USS Wasp (CV-7) was a United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

. The eighth Navy ship of that name

USS Wasp

Ten ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Wasp, after the stinging insect. was a merchant schooner originally named Scorpion and purchased by the Continental Navy in late 1775. In the fall of 1777, the Wasp was run aground, set on fire, and destroyed when its gunpowder exploded....

, she was the sole ship of her class. Built to use up the remaining tonnage allowed to the U.S. for aircraft carriers under the treaties of the time, she was built on a reduced-size version of the Yorktown-class

Yorktown class aircraft carrier

The Yorktown class was a class of three aircraft carriers built by the U.S. and completed shortly before World War II. They bore the brunt of early action in that war, and the sole survivor of the class was to become the most decorated ship in the history of the U.S...

 hull.
Wasp was a product of the Washington Naval Treaty

Washington Naval Treaty

The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was an attempt to cap and limit, and "prevent 'further' costly escalation" of the naval arms race that had begun after World War I between various International powers, each of which had significant naval fleets. The treaty was...

. With the construction of and , the U.S. still had 15000 LT (15,240.8 t) available to flesh out its carrier fleet.
The Navy sought to squeeze a large air group onto a ship with nearly 25% less displacement than the Yorktown-class.