Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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mate first class, of Baltimore, Md., who went back into the flooded machine shop to help his friends. Musician Drew Widener died in that blast, as did Robert N. Orr, shipfitter first class, who had earned Captain Shoemaker ' s first com- mendation award while on the shakedown cruise, for putting out a dangerous fire. Bob Orr died because he was too brave to live. He rushed forward fearlessly into the spreading flames with an inadequate hose. Chief Machinist ' s Mate Rid- 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. (jg) 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 fir es from scores of high pressure hoses. Damage Control Central Station fought a losing battle to keep her on an even keel. Stretchers loaded with men burned agonizingly, but uncomplaining, were gently carried through the dim, murky passageways to the battle dressing stations in the island and the wardroom where Comdr. Smith ' s Medi- cal Department labored. Overhead, slim P-38 ' s from Geiieral MacArthur ' s airfield, sent out to cover the task group, provided against further attacks. The Belleau Wood and Franklin were still fighting fires whose columns of smoke could be seen from the nearby land. The San Jacinto and Enterprise stood by with combat air patrols; the battleship South Dakota and cruisers New Orleans and Diloxi, 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 Cruiser gunners watch tensely, Franklin and Belleau JVood in flames, awaiting further attacks

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(lowti ill ;i suicidal |iluiif;f. at over llircc liiindiril miles an hour. ISig Ben ' s yuniiers luinj; jrrinily to their mounts, lirinp to the hist. Fhimini!;, the pilot dead at his controls, tracers il|i|]lni; liiiles in the plane, nothing seemed aide to slop it. Down into Franklin ' s llij;hl deck it dove, lieside the after end of the island. terrific explosion shook the slii|) and she lurched in ai;onized protest. A mighty cloud of smoke and lire shot up from the thirty-foot crater in the flight deck, flames licking swiftly at the nearl)y planes on the hangar and flight decks. Gunners at their stations were Idinded hy the fumes, scorched hy the llames; two dozen men had al- ready died. A third plane, anolher Judy. svve])t low over Big Ren. dropping his lOOO-pound liomli, but this one missed — missed the island by feet and exploded in the sea. The Jap, still un- der heavy fire from Big Ben ' s forward batteries, swerved his plane to the left and crashed on the Might deck of the BeUeuu W ood. Two more suicide planes dived at the San Jacinto, but both missed. The final Jap aimed at the Enterprise but was blasted by Big Ben ' s gunners and the ships of the screen, exploding in mid-air. Thus ended the first Kamikaze ' suicide attack on major United States warships. On the Franklin gunners stood doggedly by their mounts, choking in the thick sray smoke, awaiting the next attack. CK , was out of commission. Init the crew stood by. while I.t. Vic Buhl and his technicians fought through darkened con- fusion to get the vital radars searching again. Electricians labored over their control boards, trying to clear them of faults. L ' nder the cool direction of (!omdr. Benjamin Moore and (iomdr. Le Favour, the Damage (!onlrol Department, assisted by hundreds of willing hands, sprang into action. Hoses appeared magically on the flight and hangar decks. Sprinkler curtains erected walls of water on the hangar deck, isolating the burning area. Foam extinguishers and fog noz- zles in the hands of the fire-fighters, beat back the flames. Flight deck crews jetlisoned dozens of planes, before fire could reach their hundreds of gallons of gasoline. Fire mar- shals Caldwell and Graham, with the officers 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 bomb elevator, had reached the third and fourth decks. Vaporizing, it had exploded. The second explosion warped and twisted steel bulkheads, hurled men helter-skelter, killing many by concussion alone. .So perished Joseph Esslinger. machinists ♦ FIdcli hursls (1(1 llic sky, as a third stiicidc plane, over Franklin, drops liis hori ' h it missed hy jeet — hejore lie dires into the Belleau If Ood ' s deck

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ihcmsplvcs by their work in conquering tlie damaging fires. I ' il ' ty-foiir men were dead, three more would not live through the night; sixty wounded filled the dressing stations. The liight deck had a thirty-foot hole; the after elevator was warped hy the force of the explosion. Large areas of the second and third decks were covered with water two or more feet deep, trapping Lt. Comdr. Greene and his hun- dreds of engineers for more than five hours. The third and fourth decks amidslii|)s were twisted and broken: steel jtlalcs were buckled and torn; stout doors and bulkheads were crumpled. The entire ship, spotlessly clean that morning, was covered with a thick film of black soot. Men worked all night pumping water out of flooded spaces, s alvaging equip- ment, making Big Ben habitable again. After many hours of efi ort, with the ship on an even keel again, the task group joined the tanker fleet on October 31st and refueled. The next day, with 13 Hellcats, 15 Helldivers and 4 Aven- gers aboard and still operational, Franklin and the Brllcau Wood, escorted by destroyers, retired to Ulithi for repairs that would fit them for further operations. Admiral Davison transferred Iiis flag to the Enterprise. hen Big Ben steamed slowly into the choppy waters of Ulithi Harbor, where hundreds of warships lay at anchor, to drop her hook a few hundred yards from the hospital shi]) Solace, the crew of a fighting comrade, the JJSS Wasp. manned the rail and gave three cheers, the highest com- jiliment that one man-o -war can pav another. The carrier Xdssati sent the following despatch: ■ Deem it an honor to be anchored in the same harbor Fif hlinp flames on jlijihl deck All with Franklin. Congratulations on ' one swell job. ' best wishes for the future. From Admiral Nimitz to the U.S. Pacific Fleet: It can be announced with assurance that the Japanese Navy has been lieaten, routed, and broken by the Third and Seventh Fleets. Men lifted off their sooty helmets, washed their grimy, blackened faces: spoke sadly but proudly of comrades who had died at their battle stations. Flames roar on Franklin s deck . . . Fortunately planes, though gassed, were not armed