Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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that lapped the eneniyis shores, would he decided an issue which armchair strategists had declared could have lint one outcome. lfleet-hased aircraft would meet sliore-hast-rl air- craft, on even terms. This would he no hit-and-run mission. Carriers would slug it out for days with dozens of hases on shore. pitting their hundreds of planes against thousands thr- enemy had at his instant connnand. The stakes would he the lives of a half-million soldiers and the fate of an empire. Admiral Halsey reckoned on the typhoon which would sweep across the enemy coasts a day hefore Task lforee Thirty-eightfs warplanes. He knew it would disrupt com- munications, ground enemy search planes, make detection of the fleet difficult. On October 9th, 194-L, the Third Fleet steamed in three formidable groups 100 miles south of Okinawais teeming harbor and airfields, 200 miles east of Formosa. The autumn rains and mist of the Central Pacific shrouded the ominous black and slate grey warships. Half a dozen Jap search planes had fallen to the guardian Hellcats without a glimpse of the fleet. ln the afternoon 200 rocket-firing Hellcats climlied from a dozen flight decks and plunged like a bullet at the heart of the Japanese defense Y the airfields and hangars. What the ,lapanesfz fktllfftl their rarlai liailwl again X ln-'wilflerf-rl fern- V'f'I't' shot flU II own their uv,-uit fllIlll'ifl- . , ,. v, ,. , w , , , , , . , . A . then hell 1-xplorlrrfl in front ol yellow laces dz the x:rif':ifgfn, lighters thunr.lcnzf.i in. llangars were demolished. llozens oi planes were ahlaze on as many air-strips. lfe'.ennf-ms c.-.ffm strafed. ljarrargks llamed. Vfilien the lighter sweep lanrlt-rl at sunset the disrupted, smoking defense of the E-land nm.-t have heen a headache to the frantic ,lapanese commander. lxfip radios erackled and whirled. Air stations on the home island of Kyushu, 2550 miles north. looked hastily to their defenses. Squadrons of replacement planes warmed up on fields at Kobe, Nagoya, Nagasaki. Tokyo. Xervoiis, slant eyed pilots trooped to their ready rooms. Up to this time, in their march across the Pacific, the flat- tops had mostly fought the naval aircraft of the Japanese. Now the Imperial Army Air Force, with its swarms of Betty and Judy homhers, its speedy Zeke and Tojo fighters. 'was the main foe. Heretofore the carriers had assaulted smaller is- land hases, with a few airhelds that could be swiftly crushed. Now the air liases of the Empire were in position to rein- force each other-only the hases close at hand could he ef- fectively neutralized. Big search planes, Kates and lfmilys. squadrons of Betty fi.iUllSfIlf lillSl-IIHIIIIIIIIIS nhlrzzf' uf Ulnfnlli-,,

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-,.-,--.-vxnvv tv-W--W f Y - 1 1-11111 111.111 1111 11111 ship. t111111l1. ll.1l1' 111111 l11-1'411111- tht- IIQIXI Elttlwl. S1-ptt-111l11'1 Qtlh, ltlll, lit'ill X1l11111:1l llzlxisoiiis lash .-1111111 1111t1f111.-11.1111tliif-411111111111-111.l1- set llNt'1HllM'l11llll' F . 5 9 - imillixwst tttttl lht' llillittl ggroiip. lilithi and tht- lti-1 ti111'11li111- islands had l41ll1'11, 1l111113gl1 llllllllllfill ,laps still hung 1111 :il l1l,1.11lx livlvlittii. lihv stage M114 st-1 lor Ll mighty S1'l'Ill' ill the l'11t1ili1' tlllltllil. l'l1ro11gl1 111111111-. like the xoit-11 ol. lltlllltt. l111t'lt11ye1'll11'l1l11111ly xvars itttfll tl.11'l1 liilliliilt. il ltnell Sttt1llllt'll lor tht' l1'Cl1t'lllQ'l't1llS, 1'11111l .l.1lH1111's1': l shrill l'0ltll'It . . :X xision ol' l11':11'1l0tl. 11112111 11111111 111011. stanthiig tlltttllilttl. 1s1't'11tl1e1l 111 the lust grey siiioltc ol' tft111'egitlo1'is guns. spurretl 1111 the LtY1'llglil'S. lf-.1111 1111111 011 iii: lien 11115 proutl to he there for his part i11 the l.il1e1'11ti1111 ot the llhilippines. 'lin 111.1lw seviire the l1e11cl1l1e111ls that would he estahlishetl 1111 l.c11e the third lileet must drive into the strongest hases of the liinpiree einto the jaws of the lieaviest trap the ,laps ctnxld close. Froin llki11awa. on the door-sill of Japan, to poiteitiil lioriiiosa. south through l.11zo11, huiidreds ol' air i-ases 1111151 he crushed i11to helplessness. The Imperial Navy 1111151 he Slltdilttttl if it tried to iiiterfere. - . J V lor a meek 111 the 5to1'111-swept seas east of lalau. lug P 'S . H.-.N 1 ,. ,.. ..,.... . --1 li1'Il.Ntf,lUllIl 111111111-1l il l1'Illlt'lX'lIIlS with1I1111w11111l11f1-sm-111111s 11l'Il11'llll1i1'1l l l1-1-t. l.1111g 1':111g1'1'11t-111y Sl'Ell'l'lI plaiws lltew out lu 11-1-11111111it1'1'. 'llhv 1-11111l1z1t air patrol lu-pt tht- skies wrist-- lt-ssly,1g11111'111g, 1111-11111111-1t1111slIy111g XH'2lllll'l'. Une patrol of ll11'1-1- liglilers II1111 into ll lufavy stplallg two liglilers 1-1111111 lltl'lPlIt!ll. lloptflvssly tht: HL'Zll'f'll plaiies Hf'HlII'l,'tl the area, l111l 1111 trait-1' ol' l,l. Warle ll. Vi'i11e1'oll'. ll l5Ollllll'y hwy liI'1Hlt North lI:11'11li11a1, 1111s ever lltjllltll. . . B .-- . l.l111s111g il haiitht llirongh tht- nnirky night, lit. llc-1111y Miles, ol' Mediiia, N. Y., and his Japanest- quarry siidtlenly tlisappeared lrom the radar sereens while ljll miles to the S0llll1XYCSl, over the stormy, blacked-0111 ocean. Though John Wineger called tirelessly through the static and search planes croinhed the area at dawn, no word was ever heard of night lighter Benny Miles nor of the Jap. Alter a week of this depressing wait orders came to moxe 11o1'tl111'ard. fjll the tail of a typhoon raging toward Formosa and Ukinawa, Admiral Wvilliam Halsey was preparing to take the seven Essex class carriers. the ten light carriers, seven last hattleships, twenty-live Cruisers and a hundred destroyers ol' his Third Fleet into the teeth of Japan's mili- tary might and strike the i1111er bases of the Empire. Nine thoiisand miles from the 'l'hi1'd Fleetis homeland. ill wateis 1 1 f l3q',f1 ,IVV . Y-2. - -.5 -1 rf: -- -els. 1 1111111114 f-1111111111 pfmln from mn' nf liig HVIIHN I'lIllllf'S . . . nkliflflvlltll 5 ' ' 1 ff,',n,,f...-11.-yi . Y... .... 1.1-1.1

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torpedo bombers, spent the night looking for the Third Fleet. The Japanese radio, Tokyo Bose speaking, made dire predictions of the doom that was about to befall the rash American adniirals and their reckless fleet. Night fighters took to the rain-swept sky above the blacked-out warships. Crystal ball gazers, like Lts. Adi, Poat, Dave Dunlap, Bob Abell, George Cheney, with their hundreds of radarmen, joined with those others of the fleet's big ClC's, and took over the guard. With all guns manned, the fleet waited through the night like a sprawling monster, ready to flare into action with the dawn. At sunrise hundreds of carrier planes were in the air. Men on the decks of Big Ben, men standing by their guns, men on every warship in the Third Fleet, watched the squadrons thunder off to the west and disappear. The harbors of Nansei Shota were full of Jap ships, try- ing desperately to get up steam and escape. Flak guns were furious in their defense. But nothing could stop the thunder- ing low-level attacks of the deadly eagles that had risen from the ashes of Pearl Harbor. Terrific explosions shook the island as ammunition dumps blew up. Walls of flame and smoke marked where fuel depots had stood. Blazing, sinking cargo ships and tankers dotted the harbor. But warbirds were falling, too. Lt. tjgj Joe Heinrich would never tramp his New York beat again. His Hellcat badly holed, he crash- landed at sea and was never located by his searching com- rades. Lt. tjgl T. C. Norek, from the midwestern plains, and his gunner, Harry Steele, a Connecticut Yankee, died in their dive-bomber when it roared down through the flak to crash in flames. By nightfall a thousand bombers, fighters, and torpedo planes from the carriers had pulverized Okinawa and its installations. Many days would pass before dangerous en- emy planes could fly from that quarter. That night, October 10th, the Japanese were out in force, dozens of bombers crossing and re-crossing the task groups. As they passed within range of the warships' guns, hundreds of naval rifles and heavy machine guns would erupt in sheets of flame. Some Jap planes dropped torpedoes, all of which went wide of their mark. Others circled out of gun range, reporting the fleetis position, with Grumman fighters roaring through the darkness in pursuit. Task Group 38.4. with Big Ben in the lead, fueled at sea October 11th, then launched a blistering fighter sweep at Aparri seaplane base, on Luzon. All the Japanese planes found there were destroyed, along with their hangars. During that night there were few alarms, the Jap scouts seemingly having lost contact. By dawn the task groups were rejoined and the massed air squadrons left a trail of flame and de- struction the length and breadth of Formosa, untouched by war before this day. Now the first signs of organized opposi- lion appeared. A hundred Japanese aircraft, flying north- ward from Luzon to replace Formosa's decimated squadrons, were intercepted 70 miles away by twenty Hellcats of the patrol, guided from Big Ben by fighter director officer Bob Bruning. The Nips hardly put up a hgllt as the Hellcals ripped into them. For 25 miles the pursuit continued, the .laps dropping one by one as the Hght progressed, until thc Hellcats had to turn back from over Formosa itself, as their gas became low. During the day squadrons of Japanese torpedo bombers came speeding out to attack. The cruiser Canberra was tor- pedoed and lay dead in the water. Few of the Japs returned to tell of this limited success, but on the Nip radio came fantastic claims of dozens of American warships being sent to the bottom. Fifteen carriers, exulted Tokyo Rose, a dozen battleships, had been sunk. 20,000 American sailors were struggling, drowning, in the cold waters off Formosa. The men of Big Ben grinned sardonically as they listened to these weird lies. All through that day, while the yellow war-lords made their boastful claims, carrier warplanes were heaping fire and destruction on the major bases that dotted Formosa. But Lt. ll. J. Weber's Helldiver did not come home to Big Ben that evening. Weber, a Loyola boy, from Chicago and his gunner, James L. Hall, of Augusta, Maine, were killed in action. And Ens. R. F. 4'Bobby Jones, 24-year-old redhead from Climax, Ca., with his gunners, Stanley P. Rajza, Wilkesboro, Pa., and Grier P. Osborne, of Peach Bottom, Pa., who had put their Avengeris torpedo squarely in the middle of a big Jap tanker, died when their plane exploded in mid-air. A heavy flak gun had made a direct hit. And the cruiser Houston, struck by a torpedo from a Betty, lay helpless in the water. After a heroic struggle by her crew she was taken in tow, and, with the Canberra, was proceeding slowly southward at two knots, with the small but mighty carrier Cabot standing guard. The Houston, built at Newport News and completed only a week before the Franklin, had many a friend on Big Ben. October 13th, another day of continued heavy blows at the Jap defenses, dawned rainy and foggy, as miserable as the preceding days. But hunting was still good ashore. W'ith the airfields and harbors in ruins, the bombers were directing their attentions to power plants, fuel depots, supply dumps. Thousands of tons of supplies, vital to the enemy war effort, darkened Formosa with a pall of smoke, faggots on the fu- neral pyre of an infamous nation. These were the signal fires to the hundreds of massed transports and LST,s which were sailing from Manus, destination: the Philippines. But two more of Big Benis gallant fighters swirled down that day, Lt. fjgj Richard H. 4'Moose Bridge, the tall boy with the three Air Medals, died in his Grumman fighter over For- mosa, and Lt. fjgj Joseph Kopman, handsome dark-haired fighter pilot, of Detroit, Michigan, did not return to Big Ben. There was little of the usual Ukiddingn in the fighter ready room that evening. Throughout Friday, October 13th, enemy planes attempt- ed to slip through the combat air patrol. Several were shot down, others driven away. In the evening, an hour before sunset, they commenced to gather in small groups, hiding in the heavy banks of clouds, scattered low over the water. Through the drizzling rain patrol fighters searched for the enemy but he was hard to find, even with radar's aid. Two groups of enemy planes, one in the clouds to the northeast and one in the clouds to the south, were about ten miles from the Franklirfs group. At 5:00 p. m. the bugles called all hands to battle stations, but at 5:22 Admiral Davi- son secured all battle stations except the gunners when it appeared likely that the Japs would remain in the vicinity for hours. At sunset, five minutes later, Big Ben was landing