Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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■ HO|to| M E 1 1 m m d 1 » J B HH|| Bi K B ■ -■ ' ■ a L H 1 Captain Shoemaker prepares to accept command, as Secretary Gates addresses Big Ben ' s crew and guests group togetlier compose the most complex combat team in the world. Knowing this, we in the Franklin highly resolve thai the trust reposed in us shall prove to have heen well justi fied. and that our ship will join the Fleet ready in all respects to strike hard, again and again, until the enemies of this great nation shall have been beaten to their knees. ' ' The watch was set and Carrier Number Thirteen. United States Ship Franklin — Big Ben the Flat-top — was well on her way to the wars.

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At Newport the crew had been steadily increasing. Every day brought new arrivals from naval training stations all over the nation. Some veterans were among these fresh arrivals, enough to provide a healthy leavening of ex- perience for the two thousand, five hundred and forty- four men which the top chiefs of the Navy had set down as needed for the crew of Big Ben. On January 29th, 1944, when the officers and men re- ported to Newport News, Virginia, and boarded their ship, already the nickname, Big Ben, had come to stay. It had simply dropped down out of thin air; no one will ever know the name of the casual genius who first used it. All Essex class carriers are named either for famous ships or famous battles, so the Bunker Hill, the Intrepid, the Hornet. The Franklin, fifth ship of her name in the Navy, was named after an eight-gun sloop of the American Revo- lution which had served her country bravely and with distinction. But that Franklin had been named for the il- lustrious Benjamin Franklin — therefore the nickname, ready-made, both respectful and affectionate. On the morning of January 31st, towed by tugs, she entered the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, Virginia. That afternoon she was placed in commission with impressive fanfare and under the official gaze of many dignitaries. The crew was drawn up on the flight deck — the Marine Guard was at attention — Big Ben ' s officers faced the plat- form which had been erected for the ceremony. The pilots of Air Group Thirteen, Big Ben s own fliers, were pres- ent. Rear Admiral Felix Gygax, commandant of the Fifth Naval District, and Artemus L. Gates, assistant secretary of the Navy, were notable among the several hundred guests. In the wan sunshine of a winter afternoon with a chill- ing breeze, after the martial music of the band, no man who was there will ever forget the brave, solemn words of the Secretary: This is the fifth Franklin. Her predecessors have fought and won many battles and have left a record of sea-worthi- ness and valiance which rise up before her as a challenge. She will meet that challenge. As Secretary Gates spoke every person on that windswept flight deck remembered that far away, on distant battle- fronts, .American boys were fighting and dying. This mighty carrier would reinforce them. This crew, more boys, would soon be fighting beside them. In the end, through all the misery of war, America would triumph . . . A wave of emotion swept the gathering as Captain Shoemaker arose to accept command. Mr. Secretary and Honored Guests: We have followed the final stages of construction of this great ship, and know from personal observation that in a material sense she is as nearly perfect as possible. Today our Franklin becomes a unit of our Navy, and we are charged with the large responsibility of training our- selves to have complete knowledge of all the potentialities of our ship, to the end that she will soon be ready to take her place in the line of battle. This is no easy task. The ship ' s company and the ail January 31, 1944; Big Ben ' s crew ussemlilcd for romrnissioniiii: ccrrnu ny

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C H A P T E R TWO . . . never worked harder in my life, nor met more people. Guys who were only names on the pay list two months ago were now my buddies. On rope- yarn Sundays we ivould play acey-ducey on the focs ' l or sivap lies as we caulked-off in our bunks. But other times, it ivas drill, drill, drill . . . ' We knew every bulkhead and rivet on that big pig-iron barge like we knew the kitchen linoleum back home ... THE SHIP THE MISSION : To seek out an d to destroy the enemy, where ever he may be. THE MEANS: Those swarms of dive- bombers an d torpe do planes and rocket-firing fighters which will soar from her decks. THE METHOD : Keep ' em flying 9? Comdr. D. ,. Day. Executive Officer until Sept. 24th, 194 1 For nearly three weeks Big Ben lay majestically beneath the huge cranes at Pier Two in the Norfolk Navy Yard while her innermost being seethed and churned. In the mind of her Captain there was a master plan : under Comdr. Day and the firm, devoted Department Heads, it came into be- ing. From lists of names on the atch. Quarter, and Sta- tion Bills, the divisions were born — each division with its Lieutenant, with his jgs and ensigns, his petty officers, each division with its Port and Starboard Watch. Men came to know their own important assignments; the faces and names of their shipmates. Each came to know his battle station and his place in fire drill, abandon-ship drill, collision drill, torpedo defense, flight quarters. He had to become familiar with the meaning of bugle calls, the boat- swain s pipe, and to accustom himself to the orders that flew through the ship over the metallic vocal chords of the squawkboxes. The men not only began to know their own duties, but also to realize the importance of their own divisions and, in turn, to understand how the function of each division must mesh to perfection with that of every other division if Big Ben was to become the fighting ship which every man wanted her to be. Into the master plan would fit the Engineering Depart- ment, under Comdr. F. C. Agens. ex-Bunker-Hill Chief , with its M or machinery division that lived with, tended, and loved the mighty engines; with its A division to groom and pamper the many auxiliaries necessary that those engines might run; its B division, keepers of the four giant firerooms with their boilers: the E division to tend the river of electricity from its throbbing source in the huge main generators down to the last rivulet entering some re- mote light. All so that Big Ben might come up to 28 knots and into the wind, and the captain could give the word Commence Launching ' , and those Helldivers and Avengers could roar down her deck and into the sky. Or so that she might steam swiftly through the stormiest waters with her