Franklin (CV 13) - Naval Cruise Book

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the last of eight Hellcats which had been launched during a previous alert when suddenly out of the twilight to the north, four Betties. medium land-plane bombers, appeared over the screening destroyers. Combat information center, busy track- ing another group, had not warned of these. Here they come! ' went the word through the gun sta- tions and about the decks. Here they come . . . A thunderous roar went up from the scores of flashing guns on Big Ben. But on the bridge, where quartermaster first class Mathias stood by the helm, the men who guided the Franklin moved with swift calculation, countering the moves of the attackers. The navigator, Comdr. Hale, stood on the port wing of the bridge, coolly scanning the skies to give warning of Japanese approaches from that side. Cap- tain Shoemaker, with no thought of personal safety, moved quickly between the exposed bridge and the helm, calling out orders that would save the carrier. They came in on the port side, hardly fifty feet above the water, at top speed. Every ship in the formation had them under fire. The first plane was broad on the port beam when Captain Shoemaker ordered Left, full rudder and Big Ben swung in toward the attack. Again and again the Betty was hit; flames poured from his fuselage as he closed the Frank- lin, but he launched his torpedo and roared in, trying to crash the ship. The fish missed Big Ben ' s stem by feet, thanks to the quick change of course. The plane struck on deck, just abaft the islatid structure, slid across the heavy planking and burst into flames as it rolled off the starboard side of the ship and fell into the water. Flaming gasoline deluged the Franklin s side and from the San Jacinto, astern, it looked as though the Jap had exploded aboard. By only a split hair had the Franklin missed a disastrous fire and many casualties. The second Betty also came in fast on the port quarter, with every gun on the Franklin and San Jacinto that could be brought to bear holding it under a murderous fire. Lt. A. J. Wliispering Death Pope, of Fighting Tliirteen — a boy from Atlanta, Ga. — had been circling to land, gas almost gone. Without hesitation he pulled up quickly, dove down through the bursting shells on the bomber and opened up with his six fifty-caliber machine guns. The Jap went blaz- ing into the water. Big Ben shared that one with Lt. Pope. The third torpedo plane came in well ahead of the Frank- lin and was shot down as it passed through the task group After prayers by shipmates the body of Harold C. Standi, AMMlc, killed in action October 13th, is committed to the deep

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torpedo bombers, s[)ent tbe night biokiiig for the Third Fleet. The Japanese radio, Tokyo Hose speaking, made dire |)redictions of the doom that was about to befall the rash American admirals and their reckless fleet. Night fighters took to the rain-swept sky above the blacked-out warships. Crystal ball gazers, like Lts. Ad Poat, Dave Dunlap, Bob Abell, George Cheney, with their hundreds of radarmen, joined with those others of the fleet ' s big CIC ' s, and took over the guard. ith all guns manned, the fleet waited through the night like a sprawling monster, ready to flare into action with the dawn. At sunrise hundreds of carrier planes were in the air. Men on the decks of Big Ben, men standing by their guns, men on every warship in the Third Fleet, watched the squadrons thunder off to the west and disappear. The harbors of Nansei Shota were full of Jap ships, try- ing desperately to get u]) steam and escape. Flak guns were furious in their defense. Hut nothing could stop the thunder- ing low-level attacks of the deadly eagles that had risen from the ashes of Pearl Harbor. Terrific explosions shook the island as ammunition dumps blew up. Walls of flame and smoke marked where fuel depots had stood. Blazing, sinking cargo ships and tankers dotted the harbor. But warbirds were falling, too. Lt. (jg) Joe Heinrich would never tramji his New York beat again. His Hellcat badly holed, he crash- landed at sea and was never located by his searching com rades. Lt. (jg) T. G. Norek, from the midwestern plains, and his gunner, Harry Steele, a Connecticut Yankee, died in their dive-bomber when it roared d(jwn through tiie flak to crash in flames. By nightfall a tliousand bombers, fighters, and tor|)edu planes from the carriers had pulverized Okinawa and its installations. Many days would pass before dangerous en- emy planes could fly from that quarter. That night, October lOth. the Japanese were out in force, dozens of bombers crossing and re-crossing the task groups. As they passed within range of the warships ' guns, hundreds of naval rifles and heavy machine guns would erupt in sheets of flame. Some Jap planes dropped torpedoes, all of which went wide of their mark. Others circled out of gun range. reporting the fleet ' s position, with Grumman fighters roaring through the darkness in pursuit. Task Group 38.4. with Big Ben in the lead, fueled at sea October 11th. then launched a blistering fighter sweep at Aparri seaplane base, on Luzon. All the Japanese planes found there were destroyed, along with their hangars. During that night there were few alarms, the Jap scouts seemingly having lost contact. By dawn the task groups were rejoined and the massed air squadrons left a trail of flame and de- struction the length and breadth of Formosa, untouched by war before this day. Now the first signs of organized opposi- tion appeared. A hundred Japanese aircraft, flying north- ward from Luzon to replace Formosa ' s decimated squadrons, were intercepted 70 miles away by twenty Hellcats of the patrol, guided from Big Ben by fighter director officer Bob Bruning. The Nips hardly put up a fight as the Hellcats ripped into them. For 25 miles the pursuit continued, the Japs drop|)ing one by one as the fight progressed, until the Hellcats had to turn back from over Formosa itself, as iheir gas became low. During the day squadrons of Japanese torpedo bombers came speeding out to attack. The cruiser Canberra was tor- pedoed and lay dead in the water. Few of the Japs returned to tell of this limited success, but on the Nip radio came fantastic claims of dozens of American warships being sent to the bottom. Fifteen carriers, exulted Tokyo Hose, a dozen battleships, had been sunk. 20,000 American sailors were struggling, drowning, in the cold waters off Formosa. The men of Big Ben grinned sardonically as they listened to these weird lies. All through that day, while the yellow war-lords made their boastful claims, carrier warj)lanes were heaping fire and destruction on the major bases that dotted Formosa. But Lt. K. J. ' eber ' s Helldiver did not come home to Big Ben that evening. Weber, a Loyola boy. from Chicago and his gunner. James L. Hall, of Augusta, Maine, were killed in action. And Ens. H. F. Bobby ' Jones, 21-year-old redhead from Climax, Ga.. with his guimers, Stanley P. Kajza, Wilkesboro, Pa., and Grier P. Osborne, of Peach Bottom, Pa., who had ]iut their .Avenger ' s torpedo squarely in the middle of a big Jap tanker, died when their plane exploded in mid-air. A heavy flak gun had made a direct hit. And the cruiser Houston, struck by a torpedo from a Betty, lay helpless in the water. After a heroic struggle by her crew she was taken in tow, and, with the Canberra, was proceeding slowly southward at two knots, with the small but mighty carrier Cahot standing guard. The Houston, built at .Newport News and completed only a week before the Franklin, had many a friend on Big Ben. October 13th. another day of continued heavy blows at the Jap defenses, dawned rainy and foggy, as miserable as the preceding days. But hunting was still good ashore. With the airfields and harbors in ruins, the bombers were directing iheir attentions to power plants, fuel depots, supply dumps. Thousands of tons of supplies, vital to the enemy war effort, darkened Formosa with a pall of smoke, faggots on the fu- neral pyre of an infamous nation. These were the signal fires to the hundreds of massed transports and LST ' s which were sailing froin Manus. destination: the Philippines. But two more of Big Ben ' s gallant fighters swirled down that day; Lt. (jgl Richard H. Moose Bridge, the tall boy with the three Air Medals, died in his Grumman fighter over For- mosa, and Lt. (jg) Joseph Kopman, handsome dark-haired fighter ]iilot. of Detroit. Michigan, did not return to Big Ben. There was little of the usual kidding ' in the fighter ready room that evening. Throughout Friday, Octolier 13th. enemy j)lanes attempt- ed to slip through the combat air patrol. Several were shot down, others driven away. In the evening, an hour befoie sunset, they commenced to gather in small groups, hiding in the lu ' a y banks of clouds, scattered low over the water. Through the drizzling rain patrol fighters searched for the enemy but he was hard to find, even with radars aid. Two grou])s of enemy planes, one in the clouds to the northeast and one in the clouds to the south, were about ten miles from the FranUin ' s group. M .S:00 p. m. the bugles called all hands to battle stations, but at 5:22 Admiral Davi- son secured all battle stations except the gunners when it appeared likely that the Ja])s would remain in the vicinity for hours. . t sunset, five minutes later, Big Ben was landing

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