EPIC OF NAVAL WARFARE

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23205, 19 May 1945, Page 5

EPIC OF NAVAL WARFARE

U.S. Carrier A Raging Inferno Towed From Shores Of Japan By Telegraph—N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright NEW YORK, May 17. Japanese bombs which struck the huge Essex class carrier Franklin on March 19 within six miles of the southern coast of Japan caused one of the most appalling losses of life in the naval history of America, writes Mr Alvin McCoy, representing the Combined American Press. The Franklin's own 100 tons of bombs and tens of thousands of gallons of octane petrol were blasted and set fire to the ship for hours. She suffered 341 dead and 431 missing, more than 300 wounded —more than one third of her total complement—in blazing, agonising hours. She was attacked five times more by divebombers as she steamed toward Japan, completely out of control. There were scenes of indescribable horror aboard the Franklin. Men were blown from the deck into the sea and burned in a series of white-hot flashes. Others were trapped by flames or suffocated by the smoke below decks. Scores were drowned. Others were torn to pieces by jagged chunks of shrapnel. Mr McCoy says: “I was a dazed survivor of the holocaust only because I was breakfasting in an undamaged area. The rescue of the crippled carrier, towed flaming and smoking from the very shores of Japan, and the saving of 800 men fished out of the sea by protecting destroyers and cruisers will be an epic of naval warfare. The Franklin was all but abandoned, but the actual order never came. The sole decision rested with Captain Leslie Dehres, whose faith held fast. The air group and 1500 of the crew were transferred to the light cruiser Santa Fe, leaving about 700 of a skeleton crew aboard. Those of the Franklin’s planes already aloft at the time of attack landed safely on other carriers.” Crowded With Planes The Franklin was part of the fast carrier task force operating against remnants of the Japanese fleet in the Inland Sea. The attack took place between 7 and 8 pm., when the Franklin’s deck was crowded with Corsairs, Hell-Divers, and Avengers, each loaded with bombs ready to take off. “One of the crew told me (says the correspondent) that a Japanese plane dived from the clouds at an angle of 30 degrees, made a perfect bomb run, skimmed about 100 feet above the deck and dropped two 500-lb armourpiercing bombs, scoring direct hits. One exploded beneath the flight deck and the other in the hangar deck where additional planes, fuelled and armed, were waiting to be taken to the flight deck. The air group commander of the Franklin himself shot down the pilot of an attacking plane, but bomb hits started a train of fires and explosions which rended the tortured vessel for hours. Explosion after explosion followed the initial blasts. Large bombs exploded and hurled men and planes the length of the ship. The small bombs, rockets, and machine-gun ammunition killed dozens who survived the major explosions. Aviation petrol poured over the sides of the deck like a blazing Niagara. Citations for Heroism Tire hangar deck became a raging, exploding inferno, snuffling out the lives of practically every man working on the planes. There probably will be no greater story written of individual bravery in this war than those of the men who, having .survived the bursting bombs and blazing petrol, declined to abandon ship, and finally brought the carrier through, battle-scarred and flame-seared on every inch of her upper decks. Those specially cited for heroism included the ship's chaplain (Lieuten-ant-Commander Joseph O’Callahan), described by one of the ship’s officers “as the bravest man I ever saw.” O’Callahan first moved around the burning slanting exposed flight-deck administering the last rites. Then he led officers and men into the flames to jettison hot bombs and shells. He then recruited a damage-control party and led it to one of the main ammunition magazines to wet it down to prevent its exploding. “The crew were not at battle stations because no Japanese planes were reported in the vicinity. The men were dog-tired after a night of constant alarms and had been released to go to breakfast. One of the tragedies was the long line of men waiting to enter

the messroom, all killed instantly. The bodies were almost unrecognisable. Even identification discs melted while the survivors were battling to keep the Franklin afloat. Men -were still dying in terrific explosions that periodically convulsed the ship. t Dive-bombers Attack Meanwhile Japanese dive-bombers attacked the Franklin but the bombs fell wide. Three planes were shot down. The wholesale evacuation of the Franklin began at 10 aun. when the cruiser Santa Fa drew alongside. The operations were Interrupted when one of the Franklin’s gun mounts caught fire and threatened to explode. Later, when the Santa Fe’s mission of mercy was completed, survivors of the Franklin’s air-group were ordered to leave the ship. Early in the afternoon after the fires were under control, the Franklin was taken in tow by the heavy cruiser Pittsburg. Next day the Franklin’s engines were partially repaired and worked up to a speed of 23 knots under her own power. On the following day 300 of her crew were returned from other vessels and the Franklin headed for home. The Franklin was known to the crew as Big Ben. She was commissioned on January 31, 1944. and was the flagship of Admiral Mitscher s task force. She is at present undergoing repairs at Brooklyn Navy Yard.