World War II Carrier Air Group 13 had been established in November 1943 and embarked aboard
Franklin for war service.
Franklin steamed south to
Trinidad for a
shakedown and soon thereafter, she departed in
Task Group 27.7 (TG 27.7) for San Diego, to engage in intensive training exercises preliminary to combat duty. In June, she steamed via
Pearl Harbor for
Eniwetok Island where she joined TG 58.2.
Franklin served as the
flagship of Rear Admiral
Ralph E. Davison for most of her time in the western Pacific.
The Mariana and Palau Islands campaign On the last day of June 1944, she sortied for carrier strikes on the
Bonin Islands in support of the subsequent
Mariana Islands assault. Her planes destroyed aircraft on the ground and in the air, gun installations, airfield and enemy shipping. On 4 July, strikes were launched against
Iwo Jima,
Chichi Jima, and
Haha Jima, hitting ground targets, sinking a large cargo vessel in the harbor and setting three smaller ships on fire. On 6 July,
Franklin began strikes on
Guam and
Rota Island to soften them up for the invasion forces that were going to land on Guam, and those strikes continued until 21 July, when she lent direct support to enable safe landing of the
first assault waves. Two days of replenishment at
Saipan permitted her to steam in
Task Force 58 for photographic reconnaissance and air strikes against the islands of the
Palau Islands group. On 25 and 26 July, her planes struck enemy planes, ships, and ground installations.
Franklin departed on 28 July and headed for Saipan, and the following day she was shifted to TG 58.1. Although high seas prevented taking on a needed load of
bombs and
rockets,
Franklin steamed for another raid against the Bonins. On 4 August, her fighters attacked Chichi Jima and her dive bombers and torpedo planes attacked a ship convoy north of Ototo Jima. Targets included radio stations, a
seaplane base,
airstrips, and ships. A period of upkeep and recreation from 9–28 August ensued at Eniwetok before she departed with , and for neutralization and diversionary attacks against the Bonins. From 31 August to 2 September, strikes from
Franklin inflicted ground damage, sank two cargo ships, destroyed enemy planes in flight, and undertook photographic surveys. On 4 September 1944,
Franklin took on supplies at Saipan, and then she steamed in TG 38.1 for an attack against
Yap Island (3–6 September) which included direct air coverage of the
Peleliu invasion on the 15th. The Task Group took on supplies at
Manus Island from 21 to 25 September.
Franklin, now the flagship of TG 38.4, returned to the Palau area where she launched daily patrols and
night fighters.
Leyte Early on 14 September 1944, a fighter sweep was made against
Aparri,
Luzon, following which she steamed to the east of Luzon to neutralize installations prior to
invasion landings on Leyte. On 15 September,
Franklin was attacked by three enemy planes, one of which scored with a bomb that hit the after outboard corner of the deck edge
elevator, killing three men and wounding 22. As part of Task Force 38.4,
Franklin next sailed northwest to participate in the
Formosa Air Battle from 12 to 16 October, where the U.S. Navy needed to destroy multiple Japanese air bases that controlled airspace from the Philippines to Okinawa to the southern Home Islands. No invasion of Luzon could take place until this Japanese air power was neutralized. On 13 October a Japanese Betty bomber aircraft was shot down, and attempted to kamikaze into
Franklin. It did some damage to the flight deck, but slid off the starboard side of the ship. Following this action,
Franklin moved into support for the invasion of the Philippines. The carrier's aircraft hit
Manila Bay on 19 October when her planes sank and damaged ships and boats, destroyed a
floating drydock, and claimed 11 Japanese aircraft. s'', 30 October 1944 During the initial landings on
Leyte (20 October)
Franklins aircraft attacked surrounding airstrips and launched search patrols in anticipation of the approach of a reported enemy attack force. On the morning of 24 October, in the
Battle of the Sibuyan Sea, her planes formed part of the waves that attacked the Japanese First Raiding Force (under
Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita), helping to sink south of Luzon, damage and , and sink . As further enemy threats seemed to materialize in another quarter,
Franklin – with TGs 38.4, 38.3, and 38.2 – sped to intercept the advancing Japanese carrier force and attack at dawn. The distant carrier force was actually a sacrificial feint, as by that time the Japanese were almost out of serviceable airplanes and, even more importantly, very short on trained pilots, but the admiral in charge,
William Halsey, took the bait and steamed after them without effectively communicating his intentions, leading to the infamous "
the world wonders" communications debacle.
Franklins strike groups combined with those from the other carriers on 25 October in the
Battle off Cape Engaño to damage (she would be sunk by American cruiser gunfire subsequently) and sink . Retiring in her task group to refuel, she returned to the Leyte action on 27 October, her planes concentrating on a
heavy cruiser and two destroyers south of
Mindoro. She was under way about off
Samar on 30 October, when enemy bombers appeared bent on a suicide mission. Navy fighters shot down most of the Japanese planes, but six broke through the combat air patrol into
Franklins task group of four carriers defensively surrounded by a circle of about twenty escorting
cruisers and
destroyers. Shipboard anti-aircraft guns shot down three of the four
kamikazes independently diving toward each of the four carriers; but the one targeting
Franklin hit the
flight deck and crashed through to the gallery deck, killing 56 men and wounding 60. As the remaining two
kamikazes attacked, one was shot down by anti-aircraft guns and the second missed
Franklin with two bombs before flying into the stern
Franklin was able to extinguish fires and patch the flight deck so planes could be recovered 76 minutes after the
kamikaze hit.
Franklin departed from
Bremerton on 2 February 1945 for training exercises and pilot qualification operations. After a stop for provisions, she departed from Pearl Harbor on 3 March 1945 to join TG 58.2 for strikes on the Japanese homeland in support of the
Okinawa landings. On board were RADM Davison in command of the task group, RADM
Gerald F. Bogan en route to take command of Carrier Division 4 and CAPT
Arnold J. Isbell en route to take command of . On 15 March, she rendezvoused with TF 58 units, and three days later launched sweeps and strikes against
Kagoshima and
Izumi on southern
Kyūshū. A single
Yokosuka D4Y "Judy" dive bomber approached
Franklin without being detected by radar. As
Franklin was about halfway through launching a second wave of strike aircraft, the Japanese dive bomber pierced the cloud cover and dropped two semi-armor-piercing bombs before the ship's anti-aircraft gunners could fire. The damage analysis came to the conclusion that the bombs were . One bomb struck the flight deck centerline, penetrating to the
hangar deck, causing destruction and igniting fires through the second and third decks, and knocking out the
combat information center and
air plot. The second hit aft, tearing through two decks. At the time she was struck,
Franklin had 31 armed and fueled aircraft warming up on her flight deck, and these planes caught fire almost immediately. The 13 to 16 tons of high explosives aboard these planes soon began detonating progressively, and although "
Tiny Tim" air-to-surface rockets were loaded aboard
Vought F4U Corsairs, their three-point, nose up attitude allowed most of the rockets to fly overboard when their motors ignited. and suggested abandoning ship, but Gehres refused to scuttle the
Franklin as there were still many men alive below deck. The other destroyers fell in astern of the carrier to rescue members of the crew who had been blown overboard, or jumped off to avoid the fire. Some of the destroyers put their bows against the side of the burning carrier to take off men trapped by the fire. When totaling casualty figures for both
Franklin cruises numbers increase to 926 killed in action, the worst for any surviving U.S. warship and second only to that of battleship . Certainly, the casualty figures would have far exceeded this number, but for the work of many survivors. Among these were the
Medal of Honor recipients Lieutenant Commander
Joseph T. O'Callahan, the warship's Catholic chaplain, who administered the
last rites, organized and directed firefighting and rescue parties, and led men below to wet down magazines that threatened to explode; and also
Lieutenant Junior Grade Donald A. Gary, who discovered 300 men trapped in a blackened mess compartment and, finding an exit, returned repeatedly to lead groups to safety. Gary later organized and led fire-fighting parties to battle fires on the hangar deck and entered the No. 3 fireroom to raise steam in one boiler.
Santa Fe rescued crewmen from the sea and approached
Franklin to take off the numerous wounded and nonessential personnel. Among those evacuated were the surviving members of the embarked
Air Group 5, who were deemed nonexpendable. 32 Corsair fighters, 15
Grumman TBM Avenger torpedo bombers, 7
Curtiss SB2C Helldiver dive bombers, and 5
Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters, 59 planes total, were destroyed by the Japanese attack. The casualty count for
Franklin varies from source to source as some do not include air group personnel or Marines, passengers who were in transit, a journalist, or those who died from their wounds much later. In
History of United States Naval Operations in World War II,
Samuel Eliot Morison gives figures of 724 killed and 265 wounded for 19 March 1945. Joseph A. Springer, citing "official statistics," gives higher numbers of 807 killed and at least 487 wounded.
Franklin suffered the most severe damage and highest casualties experienced by any U.S. fleet carrier that survived World War II. In addition to the Medals of Honor for Donald Gary and Joseph O'Callahan and the posthumous Navy Cross for George Fox, 21 additional Navy Crosses and 26
Silver Stars were awarded as a result of actions that day. Among these were a gold star in lieu of a third Navy Cross for Commander (later Rear Admiral) Joseph F. "Joe" Taylor, the ship's executive officer and a former torpedo bomber pilot, and Navy Crosses for Captain (later Rear Admiral) Harold C. Fitz, the
Santa Fe commander, Commander
Stephen Jurika, the
Franklin navigator and also a former torpedo bomber pilot, Lieutenant Commander (later Rear Admiral) Dwight L. Johnson, the
Miller commander, and Lieutenant
Fred R. "Red" Harris, a
Franklin flight deck officer and a member of the
Texas Legislature both before and after the war. Among those who received Silver Stars were Lieutenant Grimes W. Gatlin, the ship's other chaplain and a
Methodist minister, and Donald H. Russell, a civilian Corsair technical support engineer.
Franklin, like many other wartime ships, had been modified with additional armament, requiring larger crews and substantial ammunition stocks. Aircraft were both more numerous and heavier than originally planned for, and thus the flight deck had been strengthened. The aircraft carrier, therefore, displaced more than originally planned, her freeboard was reduced, and her
stability characteristics had been altered.
Santa Fe came alongside
Franklin to spray water from fire hoses over the fire as she received stretcher cases and ambulatory wounded from the carrier. The enormous quantities of water poured aboard her to fight the fires further reduced freeboard, which was exacerbated by a 15-degree list to starboard, and her stability was seriously impaired such that her survival was in jeopardy. Pumping ballast to correct the starboard list caused a 15-degree list to port.
Pittsburgh towed
Franklin at for the remaining daylight hours. After six hours, with the fire finally under control such that the ship could be saved, men returned to the engineering spaces and got underway at with only two of the four
screws driving.
Franklins planes which had been in the air when the carrier was hit landed aboard the other carriers in the task group, although it was necessary to push some planes overboard to make room for them. After temporary repairs were completed, the ship continued its journey through the
Panama Canal to the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, where she arrived on 28 April 1945. She had to steam to the East Coast of the United States for repairs in New York because all of the repair shipyards on the West Coast were heavily overloaded with American warships that had been damaged by Japanese
kamikazes. Despite severe damage,
Franklin was eventually restored to good condition. The story of this aircraft carrier's near-destruction and salvage was chronicled in the wartime documentary,
The Saga of the Franklin (1945), and the 2011 documentary,
USS Franklin: Honor Restored.
Post-war Franklin received four
battle stars for her World War II service. The Navy initially sold
Franklin to the Peck Iron and Metal Company of
Portsmouth, Virginia, but reclaimed her because of an urgent Bureau of Ships requirement for her four
turbo generators. She was again sold for
scrap to the Portsmouth Salvage Company of
Chesapeake, Virginia, on 27 July 1966. She departed naval custody under tow (by the Red Star Towing Company) on the evening of 1 August 1966. == Awards ==