Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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Fire still smoulders in llw gallery deck . . . Through hole in the flight deck, fire-fighters pour on more water » » » % i - ' 4SUiJ 1 m ■ m ■ - [• i Force of the gasoline explosion wrenched steel doors lower decks were flooded to depth of two feet