USS Franklin (CV-13)

USS Franklin (CV-13)
Ship name	USS Franklin (CV-13)
Caption	Franklin underway in 1944
Operator	United States Navy
Builder	New York Naval Shipyard
Laid down	July 1942
Launched	18 October 1943
Commissioned	31 January 1944
Decommissioned	27 February 1947
Fate	Sold for scrap, 1966
Class	Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	27,100 long tons (standard)
Length	872 ft 3 in (overall)
Beam	93 ft 1 in (waterline)
Propulsion	Steam turbines; Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Speed	33 knots
Complement	~2,400 officers and enlisted
Armament	5 in/38 cal guns; 40 mm Bofors; 20 mm Oerlikon
Aircraft carried	~90–100 (varied)

USS Franklin (CV-13)

USS Franklin (CV-13) was an Essex-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy that served in the Pacific War during World War II. Commissioned in 1944, Franklin participated in carrier operations including air strikes, force protection, and fleet actions before suffering catastrophic damage from enemy attack near Japan in March 1945. Despite severe losses, crew and embarked personnel conducted extraordinary damage control, and the ship returned to the United States under her own power. Franklin's story intersects with major figures and events of the late Pacific conflict and American naval aviation history.

Design and Construction

Designed as part of the Essex-class aircraft carrier program, Franklin was laid down at the New York Naval Shipyard in Brooklyn, New York during the Naval Expansion Act mobilization following Pearl Harbor attack. The class design drew on lessons from the Yorktown-class aircraft carrier and emphasized armored flight decks, substantial aircraft complement capacity, and enhanced antiaircraft battery arrangements influenced by combat experience in the Battle of the Coral Sea, Battle of Midway, and Guadalcanal Campaign. Propulsion arrangements used geared steam turbines with boilers by Babcock & Wilcox to achieve speeds comparable to Fast Carrier Task Force requirements established by Admiral Ernest King and operational concepts promulgated by Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Construction incorporated wartime advances in radar sets such as SC radar and SK radar installations and improvements in damage control layout informed by officers from Naval War College studies.

Commissioning and Early Service

Commissioned on 31 January 1944 under the command of Captain James F. Hynes (later Captain Leslie E. Gehres), Franklin completed shakedown and carrier qualification operations off the Atlantic Fleet before transit to the Pacific Fleet. Early service included aircraft embarkation involving squadrons flying F6F Hellcat, SB2C Helldiver, and TBM Avenger types from units such as VF-9, VB-9, and VT-9. Franklin integrated into Task Force 58 and trained for carrier strike missions coordinated with carriers like USS Essex (CV-9), USS Intrepid (CV-11), and USS Enterprise (CV-6). During this period Franklin’s air group practiced air superiority and close air support profiles relevant to planned operations in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and anticipated strikes on the Japanese home islands.

World War II Operations

Franklin joined Third Fleet carrier operations under Admiral William Halsey Jr. and engagements led by Admiral Marc Mitscher in 1944–1945. Her air group supported raids on Formosa, Luzon, and the Philippines during the Philippines campaign (1944–45), contributing to interdiction of airfields and shipping, and providing combat air patrols for the fast carrier task groups. Franklin participated in strikes against Iwo Jima preparatory operations and sorties against maritime targets in the East China Sea. Her operations intersected with major naval actions including the Battle of Leyte Gulf logistics and follow-on raids preceding Okinawa campaign preparations. Aircrews claimed enemy aircraft, shipping, and land targets while cooperating with escort carriers like USS Bataan (CVL-29) and fleet carriers like USS Hancock (CV-19), sustaining tempo-intensive flight operations that taxed maintenance and ordnance logistics managed via Service Force, United States Pacific Fleet.

Kamikaze Attack and Damage (30 March 1945)

On 30 March 1945, while operating within striking distance of Honshū during raids on the Japanese home islands, Franklin was struck twice by two single-engine A6M Zero aircraft acting as suicide attackers in events widely described as part of the kamikaze campaign instituted by Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. The first impact and subsequent fuel/ordnance explosions caused catastrophic fires across Franklin’s flight and hangar decks, detonating stored bombs and fueled aircraft in a rapid conflagration. Senior officers and enlisted damage-control parties executed extensive firefighting, jettison, and salvage actions despite ongoing detonations; leaders involved included medical and rescue personnel as well as commanding staff linked to Carrier Division 2 and task-group command structures. The attack resulted in one of the highest casualty tallies aboard any U.S. carrier: hundreds killed and wounded, including injured aviators and support crew from embarked squadrons, and necessitated towing and escort by destroyers and support vessels such as USS Pittsburgh (CA-72) and USS Santa Fe (CL-60). Navy court of inquiry and public reporting later examined tactical circumstances, damage-control performance, and the interaction of fuel/ordnance storage policies with ship survivability.

Repairs, Decommissioning, and Later Fate

After emergency at-sea survival measures and an escorted voyage to Ulithi Atoll and then to the United States, Franklin underwent temporary and then permanent repairs, including work at Naval Shipyard, Philadelphia and other yards equipped for carrier restoration. The ship was deemed repairable to return to service but the war’s end and postwar drawdown under policies administered by the Chief of Naval Operations and influenced by the Naval Appropriations Act curtailed full combat reactivation. Franklin was decommissioned on 27 February 1947 and entered the Atlantic Reserve Fleet before administrative transfer and ultimate striking from the Naval Vessel Register. In 1966 she was sold for scrap and dismantled under contracts managed by shipbreaking firms in the postwar industrial conversion era, closing a life cycle that had connected Franklin to wartime industrial mobilization at facilities like Bethlehem Steel and postwar demobilization programs.

Legacy and Honors

Franklin’s extraordinary survival and the heroism of her crew earned recognition through awards such as the Presidential Unit Citation and multiple campaign medals tied to the Pacific Theater. The ship’s ordeal influenced postwar naval architecture discussions on armor, magazine layout, firefighting systems, and carrier damage-control doctrine adopted by institutions like the Naval War College and U.S. Naval Institute. Franklin figures in popular memory through accounts by survivors, histories published by authors affiliated with Naval Historical Center collections, and portrayals in documentaries examining kamikaze impacts and carrier warfare in the late Pacific War. Her name and story are commemorated at museums and memorials honoring World War II sailors, aviators, and shipyard workers who contributed to the United States naval victory in the Pacific.

Category:Essex-class aircraft carriers Category:Ships built in Brooklyn Category:World War II aircraft carriers of the United States