, and many other islands taken by the Japanese, which caught the U.S. off guard. Many lives were lost because America did not think Japan would attack.
