Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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destroyers and the few planes of the escort carriers were putting up one of the most heroic battles of the war. Three of those destroyers and two destroyer escorts went to their deaths in the unequal struggle, but they did not die in vain. Months later, after the surrender of Japan, Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, commander of the Japane se Second Fleet, confessed that, incredible as it may seem, his enemy fleet of two dozen major warships was turned back at 11:00 a.m. by damage suffered from the torpedoes of seven Ameri- ican destroyers escorting the baby flat-tops and bombs from the escort carrier ' s planes — as well as the fear of further attacks. Assault groups from other flat-tops of the Third Fleet were now over the stricken Japanese carrier group 300 miles north of Leyte Gulf, and 75 miles from Big Ben. By the end of an hour everv carrier in the force was hard hit. burning, or on Comdr. It . 1 . -Wild Bill Coleman, hard -thing skippei of Fighting Thirteen the bottom. Cruisers were flaming; tiie two old battleships and one cruiser were steaming frantically northward. The destroyers milled around aimlessly, some trying to pick up Japanese sailors, now floating in the sea by hundreds. The seven fast l)attlewagons of the Third Fleet, detached from the carriers, were straining ahead at thirty knots, eager to bring the Japs to a battle which could have but one con- clusion. At 10:00 a.m. came radar warning of a large flight of en- emy aircraft approaching, 100 miles to the south. These, it was learned later, were the Jap carrier planes that sent the Princeton to the bottom ofl ' Luzon the day before. They had landed on Luzon and were flying out to rejoin their carriers. 30 Hellcats roared south to meet them, but the Ja]) planes were evidently in radio contact with their fleet. Before the Hellcats sighted them, they reversed course and turned south out of range, apparently informed of the disaster to their floating bases. At noon, 30 more bombers and fighters took off from Big Ben ' s flight deck to add to the destruction. But now the calls for aid from the south were urgent. Admiral Halsey turned the heavy new- battleships, then only 40 miles from their quarry, with the carriers and destroyers of Task Group 38.2 to aid the embattled baby flat-tops of the Seventh Fleet. At 1 :30 Franklin s fourth strike cleared the deck. The Jap- anese ships were in a panic-stricken condition. Undamaged vessels steamed desperately at high speed, on independent courses, in any direction to get out of range of the bombers. Damaged ships, listing heavily, circled wildly, all guns fir- ing, with no effort at mutual support. Here and there two or three destroyers, or a destroyer and a burning cruiser, steam- ed in formation using their guns to best advantage. It was a wild, desperate, confused battle. And it cost the dive-bomb- ing squadron from Big Ben heavily, for Lt. John H. Finrow, a University of ashington boy, who had flown 31 missions, went down in his Helldiver with his gunner, Henry E. Borja, the lad his shipmates called Hank. Lt. (jg) D. A. McPhie, recommended for the Navy Cross and two Air Medals, died that day with his gunner, R. D. Chandler, a boy from old .Alabama. It would have been Mac ' s last mission, had he returned. Yet there was one thing certain about that battle. Squad- ron after squadron of America ' s finest air groups kept fill- ing the sky above the fleeing Japanese. As soon as the air group of one carrier had delivered its attack, the planes of another would come flashing down to attack. Through the afternoon the battle continued. Even Comdr. Coleman, of Fighting Thirteen, could only shake his head in the ward- room that night and say, I wouldn ' t have believed it if I hadn ' t been there. I don ' t know half what happened and I was there all day. Theyll never get all of this one in their history books. . s evening drew near, two cruisers and a destroyer — one cruiser limping — were all that remained of the force. The two battleships, one damaged, with no destroyer escort, were 100 miles north, fleeing at their best speeds. They would run the gauntlet of a dozen American submarines posted in their path. That night a submarine reported five torpedo hits on one and when last seen it was dead in the water. Admiral Davison asked for any carrier with a dozen fighter planes and a clear flight deck to volunteer for a rocket-armed sweep to get one of the cruisers. Big Ben ' s flight deck was crowded with the last returning strike, but the Enterprise volunteered. Half an hour later the proud voice of the strike leader from the Big E could be heard over the radio: ' Hello, Badger. This is Dodger Four. Break out the beer. ' e just sank a cruiser. Badger was Admiral Davison ' s radio call. The Admiral answered personally: This is the Badger, himself. Great going. ell have the band waiting for you. Now. as the sun dipped into the sea on the Japanese Im- perial Navy ' s last day on the Pacific, cruisers from the Third Fleet drew near to finish the cripples. The .•Xir Coordinator, still flying over the scene, directed them to the targets. His voice could be heard on the radio, though the cruisers were not audible. The airman ' s voice was clear and cold. ' Can ' t see ' em, eh? Do you see me? Well, watch these black bursts now . . .

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tlie niglit. Few Japanese warships siirvivt ' d this action, lint the Japanese Second Fleet, that had lu ' cri pounded hy air- craft from Big Ben and other llat-tops the preeedinji after- noon, came on through the Straits of San Hernanlino — miiiiis a battleship and several cruisers — and was now drawing within gun range of tiie lightly protected escort carriers. The hahy llat-tops. with only destroyers in the screen, few planes aboard, and low on honihs. were in a desperate position. The heavy guns of the l)altleshii)s coulil sink a dozen small carriers in as many niitnites. Admiral Halsey dispatched Task Group 38.1, which was nearing the Philip])ines, to their aid. Word was soon received that an attack had been launched against the Jap battlewagons which would hit the Nips at about 1 :00 p.m. In the meantime, the Near miss on Jap destroyer, uhile i lifilit cruiser suerves jrantically. all guns blazing . . . Fifteen minutes later the destroyer was sunk by one of Franklin ' s bombs, delivered by Lt. ijg) Harding, of Bombing Thirteen ► : , ' Ihese three liids. shot down near the Jap Third Fleet, were not found when rescue planes reached the scene

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See em? . . . ' I ' liat ' s the way lo llic cruisers, boys . . . ' He was flying down over llie Japs, drawing their fire, and the hursts of flak in the evening sky directed the American warships to their targets. A hrave man w-as Rocket 77. Before the moon rose the last Jaj)anese warship of tht group was on tlie muddy bottom of tiie Pacific, smashed by crui.ser gunfire. As the task grouj) steamed south. Jap de- struction coniph ' lc 111 liic ninili. the captain spoke solciiiiiU and proudly to iiig Beifs tense crew: You will never forget today. Today. Oclohcr 2Sth. 1911. we luive defeated the Japanese Navy in one of the decisive sea battles of history . . . Tlieii he turned the speaker over to tlie fliers who had cliinlied from Franklin ' s deck. ' lien the men off watch that night rolled into tlieir liunks they uere as jiroud as (Captain Shoemaker — they had ])ut those planes in tlie air and kept em there . . . October 26th was spent in contacting tiie tanker group and refueling. Meantime complete reports were pouring ii; of the far-flung Battle for Leyte Gulf. The Japanese Second Fleet, attacking Vice Admiral Kinkaid ' s escort carriers, withdrew at the last moment, after sinking the Gambier Bay, two de- stroyers, and three destroyer escorts. The Japanese admiral had reached his decision at 11 a.m. and steamed north to San Bernardino, passing through the strait at midnight, ev- ery ship in his squadron damaged by destroyer torpedoes or air attack. As the fast battleships of the United States Third Fleet passed the straits at 1 :00 a.m. only one crippled Japanese cruiser lagged behind. It disintegrated .so swiftly under the sixteen-inch guns of the super-battleships that not until some of the stunned survivors were pulled out of the water was it known to be a cruiser and not a destroyer. To pursue the group of enemy warships into the heavily mined straits would be imprudent, so . dmiral Halsey contented himself with launching heavy air assaults over the escape route through the islands. The Japanese force beaten in the Suragaio S traits had truly been annihilated. Only one crippled battleship made its way back into the Sibuyan Sea and it was sunk by air attack before Admiral Kinkaid could take a jiicture of the darn thing. As a fighting force the Imperial Japane. e Navy had ceased to exist. MacArthur ' s beachheads were secure and no power on the face of the earth could stop America ' s re- conquest of the Philippines. Franklin and Task Group 38.4 steamed baik lo the Leyte area the next day. furnishing combat air patrol for the trans- ports in the Gulf, and launching search sweeps for Ja|)anese warships still trying to escape. Sixteen Hellcats, each armed with a . SOO-pound bomb, located a cruiser of the Aoba class uith two destroyers, south of the island of IMindoro. P ' our direct bomb hits and fourteen rockets were slammed into the cruiser. It was left blazing, leaking steam, and listing heav- ily to port. The two destroyers were damaged. Halt an hour later another fighter sweep, launched by the Enter prisr. ar- rived to finish them ofl. The two destroyers were still there, one already abandoned by its crew. The cruiser was never seen again, almost certainly sent to the bottom by Big Ben s strike. The airmen from the Big F. made strafing runs o ei the destroyers, leaving them both sinking. Ll. J. B. Johnson, coming ihrouiih hatch on the Flight deck of the Franklin . . . Johnny ' s experiences were so numerous and unusual that Ouentin Reynolds wrote him up in a Collier ' s article During the 2;!th and 29th of October heavy calls were placed on the Fleet ' s fighter squadrons by MacArthur s em- battled forces. Gombat air patrol was llown over Leyte. and searches were conducted off the island of Samar for carrier pilots shot down in the previous actions. The Hellcats shot down eight Oscars and one Zeke which were trying to attack the transports in Leyte Gulf. ' eather was rainy and the new- ly constructed airfields at Dulag and Tacloban on Leyte were in poor condition. Crack-ups were frequent on the muddy fields, and often grounded pilots were under bombing attack as the Japs continued to slip in groups of bombers to strike the invasion forces. Oil the evening of the 28th, six of Franklin ' s patrolling Hellcats attacked twelve Jap fighter planes at dusk. ' hen the Oscars had been driven away. Big Ben s airmen were forced Flight ileck en-US arming a deekloiid . . . . ote rorAv .s being Itiacled ( n Hellcats . . . Air Group 13 was One of first to use this weapon against Japanese