Deep sea explorers discover USS Wasp, another WWII aircraft carrier

Deep sea explorers found the USS Hornet in the South Pacific earlier this year, but the Hornet was not the only ship located on that expedition. In the latest update for the American Naval history books, the research vessel Petrel revealed it also found the World War II aircraft carrier USS Wasp.

We're 2.5 miles down, peering inside the cockpit of an avenger torpedo bomber from the sunken World War II aircraft carrier, USS Wasp. The plane is not just a relic, it's a clue, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips. Can the Wasp itself be far away?

The Wasp was part of the ferocious 1942 air and sea battle for the strategic South Pacific island of Guadalcanal. Jim Forrester, 98 years old now, was 21 on the Wasp that day.

"All of a sudden we got hit with torpedoes," Forrester recounted. "Imagine yourself lifted right up out of your chair right now."

One of the torpedoes had hit the fuel tanks, and the ship was an inferno. One-hundred-seventy-six of her crew were dead – the rest were ordered to abandon ship.

"I grabbed my nose and the family jewels and—" Forrester started.

"And jumped into the Pacific?" Philips asked.

"Yes," Forrester said.

The Wasp had been lost for almost 77 years. But the deep water research vessel, Petrel, combed the Pacific looking for long-lost war wrecks. In January, CBS News watched mission leader, Rob Kraft, and his crew find another carrier, the USS Hornet.