Franklin lived a short but eventful life, joining the Pacific Fleet in mid-1944.
Franklin was the first fleet carrier to absorb a
direct strike from a Japanese kamikaze, in the aftermath of the Battle of Leyte Gulf in October 1944. But the flattop was to endure its
worst trial in March 1945, while operating with Task Force 58 off the Japanese seacoast.
Seldom does your humble scribe come away incensed from reading history. The saga of the World War II aircraft carrier USS
Franklin (CV-13) constitutes an exception. We normally think of
Franklin’s history as a parable about the importance of shipboard firefighting and damage control. It’s about materiel and methods, in other words. And these things are important without a doubt. Fighting ships are metal boxes packed with explosives and flammables. Suppressing fire represents a crucial function, which is why the first thing a new sailor does after reporting aboard is qualify in rudimentary damage control.
Bad captains can have a large impact on operations.
Here s What You Need to Remember: No bad deed went unrewarded in the case of Leslie Gehres. The navy whitewashed his misdeeds. He was decorated with the Navy Cross, its loftiest award for martial valor, and ultimately promoted to a rear admiral.
Seldom does your humble scribe come away incensed from reading history. The saga of the World War II aircraft carrier USS
Franklin (CV-13) constitutes an exception. We normally think of
Franklin’s history as a parable about the importance of shipboard firefighting and damage control. It’s about materiel and methods, in other words. And these things are important without a doubt. Fighting ships are metal boxes packed with explosives and flammables. Suppressing fire represents a crucial function, which is why the first thing a new sailor does after reporting aboard is qualify in rudimentary damage control.
The USS Franklin was not a lucky ship.
Here s What You Need to Remember: Throughout the saga of the ship’s return, however, Gehres, the disciplinarian, complained loudly about those crewmen who had left the ship during the disaster either consciously or unconsciously, men who had been blown overboard or had jumped as the flames approached them. “No order was issued to abandon ship,” he said.
The USS Franklin was not a lucky ship.
In March 1945, off the Japanese mainland, the Essex-class aircraft carrier was hit by two 550-pound bombs that struck her flight deck and penetrated into the hangar deck. Less than six months earlier, a kamikaze had hit her off Leyte in the Philippines, killing or wounding 120 members of her crew.