Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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On Memorial Day, May 31st, the Frar1klin's crew stood at attention in Rockefeller Plaza, by the model of The Fight- ing Lady--an Essex class carrier---while Father OlCallahan, on a nationwide radio broadcast, held memorial services for the gallant men who would not come back from the battlefields and ocean wastes over which World War II wag fought. Some of the men connnenced thirty days, leave in June. Three hundred new men had been sent by the Navy to take over ship's duties while they were away. As MXN Division, these youngsters worked hard through the summer, they held promise of being real sailors when Big Ben sailed again. Some of them had friends who had died on the Franklin. One lad, Henry Syrek, newly enlisted, remembered his brother Frank Syrek, aviation ordnanceman, who died on her decks three months before. On June 20th the remaining rewards were presented. Ten days later, June 30th, Captain Gehres was detached to be- come the commander of the Naval Air Station, San Diego, California. Comdr. Taylor was detached to be the command- er of the Naval Air Station, Brunswick, Me., Comdr. Henry H. Hale became the new commanding officer. ln July, as the navy yard worked ceaselessly, and Big Ben began to look like her trim self again, the men of the ship were hard at work preparing for their next cruise. Hundreds of men were away at Damage Control School, at fire-fighter school, at schools fitting them for more responsible posi- tions. But in August, 1945, the little yellow men who thought to rule the world begged for mercy. With peace and demobilization the men of the H704 Clubll faded away, they were men with long sea service whose hearts were still in the homes they had fought to preserve. New faces, young men from the training stations, came to take their places. On Navy Day, 1945-October 27th, thousands of visitors were shown over Big Ben. The new carrier, Franklin D. Roosevelt, across the pier, being commissioned by President Truman, was not so crowded as the veteran of the Pacific. On January 23rd, 1946, in Washington, D. C., Father Joseph O,Callahan, chaplain courageous, and Lt. Donald A. Gary, received the Congressional Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman. Lt. Gary, still on Big Ben, was proudly greeted when he returned by shipmates who were happy that he had been accorded this fitting recognition. Father O'Callahan was no longer aboard, now serving on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt, but his old shipmates on the Franklin are still proud to have served beside him. As repairs neared completion in April, 1946, and officers and men alike began to look forward to the shakedown cruise and joining the Fourth United States Fleet, dis- appointing news came. Due to the reduction of naval ap- propriations it was necessary to transfer the Franklin to the inactive 16th Fleet, --for Operation Zipper and the preservation process that prepares warships for deactiva- tion during the peace-time years. After she arrived at the U.S. Navy Yard Annex, Bayonne, N. J., Commander Hale was detached on June 8th for duty at the Naval Ordnance Depot, Inyokern, California, the Commander could look back on an eventful cruise since the day he reported aboard in August, 19444, through the months as Navigator when he hardly left the bridge in some of the tensest actions of the war, the succeeding months as Air Officer lbusiest and most hectic job on a carrierj, and finally a year of command while the biggest repair assignment in naval history was being accomplished by the Brooklyn Naval Shipyard. This repair job, it might be noted, was under the supervision of Ship's Superintendent J. M. McMullen, Lieutenant Com- mander, U.S.N., and was completed on 15 June, 1946. The new Commanding Officer, Commander Clarence E. Dickinson, U.S.N., was a veteran combat pilot at 33, with a brilliant record of Ufirstsw and holder of three Navy Crosses: pilot of the first naval aircraft to shoot down a Japanese plane-a Zero at Pearl Harbor, on December 7th, 1941, three days later on December 10th, 1941, he roared down in his Douglas Dauntless QSBDJ divebomber to a subsequently confirmed kill of the first major Japanese submarine in the war-the 1-170, barely 125 miles off Pearl Harbor. His third Navy Cross was won in a daring attack on the Japanese cruiser Kaga at Midway, in which he registered three direct hits. Under Commander Dickin- son, an officer thoroughly familiar with the value of pre- paredness, and the cost of itis lack, preservation measures were carried out with characteristic Navy thoroughness, de- spite the dwindling numbers of the crew. On about November lst, 1946, when the last hatch will be sealed tight, and the last line made secure, a skeleton crew of seventy men and six officers will take over their watch. There she will wait beside the dock - still the United States Ship Franklin, uBig Ben the Flattopf, a proud fight- ing ship of a fighting Navy. So THAT Is HER STORY . . . Perhaps a new generation of sailors will man her decks, sailors of ll Iwwef dar, following in the gallant pathways of the departed men who fought aboard href- She will take them all to her heart, again her spaces will echo to noise and laughter and the sound of men at work. But in the evenings, where she looms dark and grim against llle Sky, 010715-Side the wharf in U quiet, pe,,Ce.n'nw navy yard, men who love ships will look at her brooding hulk and know that liig Hen is remernbering . . . lfranmnilmring those boys, so gay and brave, who sailed her into battle . . . their . . - i . L voices, their laughter, their tears. They became at part of llfff, U5 She became a Pa' of them. Thp y,,a,, ,Hp long and memory is short, the world will soon forget. liig lien rernem,lmr.s . . .

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'LSZLXS3232'2,'Et1G'L5Z1gB2I,2f.5,'23T 3 mn vyDepartment,Washington2S,D.C. :WXK3 BUY Rf t N NAVY DEPARTMENT 2253 eero o. Pars 328-DNJLK BUREAU OF NAVAL PERSONNEL 'fix WASHINGTON 25, D.C. 17 July 1945- To: Commanding Officer, U.S.S. FRANKLIN . Subj: Resolution of the General Assembly of the State of Ohio - Forwarding of . G 1. The Chief of Naval Personnel takes great pleasure in forwarding the subject Resolution, passed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio and presented to the U'.S.S. FHANKLIN and her men in recognition of their gallant action in saving their ship and returning her safely to port. fe-ffiff-4005 n. A. izocr-1 Captain, U. S. N. met, Special Assistant to Chief of Naval Personnel