Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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San Bernardino. There were at least live battleships, nine cruisers, and a dozen destroyers. Immediately, at l.:30 p.m. a heavy deckload-twelve bombers, ten torpedo planes and ten Hellcats-warmed with rockets and bombs, sped off to at- tack. ltlrom l-11.000 feet the Franklin. planes sighted the en- emy. moving in two groups about eight miles apart. south 'of Sibuyan Island. The northeast group, in compact forma- tion, was steaming westward at top speed. The southern group of ten or twelve warships, was milling in circles as though under air attack. Comdr. Richard Kibbe, who had recently become Air Group Thirteen's commander, directed the attack at the bat- tleships of the northern group. In the face of a heavy flak barrage thrown up by the enemy, who was firing even his sixteen-inch guns, Big Benis warplanes thundered down. The battleship Musashi, hit by two heavy bombs, staggered out of line, smoking. After many hits later during that day, the Musashi sank. The battleship Yamato, also hit, twisted and turned to dodge the armor piercing missiles. Two cruisers were hard hit and one was left dead in the water. A light cruiser, struck by a single torpedo, dropped by Lt. ljgy I-1, Q. Ransom, exploded violently and sank in seconds. That was one of the luckiest hits of the war. Lt. Ransom, under a hail of fire, was dodging in on a lap battlewagon when he dropped his fish. A light cruiser, whipping along at 30 knots, ran in between and took it squarely. A magazine mugt have exploded because it sank almost instantly. Of the 32 attacking planes, two were shot down and four teen damaged. lfns. Robert Freligh and his gunner, Sam Plonsky, were later reported safe in the hands of friendly Filipinos, after the crash of their shell-torn bomber. Lt. Cjgj Marshall D. Barnett, lad from dusty Texas, and a poet of stature, was lost in action with his gunner. Leonard Pick ens, of New Concord, Ohio. Their Helldiver went doun near the Japanese fleet. Vllhile this attack was in progress reports arrived of 3 powerful enemy carrier force, the Japanese Third Fleet, moving southward from 200 miles east of Cape Escarpado, on the north tip of Luzon. Franlslinfs group was passing Leyte Gulf, standing north to join Task Groups 38.2 and . ma A, . 15554. of J . , lap super-battleship Yamofo, firing all glLIlS, twists wilrlly to escape.

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CHAPTER EIGHT . . . 1'll l1Ul,'6'l'f0I'Qf'1 1011111 1110 rfrzptain told us the other everziirzgg and I guess 1 zvorft let my 2'l'lIlIlll'llll!l1'f'II. 01'0'Pl, eitlier . . . Anil 1 cloriil l1Li1z1f man ' o us . . as 1 will ever forget 111111 ,111p named Una, the little yellow pilot that laid his Zeke on our jliglzt declf. But 111111 c1ia'n't stop Big Ben . . . 7, BATTLE FOR LEYTE GULF Amiinxi. D.xv1soN's 1-'LXGSHIIL Franlrlin, and the ships of Task Group 38.4 withdrew to the westward on October 22nd to replenish supplies since bombs were low and the supply of torpedoes nearly exhausted. Task Groups 38.2 and 38.3 were now in the seas off Luzon and Leyte, supporting the doughboys of the Sixth Army. Task Group 38.1, with the brand-new carrier Ticonderoga. was on a course from Ulithi to the Philippines. Admiral Halsey knew that the next move was up to the Japanese Navy. The airfields for a thousand miles north of Leyte were out of commission for weeks and the important Philippines' bases were under daily attack from carrier bombers. The vital shipping lanes over which reinforcements must come to Yamashita's soldiers were under constant at- tack. Within a few weeks new airfields hacked from the Leyte jungles would bc havens for the land-based Fifth and Thir- teenth Army Air Forces. If the Philippines-and the Fm- pire-were to be saved it was up to the big, black battle- wagons and Hat-tops of the Imperial Navy to smash the American Fleet. Their aim must be to isolate the 200,000 in- vading Yankee soldiers so the defending Nipponese Army could cut them to pieces. The Japanese plan of battle was simple in conception and held the threat of disaster to the American forces It w as the old pmcer movement From the northern tip of Luzon to the southern end of Nlindanao there are a thousand miles of island dotted ocean the Philippine Archipelago There are two passavfs by which a fle t mtv it cross the island chain Suia aio Straits be x ecn Levte Gulf and the South China Sea the Strait of oa'1 Be nardnto b s c '1 Luzon an' .iamar 100 rules norti o cvte Gull e 1, s of Am mica tra s l now .x ne alan r s 1 fruisci .1 If rcenn s xfrs u c oi , I H tr ins io s e la 'intl irmatrn urizlo and 'llususlu t lt old r matt esn is with '1 do7cn stroyf r d tr n ffllllf rs x our f rlu I ir Ju in SCI r1irr ino Strat d rut s y Jdflf'9f llrf lt J ldll 19111 I Ullr fdrrll TS Flu rut ers and tx flf'-lfljyff would procerd southward rom afan and lay 1 hundrefl fTlllfS to thf west of l eytc support lf 1 the itlier two llf-ft bv drawinff off iny Amerif in farm r assaults. Probably the Japanese admiral expected some as- sistance from land-based aircraft in the Philippines. It was a desperate gamble of a Navy for an Empire. Weighed against it in the scales of war were the Third and Seventh United States Fleets. During the night of October 23rd the fateful word flashed to Big 13en's radio room from submarines in the China Sea that the Japanese Navy was on the move and that strong units of the enemy fleet were approaching the Philippines. Task Group 38.4 wheeled and steamed westward, flank speed. At dawn ten search-attack groups, six Hellcats and six bomb- ers to a team, were thrown west. Four of the assault teams came from Big Ben. Over a radius of 325 miles they ranged, covering the island areas and waterways of southern Samar, northern Leyte, Cebu, Negros, and Panay. No major forma- tion of the enemy fleet were sighted, but near Pucio Point. Panay. two destroyers and a cruiser were located. Lt. Dick Harding and Lt. uFatsi' Miller joined their attack groups and thundered down to hit the laps with rockets, bombs, and machine gun fire. The cruiser heeled over and sank. The destroyers were blazing and listing heavily when the attack ended. l.ater in the day main units of the Japanese Second Fleet welt si htecl TTIOXIIIU throuoh Tablas Straits 150 miles from fl lap 111 slroyrr 1111 I9 slzalcrn ln Il closf ont rom one 0 13144, 11111 9 91117111 uflneh plants October 24111 - ., 1 . . 4 - F f 5- g K '77 - ' 1 ' C . , f xi. g 2. ' Y . 0 . , . . l . W N . , Q . gi - C. ., , K, ' ' . ' t 1 ' ' s , , fl . r . etr c, CF , t 1' ,. l f L 4' ' P. where til li 'n:lr.v-': 1 .fr ,'1i -nupoiis anil supply s lips s l' y. T' , J I ese Ifi .11 Fleet, two llC1l1lGfS'l1lJ.'. half a doggcii 5 :jfs '1 l st 1 7' g fif!.'iTOJ'? .i, wo l l force its way tfzr igli the fiuraeaio Strait.: and fall upon the z aj rl: Th , ' pa esf Second lflcrrt, two sur :S -l ' tl fsl 'pr:. the l' , r ', f.'ri' .e l ' l,.il'1.'. ' 1 .P dei 'e s an f : '.L: .1 '. Il l 2 l 1 gib l -2 .' n ller- ' l' .' Qs, an 1 . l,eyte'.1 feuppl' line to Ulitlii. The 181 ' .. f Tl ' l lflcet, wr l' .lf.1 ls, f t' 't iglil fi 'sc ,.' s' fs. ' :ff .' . '. f e- 1' ' ' 'f , fl- 2 if U I , .7', 7.1. .- if i .2 if 1 lf, 1, ,fel rw 2 ,117 , I 'L..' 'I f'.... 1 1

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i I l l 'liylji both ol which ucic now nntlci hcatx y an atttaick lroni . . , . . . . , , I the ,lripiincsc llnrtt liter-t s planes in lllls in-tion thi- light l t'ill'I'lt't' Jl7lii'1tt'f4'-'I was lost. l Xdniiral ltatsex had det-idctl tpiickly. llc was hurrying the 5 task groups ot' his ilihird lflect norlliwttrd to engage this new I . . . 1 llircrit, lcaxing the sewn old luittlcsliips with their escorting l t'i'nist-is and destroyers. along with Xdniirul lxinkaidis baby 2 gldytops, to protect the shipping in lmyte hull. So in the exeuing ot' ilctolwr 21th, Fl'llIlli'1IiIl and her coni- rades were speeding northward. past the escort t'a1'1'ier'sc1'1iis- ing So miles olli the cntrgnicc to l.ey'te Gull.. for tt l'l'llLlL'ZYUllS with the other groups. During the night two more new battle- ships joined her screenh enow boasting the super-battle- wagons South Ilttlfofu. qllulrolrnz. and llHtISllll1gf0I1. y 'lihat night the search planes kept contact with the Jap carrier task force until 3:30 L1.Il1. An hour before dawn the E bugles called battle stationsg the laps were somewhere to the north. about l00 miles away. Hall' an hour later a sixteen- plane combat air patrol was launched: at 6:30 twelve bomb- ers and eight torpedo planes took the sky to lly northward. Thr-5 lunl orders to circle at a distance of 50 rniles from llig llcn while awaiting word from the seurcli planes which were now combing the oct-ati. Mc-anwliilc, at second dr-r-kloatl ol laonilmt-rs and fighters was arnicd. :Xt 7:30 the Japanese lflt-vt was siglin-tt. 130 miles cast ol l l'11l1lrl1'l1'.s circling lionilicrs. 'llliere were lonr carriers, thc Zuilfulfu, lflzilusc, Zuilm, and Cfziyodu. Two hattleships with tlight decks, the llyugu. and lsv, steamed with them, sur- rounded by a dozen cruisers and destroyers. The orders were llashed out for attack. Hellcats from another air group hur- ried to the scene to cover Big Ben's airmen as they hurtled in. Seventeen enemy hghters were in the air over their car- riers and they fought desperately to save them. An Avenger piloted by Ens. Thomas P. Brooks, Ir., of Concord, Mass., with aircrewman Harold J. Shane, of York, Pa., and Francis J. Ploger, of Grand Rapids. Mich., spun down to the sea in a fatal water landing. But the bombers bored in. A few min- utes before 8:0O, Comdr. Kibbe's voice on the radio said: We are going down on a big carrier. Looks like itls trying to turn into the wind to launch. The voices on the radio -x .sl . .. . ..r.-ff i I I i i l 1 l l l 'i i i 'i 2 i I l if lo' !ll!lfllII'Sl' Ylffrfl l lw'l. llllilll'f lll'Ill'l' nir ullurk. fltfUll'S up fluff . . . The f'llfI'I'l' r In Ilia' left is lmrrf liil