Wasp
Wasp is a shipgirl from the game Kantai Collection, based on USS Wasp (CV-18), the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy's Essex class. Illustrated by artist Shibafu, she was introduced to the game as the final completion reward for the Autumn 2025 event, titled Intercept! Search and Destroy the Enemy Task Force. As one of the American fleet carriers, she serves as a dependable high-capacity aviation vessel, providing strong air superiority and support for the fleet alongside her fellow overseas shipgirls.
Overview
Wasp is a shipgirl from the game Kantai Collection, based on USS Wasp (CV-18), the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy's Essex class. Illustrated by artist Shibafu, she was introduced to the game as the final completion reward for the Autumn 2025 event, titled Intercept! Search and Destroy the Enemy Task Force. As one of the American fleet carriers, she serves as a dependable high-capacity aviation vessel, providing strong air superiority and support for the fleet alongside her fellow overseas shipgirls.
Appearance
She features asymmetrical, bright blonde hair gathered into a bun in the back, alongside blue eyes. Her attire consists of a yellow short-sleeved shirt worn beneath a cropped blue jacket, paired with a grey neckerchief, a black neck pillow, a grey skirt, and grey rudder-inspired footwear. Following her Kai upgrade, her original grey neckerchief updates to a blue-tinted multicolored scarf design.
Personality
Wasp displays a bright, cheerful, and energetic personality typical of the American shipgirls in the fleet. She maintains an approachable and warm attitude toward her peers, bringing a lively and uplifting atmosphere to the naval base. Both in everyday life and in active naval engagements, her optimistic spirit makes her a dependable operational partner who instills confidence in her fellow fleet members.
Abilities
Her back-mounted rigging incorporates her historical vessel's bridge structure, smokestack, and radar array, bristling with multiple Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm anti-aircraft weapons. She holds a flight deck slung over her left arm while wielding an M1903 Springfield rifle mounted with two five-inch dual-purpose guns in her right. When upgraded to Kai, the camouflage pattern across her rigging and weaponry changes.
Background
Wasp is based on the second US Navy aircraft carrier to bear the name during World War II, having been constructed as an Essex-class vessel following the loss of the original USS Wasp (CV-7) to the Japanese submarine I-19. In Kantai Collection, she debuted as the completion reward for the final map of the Autumn 2025 event, joining the player's naval base as a capital carrier asset.
Relationships
She maintains a close sisterly relationship with Intrepid, a fellow Essex-class aircraft carrier. Because she inherited her name from the predecessor CV-7 sunk earlier in the war, comments from other fleet members—such as the light cruiser Helena—frequently reference or mix up her historical heritage with that of the original carrier.
Trivia
Voice actress Hikari Kubota returned to record dialogue for a newly released shipgirl with Wasp's introduction, marking her first new role in Kantai Collection since voicing Intrepid roughly seven and a half years earlier.