Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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mate lirst class, of Baltimore, held., who went back into the llooded machine shop to help his friends. lllusician Drew Widener died in that blast, as did Robert N. Orr. shiplitler lirst class, who had earned Captain Shoemakeris tirst coin- mendation award while on the shakedown cruise, for putting out a dangerous lire. Bob Orr died because he was too brave to live. He rushed forward fearlessly into the spreading llames with an inadequate hose. Chief Macliinists Mate Hid- dle. pressing into the smoke and water on the third deck. was caught in this second blast and badly burned. as were many of his fellows in the Engineer Repair Party. under Lt. Fitz- gerald. Others, like Lt. Thomas Mclntyre. soft-spoken dentist of Minneapolis. with his pharmacist's mates and stretcher bearers, had died at their battle stations, directly in the path of the Kamikaze. Scores were painfully burned: many dangerously wounded. Big Ben listed to starboard under the weight of the water being thrown on the fires from scores of high pressure hoses. llarnagr- liontrol lientral Station fought, a losing battle to keep ln-1' on an 4-vf-n kr-1-l. Sll'tflf7llt'InH loaded with rnen burned agonizingly, but uni-ornplaining. were gently rrarr'ir-fl through the dint, murky passageways to the battle dre-sing -tations in the island and the warrlrooni w here Corndr. Srnithl Nledi. cal Department labored. Overhead. slim lc'-fltiis from Gcheral NIacArthuris airfield, sent out to cover the task group, provided against lurther attacks. The Hcllcuuf llf ood and Franlflirt were still fighting fires whose columns of smoke could be seen from the nearby land. The Sun., fucinlo and Enfcrprise stood by with combat air patrolsg the battleship Soullzr Dakota and cruisers New Orleans and Blilflgtli, with the destroyers of the screen, lay in close with their hundreds of guns slanted upwards. With CIC again in commission, reports were coming of other enemy planes closing the task group but they failed to reach their objectives, being turned back or shot down by patrol planes. When dark came, hundreds of men had distinguished a k W4 ,,hC.Z,7, f, ,JQQWWJ l .- QQ ax., Cmmpr 5-iu t '7r5 'WIFI' f'j'1S lY- Ffflfllfllift flflfl l3f'Uf.'f1I1 lliiood in flunws. llIl'fII-flillgi lillffflfl' rzfffzt-lm

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tlotsn in gi suicidal plunge. at oxcr tln-uc lnnnlrcd tnilcs an hour. Itig licnis gnnncrs hung gritnly to thcir mounts. liring to tht- last. l'iltnning. thc pilot ttcatl at his controls, tracers ripping liolcs in tht- plane. nothing sccnicd ahh- to stop it. lloxsn into f'1u11lt'lli1t..w lligltt rlcck it tloxc. ltl'Sllll'tlll'1tlill'l'l'llti ot thc island. X tctitln- explosion shook tht- slnp and shc lurchcd in agonizcd protcst. 'X mighty cloud ol' sniokc and tire shot up from tht- thirty-loot crater in the tlight deck. tlames licking swiftly :tl tht- ncarhy planes on the hangar and ttight decks. llunncrs at their stations were hlinded hy the liumcs, scorclicd hx tht- tlanics: lno dozen nicn had al- lllxlllly tliftl. -K thii-tl plane, another Judy. swept low over llig lien. dropping his ltNltt-pound homh. hut this one missed-emissed the island hy llcct and exploded in the sea. The Jap. still un- der heaxy tire from ltig lienis torn ard hatteries. swerved his plane to the left and crashed on the lliglit deck of the Helleuu ll ood. To o more suicide planes dived at the Sun fucinlo, hut hoth missed. The linal Jap aimed at the l'.'11terprl'sc hut was hlasted hy liig lienis gunners and the ships ol' the screen, exploding in mid-air. Thus ended the tirst Kamikaze suicide attack on major tnited States xsarships. tln the Frt1111.'11'11 gunners stood doggedly hy their mounts. choking in the thick gray smoke. awaiting the next attack. tfllif nas out ol' commission, hut the crexs stood hy. while lit. n 4 ' A O s 1 s YI G ' f Q v 5 0 U 1 s f - UO U an Vic lluhl and his technicians fought through darkened con- lusion to get the vital radars searching again. Electricians lahorctl ovcr their control hoards. trying to clear them of faults. Under the cool dircction of tlomdr. licnjaniin Moore and llonidr. l.c l avour. the lilatnagc liontrol Department. assisted hy hundreds of willing hands. sprang into action. lloscs appeared magically on the llight and hangar decks. Sprinkler curtains erected walls of water on the hangar deck, isolating the hurning area. Foam extinguishers and fog noz- zles in the hands ol' the lire-fighters. heat hack the llames. Flight deck crews jettisoned dozens of planes. hefore fire could reach their hundreds of gallons of gasoline. Fire mar- shals Caldwell and Graham. with the olhcers and men of the repair parties, ignoring all dangers, had the fire under con- trol after forty-five minutes of desperate fighting. Twenty minutes after the explosion. while courageous parties of men were groping through the smoke and water that had gained access to the lower decks. searching for trapped comrades. trying to clear the passages down to the engineering spaces of water, another awful explosion wrenched the decks. Gasoline from wrecked planes on the flight and hangar decks. leaking through a damaged homb elevator. had reached the third and fourth decks. Vaporizing. it had exploded. The second explosion warped and twisted steel hulkheads, hurled men helter-skelter, killing many hy concussion alone. So perished Joseph Esslinger. machinist's . ,,..,.-t Q..- ' n 1 A 4 I Q S K ..,.,, .M-.mfr-c , .t ,,.-V4-, .- l'lfu-I liurslt flnl Iliff sky. us II lftinl .suiriflrf plrznw. nrrr Ffllllklill. drops his lmrnh if ln1'.w.w'fl lint' fl'f'f H ' lirfnrr' lu- rlirws info ilu' HI'llf'IIll lli'noal's tlrrk

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lllt'ltlS0lXtt5 by their work in eontpiering the dannaging tires. lfitity-tiour men were dead. three more would not lixe through the night: sixty wounded tiltt-tt the dressing stations. The ttight deek had ai thirty-loot holeg the alter elexntor was warped by the force ol' the explosion, Large areas ol' the seeond and third decks were eoxered with water two or more feel deep. trapping l.t. lfomdr. Greene and his hun- dreds ol' engineers for more than lixe hours. The third and fourth decks aniidships were twisted and broken: steel plates were buckled and torn: stout doors and bulkheads were crumpled. Ylxlll' entire ship, spotlessly clean that morning. was covered with a thick tilm of black soot. Xlen worked all night pumping water out of flooded spaces. salvaging equip- ment. making liig lien habitable again. After many hours of etliort, with the ship on an ex en keel again. the task group joined the tanker lleet on Uctober 31st and refueled. The next day. with 13 Hellcats, 15 Helldivers and 41- Aven- gers aboard and still operational, Frunlflirz and the Belleau lliiood. escorted by destroyers. retired to Utithi for repairs that would tit them for further operations. Admiral Davison transferred his llag to the Ifnlerprise. When Big Ben steamed slowly into the choppy waters of Litithi Harbor. where hundreds of warships lay at anchor, to drop her hook a few hundred yards from the hospital ship Solace, the crew of a Fighting comrade. the USS Wasp, manned the rail and gave three cheers, the highest com- pliment that one man-o'-war can pay another. The carrier Nassau sent the following despatch: Deein it an honor to be anchored in the same harbor 1' I w,g4c3 X, V 1 t 4 Fighting flames on flight deck with Franlzlin. Congratulations on cone swell job., All our best wishes for the future? From Admiral Nimitz to the US. Pacific Fleet: 'alt can be announced with assurance that the Japanese Navy has been beaten, routed, and broken by the Third and Seventh Fleetsf' Men lifted off their sooty helmets, washed their grimy, blackened facesg spoke sadly but proudly of comrades who had died at their battle stations. U l lfmuf.s mar on l'lfllHlfZI'fl,:S fllflfk . . . l orlun11l1'ly l2llllI,l'S, llmuglz gasseal, were not rzrrned