US Navy assists the Royal Navy

13th April 1942: USS Wasp joins Royal Navy in Mediterranean to fly off Spitfires to besieged island of Malta

The U.S. Navy heavy cruiser USS Wichita (CA-45) at anchor in Scapa Flow, Scotland (UK), in April 1942. The aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CV-7) is in the background.

The need to reinforce Malta was now becoming desperate. So much so that Churchill made a personal appeal to Roosevelt for the assistance of a US Navy carrier to make the journey into the Mediter…