USS Franklin (CV-13)
USS Franklin underway in 1944
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History | |
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United States | |
Name | Franklin |
Namesake | USS Franklin (1775), named for Benjamin Franklin |
Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding |
Laid down | 7 December 1942 |
Launched | 14 October 1943 |
Commissioned | 31 January 1944 |
Decommissioned | 17 February 1947 |
Reclassified |
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Stricken | 1 October 1964 |
Fate | Scrapped, 27 July 1966 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Essex-class aircraft carrier |
Displacement | |
Length |
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Beam | 93 ft (28.3 m) |
Draft | 34 ft 2 in (10.41 m) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph) |
Range | 14,100 nmi (26,100 km; 16,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Complement | 2,600 officers and enlisted men |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Aircraft carried |
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USS Franklin (CV/CVA/CVS-13, AVT-8), nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24
After the attack, she returned to the U.S. mainland for repairs, missing the rest of the war; she was
Construction and commissioning
The
Service history
This section needs additional citations for verification. (March 2017) |
World War II
The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign
On the last day of June 1944, she sortied for carrier strikes on the
On 6 July, Franklin began strikes on
A period of upkeep and recreation from 9–28 August ensued at Eniwetok before she departed with Enterprise, Belleau Wood and San Jacinto for neutralization and diversionary attacks against the Bonins. From 31 August to 2 September, strikes from Franklin inflicted ground damage, sank two cargo ships, destroyed enemy planes in flight, and undertook photographic surveys. On 4 September 1944, Franklin took on supplies at Saipan, and then she steamed in TG 38.1 for an attack against Yap Island (3–6 September) which included direct air coverage of the Peleliu invasion on the 15th. The Task Group took on supplies at Manus Island from 21 to 25 September. Franklin, now the flagship of TG 38.4, returned to the Palau area where she launched daily patrols and night fighters.
Leyte
Early on 14 September 1944, a fighter sweep was made against
As part of Task Force 38.4, Franklin next sailed northwest to participate in the
During the initial landings on
Retiring in her task group to refuel, she returned to the Leyte action on 27 October, her planes concentrating on a
Franklin was able to extinguish fires and patch the flight deck so planes could be recovered 76 minutes after the kamikaze hit.
Franklin departed from
19 March 1945
Before dawn on 19 March 1945, Franklin, which had maneuvered to within 50 miles (80 km) of the Japanese mainland, closer than any other U.S. carrier during the war, launched a fighter sweep against
One bomb struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the
Dense smoke soon filled the engineering spaces, which were ordered evacuated with the throttles set.[9] Franklin was soon dead in the water, without radio communications, and broiling in the heat from enveloping fires. On the bridge, Captain Gehres ordered Franklin's magazines flooded but this could not be carried out as the ship's water mains were destroyed by the explosions or fire. Cruisers USS Pittsburgh and USS Santa Fe with destroyers USS Miller, USS Hickox, USS Hunt and USS Marshall left the task group formation to assist Franklin.[9] Accompanied by RADM Bogan, RADM Davison transferred his flag to the destroyer Miller by breeches buoy[19] and suggested abandoning ship, but Gehres refused to scuttle the Franklin as there were still many men alive below deck.[11][20]
The other destroyers fell in astern of the carrier to rescue members of the crew who had been blown overboard, or jumped off to avoid the fire. Some of the destroyers put their bows against the side of the burning carrier to take off men trapped by the fire.
The casualty count for Franklin varies from source to source as some do not include air group personnel or Marines, passengers who were in transit, a journalist, or those who died from their wounds much later. In History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, Samuel Eliot Morison gives figures of 724 killed and 265 wounded for 19 March 1945.[26] Joseph A. Springer, citing "official statistics," gives higher numbers of 807 killed and at least 487 wounded.[27][28] Franklin suffered the most severe damage and highest casualties experienced by any U.S. fleet carrier that survived World War II.[29] In addition to the Medals of Honor for Donald Gary and Joseph O'Callahan and the posthumous Navy Cross for George Fox, 21 additional Navy Crosses and 26 Silver Stars were awarded as a result of actions that day.[30][31] Among these were a gold star in lieu of a third Navy Cross for CDR (later RADM) Joseph F. "Joe" Taylor, the ship's executive officer and a former torpedo bomber pilot,[32] and Navy Crosses for CAPT (later RADM) Harold C. Fitz, the Santa Fe commander,[33] CDR Stephen Jurika, the Franklin navigator and also a former torpedo bomber pilot,[34] LCDR (later RADM) Dwight L. Johnson, the Miller commander,[31] LCDR Macgregor "Mac" Kilpatrick, an experienced fighter pilot and the commanding officer of Fighting Squadron Five,[35] and LT Fred R. "Red" Harris, a Franklin flight deck officer and a member of the Texas Legislature both before and after the war.[36][37] Among those who received Silver Stars were LT Grimes W. Gatlin, the ship's other chaplain and a Methodist minister,[38] and Donald H. Russell, a civilian Corsair technical support engineer.[39]
Franklin, like many other wartime ships, had been modified with additional armament, requiring larger crews and substantial ammunition stocks. Aircraft were both more numerous and heavier than originally planned for, and thus the flight deck had been strengthened. The aircraft carrier, therefore, displaced more than originally planned, her freeboard was reduced, and her stability characteristics had been altered. Santa Fe came alongside Franklin to spray water from fire hoses over the fire as she received stretcher cases and ambulatory wounded from the carrier. The enormous quantities of water poured aboard her to fight the fires further reduced freeboard, which was exacerbated by a 15-degree list to starboard, and her stability was seriously impaired such that her survival was in jeopardy. Pumping ballast to correct the starboard list caused a 15-degree list to port. Pittsburgh towed Franklin at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) for the remaining daylight hours. After six hours, with the fire finally under control such that the ship could be saved, men returned to the engineering spaces and got underway at 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph) with only two of the four screws driving. Franklin's planes which had been in the air when the carrier was hit landed aboard the other carriers in the task group, although it was necessary to push some planes overboard to make room for them.[9] Admiral Davison deployed five destroyers to search for any of Franklin's men who had been blown overboard or jumped into the sea.[11][20]
Return to the U.S.
Franklin proceeded to Ulithi Atoll at 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph) under her own power for emergency repairs. Next she headed to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for temporary repairs. As per Pearl Harbor procedures, a civilian harbor pilot came aboard to help navigate the carrier to the dock; Captain Gehres, however, refused, and said he would "take her in" himself. He maneuvered Franklin into the dock area too fast, crashing her into the dock; embarrassed, Gehres blamed the mooring details for the incident.[40] After temporary repairs were completed, the ship continued its journey through the Panama Canal to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, where she arrived on 28 April 1945. She had to steam to the East Coast of the United States for repairs in New York because all of the repair shipyards on the West Coast were heavily overloaded with American warships that had been damaged by Japanese kamikazes.[7]
Upon Franklin's arrival in New York, a long-brewing controversy over the ship's crew's conduct during her struggles finally came to a head. Captain Gehres had accused many of those who had left the ship on 19 March 1945 of desertion, despite the fact that those who had jumped into the water to escape had done so to prevent a likely death by fire, or had been led to believe that "abandon ship" had been ordered.[11] While en route from Ulithi Atoll to Hawaii, Gehres had proclaimed 704 members of the crew to be members of the "Big Ben 704 Club" for having stayed with the heavily damaged warship, but investigators in New York discovered that only about 400 were actually onboard Franklin continuously. The others had been brought back on board either before or during the stop at Ulithi. All of the charges against the men of her crew were quietly dropped.
Captain Gehres was relieved as captain of the Franklin in July 1945 and reassigned to command
Despite severe damage, Franklin was eventually restored to good condition. The story of this aircraft carrier's near-destruction and salvage was chronicled in the wartime documentary, The Saga of the Franklin (1945), and the 2011 documentary, USS Franklin: Honor Restored.
Post-war
Franklin received four
While Franklin lay mothballed at Bayonne, she was redesignated as an attack aircraft carrier CVA-13 on 1 October 1952, an antisubmarine warfare support carrier CVS-13 on 8 August 1953 and, ultimately, as an aircraft transport AVT-8 on 15 May 1959. However, she never went to sea again, and was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 1 October 1964. She and Bunker Hill, which also had sustained severe damage from aerial attack, were the only carriers in their class that never saw any active-duty postwar service, but their wartime damage had been successfully repaired. In fact, it was their like-new condition which kept them out of commission, as the Navy for many years envisioned an "ultimate reconfiguration" for them, which never took place.[42]
The Navy initially sold Franklin to the Peck Iron and Metal Company of Portsmouth, Virginia, but reclaimed her because of an urgent Bureau of Ships requirement for her four turbo generators. She was again sold for scrap to the Portsmouth Salvage Company of Chesapeake, Virginia, on 27 July 1966. She departed naval custody under tow (by the Red Star Towing Company) on the evening of 1 August 1966.[7]
Awards
- American Campaign Medal
- battle stars)
- World War II Victory Medal
- Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
- Philippine Liberation Medal
Gallery
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Franklin in January 1945
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F4U-1D of VF-5on Franklin in 1945
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Franklin's bridge on 19 March 1945
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Joseph T. O'Callahan gives last rites to an injured crewman aboard Franklin on 19 March 1945
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Bow of the badly damaged Franklin in April 1945
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Franklin and Marblehead off New York in 1945
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Franklin under repair at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1945
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Franklin laid up in the early 1960s
References
Footnotes
- ^ Friedman, p. 232
- ^ https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/opinion/columnists/capi-lynn/2015/03/07/salem-man-recalls-escaping-flaming-uss-franklin/24571377/ . Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-043/h-043-1.html . Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ Friedman, p. 156
- U.S. Naval Historical Center
- ^ Hoehling, A. A. (1974). The Franklin Comes Home. New York: Hawthorn Books. p. 3.
- ^ a b c d e "Franklin V". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. 15 April 2004.
- ]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Russell, James S. (1986). "Mess Treasurer of the Essex Class". Proceedings. Supplement (April). United States Naval Institute: 54–63.
- ISBN 9781781593134.
- ^ a b c d Chen, C. Peter. "Leslie Gehres". ww2db.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- LCCN 56010786.
- ^ O'Callahan, p. 22.
- ^ "Vice Admiral Gerald F. Bogan, U. S. Navy, Retired" (PDF). Naval History and Heritage Command. 28 October 1957. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ Shea, Michael R. (31 July 2009). "Red Sky at Morning: Horror and Heroism Aboard the USS Franklin".
- ^ Archives, National; Administration, Records (25 March 2023). "The Saga of the Franklin". Internet Archive. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
- ^ "Action Report Commander Task Group 58.2 Period 14 March to 27 March 1945". Fold3. 27 March 1945. p. 14. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
The enemy plane which made the attack was reported shot down a few minutes later by the Combat Air Patrol
- ^ "Aircraft Action Report Carrier Air Group 5 18 - 19 March 1945". Fold3. 10 April 1945. p. 49. Retrieved 22 July 2023.
At approximately 100 yds. and 60 degrees Cmdr. Parker hit engine and cockpit of Judy. Judy was observed to crash into sea; however it did not burn.
- ^ O'Callahan, p. 69.
- ^ a b "Red Sky at Morning: Horror and Heroism Aboard the USS Franklin". historynet.com. 31 July 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- ^ "George W Fox : Military Death Record World War II". americanbattlegraves.com. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- ^ "Navy Cross Awards to members of the U.S. Navy in World War II". homeofheroes.com. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- OCLC 76820924.
- ^ Sherman, Samuel Robert (July–August 1993). "Flight Surgeon on the Spot". Navy Medicine. Vol. 84, no. 4. p. 8. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "USN Overseas Aircraft Loss List March 1945". www.aviationarchaeology.com. Archived from the original on 9 March 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
- ^ Cox, Samuel J. (March 2020). "H-042-1: The Ship That Wouldn't Die (1)—USS Franklin (CV-13), 19 March 1945". Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
- ^ https://www.history.navy.mil/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-043/h-043-1.html . Retrieved 8 March 2024.
- ^ Franklin, "Inferno" p. 317. Hosted by Internet Archive. Retrieved 1/31/2024
- ^ Friedman, pp. 153–56, 232.
- ISBN 0-7867-1061-6.
- ^ a b "Navy Cross" (PDF). All Hands. December 1947. p. 59. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2017. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
- ^ "Rear Adm. Joseph F. Taylor, Winner of 3 Navy Crosses" (PDF). The New York Times. 8 May 1963. p. 36. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "Navy Cross Recipients" (PDF). All Hands. December 1945. pp. 60–61. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2019. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
- ^ "232 of Franklin Crew Decorated" (PDF). All Hands. August 1945. p. 56. Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ O'Callahan, pp. 40, 134.
- ^ "Fred R. Harris". Legislative Reference Library of Texas. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
- ^ O'Callahan, pp. 45, 134.
- ^ "Lieutenant Grimes Weldon Gatlin". University of Texas Arlington Libraries. 27 May 1945. Archived from the original on 3 May 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "First Civilian Wins Navy Silver Star" (PDF). The New York Times. 7 November 1945. p. 12. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
- ^ "World War II Database - Leslie Gehres". 31 July 2015.
- ^ "Davis-Monthan Aviation Field Register - Leslie E. Gehres". 3 February 2012.
- ^ "World Aircraft Carriers List: US Fleet Carriers, WWII Era". hazegray.org. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
Sources
- Friedman, Norman (1983). U.S. Aircraft Carriers: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. OCLC 8763586.
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
Further reading
- Springer, Joseph A. (2007). Inferno: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin in World War II. New York: Zenith Press. ISBN 0-7603-2982-6
- O'Callahan, Joseph T. (2019). I Was Chaplain on the Franklin. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press; Reissue edition. ISBN 1-6824-7477-1
- Big Ben, the Flat Top: The Story of the U.S.S. Franklin. Atlanta, GA: Albert Love Enterprises. 1946. OCLC 18477191.
- Jackson, Steve (2002). Lucky Lady: The World War II Heroics of the USS Santa Fe and Franklin. New York: Carroll & Graf. OCLC 54493284.
- Nilo, James R.; St. Peters, Robert E. (1989). USS Franklin (CV-13): The Ship That Wouldn't Die. Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing. OCLC 26127930.
- Prato, Peter J. (2001). Saving Big Ben: The Saga of the U.S.S. Franklin and the Most Decorated Crew in Naval History. 1st Books Library. OCLC 47170707.
- Satterfield, John R. (2011). Saving Big Ben: The USS Franklin and Father Joseph T. O'Callahan. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. OCLC 670481779.
- Thorne, Phil (March 2022). "Battle of the Sibuyan Sea". Warship International. LIX (1): 34–65. ISSN 0043-0374.
- USS Franklin [S.l.] Book on Demand. 2012. OCLC 855756404.
- USS Franklin (CV-13): Original Documents 1943–1946. Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing. 1994. OCLC 1563111454.
External links
- history.navy.mil: USS Franklin
- navsource.org: USS Franklin
- USS Franklin website
- USS Franklin Kamikaze War Damage Report – 1944 Kamikaze attack
- USS Franklin wartime damage report – Postwar Navy report on multiple incidents
- USS Franklin article
- IMDB link to 'Task Force'
- YouTube copy of 1945 newsreel, Bombing of U.S.S. Franklin!
- The short film "Saga of the Franklin" is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.
- Navy Department Library USS Franklin CV-13 War Damage Report No. 56
- The short film "USS Franklin (CV-13) Burning, 03/19/1945" is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive.