USS Wasp had been torpedoed and sunk on 15 September, removing a carrier that could have helped even the odds at Santa Cruz. Her design attempted to fit full fleet-carrier capability onto a smaller hull, and its limitations did not make her contribution worthless. Adding her to the two available carriers would have provided a third flight deck, a 50% increase in the count of carriers. That does not establish an identical percentage increase in aircraft or actual strike output. The operational benefit would have been additional capacity and flexibility for getting aircraft into action.
Notable Point · 57:11-58:20
Wasp would have added a third American flight deck
A third carrier would have increased the American flight-deck count from two to three, a 50% increase with potential benefits for launching strikes.