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After leaving Norfolk in August, the USS Wasp has arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet

Posted at 3:10 PM, Jan 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-01-06 15:10:06-05

PACIFIC OCEAN – Months after departing Norfolk in late summer, the USS Wasp arrived in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations Saturday.

The Wasp left Hampton Roads on August 30, 2017 to replace USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) in Sasebo, Japan as the forward-deployed amphibious assault ship in region.

While on the way, the USS Wasp was diverted to the Caribbean on September 4 for humanitarian hurricane relief.

There the crew  assisted on the U.S. Virgin Islands and Dominica in the wake of Hurricane Irma and then provided help in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria.

During those relief efforts, aircraft from the Wasp flew 108 missions on the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico totaling 385 hours of flight time moving 1,129 total passengers along with 26,720 pounds of equipment, and 1,718,200 pounds of various logistical support items, including 328,100 pounds of food and water.

During the transit to Japan, Wasp crew have engaged in a near-constant cycle of training, including drills in damage control, combat systems, aviation, and casualty response.