Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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CHAPTER TWO . . . I never worked harder in my life, nor met more people. Guys who were only names on the pay list two months ago were now my buddies. On rope- yarn Sundays we would play acey-ducey on the f0cs'l or swap lies as we caulked-of in our bunks. But other times, it was drill, drill, drill . . . KW e knew every bulkhead and rivet on that big pig-iron barge like we knew the kitchen linoleum back home THE MISSION: To seek out and to destroy the enemy, where ever he may be. THE MEANS: Those swarms of dive- bombers and torpedo planes and rocket-firing fighters which will soar from her decks. THE METHOD: 'fKeep 'em flying. Comdr. D. L. Day, Executive Ojicer until Sept. 24th, 1944 97 HIP Fon NEARLY THREE WEEKS Big Ben lay majestically beneath the huge cranes at Pier Two in the Norfolk Navy Yard while her innermost being seethed and churned. In the mind of her Captain there was a master plan, under Comdr. Day and the firm, devoted Department Heads, it came into be- ing. From lists of names on the Watch, Quarter, and Sta- tion Bills, the divisions were born--each division with its Lieutenant, with his ujgsi' and ensigns, his petty officers, each division with its Port and Starboard Watch. Men came to know their own important assignments, the faces and names of their shipmates. Each came to know his battle station and his place in fire drill, abandon-ship drill, collision drill, torpedo defense, flight quarters. He had to become familiar with the meaning of bugle calls, the boat- swain's pipe, and to accustom himself to the orders that flew through the ship over the metallic vocal chords of the Msquawkboxesf' The men not only began to know their own duties, but also to realize the importance of their own divisions and, in turn, to understand how the function of each division must mesh to perfection with that of every other division if Big Ben was to become the fighting ship which every man wanted her to be. A ' Into the master plan would fit the Engineering Depart- ment, under Comdr. F. C. Agens, ex-Bunker-Hill f'Chiefi', with its MM or machinery division that lived with, tended, and loved the mighty engines, with its GLA division to groom and pamper the many auxiliaries necessary that those engines might rung its MB division, keepers of the four giant firerooms with their boilers, the HE division to tend the river of electricity from its throbbing source in the huge main generators down to the last rivulet entering some re- mote light. All so that Big Ben might come up to 23 knots and into the wind, and the captain could give the word Commence Launchingw, and those Helldivers and Avengers could roar down her deck and into the sky. Or so that she might steam swiftly through the stormiest waters with her

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'ff' l i 25 ' af.: fs. 0111314111-Il, Slzoenzfzlrer prepares to aecept COIIIITIIIIIII, us SL'CfI?fll7'y Cafes IIIZLZIFPSSPS Big Bemis crew and guests group together Compose the most complex combat team in the worlrl. Knowing this, we in the Franklin highly resolve that the trust reposecl in us shall prove to have been well justi tied. antl that our Ship will join the Fleet ready in all 1 f M respects to strike hard, again and again, until the enemies of this great nation shall have been beaten to their knees. The watch was set and Carrier Number Thirteen, United Stairs Ship Ffllllrlillill-iilglg Ben the Flat-topn-was well on her way to the wars. IM ,f f f W fn, f 2- . f V iiii V 5 N vt X , ,X .7 f f ., f f . 'H lo . ,D 23 ' I 1 A u Y 223 SZ E. 4 5 I .... .ii A H6 'WE 91 l'fH ' FIS? ii g. fi 5 L 1

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sister carriers to blast an enemy base and then fault- but-k into tlu' ocean mists from which slu' had conic. ln that last. desperate moment. when ilu- ltfs are barking and tlu' Qllis coimncncc to open in at wild staccato. amd tlu' captain shouts his connnands. then ttu- lfngineering Depart- ment would he able to live up to its boast and its creed: Wie answ er all bells. The uw' being men like Pop Tur- ner. w atertender first class. who looked too old for combat duty. but actually was 50 years young. and would have nothing but the toughest for himself. He went forward, that fateful March ltlth and won the Bronze Star. Men like lfsslinger. Mintoni, Hunnnel, Brown, Darjany, and hosts of others gave their life'S blood that a thing of steel should answer all bells. H-One Division and R-Two Division of the Damage Con- trol Department. under Comdr. W. R. LeFavour, who had only recently been a submarine commander. soon acquired the air of haughty efficiency which was to characterize them. Custodians of the holds and voids, ever-vigilant watchers of the status boards in Central Damage Control, welders of steel. hewers of wood. experts of improvise and uCan Dow. these boys were busy with a purposeful zeal from one end of the road to Kyushu to the other. In each of the eight Damage Control and Repair parties that stood by the length and depth of the ship when battle threatened, the key men -masters of fog nozzle. of f'Foamite',, of shoring timber. of the last hatch and water-tight door-these were boys from Damage Control. Their deeds would become legend- ary. Chief Shipfitter Durrance would die beside his burn- ing rods as he strove to cut his way through a bulkhead to free Doctor Fox and the eighteen boys trapped in the sick- bay with him. The Navigation Department, under the beloved Com- mander g:Benny', Moore, with its expert quartermasters. and its departmental auxiliary, the shipis band, was worthy of its name from the first day. While the quartermasters had their jobs to perform on the bridge, the band had their battle stations down in the powder handling rooms or on the stretcher details. ln the evenings on the hangar deck before movies the band played their hearts out, with every man-jack who could muster within hearing distance as their cheering audience. Among their most enthusiastic followers. in later days, were the crews of destroyers fueling along- side, who never tired of a flight deck serenade. Their fa- vorite request was HSidewalks of New Yorkf, The Marines came aboard as a detachment under Captain Herbert Elliotg they kept their own compartments as shin- ingly clean as their rifle racks, they manned their own group of 40 mm. mounts and stood their sentry and orderly watches with military precision. The spirit of this outht from the first day aboard was typified by the grim sort of courage that forced Private Steve Novak back into the smoking wreckage of a compartment from which he had just escaped, to lead his shipmates to safety. Or Private W. I.. Kliemozwitz, with that handful of volunteers on Big liens last 10 mm. quad. blazing away desperately at a div- ing Jap bomber with such effect that the bomb missed the ship when another hit would have sent her to the bottom. Those were liig liens .x'l2iTlItfTF the 7th Division of thc Gunnery Department. Comdr. F. K. Agens, Chief Engineer uniil May 4th, 194-1, came from the Bunker Hill to found the Black Gang it 'Diff Corndr. W. R. LeFa1'our, Damage Control Officer until Feb. Qncl, I945. :fn ex-sulmzarine skipper. Conulr. lff'lIjIl-Illifllf llloore. lvfll'I.gILfUf In Scpl. 24111. lf?-H: EA7I?Cll-lllltf? Ujicer until Dec. 20111, 1944