Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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ff' , ,-19 ,-. , M T111's f1flIIII1CQ'1'I1 1111110111 Cllllll' 11111'k lfiffllllt C111'1'1z1' flilllll q1z1gz1s1 5111. 11 1r1i111111' 111 1111' jiI1lt'fliC'I11l 11411rk1111'11 111111 11111.11 11 111111 10 11113 .-11111'ri1'1111 1111-1' 111111 '111'Il' 11 . . . 1.1. tjgt 111517111 1111611111171 Yveatlier at the anfhorage was foul, liut forty saelts ol' mail from home did manage to come ahoard. Now. after weeks of waiting. lid Pyktel, 520, would lind out whether or not he was father of twinsg and Durranee. CSF: llasiuli. ble: Messick. 5211: l.ange. Afihlhlg lfllis, MHZ: Nleade. CHHQ lelarvey, ljliieg Russell. SKQCQ llose. l'iNlI31': l'ay f,lerli lfowler and l.t, D. Smith all awaited mail eall for a favoralyle report on the lioys they were expecting. Meade and Xlessiek alone drew girls, lint their relief was just as apparent, their smiles were just as high. wide and lianrlsoine. and their flffllYffI'y of Cigars just as graeeful and Pflfllfl-l. as the otln-r fjllfffl-PXIlilllflllllil' papas. Yo'-w fame the mission. after the weatlier had cleared and loading '.-.af fllltflfllfflfffl. liig lilr-n joined her eomrades: the '1rfl fHUfl?f'1. llajl-hilt: the tight f'Lll'I'l0l' I','1111111.' the erusiers hl'1fl1f1 171. l1111,1'1f'. li1'1o.i'1' and f,'111r1111111. ln the St'I't'CIl steamed '1't l'i fl'i'lI 1'1f'lir1 valiant XNUI'lillfll f'f ol the fleet. deserving more than i1o11f1l11l1l1- fnenlion. 'lille llflllftl filfflttpfl- Cfifnfft- 11111111. l11:f,1111, lf'11r11, 1.111111-1111, 111111, 1f11r11.vi lf1'IYll, lfr1111f11r11 ,11,1llfr111111hll1i1l 11.1-1l1111g1f11nis stations on lllf' '1l1l l' ll'l'lf - 'lille iioree sped for the lionins. and for the second time within a month. enemy search planes failed to detect a pow- erliul Carrier lioree approaehing the islands. .-Xt 91311 the morning of August lth. a powerful lighter sweep again sur- prised the laps. prowled aliout on reconnaissance. strafed shipping and airlields. played havoe in general. mostly without ellieetive opposition. .-X Japanese Convoy of five large Cargo vessels. eight to ten laarges and luggers. with an eseort of four or hve destroyers. was discovered steaming northward for the mainland of Japan, near the island of Utoto Jima. There were also seven or eight large Cargo ships in the harlwor of lfutami Ko. at Chielii Jima. A light eruiser was underway. leaving the harlnor. 'llliirty-live of Big l3en's planes took immediate lliglit and tore into the eruiser and the ships in the liarhor. Ens. Jack Kehoe registered a damaging hit on the eruiseris bridge, despite the vesselis frantic defensive maneuvers. Other ves- sels were left liurning. lslurriedly twenty more planes. half of them dive-liomliers. tlnintlered liroin llig lienis lliglit der-lc in swift pursuit of the

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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.

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1'1 f'Y!9? 't'Pf'tw5'?Q 4'Hv ' E l 2 5 l L X. it ti if ,. ,. l 1? E t E Q. 3. r i 3 i I lr il il it F ri Zi? . H, .l 'E L E l l . I l E Q S f 5 9. E Qs ,t .F lt 11 i j. 1 E ? ft jt ii it August 5th, 1944 . . . It cost American lives to destroy these japanese ships in Cltichi Jima Harbor convoy, but only one bomb hit was registered on this flight. At 4' p. m. a third strike of forty planes went out, deter- mined to draw blood. This attack was well-planned and perfectly coordinated. The fighters strafed three destroyers, two of which blew up and sank. The third stopped dead in the water, on fire. The dive-bombers left two cargo ships burning. Nine torpedo planes attacked and registered nine hits out of nine torpedoes dropped. Four big cargo ships sank beneath the waves. Flying conditions were bad, making further flights too hazardous. During the night cruisers and destroyers of F ranklirfs screen raced ahead and finished off the convoy. Of 18 to 20 Japanese ships, only one old-type destroyer may have escaped. Though it had been a bad day for the enemy, there were several sadly empty seats at Big Ben's mess tables that night. Ens. Roger W. L'Estrange, the laughing boy whose brother was a major of Marines fighting on Guam, crashed in the ocean after his Hellcat had been struck by flak from the Jap- anese destroyers. Lt. Ancil C. Hudson, who had left his wife and year-old daughter in Kentucky, failed to return from the last strike. The right wing of his Hellcat was blown off by flak and the plane dove into the sea. Six strikes were scheduled against Chichi Jima for August 5th, a day that brought dismal flying weather. At dawn, twenty-five Hellcats, Helldivers and Avengers took off from the rain-drenched flight deck. They left three cargo ships sinking in the harbor and strafed another, ten miles to the west. A special search group that day, flying toward Japan, 500 miles north, located new targets. Comdr. Dick Kibbe, in his Helldiver, escorted by Ens. R. F. 'clVIoose Bridge, in his Grumman, met and bracketed a Betty', bomber, 240 miles from Tokyo, and shot it down. Returning, this pair also sank three landing craft, bearing troops from Japan to Iwo Jima. The radio station on Muko Island was knocked out by another team. But two of Big Ben's planes did not return. Lt. Comdr. C. B. I-lolstrom, from Washington state, a graduate of An- napolis and the executive officer of his squadron, together with his gunner, Walter J. Brooks, Jr., from flilst street, in New York, were plunged in their Helldiver into Chichi Jima Harbor by AA Hre. Lt. fjgj H. F. McCue7s torpedo plane, with aircrewmen llevey and llohinette aboard, crash-landed in the sea after being hit by flak. The words Hmissing in actionn were written alongside the names of these shipmates, although covering fighters reported that a rescue submarine had headed in their direction. Nearly two months later Lt. McCue was returned aboard. But Walter D. Hevey, a Yankee from the hills of North Attlehoro, Mass., and his comrade, Ralph T. liobinette, a lad with the Southern drawl of North Carolina, died in action that day. Heavy weather made further flights impracticable so the task group set its course southward for Eniwetok. Three small Japanese vessels blundered into the force through the fog. Two destroyers of the screen took them under fire and they sank at once, hardly a mile from Big Ben. No prison- ers were obtained. In the afternoon an HEmily was chased in the direction of the formation by the combat air patrol. As the Jap came out of the clouds Big Ben's gunners, and every gun in the fleet, opened up. Due to poor visibility some gun crews were firing at one of the friendly fighters. In the confusion the Jap fled into the clouds and the Hellcat crashed in the sea. Happily the pilot was soon rescued, uninjured, and a few minutes later the Emily was shot down by an alerted plane of the air patrol. Early in the morning of August 8th, the task group arrived in Eniwetok lagoon, after more than a month of combat operations. Big Ben, along with the other carriers, cruisers and destroyers of the group, received this climactic dispatch from Admiral Clark: - 'cWe are at the end of a long and arduous cruise. In the campaign of the Mariannas many damaging blows have been struck at the enemy. It is with great pride that I can tabu- late the record of the Task Group 58.1 as having contributed its full share. To all hands: Well Doneln ff. rf'1 M 4: ' R F If f-ass-aefra r... Wg' l' - ea 4237 3