IV SINKING of U.S. aircraft-carrier Wasp

SINKING OF THE WASP

On September 15, the 14,700-ton U.S. aircraft-carrier Wasp was attacked and sunk by a Japanese submarine in the Coral Sea, although its loss was not announced officially until October 28. At the time the ship was escorting a large supply convoy bound for Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands which, however, reached port safely. Soon after the aircraft-carrier had been hit by three of the enemy torpedoes, she went down in an inferno of flame and smoke. Ninety per cent of the ship's crew managed to get away in time, and were later picked up by escort vessels of the U.S. Navy. This remarkable picture, taken from the deck of one of the ships in the convoy, shows dense clouds of smoke billowing from the abandoned aircraft-carrier just before she went down. The Wasp, which was launched in 1939, had a proud record of war service. She earned much renown earlier in the year for her ferrying of reinforcements to Malta, making many voyages through the hazardous part of the Mediterranean.

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