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 (1865) in the Chesapeake Bay squadron. In October 1865, "Hornet" escorted the Confederate ironclad CSS "Stonewall" from Cuba to the United States. "Hornet" was decommissioned on 15 December 1865 and sold into private ownership in 1869. After the war "Hornet" was involved in several filibustering expeditions to Cuba under the names "Hornet" and "Cuba", including an unsuccessful mission in January 1871 to deliver weapons and ammunition to Cuban rebels during the Ten Years' War. USS Hornet (1865) The USS "Hornet" (1865) was the fifth United States Navy ship to bear the name Hornet. She was originally the CSS "Lady Stirling", a