Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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August 5th, 1944 . . . It cost American lives to destroy these Japanese ships in Chichi Jima Harbor convoy, but only one bomb hit was registered on this flight. At -i p. m. a third strike of forty planes went out, deter- mined to draw blood. This attack was well-planned and perfectly coordinated. The fighters strafed three destroyers, two of which blew up and sank. The third stopped dead in the water, on fire. The dive-bombers left two cargo ships burning. Nine torpedo planes attacked and registered nine hits out of nine torpedoes dropped. Four big cargo ships sank beneath the waves. Flying conditions were bad, making further flights too hazardous. During the night cruisers and destroyers of Franklin s screen raced ahead and finished off the convoy. Of 18 to 20 Japanese ships, only one old-type destroyer may have escaped. Though it had been a bad day for the enemy, there were several sadly empty seats at Big Ben s mess tables that night. Ens. Roger . L ' Estrange. the laughing boy whose brother was a major of Marines fighting on Guam, crashed in the ocean after his Hellcat had been struck by flak from the Jap- anese destroyers. Lt. Ancil C. Hudson, who had left his wife and year-old daughter in Kentucky, failed to return from the last strike. The right wing of his Hellcat was blown off by flak and the plane dove into the sea. Six strikes were scheduled against Chichi Jima for August 5th, a day that brought dismal flying weather. At dawn, twenty-five Hellcats, Helldivers and Avengers took off from the rain-drenched flight deck. They left three cargo ships sinking in the harbor and strafed another, ten miles to the west. A special search group that day, flying toward Japan. 500 miles north, located new targets. Comdr. Dick Kibbe. in his Helldiver. escorted by Ens. R. F. Moose Bridge, in his Grumman, met and bracketed a Betty bomber, 240 miles from Tokyo, and shot it down. Returning, this pair also sank three landing craft, bearing troo])s from Japan to Two Jima. The radio station on Muko Island was knocked out by another team. But two of Big Ben ' s planes did not return. Lt. Comdr. C. B. Holstrom. from Washington state, a graduate of An- napolis and the executive officer of his squadron, together with his gunner, Walter J. Brooks, Jr., from 41st street, in New York, were plunged in their Helldiver into Chichi Jima Harbor by A. fire. Lt. (jg) H. F. McCue ' s torpedo plane, with aircrewmen Hevey and Robinette aboard, crash-landed in the sea after being hit by flak. The words missing in action were written alongside the names of these shipmates, although covering fighters reported that a rescue submarine had headed in their direction. Nearly two months later Lt. McCue was returned aboard. But alter D. Hevey, a ankee from the hills of North Attleboro. Mass.. and his comrade. Ralph T. Robinette, a lad with the Southern drawl of North Carolina, died in action that day. Heavy weather made further flights impracticable so the task group set its course southward for Eniwetok. Three small Japanese vessels blundered into the force through the fog. Two destroyers of the screen took them under fire and they sank at once, hardly a mile from Big Ben. No prison- ers were obtained. In the afternoon an Emily was chased in the direction of the formation by the combat air patrol. As the Jap came out of the clouds Big Ben ' s gunners, and every gun in the fleet, opened up. Due to poor visibility some gun crews were firing at one of the friendly fighters. In the confusion the Ja]) fled into the clouds and the Hellcat crashed in the sea. Happily the pilot was soon rescued, uninjured, and a few minutes later the Emily was shot down by an alerted plane of the air patrol. Early in the morning of August 8th, the task group arrived in Eniwetok lagoon, after more than a month of combat operations. Big Ben, along with the other carriers, cruisers and destroyers of the group, received this climactic dispatch from .Admiral Clark: We are at the end of a long and arduous cruise. In the campaign of the Mariannas many damaging blows have been struck at the enemy. It is with great pride that I can tabu- late the record of the Task Group 58.1 as having contributed its full share. To all hands: Well Done!

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This damaged Hellcat came ba-ck jrom Chichi Jinui August Sth. a tribute to the American uorkmen who built it and to the American boy who flew it . . . Lt. (jg) Joseph W iednuin ' eathei- at the aiicliorage was foul, but forty sacks ol mail from home did manage to come aboard. Now, after weeks of waiting, Ed Pyktel, S2c, would find out whether or not he was father of twins; and Durrance, CSF; Hasiuk. Sic; Messick, S2c; Lange, ACMM; Ellis, MM2; Meade. CMM; Harvey, EM3c; Russell, SK2c; Rose, EM3c; Pay Clerk Fowler and Lt. D. S. Smith all awaited mail call for a favorable report on the boys they were expecting. Meade and Messick alone drew girls, hut their relief was just as apparent, their smiles were just as high, wide and handsome, and their delivery of cigars just as graceful and earnest as the other chest-expanding papas. Now came the mission, after the weather had cleared and loading was completed. Big Ben joined her comrades: the carrier Hornet, flagship; the light carrier afco ,- the crusiers Santa Fe, Mobile, Biloxi and Oakland. In the screen steamed twelve destroyers; valiant workhorses of the fleet, deserving more than honorable mention. Tlie Maury, Craven, Gridley, Helm, McCall. hard. Cahrette, Bell, Burns, Boyd, Bradford and Brown filled the dangerous stations on the outer circle. The force sped for the Bonins. and for the second time within a month, enemy search planes failed to detect a pow- erful carrier force approaching the islands. At 9:30 the morning of August 4th, a powerful fighter sweep again sur- prised the Japs. ])rowled about on reconnaissance, strafed shipping and airfields, played havoc in general, mostly without effective opposition. A Japanese convoy of five large cargo vessels, eight to ten barges and luggers, with an escort of four or five destroyers, was discovered steaming northward for the mainland of Japan, near the island of Ototo Jima. There were also seven or eight large cargo ships in the harbor of Futami Ko. at Chichi Jima. A light cruiser was underway, leaving the harbor. Thirty-five of Big Ben ' s pbuies took immediate flight and tore into the cruiser and the shi|xs in the harbor. Ens. Jack Kehoe registered a damaging hit on the cruiser ' s bridge, despite the vessel ' s frantic defensive maneuvers. Other ves- sels were left burning. Hurriedly twenty more j)lancs, half of them dive-bomber.s. thundered from Big Ben ' s flight deck in swift pursuit of the

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C H A P T E R S I X ... Guam wds a push-over. I iuess — e.xcc il llicrr ' s a lot of Marines ivJio will he staying there, li e ' re a flighting ship now; our planes have made the .laps plenty mad. Tokyo Hose has Jiad us sunk four times; we ' ve even had a Hell Done from our allies, the Army! Now we have another side trip to make back to Iwo. then an excursion planned for Palau, then a stop-over at Yap . . . and then . . . I ' m due for a haircut on the equator! BIG BEN ' S WAR IN THE CAROLINES Emwetok ' s anchorage was a sight every good American should liave seen. A thousand men of war were anchored in its wide bhie basin. Half a dozen heavy carriers, as many more light carriers, divisions of battleships and cruis- ers, transports, destroyers, and ships of the train contributed to this nautical beehive; a constant interweaving stream of boats plied the water on ship ' s business. Now, at last, there was time to overhaul Bia; Hen ' s hard- worked equipment. It was a busy time for engineers, radio technicians, gunners, electricians, mechanics, fire control- men. The planes of Air Group Thirteen had been landed on the island and were being serviced there by their own mechanics. Badly damaged and missing aircraft were re- placed from the pool of new and refitted planes. The sup- ply department was restocking from the Service Force ' s supply barges. The few rejiairs which could not be made -; If i t l crt of Big Ben atid otltcr sliips oj the l- ' Icii on the hcadi at Riinil Ishind. EniufloL. In the background Japanese ainnninition ship. Anirriran iiarsliips are (inchored in the liigoon is a wrecked