Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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liiu: Hen and thr linlil currier Monterey make a I8l) degree turn to rejoin jormation

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perial Navy rode the high seas: it numbered battleships, carriers, cruisers, dozens of destroyers and submarines in its fleets. Millions of fanatical yellow troops garrisoned an un- defeated Empire. The air force that had sent the Prince of Wales, the Repulse, the Arizona, the Oklahoma, the Lexington, the 1 orkloun. and scores of other varshi])s to the bottom, still patrolled the skies above Japan and its island fortresses. Hawaii dropped quickly into the sea. Astern a thousand yards, the new cruiser Denver glided along in Big Ben ' s wake. Old friends, the Twiggs and Leary, with two other destroyers, tossed and plunged ahead. Shortly after clear- ing the harbor Comdr. Day spoke to the Franklin s officers and the fliers of Air Group Thirteen: ■ ' Gentlemen, on June 15th, (that ' s today), the Amphibious Forces will land the Second Marine Division and the 27th Army Division on the Japanese island of Saipan. in the Mariannas group. The landings will be supported by the Seventh United States Fleet, Vice Admiral Kinkaid. com- posed of the battleships Tennessee, West Virginia, New Mex- ico . . . the list sounded like a roll call of all the fighting ships of the Navy. The Fifth Fleet, Vice Admiral Spruance, consisting of carriers and battleships, in Task Force Fifty-eight, will operate between Saipan and the Philippines, the direction from which the Japs are expected to counter-attack. The Fast Carrier Task Force — of which the Franklin will be a unit — will cover the landings and destroy the Imperial Jap- anese Fleet if the ojiportunity presents itself. One group of fast carriers will neutralize by bombing the Bonin Is- lands, of Iwo Jima and Chichi Jinia. from which the Japs might send air strength into the Mariannas. At last reports, an enemy concentration of six battleships, five carriers, twelve cruisers, and thirty destroyers was as- sembling in the Philippines and has been sighted by our submarines moving into the Philippine Sea. .Make no mis- take. e think the Japs are going to come out and fight this time. e are going to be ready for them. The Franklin, ith her escorts, will remain in reserve in the Eniwetok area, as reinforcements, until called upon. This is il. To the crew of officers and men. to helmsman and lookout. |)ilot and engineer, this w-as it; the first certain indication of where Big Ben might expect her entry into battle. Of course, the pattern might change, as so often it did change, but here was something more definite than mere scuttlebutt. On June 17th. the Franklin crossed the International Date Line, longitude loO degrees east. The calendar moved back one day; there were tuo Sundays in a row. Now the combat air patrol took to the ky: six Hellcat fighters to protect the little task group from a sur]jrise attack. Big Ben entered tlie circular lagoon of Eniwetok on June 21st. It was a dreary spot, but one of America ' s farthest out- posts, and had been in Japanese hands only three months before. Torn hulks of Japanese shi))s, rijiped to tatters by American steel and American courage, lay in the anchorage — mute but eloquent tribute to the American boys from all sections of the nation, who had splashed ashore to cut down the fanatical Imperial .Marines to the last man. There were also rusted helmets of American type; rows of lonely white crosses. Meanwhile, meager and delayed reports of the action on Saipan came in. Marines were hanging on; an Army divi- sion was ashore; Jap jdanes were coming in from Guam to attack the transports as they lay along the beachhead. Then word came that the Japanese Navy was steaming toward the scene. It was the job of Task Force Fifty-eight to see that it never got there. Four hundred miles from Saipan. the Japanese launched a cloud of dive-bombers and torpedo jdanes which — the Japs believed — would seal the issue. How Admiral Mitsch- er ' s fighters took care of this Oriental dream is a part of history, but Big Ben never got into this First Battle of the Philippine Sea, since the Japanese Navy did one of its famous vanishing acts after Mitscher ' s men had blasted down its air cover. Big Ben, like a substitute at a football game, was still sitting on the sidelines when orders came on June 29th to break the inaction. The Franklin was to join Hear Admiral Ralph E. Davison ' s Task Group 58.2, bound for Iwo Jima to maintain the enemy airfields and installa- tions in the Bonin Islands inoperative. She was to be in company with the carrier !T asp, the light carriers Monterey and Cabot, all escorted by the cruisers Boston, Canberra, and Scin Juan, with nine destroyers in the screen. The Bonins, only 600 miles south of Tokyo, were heavily patrolled and guarded. Their airfields were stepping-stones for the squadrons which might be flung into the desperate liattle that still raged on Saipan. By July 1st the task group was steaming through waters constantly patrolled by Jap search planes — snoopers, as ihey are called in Navy language. The American combat air patrols were doubled in strength and the radarmen never took their eyes from the screens that might disclose the ap- proach of a bogey. Since surprise is the essence of a carrier-borne attack, enemy search planes must be spotted and shot down before they could locate the task group and flash a warning to home bases. It was that afternoon when Big Ben ' s first casualty in combat zones saddened all hands. Lt. Clarence F. Kelly Blair, lanky, hard-flying leader of a division of the Thirteenth .Air Group, suddenly side-slipped and plunged into the sea as he attempted to land after a patrol. Neither plane nor pilot were seen again. The task group was only 400 miles from Iwo Jima on July 3rd when a long range Japanese search plane sneaked in low over the formation, dropped two bombs, which nar- rowly missed a destroyer, and fled. The plane was identi- fied as an Emily. a name well known to men who fought the Japs. Tyjjes of enemy aircraft were designated by girls ' or boys names — thus the Betty, Jack. Jill, Zeke, Frances and dozens of others. In the afternoon Admiral Davison decided the Japs might lie aware of his ajiproaching force and decided to do some- thing about it. Twenty Hellcats from the Wasp were flung across the remaining 300 miles to surprise the enemy on the ground and shoot up his planes. The fighters returned at sunset, reporting that they had knocked down a dozen Japs as they were taking ofl and had damaged many others on the ground. Through that night the group sped on toward the morn-

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' Hots ol Air Group 1 hirleen relax in the fighter ' s ready room . . . tomorrow will he a busy day . . . ing position. Attacks were to begin at dawn and Captain Shoemaker had promised the crew a Fourth of July cele- bration with fireworks aplenty at the expense of the little men who did not believe in independence. Bib Ben. named for one of .A.merica ' s greatest leaders, was to see her first action against an enemy of her country on Independence Day! The captain ' s promise was fulfilled. All day strikes roared from the flight decks of the four carriers in this con- centrated attack on Iwo Jima. Chichi Hima. and Ha Ha Jima. The enemy seemed stricken with paralysis. Hellcats shot down Zeros over their own airfields. Helldivers loosed tons of bombs on gun positions, airfields, hangars and bar- racks. Avengers roared in low over the coastline, dealing death to shipping with their torpedoes. Big Ben lost three good men on that flaming Fourth: Lt. (jg) Milton Bonar, from Akron. Ohio, was shot down by Jap flak. His gunner. .Albert D. Lowenthal. from Pulaski street in Baltimore, perished with him when the dive-bomber crashed into the sea. Later in the morning, a damaged Hellcat, missing the wire with its tailhook, crashed the bar- riers and careened into the island structure. The pilot, Lt. (jg) Davy Jones was seriously injured. Eighteen-year-old, blond Jimmy Mulligan, electrician ' s mate and movie oper- ator, was struck by the plane and instantly killed. Throughout the day the force steamed within sight of the islands. It withdrew that night and set a course for Guam. arriving off the northeast coast of that Jap-held island on the morning of July 6th. Guam was one of the four major Japanese bases in the Mariannas. Saipan, the main base, writhed helplessly as its garrison slowly died at the hands of .American soldiers and Marines. Rota. Tinian and Guam remained. They must be pounded to impotency from the air, their swarms of planes destroyed, their garrisons jirevented from aiding doomed Saipan. On William Day, July 21st. Guam itself would be invaded. Then, for the first time since December fj. IT illy Cove cuts his birthday c ' lk V en He