Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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An Avenger takes a wave-off ed; the fueling depot could fill a fleet ' s oil tanks; modern piers were flanked by warehouses on the jungle ' s edge. A huge recreation park was waiting for the men of the fleet, and the beer ration was limited only by the five hours allowed to consume it. Saxie Dowell ' s band, at home under the eucalyptus trees and alien sky, made many new friends as Big Ben ' s men mingled with lads from other ships to swap yarns of battle, meet old shipmates, talk of home. There were odd reunions — Lt. (jg) Joe Heinrich, one-time Bronx cop, of Fighting Thirteen, met two fliers from other squadrons and in exchanging reminiscences learned that of the twenty-five fledgling pilots who came through Pensacola together three years before, they were the only ones alive. The others had smashed up in operational accidents, or fallen to flak over enemy targets. At Manus, Comdr. Day received a long-due promotion to the rank of Captain and was detached to command a new es- cort carrier. Comdr. Benjamin Moore, who had been Navi- gator since the commissioning, became Executive Officer. Comdr. Day had worked hard to make Big Ben a fine fight- ing machine ; Comdr. Benny Moore was a fitting relief. The L.S.E. — Little Short Exec, as he came to be affectionately known, was admired and regarded as a personal friend by Here too, there was time for a jew quiet moments in the library

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CHAPTER SEVEN they ' re good, alright, but not good enough; uc took everything they could throw at us, then threw it right back. I heard Pee Gee Minkten say the Coral Sea scrap seemed like a one-ring circus to him now. We had some more prisoners aboard; crew of a bomber we shot down. One of them jumped over the side, but swimming was mighty poor that day. dont knoiv, but when I look at this gang I ' m ivith I wouldn ' t trade them for tdl the banzai boys in the ivorld. I ' d hate to be on the other side ... IN THE PHILIPPINE SEA Seadlf.r Bay. named after tlie German raider of World War I, is on the large island of Manus, in the Admiralties, and is one of the hest harbors in the world. Big Ben, with the warships of Task Group 38.4. anchored there four days. Every moment was used to advantage, taking aboard fuel. food, and a cargo of explosive consigned to the Japanese. This was September, 1944, and Manus was being develoj)- ed into a springboard for the battle-hardened divisions of MacArthur ' s Sixth Army, a base for amjihiliious assault. A floating drydock and repair shop that could make emer- gency repairs to the largest warship were ready for service. The base hosjiital would accommodate ten thousand wound- Murderer ' s Ron , hey called il . . . Manus Harbor, with six big Essex cl ass laltops anchored there

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evi ' iy mail on tlie lli|). (idiiidr. Ilalc now liciaiiif the na i- gator. Scjitcniber 21tli, 19 11-, l car Adiiiiial Davisoirs task group, with Franklin llagslii)) and guide, set its course to tlie northwest and the I ' alau group. lUithi antl llie key ( aroline islands had fallen, though fanatical .laps still hung on at Moody I ' elelieu. The stage was set for a mighty scene in the I ' acific drama. Through the air. like the voice of doom, hack over the bloody years since dark Bataan. a knell souniled lor the treacherous, cruel Japanese: 1 shall return . . . A vision of licarded. gaunt weary men. .standing unafraid, wreathed in the last grey smoke of Corregidors guns, spurred on the avengers. Every mati on Big Ben was jnoud to l)e there for his |)art in the Liberation of the Philippines. To make secure the beachheads that would be established on Leyte the Third Heet must drive into the strongest bases of the P mpire — into the jaws of the heaviest trap the Japs could close. From Okinawa, on the door-sill of Ja|)an. to powerful Formosa, south through Luzon, hundreds of air bases must be crushed into helplessness. The Imperial Navy must be smashed if it tried to interfere. For a week in the storm-swept seas east of Palau. Big Bens group awaited a rendezvous with the two other sections of the Third Fleet. Lo ng range enemy search planes flew out to reconnoiter. The combat air ])alrol ke])t the skies cease- lessly, ignoring the hazardous flying weather. One patrol of three fighters Hew into a heavy squall; two fighters came ihrough. Ho|)elessly the search planes scoured the area, but no trace of Lt. Wade H. W ' inecofT, a country boy from North (Carolina, was ever found. (Phasing a ' bandit through the murky night, Lt. Benny Miles, of Medina. N. Y., and bis Jajianese quarry suddenly disappeared I rum the radar screens while 60 miles to the southwest, over the stormy. Iilacked-oul ocean. Though John X ineger called tirelessly through the static and search ))lanes combed the area at dawn, no word was ever heard of night fighter I?enny Miles nor of the Jaj). After a week of this depressing wait orders came to move northward. On the tail of a typhoon raging toward Formosa and Okinawa, Admiral William Halsey was preparing to take the seven Essex class carriers, the ten light carriers, seven fast battleships, twenty-five cruisers and a hundred destroyers of his Third Fleet into the teeth of Japan ' s mili- tary might and strike the inner bases of the Empire. Nine thousand miles from the Third Fleet ' s homeland, in wateis Another combat photo from one of Big Bens planes . . . Okinawa