There Were Heroes By The Hundreds: Attack on the USS Franklin

On the morning of March 19, 1945, John “Jack” Hensel, from Utica, New York,  a 20-year-old turret gunner on a TBM Avenger torpedo bomber, went to his torpedo bomber squadron’s ready room to be briefed on his next mission.¹ His ship The USS Franklin, an Essex-class carrier, was within one hour’s flying time of nearly all Japanese naval bases in southern Japan.²  She was one of 15 carriers in Task Force 58 whose multi-day mission was to attack airfields on the Japanese island of Kyushu and those Imperial Japanese Navy ships berthed at Kure, near Hiroshima. She served as the flagship of one of four four-carrier Task Groups, 58.2, led by Rear Admiral Ralph Davison.³

Always hoping for the element of surprise, it was not to be on this mission. The Japanese spotted the Task Force as it approached Japan.

The element of surprise was not attained, enemy aircraft being active in the vicinity of the force from about 2200 17 March on, attacks, mostly single, were made on the various Task Groups at frequent intervals and many planes were shot down by the [Combat Air Patrol] CAP and AA fire.”⁴

ATTACK ON THE USS FRANKLIN

Hensel had participated in the previous day’s attacks against airfields in Southern Japan. His pilot was removed from flight status shortly after he arrived in his ready room. Another crew was assigned to his plane. He went up to the flight deck to watch his squadron take off. After half dozen or so launched, he decided to go below for some coffee. As he turned to enter the ship,  there was a loud explosion that backed him up to the catwalk’s railing, then another,  and the next thing he knew, he was in the water on the port side of the ship. ^5,6

Many authors writing about the incident follow the U.S. Navy’s War Damage Report which states that two bombs fell.⁷ Others believe only one fell.⁸ One or both bombs penetrated the flight deck and detonated in the hangar deck where crews were arming numerous aircraft. Bombs, ammunition and Tiny Tim rockets (each capable of sinking a small ship themselves) ignited and created secondary explosions.  Within seconds of the initial explosions, a gasoline vapor explosion occurred filling the entire hangar with flames. There were only two survivors of the hellish inferno on the hangar deck.⁹ Several hundred of the ship’s crew died, many of them standing in line on the hangar deck to get their first hot meal in days. Seaman 2^nd Class, Ray Bailey headed down to the hangar deck to see if he could help.

I ran into a burnt, crisp body hanging onto the handrail. The guy was in the act of running up the stairs, looking over his left shoulder and towards the stern of the ship when the blast fried him in place.⁹

Up on the bridge, Commander Stephen Jurika, the Franklin’s navigator saw the bombs fall out of the corner of his eye.

…and within a fraction of a second, of course, an enormous explosion from down below took place and the elevator lifted up cockeyed, and then fell back across the elevator opening.¹⁰

Jurika states that Tiny Tim rockets caught fire and started flying down and off the deck endangering other ships. Explosions followed in quick succession creating sheets of flame and billowing smoke.

The Captain, Captain Gehres, was caught with a choking lungful of this thing and dropped to the deck. He was out of action for, I would say, fifteen minutes, completely out of action.¹¹

The heat and smoke trapped hundreds of men below decks. Firefighting ramped up as the USS Santa Fe and other ships came alongside and started pouring water onto the flames while the ship’s crew tried to bring their hoses into play. Water from firefighting and broken water mains flooded many of the ship’s compartments isolating men in the engine and boiler rooms as well as other lower spaces. Flames and smoke now engulfed the ship from its island back to the stern.

Miles away Gunnery Sergeant John Smith served on the USS Alaska (CB-1) serving in Task Force 58.4 He was mount captain for the port side 5-inch .38 mount on the battlecruiser. He saw a huge explosion in the distance, then more, one after another. “He muttered aloud, ‘God, she’ll never last!’”¹²

Meanwhile, on the bridge, Admiral Ralph Davison realized he could no longer lead his Task Group from the wounded Franklin. He gave orders to have a destroyer, the USS Miller, come alongside and take off him and his staff. The admiral went up to the captain’s bridge before he left and advised Captain Gehres to abandon ship. Accounts differ as to Gehres’ response, but Gehres said that he refused to abandon ship because he knew there were hundreds of men trapped below decks. It was then widely believed that this was the fate that befell the USS Yorktown sunk with men trapped below decks at the Battle of Midway. (At this point in WWII, it was erroneously believed that the Yorktown had been sunk by American torpedoes. Later it would be revealed that it was a Japanese submarine that sank her.)¹³

HEROES STEP UP

In an article in The Leader, the local newspaper in Hinton, West Virginia, the article’s opening  sentence read:

The Franklin in the space of a few hours last March 19 produced heroes by the hundreds.¹⁴

Lt. (j.g.) Donald Gary, an engineering officer, was one of those heroes. His Medal of Honor citation reads:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as an engineering officer attached to the U.S.S. Franklin when that vessel was fiercely attacked by enemy aircraft during the operations against the Japanese Home Islands near Kobe, Japan, 19 March 1945. Stationed on the third deck when the ship was rocked by a series of violent explosions set off in her own ready bombs, rockets, and ammunition by the hostile attack, Lt. (j.g.) Gary unhesitatingly risked his life to assist several hundred men trapped in a messing compartment filled with smoke, and with no apparent egress. As the imperiled men below decks became increasingly panic stricken under the raging fury of incessant explosions, he confidently assured them he would find a means of effecting their release and, groping through the dark, debris-filled corridors, ultimately discovered an escapeway. Staunchly determined, he struggled back to the messing compartment three times despite menacing flames, flooding water, and the ominous threat of sudden additional explosions, on each occasion calmly leading his men through the blanketing pall of smoke until the last one had been saved. Selfless in his concern for his ship and his fellows, he constantly rallied others about him, repeatedly organized and led firefighting parties into the blazing inferno on the flight deck, and, when firerooms 1 and 2 were found to be inoperable, entered No. 3 fireroom and directed the raising of steam in one boiler in the face of extreme difficulty and hazard. An inspiring and courageous leader, Lt. (j.g.) Gary rendered self-sacrificing service under the most perilous conditions and, by his heroic initiative, fortitude, and valor, was responsible for the saving of several hundred lives. His conduct throughout reflects the highest credit upon himself and upon the U.S. Naval Service.¹⁵

Catholic Chaplain Joseph O’Callahan was awarded a second Medal of Honor. His citation read:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as chaplain on board the U.S.S. Franklin when that vessel was fiercely attacked by enemy Japanese aircraft during offensive operations near Kobe, Japan, on 19 March 1945. A valiant and forceful leader, calmly braving the perilous barriers of flame and twisted metal to aid his men and his ship, Lt. Comdr. O’Callahan groped his way through smoke-filled corridors to the open flight deck and into the midst of violently exploding bombs, shells, rockets, and other armament. With the ship rocked by incessant explosions, with debris and fragments raining down and fires raging in ever-increasing fury, he ministered to the wounded and dying, comforting and encouraging men of all faiths; he organized and led firefighting crews into the blazing inferno on the flight deck; he directed the jettisoning of live ammunition and the flooding of the magazine; he manned a hose to cool hot, armed bombs rolling dangerously on the listing deck, continuing his efforts, despite searing, suffocating smoke which forced men to fall back gasping and imperiled others who replaced them. Serving with courage, fortitude, and deep spiritual strength, Lt. Comdr. O’Callahan inspired the gallant officers and men of the Franklin to fight heroically and with profound faith in the face of almost certain death and to return their stricken ship to port.¹⁶

There were other examples of courage and leadership that day. Not all occurred on the Franklin. The Captain of the cruiser USS Santa Fe, Harold Fitz,  ordered his ship’s helmsman to bring the ship alongside the Franklin sideswiping it to lash the two ships together. There, they were able to evacuate the wounded from the Franklin and use their firehoses to help fight the fires.¹⁷ Captain Fitz was awarded the Navy Cross for his initiative that day.

At 0945 Franklin’s deck log recorded: “Lost all steering control and all communications except to steering aft from bridge.”¹⁸ The ship was dead in the water, drifting towards the coast of Japan.

Corporal Mike Sansome, a member of Marine Squadron VMF-214 said,

Every time a bomb exploded, it rained metal, parts of the airplanes, engines. Unexploded bombs, gun mounts, and bodies, and everyone would take off.” Then the Father [O’Callahan] would bring everyone back into the fight. If it wasn’t for him…who knows what would have happened, because there wasn’t any leadership on the flight deck. It was such pandemonium…the destruction so immense…that there was no coordination between the crew. He certainly got me going…and he couldn’t be everyplace at once, though it seemed like he was.¹⁹

CAPTAIN GEHRES’ VAGUE ORDERS CREATE CONFUSION

Once the wounded were evacuated to the Santa Fe, Captain Gehres ordered Commander Henry Hale, the ship’s air officer to “evacuate all non-essential personnel ‘or anyone who would not be needed to save the ship.’”²⁰  This order was poorly worded. Who was to determine which of the crew was needed to save the ship? Compounding this unclear order, confusion was rampant on the flight deck. The noise of continuous explosions was horrendous²¹, there was no chain of command, and rumors were rife. As this order filtered out, some able-bodied men thought they were given the order to abandon ship. Others believed, rightly or wrongly, that they were not needed. Hundreds left the ship.

Many of the men who made it to the flight deck needed dry clothing. Some had left engine rooms where the temperature was 130 degrees and sweated through their clothing. Others had waded through flooded compartments, some chest deep, and arrived on deck where the temperature was in the 50s and they were in danger of hypothermia. The only available clothing was forward in officers’ quarters. Many enlisted men were given officers’ clothing and then proceeded to evacuate to the Santa Fe. Captain Gheres was infuriated when he saw this. This was the genesis of his attempt to court-martial more than 215 men²².

Throughout the day, the crew fought the fires and tended to the wounded. The cruiser, USS Pittsburgh was able to rig a tow line and towed the Franklin until she could get several of her boilers restarted. She then cast off the tow.

At 1813 hours, (6:13 local time, just over 11 hours after the bombs fell) all but one fire was out with the ship’s deck log reporting that the ship was “darkened except for small glow from fire, frame 200.”²³ The noise from explosions had subsided, and the ship grew quiet except for the noise of men working to open jammed hatches, clear wreckage, and rescue trapped shipmates. The smell—from the fuel, spent cordite from the ammunition, and the burned flesh—remained. It would still be noticeable when the ship pulled into Pearl Harbor more than two weeks later²⁴. The immediate danger from internal fires and explosions had passed.

LEAVING THE FRANKLIN WITHOUT PERMISSION

The ship would limp into the Ulithi anchorage where Captain Gehres allowed the return of some of the men who had left the ship as he needed them to get it back to port. Officers arriving back on board whom Captain Gheres felt left without permission were presented with the following letter requiring them to explain their actions on March 19.

From: The Commanding Officer.

To     : ___________________________

1.       The Commanding Officer requires an immediate explanation in writing as to when, where and why, you able bodied and uninjured left this vessel while she was in action and seriously damaged when no order had been issued to abandon ship.

Signed L.E. Gehres²⁵

The enlisted men in the ship’s crew who had jumped or been blown overboard and rescued by other ships were not allowed to return to the Franklin unless their services were needed. (Many had no choice but to jump overboard to escape the advancing flames and explosions.) They returned to Pearl Harbor where they would spend weeks isolated from other crews and treated as pariahs.  

At Pearl Harbor, Lt. (j.g.) Byron Robinson’s V2 Division was lined up for inspection. It included men rescued by other ships and made their way separately back to Pearl Harbor.  When they returned to the ship, Captain Gehres told them

You’ve got just twenty minutes to get your stuff because you’re all a bunch of cowards because you left the ship.²⁶

The ship returned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard on April 28, 1945. The junior officers that had been threatened with court-martial flooded the office of the Permanent Defense Counsel of the General Court Martial. Commanded by Lt. Commander Samuel Wolf, the men told their stories and Wolf realized that a miscarriage of justice was about to be perpetrated. He quickly saw that there were weaknesses to Captain Gehres’ story but rather than try to force these men through a court-martial, he decided on a strategy to avoid a trial altogether. Wolf had one of his lawyers, Lt (j.g.) Randell Creed, go down to the Officers’ Club where he was told to spread the rumor that Wolf would be including Admirals Davison and Bogan in his opening remarks stating that the junior officers behaved no differently than the admirals.²⁷ (Admiral Bogan had been attached to Admiral Davison’s staff to learn how to lead a task group.)

All charges were dropped several days later.²⁸

In July of 2022, I attended the USS Franklin reunion. Only two of the crew made it, but there were many relatives of crew members there. I found no one that had anything good to say about Captain Gehres. However, my research indicates that many officers, such as Commander Jurika, believed that Captain Gehres was a very capable commanding officer.

Casualty figures vary ranging from 724 dead to 807 dead (which seems to be the most recent). The Navy awarded 808 posthumous Purple Hearts and 347 to survivors.²⁹

The USS Franklin remains the most decorated ship in U.S. Navy history.

392 decorations were awarded:

Medals of Honor                2

Navy Crosses                      20

Silver Stars                          22

Gold Star In Lieu

Of Second Bronze Star        5

Bronze Stars                        110

Letters of Commendation

(Ribbon)                               233³⁰

The events of 19 March 1945 and the actions of the men involved, onboard the Franklin and the ships that worked to save her, fascinate me. There is much here I have left out as this is just a summary of the events. I look forward to sharing my discoveries about the heroism of the men involved, leadership lessons learned, why the heroics on the Franklin didn’t receive more attention, and the changes the US Navy made because of the events of that day in future articles.

Sign up for my monthly newsletter and I’ll keep you up to date on my progress and answer many of the questions about what happened to the crew and the ship.

SOURCES

¹Hensel, John. Interview with author. Audio recording. Fredericksburg, TX, 22 July 2022

²Roy W. Bruce, “Done Blowed The Ship to Hell,” Naval History, April/May 1995, 41

³Clark G. Reynolds, Fast Carriers: The Forging of an Air Navy, (Annapolis: Naval Institute, 1968), 337-338

⁴U.S. Navy. USS Santa Fe Action Report For period 14 to 24 March, 1945 (Air Strike on Japan and U.S.S. Franklin Salvage Operations). U.S. National Archives. Accessed 06 October 2022. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/139952697?fbclid=IwAR2moy3cfzHFlUrTfCLeYBGQcmTCVyhW46EWd3J_4epAKVRsmfwxRF-hgzo

⁵Hensel, John. Interview with Author

⁶Hensel. Audio recording. Interview by Ed Metlzer, July 22, 2022, John Clifford Hensel Oral History Interview, National Museum of the Pacific War, Fredericksburg, TX  https://digitalarchive.pacificwarmuseum.org/digital/collection/p16769coll1/id/12496/rec/1

⁷USS Franklin CV-13 War Damage Report Navy Damage Control Report September 1946 16

⁸Joseph A. Springer, Inferno: The Epic Life and Death Struggle of the USS Franklin in World War II, (Minneapolis, MN, Zenith Press, 2011) 328-330

⁹Inferno 257

¹⁰ Jurika, Stephen. The Reminiscences of Capt. Stephen Jurika, Jr., USN (Ret.) Interviewed by John T. Mason, Jr. Vol II 634

¹¹Jurika Vol II 634

¹²Weiland, Charles Patrick. Above and Beyond Marine Air Combat in WWII (New York City: ibooks 1997) 184

¹³Mecca, Peter 2020. “ A Veteran’s Story: A Tale of Two Carriers – Part Two.” Jackson Progress-Argus. May 27, 2020. https://www.jacksonprogress-argus.com/news/a-veterans-story-a-tale-of-two-carriers—part-two/article_900efa2e-9f70-11ea-b428-67ddcef3b35d.html. Accessed October 10, 2022.

¹⁴United Press (U.P.) “Big Ben Disaster Produced Many Heroes.” The Leader (Hinton, WV) May 24, 1945, 3

¹⁵Congressional Medal of Honor Society website: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/donald-a-gary Accessed 06 October 2022.

¹⁶Congressional Medal of Honor Society website: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/joseph-t-ocallahan Accessed 06 October 2022

¹⁷Lucky Lady 402-404

¹⁸USS Franklin (CV-13) Original Documents 1943-1946 (Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Co. 1994) Ship’s Deck log Original Documents 240

¹⁹Inferno 254-255

²⁰Inferno 260

²¹Inferno 240

²²Lucky Lady 422

²³Ship’s deck log, Original documents 240

²⁴James Strimple Oral History. https://oralhistory.rutgers.edu/alphabetical-index/interviewees/30-interview-html-text/135-strimple-sr-james-h

²⁵ USS Franklin (CV-13) Original Documents 1943-1946 (Paducah, KY: Turner Publishing Co. 1994) 318

²⁶ Inferno 303

²⁷Lucky Lady 453-455

²⁸Lucky Lady 455

²⁹Cox, Sam. “H-Gram 043: The Ship That Wouldn’t Die (1)-The Ordeal of the USS Franklin (CV-13), 19 March 1945. Naval History and Heritage Command. Naval History and Heritage Command. March 20, 2020. https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/nhhc/about-us/leadership/director/directors-corner/h-grams/h-gram-043.htmlAccessed October 07, 2022.

³⁰Original Documents 6-7