Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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sister carriers to l)last an enemy liase and tlieii lade lac k into the ocean mists from which she liad come. In that last, desperate moment, wheti the l() s are harkinf; and the 20 ' s commence to open in a wild staccato, and tlii ' captain shouts his commands, then the Kiifiineeriiif Depart- ment would he ahle to live up to its hoast and its creed: We answer all bells. The ; ■ heiiiy men lik Poi) Tur- ner, watertender first class, who looked too old for comhat duty, hut actually was 50 years young, and would have nothing hut the toughest for himself. He went forward, that fateful March 10th and won the Bronze Star. Men like Esslinger, Mintoni, Hummel, Brown, Darjany, and hosts of others gave their life ' s blood that a thing of steel .should answer all bells. R-One Division and R-Two Division of the Damage Con- trol Department, under Comdr. W. R. LeFavour, who had only recently been a submarine commander, soon acquired the air of haughty efficiency which was to characterize them. Custodians of the holds and voids, ever-vigilant watchers of the status boards in Central Damage Control ; welders of steel, hewers of wood, experts of improvise and ' Can Do ' , these boys were busy with a purposeful zeal from one end of the road to Kyushu to the other. In each of the eight Damage Control and Repair parties that stood by the length and depth of the ship when battle threatened, the key men — masters of fog nozzle, of Foamite ' ' . of shoring timber, of the last hatch and water-tight door — these were boys from Damage Control. Their deeds would become legend- ary. Chief Shipfitter Durrance would die beside his burn- ing rods as he strove to cut his way through a bulkhead to free Doctor Fox and the eighteen hoys tra[)|)ed in the sick- bay with him. The Navigation Department, under the beloved Com- mander Benny .Moore, with its expert quartermasters, and its departmental auxiliary, the ship ' s band, was worthy of its name from the first day. hile the quartermasters had their jobs to perform on the bridge, the band had their battle stations down in the powder handling rooms or on the stretcher details. In the evenings on the hangar deck before movies the band played their hearts out. with every man-jack who could muster within hearing distance as their cheering audience, . mong their most enthusiastic followers, in later days, were the crews of destroyers fueling along- side, who never tired of a flight deck serenade. Their fa- vorite request was Sidewalks of New York. The Marines came aboard as a detachment under Ca|)tain Herbert Elliot; they kept their own compartments as shin- ingly clean as their rilie racks; they manned their own group of 40 mm. mounts and stood their sentry and orderly watches with military precision. The spirit of this outfit from the first day aboard was typified by the grim sort of courage that forced Private Steve Novak Itack into the smoking wreckage of a compartment from which he had just escaped, to lead his shipmates to safety. Or Private . L. Kliemozwitz, with that handful of volunteers on Bis; Ben ' s last 40 mm. quad, blazing away desperately at a div- ing Jap bomber with such effect that the bomb missed the ship when another hit would have .sent her to the bottom. Tho.se were Big Ben ' s Marines — the 7lh Division of the Gunnery Department. Comdr. F. K. Agi ' iis, Chief Engineer until May 4th, 1944, came from the Hunker Hill to found the Black Gang Comdr. If . R. LeFaiour. Damage Control Officer until Feb. ' 2nd. 194:). .in ex-suhmtirinc skipper. Comdr. Benjamin Moore, , avigaior to Sept. 24th. lOt-l: Executive Officer until Dec. 20th, 1944