She fired a 21-gun salute in honor of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose yacht, Potomac, stopped briefly at the Boston Navy Yard on 10 August.

There, she loaded 24 Curtiss P-40 fighters from the Army Air Corps' 8th Pursuit Group and nine North American O-47A reconnaissance aircraft from the 2d Observation Squadron, as well as her own spares and utility unit Grumman J2F Duck amphibian on the 12th.

Her planes flew carrier qualification and refresher training flights, while her gunners sharpened up their skills in short-range battle practices at targets towed by the new fleet tug Seminole.

Eight days later, the ship got underway in company with the heavy cruiser Quincy and the destroyers Livermore and Kearny for exercises at sea before returning to Grassy Bay on 3 June.

Reaching Grassy Bay on that day, she remained in port a week before returning to Norfolk, sailing on 12 July in company with heavy cruiser Tuscaloosa and destroyers Grayson, Anderson, and Rowan.

With the accelerated activity entailed in the US Navy's conducting convoy escort missions, Wasp put to sea on 6 October in company with Vincennes and four destroyers.

In addition, the two ships conducted gunnery drills before returning to Grassy Bay two days later, where she lay at anchor on 7 December 1941 during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

[1] Naval authorities felt considerable anxiety that French warships in the Caribbean and West Indies were prepared to make a breakout and attempt to get back to France.

With tensions in the West Indies lessened considerably, Wasp departed Grassy Bay and headed for Hampton Roads in company with Long Island, and escorted by the destroyers Stack and Sterett.

During the morning watch the next day, visibility lessened considerably; and, at 06:50, Wasp's bow plunged into Stack's starboard side, punching a hole and completely flooding the destroyer's number one fireroom.

Shifting back to Casco Bay three days later, she sailed for the British Isles on 26 March 1942 with Task Force 39 under the command of Rear Admiral John W. Wilcox, Jr., aboard the battleship Washington.

The British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, fearing that Malta would be "pounded to bits", asked President Roosevelt to allow Wasp to have "another good sting."

Pilot Officer Jerrold Alpine Smith chose to attempt a landing on Wasp, setting down at 07:43 with his Spitfire stopping just 15 feet (4.6 m) from the forward edge of the flight deck.

Departing Norfolk on 6 June, Wasp sailed with TF 37 which was built around the carrier and the battleship North Carolina and escorted by Quincy, San Juan and six destroyers.

The group transited the Panama Canal on 10 June, at which time Wasp and her consorts became TF 18, the carrier flying the flag of Rear Admiral Leigh Noyes.

Arriving at San Diego on 19 June, Wasp embarked the remainder of her complement of aircraft, Grumman TBF-1 Avengers and Douglas SBD-3 Dauntlesses, the latter replacing the old Vindicators.

Meanwhile, preparations to invade the Solomon Islands were proceeding to disrupt the Japanese offensive to establish a defensive perimeter around the edge of their "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".

Vice Admiral Robert L. Ghormley – with experience as Special Naval Observer in London – was detailed to take command of the operation; and he established his headquarters at Auckland, New Zealand.

Under the tactical command of Rear Admiral Noyes, embarked on Wasp, the carriers were to provide air support for the invasion and initiation of the Guadalcanal campaign.

[1] En route, Wasp's engines became a problem, reporting to Commander in Chief Pacific on 14 July that her starboard high-pressure turbine even at lowest speeds was making a loud scraping noise.

[1][9][10] Wasp, screened by the heavy cruisers San Francisco and Salt Lake City, and four destroyers, steamed westward toward Guadalcanal on the evening of 6 August until midnight.

The early flights of Wildcats and Dauntlesses were assigned specific targets: Tulagi, Gavutu, Tanambogo, Halavo, Port Purvis on Florida Island, Haleta, Bungana, and the radio station dubbed "Asses' Ears".

The Avengers silenced resistance by bombing Japanese troop concentrations east of the knob of land known as Hill 281, in the Makambo-Sasapi sector, and the prison on Tulagi Island.

Meanwhile, a scouting flight of 12 Dauntlesses led by Lieutenant Commander E. M. Snowden searched a sector to a radius of 220 nautical miles (250 mi; 410 km) from their carrier, extending it to include all of the Santa Isabel Island and the New Georgia groups.

The Dauntless made no contact with the Japanese during their two hours in the air, but at 08:15, Snowden sighted a "Rufe" some 40 nautical miles (46 mi; 74 km) from Rekata Bay and shot the plane down.

Howard shot down one Zero with his fixed guns while his rear gunner, Seaman 2nd Class Lawrence P. Lupo, discouraged Japanese fighters attacking from astern.

Fletcher, concerned by the large numbers of Japanese planes that had attacked on 8 August, reported that he had only 78 fighters left (of 99 he started with) and that fuel for the carriers was running low.

After the initial day's action in the Solomons campaign, the carrier spent the next month engaged in patrol and covering operations for convoys and resupply units headed for Guadalcanal.

Her aircraft were being refueled and rearmed for antisubmarine patrol missions and Wasp had been at general quarters from an hour before sunrise until the time when the morning search returned to the ship at 10:00.

Although the submarine hazard caused the accompanying destroyers to lie well clear or to shift position, they carried out rescue operations until Laffey, Lansdowne, Helena, and Salt Lake City had 1,946 men embarked.