Dear Hot—the WW2 Wasp would have had Blacks/Negroes/African Americans/ on board as mess attendants working in the galley, the only Navy occupation permitted to them, as well as Philippino sailors also working in the mess section. One such Philippino “mess boy” ended up running the White House Kitchen and the “mess” on the last Presidential Yacht in the 1960S and 70s.
Also, the first USS Wasp, was captured from the British in either the Revolutionary War or the War of 1812. Thus keeping her name in service.
Obviously you never had an Irish grandmother that grew up in an Italian neighborhood in Detroit who was fond of using such terms as "Wasp", "Dago", "Wops", "Kike", and other such terms relating to one's nationality that have long since been dropped from the vernacular of everyday speech........
I'm perfectly aware of the diversity aboard that ship and all the others, I was merely attempting to use a bit of wry humor here........sheesh