Most of the planes delivered on the first ferrying mission were destroyed, but a second mission was a success. The USS Wasp came to the rescue, delivering Royal Air Force Spitfires to counter the attacks. In an effort to keep British forces from using it to their advantage, German and Italian planes conducted almost daily bombings. The island, which was considered an important stronghold from which British forces could attack Axis ships on their way to the new front in North Africa, had become strategically important. In 1942, it conducted two missions to the Mediterranean island of Malta, which was a British colony at the time. The eighth American ship to bear its name, the aircraft carrier was the place where U.S. The discovery is a reminder of the vessel’s storied past. It was discovered by the expedition crew aboard the Petrel, a research vessel operated by late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s exploration team. Surrounded by downed planes and abandoned helmets, the destroyed ship, whose exact location is under wraps, has been preserved for decades in the sea’s warm waters. In January 2019, wreckage from the Wasp was discovered at the bottom of the Coral Sea off the coast of Australia. One hundred ninety-four people were killed or went missing in the attack, and the exact location of the wreck, and their bodies, became a historical mystery. After earning two battle stars and ferrying soldiers and aircraft in the European and Pacific theaters of World War II, it was downed by Japanese torpedoes while transporting reinforcements to Guadalcanal on September 15, 1942. In the treacherous waters of the Atlantic and the bomber-laden Mediterranean of World War II, the USS Wasp, a 741-foot-long aircraft carrier, came out unscathed.
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