And as the most common species of Wasp in eastern North America, probably the one the Continental Navy had in mind when it named he first
Wasp in 1775. This, along with
Hornet (the first of which was
Wasp's consort as the first two Continental ships to put to sea), is one of the most distinguished ship names in USN history. The U.S. Marines' first amphibious assault (New Providence, Bahamas, 1776) was conducted from
Wasp I.
Wasp II (16 guns) took HMS
Frolic (22) in October 1812.
Wasp V (22 guns) sank or captured 14 British merchantmen plus HMS
Reindeer (21) in a five-month cruise in 1814. In 1942, the aircraft carrier
Wasp VIII twice ferried RAF Spitfires to the relief of Malta, then rendered distinguished service in the Pacific in the Guadalcanal campaign before being sunk by a Japanese submarine.
Wasp IX, another carrier, won eight campaign stars (battle honors, in British terminology) for service in the Pacific. This is the one whose patch I posted earlier in the thread.
All of this history by way of preface to a lament that the USN and TIOH between them can't find a way to better preserve historic unit identity in the design of ships' arms rather than introducing totally different concepts every time a new ship with a historic name is commissioned. Why not "Or a wasp volant Sable, a base wavy (or wavy crested) Azure" to refer retroactively to
Wasp IX, and the same within a bordure Gules for Wasp X (the red referring to the USMC in light of the present ship's amphibious role), and the same again within a bordure of another color for whatever ship may bear the name in the future?