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Franklin

Country United States Ship Class Essex-class Aircraft Carrier Builder Name Newport News Shipbuilding Laid Down 7 Dec 1942 Launched 14 Oct 1943 Commissioned 31 Jan 1944 Decommissioned 17 Feb 1947 Displacement 27,100 tons standard; 38,000 tons full Length 872 feet Beam 108 feet Draft 34 feet Machinery Eight Babcock & Wilcox 565psi boilers, four Westinghouse geared steam turbines, two 250kw diesel generators, four shafts Bunkerage 6,330t fuel oil; 240,000gal aviation fuel Power Output 150,000 SHP Speed 33 knots Range 20,000nm at 15 knots Crew 2631 Armament 4x2x5in guns, 4x5in guns, 8x4x40mm guns, 46x20mm guns Armor 2.5-4in belt, 1.5in hangar, 4in bulkheads, 1.5in STS top and sides of pilot house, 2.5in top of steering gear Aircraft 90-100 Elevators 3 Catapults 2

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseFranklin was launched at Newport News, Virginia, United States during WW2, sponsored by Director of the WAVES program Lieutenant Commander Mildred H. McAfee. She was commissioned with Captain James Marshall Shoemaker in command. At the commissioning ceremony, Shoemaker delivered a concise speech:

Gentlemen, I have been ordered by the bureau to be the first commanding officer of the USS Franklin. We will put Franklin in commission and bring her to the firing line faster than any carrier in history. Six months from now, you will have seen what your first Jap looks like. Thirteen is my lucky number. Good hunting!

ww2dbaseShoemaker's reference of the number thirteen refers to Franklin's hull number with the US Navy, CV-13.

ww2dbaseAlthough Franklin was technically named after American founding father Benjamin Franklin, this Essex-class carrier was in actuality named for the heritage for the first USS Franklin, a six-gun schooner that served during the American Revolutionary War. The WW2-era Franklin, the fifth to carry the name, departed on 5 May 1944 toward Trinidad for shakedown, and joined Task Group 27.7 for training at San Diego, California, United States, arriving 16 May. At San Diego, the ship was loaded with supplies and the men enjoyed their last shore leave before they were sent to the South Pacific. While the sailors enjoyed their last freedom, the air crews worked furiously to perfect their dive and torpedo bombing skills. On 31 May, Franklin departed with 500 tons of cargo, 90 aircraft, and almost 3,500 men. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 5 Jun, and then Eniwetok in Marshall Islands on 23 Jun, where she joined Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance's 5th Fleet.

ww2dbaseFranklin's island was mounted starboard amidships, extending down into the hangar and holding important spaces such as the bridge, radar and radio control, flight deck control, etc.; like other carriers, the flight deck was built to lean more weight on the port side so to offset the weight of the heavy island structure. The flight deck, made of Douglas fir and white pine, had two expansion joints that allowed the ship to flex as she traveled the waves. Two centerline and one deck-edge elevators allowed the aircraft to reach the flight deck from the hangar. Two hydraulic H-4B catapults were installed to aid with takeoffs, though sometimes the pilots felt more comfortable with their aircraft's own power. The flight deck was not armored; the designers of her opted for an armored hangar deck, instead, which served the function of protecting the machinery below, which includes two Babcock and Wilcox boilers, four 1,250-kilowatt turbo-generators, and two 250-kilowatt backup diesel generators.

ww2dbaseMore than 3,000 men were trained to serve on Franklin at the new Large Ship Pre-Commissioning Training Center at the Naval Training Station at Newport, Rhode Island, United States. They were the first US Navy personnel to enroll in this new training program.

ww2dbaseAt 0437 on 4 Jul 1944, Franklin launched her first strike of the war against Iwo Jima of the Bonin Islands, indirectly supporting the American invasion of the Mariana Islands. It was also the first combat mission for many of her air crew. The aircraft flew as low as they could to avoid Japanese radar detection, and achieved relative surprise. Despite the inexperience, the strike was wildly successful, with pilots reporting the destruction of aircraft on the ground. The Japanese fighters that were able to take off were said to be unprepared, reflecting that by this stage of the war, Japan had run out of their best pilots. On 4 Jul, she repeated a similar attack again, striking Iwo Jima, Chichi Jima, and Ha Ha Jima. On 6 Jul, she attacked targets on Guam and Rota in the Mariana Islands, and remained in the area to strike Guam on 21 Jul, invasion date against that island.

ww2dbaseOn 25 and 26 Jul, Franklin's aircraft conducted a photo reconnaissance and air strike mission in the Palau Islands. On those two days, her aircraft dropped bombs on Japanese defensive structures on the island of Peleliu, while two F6F-5P Hellcat fighters, equipped with cameras, took over 2,000 of various types of photographs which were used to plan the later invasion of Peleliu.

ww2dbaseOn 29 Jul, Franklin was assigned to Task Group 58.1. On 4 Aug, her fighters struck Chichi Jima and dive and torpedo bombers intercepted a convoy north of Ototo Jima after they failed to locate a Japanese light carrier that was reported to be in the area. The aircraft sank several vessels. By the time the surface fleet arrived to finish off the convoy, they found only a tanker in sinking condition and the destroyer Matsu dead in the water. On 5 Aug, with the ammunition store running low, she launched another strike against Chichi Jima; Franklin's aircraft destroyed several hangars, merchant ships, barges, and twin-engined bombers.

ww2dbaseBetween 9 and 28 Aug, Franklin dropped anchor at Eniwetok, Marshall Islands, where the crew rested while maintenance services were conducted on the carrier. Repair ships and supply barges came alongside to perform their work on the carrier.

ww2dbaseBetween 31 Aug and 2 Sep, Franklin's aircraft attacked targets in the Bonin Islands once again, causing ground damage, sinking two cargo ships, and downing several Japanese aircraft; during this three-day strike, over 100 tons of bombs were dropped on and around Iwo Jima. In Sep 1944, she supported the operations in the Palau Islands as the flagship of Task Group 38.4. On 9 Oct, she launched aircraft to support the subsequent invasion of Leyte, Philippine Islands. On 10 Oct, she launched four waves of aircraft against Naha, Okinawa, Japan; the pilots reported that the strike resembled a "target rich" "turkey shoot" after sinking 19 ships, destroying 100 aircraft, and leaving Naha in an inferno. On 11 Oct, the aircraft struck Luzon, Philippine Islands. On 12 and 13 Oct, the aircraft struck Takao, Taiwan, sinking 11 cargo ships, 7 tankers, and a dredge in Takao harbor.

ww2dbaseOn 13 Oct, the task force came under attack by four G4M Type 1 Bombers. Franklin's defensive armaments poured heavy fire on the bombers. The first G4M released her torpedo about 500 yards away, missing Franklin after it ran below her fantail; as the Japanese torpedo bomber tried to pull up, she was hit by Franklin's anti-aircraft guns and struggled to regain control. As the G4M bomber's gunner strafed the carrier, the aircraft struck the flight deck just aft of the island on the port side, ripping up the wooden flight deck as the aircraft slid across. After killing sailor Harold Stancil and wounding ten others, the bomber crashed into the sea and exploded beneath the waves. The second G4M bomber was picked off by Lieutenant (jg) Stan Butryn's F6F Hellcat fighter. The third Japanese bomber was damaged and then shot down by anti-aircraft fire from Enterprise and Belleau Wood. The fourth bomber was shot down by Franklin and Enterprise's gunners after its torpedo was fired and narrowly missed hitting Franklin. A destroyer picked the surviving crew of one of the G4M bombers and delivered them to Franklin. Ensign Jack Lawton, a TBF Avenger pilot, was surprised to find that the Japanese pilot was actually from Ohio, United States. The Japanese pilot had only one wish, which was to sit in Butryn's F6F Hellcat fighter that had shot him down during the fighting, which was granted to the surprise of both the Japanese pilot and the Americans.

ww2dbaseOn 14 Oct, Franklin launched fighters against Aparri airfield in northern Luzon, Philippine Islands, and then on the following day, they struck Nichols airfield near Manila. In retaliation, the Japanese sent aircraft of their own against Franklin. At 1046, two Ki-43 Hayabusa fighters and one D4Y Suisei dive bomber pushed past the destroyer screen and approached the carrier. The two Ki-43 aircraft's bombs missed, one to port and the other to starboard. The bomb released by the D4Y, however, struck Franklin at the outboard corner of the deck-edge elevator, killing three and wounding 22. At 1400, a larger formation of Japanese attacked again, but this time, fighters from Enterprise, San Jacinto, and Belleau Wood intercepted them before they could pose a threat. Despite the light damage sustained on 15 Oct, Franklin remained on the front. On 19 Oct, she launched an attack on Manila Bay, sinking several ships and downing 11 aircraft.

ww2dbaseOn 20 Oct, the aircraft from Franklin struck airstrips on Leyte. On 24 Oct, her aircraft participated in the Battle of the Sibuyan Sea in which the battleship Musashi was sunk. "I couldn't believe how enormous they were!", recalled Joe Anderlik, a SB2C Helldiver gunner from Franklin, when he saw the two Yamato-class battleships. Through heavy flak, Franklin's aircraft claimed four bomb hits and three or four torpedo hits on Musashi, but several crews were also lost during the battle. Off Leyte, she was among the carriers taken by William Halsey to chase Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa's bait, which resulted in the Battle off Cape Engaño. During that battle, Franklin launched her first of four attack waves at 0641. Together with aircraft from other carriers, all four Japanese carriers were sunk. Franklin's aircraft flew 66 sorties and dropped eighty 1,000-pound and two 2,000-pound bombs during the Battle off Cape Engaño; she had but one torpedo left in her magazines.

ww2dbaseOn 30 Oct, off Samar, Philippine Islands, she was targeted by six Japanese aircraft. Because the Japanese formation was so small, coupled with an untimely radar malfunction, the Japanese aircraft were able to get close. At 1425, three A6M Zero fighters and three D4Y Suisei dive bombers dove at the group from an altitude of 3,000 feet. In the confusion, many officers aboard Franklin thought they might be friendly and refrained from giving the order to fire, especially that only a few days prior they had almost shot down friendly aircraft during a mis-identification episode. But this time, a few gunners were able to make confident identification. Ensign Byron Robinson recalled standing beside a US Marine manned 40-mm gun commanded by Lieutenant Skorich. Skorich requested permission to fire, but it was denied. "No, identified friendly", the bridge responded. "Identified friendly, hell! I can see the meatballs!" Throwing down his headset, he yelled "open fire" to his men against orders. Lou Casserino, who manned another gun, did the same. "In combat, you shoot first and ask questions later", Casserino said. The few seconds delay proved to be fatal, however. Two of the A6M Zero fighters dove straight for Franklin. The first was hit by many 20-mm and 40-mm anti-aircraft rounds and exploded to thousands of pieces. The second was also hit, but the pilot was able to stay on course despite the engine fire, eventually crashing directly onto the flight deck. "Shit flew all over the place", recalled gunner Bob Tice. The aircraft went through the flight deck into the gallery deck. The special attack was followed by another dive by the third A6M Zero, but in the last minute, the pilot of the third aircraft decided Franklin had already suffered serious damage, and chose the nearby carrier Belleau Wood instead; he was able to crash into Belleau Wood's fantail, killing 92 men and destroying 12 aircraft. Fires and gas fume explosions damaged Franklin further, while the 2,344 tons of water used for firefighting flooded compartments belowdecks, including Number 7 and 8 boilers rooms, giving her a three-degree list to starboard. When the fire was extinguished at 1635, the crew counted 56 men killed and 30 wounded. Franklin's crew found the charred remains in the wreckage of the A6M Zero fighter; in one of the odd but yet sadly frequent scenes, some of Franklin's sailors pulled out the pilot's teeth to keep as souvenirs.

ww2dbaseAfter the engagement with the suicide attackers, Franklin and Belleau Wood steamed for Ulithi in the Caroline Islands for repairs, arriving on 2 Nov. On 3 Nov, Halsey arrived personally to inspect Franklin, which was the first major victim of the new suicide tactic deployed by the Japanese. Seeing the flight deck hole was about 30 feet by 40 feet, he ordered the carrier to return to the United States for proper repairs. He personally addressed the crew to tell them not to discuss the reason and the severity of the Japanese attack, so to avoid helping the Japanese confirm the effectiveness of the attack. She sailed to Puget Sound Navy Yard at Bremerton, Washington, United States for permanent repairs that lasted from 28 Nov 1944 until 2 Feb 1945.

ww2dbaseWhen Franklin emerged from repairs, she received a new commanding officer, Captain Leslie Edward Gehres. Although he had an impressive resume, his arrogance made him an unpopular figure with the men. Some men "despised him", recalled US Marine Ray Larson who was a member of the US Marine Corps air group aboard Franklin. Contrastingly, another new member of the crew, Father Joe O'Callahan, was well-liked, making him the person to turn to when the enlisted and junior officers found the new captain unapproachable.

ww2dbaseFranklin returned to action in Mar 1945, operating off Okinawa, Japan by mid-month as part of Task Group 58.2. On 18 Mar, her aircraft struck Kagoshima and Izumi on southern Kyushu, Japan.

ww2dbaseAt 0654 on 19 Mar 1945, Franklin's combat information center recorded a bogie about thirty miles distant while the ship was operating about 50 miles south of Shikoku, Japan. In the next few minutes, bogies were being reported, making it likely that there were some aircraft performing reconnaissance on the American fleet. At 0705, a D4Y3 Suisei aircraft was sighted. At 0708, the Japanese aircraft was only about 1,000 yards forward of the ship. With a final sudden maneuver that corrected the aircraft's bearings for the ship, the Japanese pilot began his dive, then released his bomb when he was about a full carrier length away. The 250-kilogram bomb hit the flight deck on the center line at a 30-degree angle from horizontal, sending pieces of metal and wood everywhere. Reports of a possible second bomb that detonated near the Number 3 elevator also existed, though survivors' accounts on the second bomb contradicted each other. Casualties on the flight deck was high, for that many of the crew were preparing to launch aircraft, and the noise of the engines meant they never heard any of the warnings. "I looked up and saw sections of the wooden flight deck flying in the air", recalled Bob Frank who was working on the flight deck at the moment the bomb hit. "I didn't know what had happened." The bomb wrecked the elevator, penetrated into the hangar deck, and started fires everywhere. The pilot ready room was also destroyed at the moment of detonation. "[T]he center deck of our ready room slammed into the overhead. BLAM!" Recalled US Marine Corps pilot John Vandergrift. "I don't know what happened because so much of it is a blur.... The ready room was ripped and torn... flames and smoke and bodies were all over the place.... There were twenty-eight men in the ready room, and just four of us survived the deck heave." The most critical damage, however, would not be discovered for a few minutes: the hit had knocked out the water lines necessary for firefighting. To make matters worse, most members of the damage control team were killed in the first blast. Making matters worse were the 53 aircraft that were aboard the ship at the time, 31 of which were on the flight deck, loaded with high-octane fuel and fully armed; it was estimated that in the five hours following the attack, as many as 50 of the 66 500-pound bombs and 7 or 8 of the 250-pound bombs on the flight deck exploded. The Corsair fighters' 1,227-pound "Tiny-Tim" rockets were also ignited, resulting in their 500-pound warheads being propelled through the inferno, causing further havoc. Many men were killed or maimed by the bomb blasts, while others were simply blown off the ship by the force of the explosions.

ww2dbaseThe explosions were so violent that nearby ships were also rocked. Admiral Marc Mitscher, whose flagship Bunker Hill was over the horizon, noted that he felt the rumble of the explosions even though he could not see the ship. Seaman 1st Class Ralph Packard of USS Hunt observed the explosions through his 40-power long glass. He recalled seeing things that were "ungodly." "I saw guys flying through the air... and past the Hunt... and we were over a thousand yards away.... I saw men running around on fire, just flaming torches."

ww2dbaseNick Turcic, who was at Franklin's bridge after the explosion out of circumstance, observed Gehres running around rather uselessly. "How dare those guys screw up my ship!" Turcic recalled Gehres screaming, but making only few useful orders to control the damage. "The captain was running around the bridge like a chicken with his head cut off", said Bob Mallgraf, who stood beside Turcic on the bridge. The two men's observations probably were at least slightly biased, however, for records show that by 0725 Gehres had already evaluated the situation and ordered the magazines flooded to reduce fire hazards. What he did not know, though, was that the water mains of Franklin were destroyed, and the flooding was never carried out. Soon after, Admiral Ralph Davison, whose flag was aboard Franklin, decided to transfer his flag to the nearby destroyer USS Miller, and suggested Gehres to abandon ship. Gehres, knowing there were still men belowdecks, refused. As Miller pulled alongside Franklin to transfer Davison's staff, she also pumped tons of water at Franklin to help with the firefighting efforts.

ww2dbaseThe men trapped belowdecks, hindered by smoke and heat, tried to make their ways above. Some survivors reported that the bulkheads were at times so hot that "the steel flashed different colors, changing dark red to yellow to orange to white as the heat moved through the steel." In this ordeal, many heroes emerged. Lieutenant (junior grade) Donald Gary discovered 300 men trapped in a mess compartment and made multiple trips to lead small groups of them to safety until all were safe. O'Callahan, too, rose to the occasion, going deep down into the ship several times to eventually lead 700 men to safety, and also led firefighting efforts on the flight and hangar decks.

ww2dbaseAt 1200, cruiser Santa Fe sent a message to Davison on behalf of Gehres:

CAPTAIN OF FRANKLIN SAYS FIRES PRACTICALLY UNDER CONTROL. SKELETON CREW ABOARD. LIST STABLIZED. IF YOU SAVE US FROM THE JAPANESE, WE WILL SAVE YOU THE SHIP.

ww2dbaseDavison replied "[W]e will do whatever we can." Davison guarded the wounded carrier with all the escorts he could gather, while dispatching five Fletcher-class destroyers from Destroyer Division 104 to search for the over one thousand crewmen floating in the cold Pacific Ocean. Destroyer Hunt alone rescued 482 survivors from the sea.

ww2dbaseAt the conclusion of the attack on 19 Mar, 798 were killed, and at least 487 were wounded. The losses amounted to the third largest naval disaster of the US Navy in WW2 (behind the 1,177 lost aboard Arizona during the Pearl Harbor attack in Dec 1941 and the 880 lost aboard Indianapolis when she was sunk by submarine in Jun 1945). Her losses, however, provided the US Navy the hard-earned lessons on improving the future design of carriers.

ww2dbaseIn tow by cruiser Pittsburgh, Franklin slowly moved away from Japan. Shortly after, Gary led a team of engineers to Number 3 fire room, and the group was able to start the boiler. By 0930 the next day, she was sailing under her own power at 6 knots. By 1138, the speed was increased to 14 knots. By 1405, the towline from Pittsburgh was removed as she was able to sail at the speed of 15 knots. Franklin now began her amazing journey home on her own power despite being seriously damaged. She stopped temporarily at Ulithi in the Caroline Islands on 24 Mar, where US Marine Corps mortarman Eugene Sledge called seeing "charred and twisted aircraft on her flight deck, where they had been waiting loaded with bombs and rockets to take off when the ship was hit." The Marines near him commented "[a]in't she a mess! Boy, them poor swabbies musta' caught hell." Franklin eventually sailed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, United States for temporary repairs. Per Pearl Harbor procedures, a civilian harbor pilot came onboard to help navigate the carrier to the dock; Gehres, however, refused, and responded that he would "take her in" himself. Gehres ended up moving the ship into the dock area too fast, crashing her into the dock, sending timber and concrete flying; embarrassed of the situation, he blamed the mooring details for the incident. Departing from Pearl Harbor after temporary repairs, she sailed to Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, United States for permanent repairs.

ww2dbase"Disregarding one of the most superb and ongoing rescue actions in the history of the U.S. Navy, the gallant story of the Franklin was nearly tainted", said historian Joseph Springer. Once the ship got underway, Gehres immediately began a campaign against those who were not aboard the ship when the disaster was calmed. "The Commanding Officer requires an immediate explanation in writing as to when, where and why, you able bodied and uninjured left this vessel while she was in action and seriously damaged when no order had been issued to abandon ship", he inquired. Unjustly, Gehres branded those who had to jump ship due to the intensity of the fires and even those who were simply blown off of the ship by the force of the explosions as cowards. "How many captains would say something like that about his own crew... even if it was true?" Lamented Seaman 2nd Class George Sippel years later. To further add insult to injury, the captain created the "704 Club", granting membership to the 704 who remained on board, and later, deny the honor of medals to those without membership.

ww2dbaseDespite the heavy damage, Franklin was eventually restored to good condition, but participated in no further action after the restoration. She was decommissioned in Feb 1947 at Bayonne, New Jersey, United States. She was redesignated an attack aircraft carrier on 1 Oct 1952, and then to aircraft transport on 15 May 1959, though she saw no reactivation. She was ultimately sold to Portsmouth Salvage Company, Chesapeake, Virginia, United States for scrapping in 1969. At Money Point, Virginia, where the dismantling took place, the last of the human remains from the 19 Mar 1945 attack were found, inside an air duct. Yard workers reported that they heard "eerie sounds of men talking, and laughing, or 'horsing around like guys do.'"

ww2dbaseSources: Inferno, United States Navy Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Wikipedia, With the Old Breed.

Last Major Revision: Nov 2007

Aircraft Carrier Franklin Interactive Map

Franklin Operational Timeline

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