The USN planned to deploy "Wasp" to the Asia-Pacific region in 2017 with a squadron of 16 F-35Bs. In September 2017, "Wasp" became the first U.S. warship to arrive in the Caribbean to provide supplies, damage assessment, and evacuation assistance in the wake of Hurricane Irma. On 3 March 2018, "Wasp" departed Sasebo, Japan for a routine patrol of the Indo-Pacific region. A detachment of 6 F-35Bs from VMFA-121 were deployed with the ship, marking the first operational shipboard deployment for the F-35B.