Bald-faced hornet Bald-faced hornet Dolichovespula maculata is a eusocial wasp of the cosmopolitan family Vespidae. Its colloquial names include the bald-faced hornet, bald hornet, white-faced hornet, white-tailed hornet, spruce wasp, blackjacket, and bull wasp. This species is a yellowjacket wasp, not a true hornet (genus "Vespa"). Colonies contain 400 to 700 workers, the largest recorded colony size in its genus, "Dolichovespula". It builds a characteristic large hanging paper nest up to 58 centimetres (23 in) in length. Workers aggressively defend their nest by repeatedly stinging invaders. "Dolichovespula maculata" is distributed throughout the United States and southern Canada, but is most common in
USS Hornet (CV-8) nine torpedoes, many of which failed to explode, and more than 400 rounds from the destroyers and . The destroyers steamed away when a Japanese surface force entered the area. The Japanese destroyers and finally finished off "Hornet" with four Long Lance torpedoes. At 01:35 on 27 October, "Hornet" was finally sunk with the loss of 140 of her sailors. "Hornet" was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 13 January 1943. However, her name was revived less than a year later when the newly constructed "Kearsarge" was commissioned as . CV8 is honored aboard her namesake, which is now