Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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1, I A V 1,41-f- A lgllf deck rs a dangerous place The next day Arr Group Thrrteen began to land aboard from therr trarnrnv base at Oceana Naval Arr Statron For two weeks Brff Ben prowled through the narrow con fines of Chesapeake Bay whrle the prlots souffht to qualrfy rn both day landrnos and nrffht landrnvs The flrvht deck crew the plane pushers the entrre Arr Department gath ered experrence skrll and that subtle qualrty for wlrrclr war experrence corned the awkward but expressrve word know how Flrffht quarters naturally ceased to be a novelty but the men nexer trred of watchrnff the planes come sweeprnv rn nor of the acrobatrcs of the Flrffht Deck Officers srffnalrn ahose the roar of motors The bu y teams of men rn brrffht hued jerseys and hel mets red for hre fighters, green for ordnance people yel low for flrffht deck crews were engaged rn dangerous work The slrpstream behrnd a 500 knot fighter warmrnff up for a take off equals a tornado rn concentrated strength and can blow an unwarw arlor over the srde rn the twrnklrnff of 'rn exe The propeller blades are a fonstant deadly threat to the men who work about the planes The 9P?Tl'l1I1U safety of the ffallfry besrde the flr ht defk dr appears qurrker than a man ran thrnk whfn a llxeton plans mrs es a wrre and rounrr rn that drreftron at morf than lrfty mrlfs an hour en thfrf the hfrlarfl of hrs An axrom on a rarrrrr r r wr smokf when y u an rr an rrrplanf l'lre words Smokrng lamp r ml a ow the thrrrl fer bframf a a mrlrar clrant remrndrno all hands that planes were bernv ffassed or haxrnff therr fuel remox ed untrl therr next flrvht On March 15th B10 Ben took a breather, came rnto the Xlaxal Operatrno Base at Norfolk and rested her trred new beams and bulwark besrde Prer Sesen ,lust a breather because she came here to take on her full complement of supplres and to lrll her tanks wrth lrrgh octane and fuel orl for the slrakedowrr crurse Prlots of the squadrons came aboard to lrwe and among the slrrp s Junror Oflrcers was a mrghty w arlrng and a donnrng of sackcloth and ashes as they left the rooms rn which they had been quartered to take therr rrffhtful places rn the larve Junror Ofhcer Burrkrooms Aft rn the crew s quarters, many a w oeful seanran moved hrs belongrngs to some less desrrable berth that the Arr Group men mrght have therr places Loud were the crres but Lt D G Brllrngton the Bertlrrng Ofhcer was unrmpressed and soon B111 Ben had taken Arr Group Tlrrrteen to her bosom It was here rn Norfolk on a Saturday afternoon that Xeornan T'rrst Class .loe Norwood marrred hrs best grrl Nadrne of Mramr ltlorrda Lt Comdr lxelly Arr Oper atrons Olhcer was best man Streck Hand Prsher lxar Pederson Johnson Brown all hrs fellow yeomerr were there to wrsh hrm well and assrst rn the celebratron Lrttle Joe Norwood Hood yeoman and nrosl of those buddres are s uprn now rn the l lue lat c But Br Ben has not or gotten f ' l fl L. V ' ' ' D f 7 C L, x. I f D C L f C Ls. I C C , - ' 's ' 1 r , J - ' - . ' ' 2: 0 4 v C A N Y . . . l 7 Q . U , Y , I c O C t t Y as o c ' D Y V 'S 4 s V - s f 'Sr ' 1 l 9 ' - S C ' ' V , t , , ' t : l 1 ' - . , ' ' 7 . ' V 7 . . s , , . ' C t, . , t t . t C t l D . ., .i S t c . H . . . U . V . . . -- tn '- M c ra - ' D C ' .1 C - r T - ' t ' j t - .JH - ., , - t ' ' ' tt. C , , - J . . f t, . . . , T , r, -, , .1 ' - D lr K-K ' n L D J' , .I s. D I . , x n Y . V . . . -. . , , 4 V ' 'U 1 ' 'Q ,' Q ' V. .' . . . D. V' ' f PT ' , ' 1 rw ' ' ' ' ' ' H f ' f - 5 ' ' 5 - ' 5 his f' ' , .' , . , ' f -H ' , ' - ' lh, T15 s, f. 1 f s , ,U ff . .t 5 1- ' '7 ' .. V , ' ' 7. .' . ' rev g f 'o r-' sez' z ' 5. , f ., .l - g 1 T nh. g r 3 f - ,, . . , - as ,, Q r f lp lf , l , ck 2: 1 f - 5 .

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CHAPTER THREE . . . We liacl some great times, loo. Scollancl Beach . . . Porl of Spain . . . there were some real guys in that olcl clifvision . . . H SHAKEDQW WITH A FAREWI-:LL BLAST of her whistle to Cape Henryis fading shoreline Big Ben and her escorting destroyers, the Wainwright and the Rhind, stood south on March 20th. 1944, bound for Trinidad, in the British West Indies-and the shakedown cruise. As the weather warmed, Big Ben and her crew stretched themselves. Divisions came to morning quarters in whites. less blouses. Men took on a tan. The Bosin, Mr. Spiewak. became more conscious of unsightly blemishes on Big Ben's skin and the boatswainis mates, with their divisions, set about remedying winter's stain. The din of chipping ham- mers, wire brushers and scrapers echoed endlessly about the decks. The Gulf of Paria is a large, landlocked arm of the South Atlantic between the island of Trinidad and the main land of South America. It has two entrances, the northern called the MSerpent's Mouth, the southern named HDragon7s Mouth. It was into the channel of the Serpentis Mouth that the little group of warships steamed on March 24th, shad- owed by the mighty bulk of Big Ben. They anchored off the U. S. Naval Air Station. For nearly a month in the calm waters of this warm sea Franklin and her destroyers ca- reened through practice missions during the day, anchor- ing at night behind the safety of the port's submarine nets. Shakedown cruise . . . It gives the captain of a new ship the opportunity to weave the men and the departments into one fighting unit, before taking her into battle. There was gunnery practice. At five miles, with five- inchers, at two miles with 40 mm. guns, at one mile with forty-six high-speed 20 mm. machine guns+every conceiv- able target situation was practiced for use in the combat that men knew was on the way when these quiet waters and planned maneuvers were left in Big Ben's wake. And the Air Department filled the air. Here it was that the men of Big Ben fastened their devotion on the planes which were their pride and joy. They strained their eyes and their hearts watching the fighters in the preparatory burst-and the bomb-toting Helldivers and the torpedo- lugging Avengers as they flashed down in screaming dives from every corner of the tropical sky. The attacks were simulated, but in deadly earnest, on the destroyer-towed targets. There were mock battles, using Big Ben's Hellcat Hghters, under Lt. Comdr. W. M. '6Wild Bill Coleman, to intercept Lr. Comdr. B. L. Kibbe's Helldivers and Lr. Comdr. Carry Frenchis Avengers. Desperate battles, radar and Grummans defending the Franklin, would thunder to a conclusion, far out at sea. When the last 'cenemyi' had been 'fsplashedf' Big Ben's defenses would relax and the attackers would come whipping in for the kill. Torpedo planes. skimming low over the blue water, would flick from side to side at a terrifying 300 knots to avoid imaginary AA and then roar over the Franklin's decks. Dive-bombers plunging from the skytop, grew by the split-second from insignificant specks into hurtling monsters that would fill a gunsight to the Xa l'larm-puislzers jolzl an .'ll't'Ilgt'f-S ll'l-IIEIS. as the flight ilf-t-A' officer signals the pilot