USS Franklin (CV-13) Research Project Update
Hello everyone,
I hope everyone is surviving the wicked weather, no matter what kind you are experiencing. Welcome to all of the new subscribers. Thanks for stopping by.
This will be a short but positive update. We’ve got family members with health issues that have taken priority over my book. The number of hours I’ve worked in the past few months is down, but I have still made progress in both planning the book and researching it.
First, I’ve begun to map it out, and I hope to have the outline finished soon. Among other things, it will help me identify holes in my research. This process is like a SWOT analysis for historians.
Second, remember that quote from Godfather III? “Just as I thought I was out, they pull me back in!” I feel the same way researching damage control. I thought I was getting close to being finished with the topic, then I ran across a source (paraphrasing here) that stated:
“USS Franklin could not have survived had it used the same damage control techniques used at the Battle of the Coral Sea, nearly three years earlier.”
Now I’m doing additional research to see whether I agree with that statement.
Third, I’ve also begun a list of those crew members that I want to feature in my book. This is still very much a work in progress. If you have stories from a family member you think would be of interest, please comment below, and I’ll follow up.
For those of you new here, my goal is to write a book that raises the visibility of the most decorated crew in US Navy history. From them we can learn lessons in leadership, crisis management, and communications, no matter what our professions. I have several target audiences in mind as I write the book:
- Those who enjoy reading about World War II
- Family members of WWII crews, including Franklin (nicknamed “Big Ben” by her crew) and the ships that came to her aid, who want to learn more about the experiences their family member faced but may not be as familiar with World War II history
- Those who enjoy reading history and want to learn more about lessons in leadership and innovation
If you are interested in leadership or innovation, please see my book recommendations below.
Big Ben Book & Podcast Club
I’ve always had a passion for history. As I entered the workforce after college, I also developed interests in management, leadership, and innovation.
In reading historian John Kuehn’s Agents of Innovation: The General Board and the Design of the Fleet that Defeated the Japanese Navy, I learned that the Washington Naval Treaty signed in 1922 was a key driver of innovation for the US Navy. And much of that involved naval aviation and how the US Navy would use it. Kuehn’s book is rather academic, but he does discuss how innovation drove the evolution of doctrine against a future war with the Japanese.
My take on his book is that the rivalry between battleship proponents (the Gun Club) and naval aviators, as discussed by other historians, was overstated. The Navy General Board, the senior advisory body to the Secretary of the Navy and Navy bureau chiefs, was even-handed, limited by the Washington Naval Treaty, and working with scarce resources, first because the presidential administrations immediately after World War I wanted a “peace dividend,” then later when the Depression hit, and funds were scarce everywhere. This forced the Navy to “think outside the battleship” long before World War II started. I’m looking forward to doing more research on the gun club versus the naval aviators.
Trent Hone is a historian who has written many books on World War II and the US Navy. If innovation interests you, I recommend his book, Learning War: The Evolution of Fighting Doctrine in the U.S. Navy, 1898–1945 (Studies in Naval History and Sea Power). This will also be of interest to anyone interested in learning organizations or who is a systems thinker.
Interested in leadership? He’s also the author of Mastering the Art of Command: Admiral Chester W. Nimitz and Victory in the Pacific.
Mark Stille is another historian who has written many books on World War II. Readers interested in learning more about the importance of planning, leadership, and the role effective communication plays in successful operations might find value in his book, Leyte Gulf: A New History of the World’s Largest Sea Battle. Or rather, how failures in effective planning and communications contributed to the Japanese defeat.
I’ll stop here and wish you a great summer. Happy Reading (or listening, if audiobooks are your thing)!
USS Franklin In August 1944
Operating near the Marianas, 1 August 1944. Photographed from USS Hornet (CV-12). Franklin is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 6a. At this time, Design 6a was applied only to her starboard side. She wore Design 3a on the port side. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
1 August. After combat operations the previous month, Franklin anchors in Garapan Roadstead on Saipan to take on fuel, food, and ordnance.
4-5 August. Franklin, now part of Task Group 58.1, joined in the attack on Iwo Jima and her sister islands. They found a target-rich environment with a large Japanese convoy and Japanese cargo ships in the harbor of Chichi Jima. Multiple strikes accounted for the sinking of four large cargo ships, two destroyers, and damage to many other ships.
On 8 August, Franklin arrives at Eniwetok, where she will spend the remainder of the month being overhauled while her crew rests from a month of combat operations.
(Photo Credit: US Navy Photo.)
Did you arrive here via a search engine? I am the author of the forthcoming book Heroes By The Hundreds: The Story of the USS Franklin (CV-13). I am writing this book to help readers of World War II history discover the extraordinary accomplishments of the USS Franklin crew, so the crew’s story receives the recognition it deserves, and readers gain insight into leadership decisions made under pressure.
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Feel free to leave a comment or ask a question. Thanks for reading.
-Glenn
