USS Wasp Gets Another Lease on Life

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Though the USS Wasp is more than 30 years old, it remains an effective platform for the US Navy, with a newly modernized air wing.

The US Navy has decided to keep the USS Wasp (LHD-1), a key warship, afloat for an additional five years.

The USS Wasp, the first of the “Landing Helicopter Dock” multipurpose amphibious assault ships used by Marines to storm littoral targets, will now stay in the fleet until 2034. 

Why the Wasp Got a Stay of Execution

According to Expeditionary Warfare Director Marine Brigadier General Lee Meyer, the Navy decided to extend the operability window of the USS Wasp after a study on amphibious warfare and assault ships. 

“The CNO [Chief of Naval Operations] approved the service life extension of the USS Wasp,” Meyer told reporters at the Modern Day Marine exposition in Washington, DC. “He extended it by five years until 2034. The other LHDs, we’ve got to study to see if we can extend them and the plan is going to be to do that.”

The USS Wasp is the lead vessel of the Wasp-class amphibious assault ships.  

Extending the service life of the class will........

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