USS Wasp (LHD-1)

40,650 tons

257.2 meters

33.5 meters

8.2 meters

104 officers, 1004 sailors, up to 1894 troops

2 propellers, 2 steam turbine driven; 70,000 shaft horsepower

20 nodes

2 Starter RAM, 2 starters Sea Sparrow, various gun

The USS Wasp (LHD -1) is an amphibious assault ship of the United States Navy named after the Wasp - class.

History

The USS Wasp was Ingalls Shipbuilding of Pascagoula, Mississippi built. The keel-laying ceremony was on 30 May 1985 and the launching took place on 4 August 1987. The USS Wasp was put into service in July 1989 and assigned to the Atlantic Fleet.

On 20 April 1993 the ship the Somali coast ran 3.5 miles south on a low reef. The keel and the bolt scraped over the reef, but no one was injured. The USS Wasp was able to continue their former mission. The Navigator and the commander were removed from their posts after this incident.

Two years later, on 29 March 1995 the USS Wasp collided with the USS Seattle ( AOE -3). The damage caused by the collision were only slight.

As part of the global fight against terrorism, the USS Wasp in 2004 drove stakes in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean. She then returned to her homeport to Norfolk, Virginia in September 2004. There they remained until the spring of 2005. By 2012, the Wasp not moved since then. As a reason, the Navy stated that the combat system Advanced Combat Direction System ( ACDS ) was no longer on the current state of the art. Therefore, it is to be replaced by 2014.

Since 13 January 2011, the Wasp is converted in Portsmouth for tests with the Lockheed Martin F- 35B and is therefore the first carrier of the Navy for the new combat aircraft. The decision for the Wasp also fell, as they already can not be actively used due to the outdated ACDS and can therefore serve as a test ship without that other carriers would have to be taken for the use of routine.