Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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-no-up -nn--saga ,M M in v-38 S. illiam llayy' The my u,.5n,n f1l'lIl ll, ns it lmflzvrl In liig lirfrfs pilots on july 21.91 . . . Troops and tanks are ashore. Q V w , V 1 i ! I 1 w ,C 1 iq Q 1 ! s ll B 11, Y H in 1 Q! S E 2 pf: M 2 ! 1 Z E E Qi V? ii H if g 3 ilk :b Q

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Moy was hurrying to his post on the llight. deck when sud- denly, he decided it would he an excellent idea to pt.'or-evil hy a new and untried route. lile wished to liilllllllilflltf hint-N self with the ship. Croping forward on the llight deck, hr- pressed on through the darkness-pressed on until he drop- ped headlong into the black Pacihc, sixty feet helow. flom- ing to the surface, after endless seconds, he began looting the whistle which every man on Big Ben had heen issued for just such an emergency. c'Man overboard, port sidefi blared the loudspeakers. Eyes strained to pick out the strug- gling victim in the water and darkness but only a faint despairing wail of the whistle marked the spot as Big Ben sped on at twenty knots. Doctor Fuelling, Moys fellow medico at the battle station, remarked, Ctthese darn seamen. Always walking in their sleep. Fortunately Dr. Moy could swim strongly. Bemoaning the trick of fate that caught him with his life jacket still stowed at his battle station, he huttoned his collar and in- flated his shirt to stay afloat. An hour later. a destroyer picked him up and he was hack on Big Ben in time for breakfast-adorned already with a nickname he was never 'paw-. to lose: uWr'ong-wriy' Moy. Yet. the elifmfgf ,t rf fp-,fapff had lit-:gn rtarrow, 'lhiteo month: lain luis:-. U f.f.z:.i. gm. 'natn hrsl, fgl1.ts.s, ol' l.arltonr.l:ilf:, l'a., lifrtl our to ft iffilldf t'lI'f'LlIlll5lLlllf.Tlfri. hut. would not ltr: lofiatr-fl. Almost frvely plant: on liig lien flex: at least I. '.-. fi ifi. :Joris on July 19th -el77 sorties for UU planes. lpxf.-ry plane that would lly took the air against that hat.tf:rffd island of linain. They rained lIlCCflf.ll2iI'lff5 on the last standing l.niilf.li:ig-5 the? strafcd everything that moved on the roads. 'lim eneml, opened up with the concealed hatteries he had sawed lor an emergency. For this, the lap seemed to decide, an emergency, if ever one was to occur. These batteries took their toll. Damaged planes limped home after ewfrjs strike, Ens. Nick Smith, engine dead and aileron shot at .i,r ay. crashed ahead of a screening dcstroyerg Lt. fjgyt Hayrnon-il lj. Cool-.. with a huge hole in his right wing and his stabilizer in fili- lions, made a miraculous landing on deck wliich could hate meant death to any pilot. July Qlst was Yiiilliam Dayhthe day of Guanrs invasion. At 3:30 that morning a hundred transports and LETS stood oft the heaches hy Orote. A thousand landing craft. jammed f-40 'w',i Lt. Comdr. fumes illoy comes fmmc to Rig limi. after It SIl'I-III hvforp 1,,.m,Q.fm,-

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i 1 with American youth, headed in waves toward the shore. Three hundred dive-bombers and torpedo planes were ex- ploding destruction on Japanese lines, a thousand yards from the beaches. As the first landing barges grounded and the troops began to pour ashore, the Japs opened up. But a special strike squadron from every carrier in the force had been waiting for just this. Now those Hellcats and Hell- divers stormed down on enemy trenches, on mortars, on mobile artillery and on tanks, enshrouding them with lead and explosives. By I0 a. m. the first wave of troops was a mile inland and the tanks were coming ashore. Throughout the day the captain kept Franklin's men in- formed of the invasionis progress. Army officers, who had expressed themselves as uneasy, a few hours before, were now filling the radio with such fervent remarks as uYour support of landing well timed and effectivel' . . . Heavy air strikes during the last four days and especially today have left nothing to be desiredfi There were few spoken words among the men of Big Ben about what had gone on, f'lVlechl' looked at plane captain, engineer looked at gunner, and grinned. But here the feeling was born that Big Ben D was earning her place as a fighting unit to be classed with the best. The day after the invasion of Guam, Big Ben distributed her last bombs in two final strikes by Air Group Thirteen and set her course for Saipan, where Japanese and Marines were still locked in a struggle to the death. At sunset, Franklin anchored in the open roadstead off Saipan, dis- dainful of the nearby enemy, to go through the ordeal of loading bombs and rockets from a supply ship in a tossing sea. Throughout the night artillery flashed on Tinian, six miles away, and flares lit the mountains of Saipan. By 6:30 a. m. more than a hundred tons of bombs and rockets were aboard. Three minutes after the last bomb touched the deck, Big Ben weighed anchor and was bound south with the task group to meet the tanker fleet and refuel at sea. Task Group 58.2 was now joined by the two other task groups which had assisted in the leveling of Guam. As Task Force 58, without any decimal points, the merged groups became a fleet which could sink any navy in the world. Westward and south it steamed, for the islands of the Palau Group. The words in the air for weeks had been: HNext the Philippines, but the key islands in the Palau chain must be conquered as bases before that invasion could be attempted. This cruise, the mission of Task Force Fifty- eight was primarily reconnaissance, secondarily the de struction of enemy aircraft, shipping and installations Big Ben had been assigned a full share of all objectives all over the islands of Babelthaup Koror, Arakabesan and Malakal Three enemy planes were knocked down, the air strip at Babelthaup was demolished, a small oiler, a luggel, and a cargo ship were sunk Ens J J Jimmy Langford, Jr , in his Hellcat, made a photographic run over Babelthaup which won him the Distinguished Flying Cross Five times, on a straight course, at one thousand feet and through in tense flak, he roared across that island to accomplish his mission During the next two days nearly two hundred and fifty combat and photographic sorties were fiown from Big Ben. Two bombers were lost in combat but their crews were saved. Two fighters were lost, and fins. Hebert ff. Martin, of Rutherford, N. J., died in one of them as he crashed into the sea while landing. The other pilot was saved. The mission accomplished, the task force swung eastward on July 28th, then north on a course to Saipan. Captain Shoemaker had a message of appreciation for the crew. ln the FRANKLIN FORUM, he reminded his men that he had told them in Newport they would be in the Pacific war with Big Ben in six months. He was proud that Big Ben was here, proven ready for battle, carrying out the same assignments as veteran carriers, and equally well. Proud too, he was, of Big Benis offensive weapon, its super-long range battery, Air Group Thirteen. But, to quote him ver- batim, ffwithout a smart, efficient ship, the air group would be impotent--unable to show its high quality, and without a highly competent air group the most experienced carrier would be ineffective. That is why I have repeatedly stated that none of us in the Franklin has a non-essential job, be- cause the bombs and the bullets that the airplanes carry wonit hit the Japs with scheduled regularity unless all hands carry out our duties with courage and determination. As your commanding officer, I want you to know you have all lived up to my greatest expectations and that, come what may, I have complete confidence in you . . fa The Franklin already had another assigned mission when Task Group 58.2 arrived off Saipan and dropped anchor in Garapan Roadstead August Ist to take aboard bombs, rockets and fuel. She would join Rear Admiral J. J. ffJocko7' Clark's Task Group 58.1-and proceed to Iwo Jima to destroy enemy aircraft and shipping in the vicinity of the Bonin Islands, which must be kept ineffective if the invasion of the Mari- annas was to proceed successfully. ig? T il Q Y I is A if 1 Cl ,..J, N, N M X, QS if -:Lk kk 5 ' ,f fi? . ll' I '? ' C17 ll 1- .ig Q y I R ji k Q -1-rx 667 V, ar . R1,-g a ' 'Y -tgfia -if-x,.,1 X4-bf'--lax gf 4 . 'Ak T 5 ' ' - - . , . , - Fvgw-Qi T -Y , W, ' - - . .fs - ix is On .Iuly 25th, Franklinfs flying fighters were swarming ...--' cl 7 U l . - ' , Q L ' 4 cc ' aa ' 1, L .D I . I - b i - n.