FIRE AND EXPLOSION DAMAGE TO AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS FRANKLIN 32902
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This historic U.S. Navy film was made in the wake of the disastrous air attack and fire aboard the aircraft carrier USS Franklin in 1945, specifically to provide naval ship architects insight into the structural damage endured by the ship during the incident. According to a truncated card at the head of the film, this forensic examination of the damage was made in hopes that future carriers might be made more resistant to damage.
USS Franklin (CV/CVA/CVS-13, AVT-8), nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy, and the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in January 1944, she served in several campaigns in the Pacific War, earning four battle stars. She was badly damaged by a Japanese air attack in March 1945, with the loss of over 800 of her crew, becoming the most heavily damaged United States carrier to survive the war. Movie footage of the actual attack was included in the 1949 film Task Force starring Gary Cooper.
After the attack, she returned to the U.S. mainland for repairs, missing the rest of the war; she was decommissioned in 1947. While in reserve, she was reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS), and finally an aircraft transport (AVT), but was never modernized and never saw active service again. Franklin and Bunker Hill (damaged by a kamikaze) were the only Essex-class carriers not to see active service as aircraft carriers after World War II. The Franklin was sold for scrap in 1966.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com
Motion picture films don't last forever; many have already been lost or destroyed. We collect, scan and preserve 35mm, 16mm and 8mm movies -- including home movies, industrial films, and other non-fiction. If you have films you'd like to have scanned or donate to Periscope Film, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us via the link below.
This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit www.PeriscopeFilm.com
I am currently a primary caregiver for a survivor of the Franklin, my father-in-law. He turned 95 in April 2020. He spent time in the hospital with a knee injury, but survived. The only time he ever talked about it, he became very quiet and simply stated that the men didn't die like they do in the movies.
That’s awesome 😎
Thanks for sharing
It doesn't matter if you're a radio operator, radar operator, electronics technician, cook, or paint chipper, your #1 job in the Navy is to be a firefighter.
Ayè
My grandfather was a aa Gunner aboard the Franklin, heard many horrific stories he told me about this exact attack. Hell on Earth as he put it.
My Father served aboard this ship as a photographer and proofer. He was one of the "Skeleton Crew" that helped get this mighty ship back to port. I heard my Father speak of this once in my 28 years ( he's been gone 22 years) .
He was looking at a commemorative plaque of a ship, I don't recall which, at a friend of ours. The gentleman told us he was in the battle and his ship was heavily damaged but nowhere near the damage his groups carrier, The Franklin sustained. My father replied " I know Al, that was our friends name, I was on the Franklin."
Being a photographer it was no wonder he kept silent about this battle.
GOD rest his soul.
One hell of a ship!
Amazing it survived at all...
We will never forget the sacrifices made for us
God bless our veterans👍👍👍🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
I never had the opportunity to meet my grandfather, as he passed before I was born. He was on this ship, and jumped into the ocean to survive when the explosions began.
It's a shame you didn't have the chance to meet your grandfather. I got a father who was declined entry in World War II on medical grounds but later drafted for Korea. Yeah, I don't know what to say the math doesn't add up. He never saw action but we do have the Army papers to prove that he was inducted some time in 1950 something, I'm sorry I only saw the paper for about 5 minutes when my sister showed it to me as we were cleaning out my recently deceased 92-year-old mothers home. And I had an uncle that spent the entire Korean war in West Germany. So in my family I didn't hear any war stories but just to hear how the Machinery used to work back then is amazing to listen to and I'm sorry you didn't have the opportunity to hear such things like that from your grandfather.
I AM PROUD TO SAY I HAVE SHOOK THE HAND OF AN ORIGINAL FRANKLIN SURVIVOR.
My grandfather Evertte medlin was a aa gunner on the Franklin, heard many horrific stories from him, as was said,he grew up fast on the Franklin.
czcams.com/video/iGw6TfXGTSg/video.html&feature=emb_rel_end
czcams.com/video/cT-3DE6nSZs/video.html
My dad was an AA gunner, too. A Santa Fe sailor who helped take survivors off the Franklin. He said:
"I was on the fantail of the Santa Fe, which had come along side to help fight fires on the Franklin. I'd tied a monkey fist in a heaving line, and would throw it to make a splash in the oil slick for a Franklin man to jump into. He'd grab the rope and we'd haul him aboard the Santa Fe."
He shows up in some of the films. You can't make him out, but you can see the rope with a man standing at the top.
We buried him last month, age 103.
Amazing analysis of a stunning survival. That crew was amazing.
And the Chaplain Father O'Callahan.
Wow, Big Ben survived that attack...The Essex class carriers were built to withstand a lot of damage.
No they weren't. They should have had an armored flight deck like the Brits. After a Kamikaze attack, all they needed to do was sweep the deck.
we trained our folks heavily in damage control. that helped a lot!!
There were very specific weight distribution and other reasons why Packy Shade did not design armored flight decks into the Essex-class. The shield layer was the 2.5 inch steel hanger deck. Shade was an engineering genius who succeeded in balancing the requirements of high cyclical sortie and recovery rates with a very high degrees of design survivability. Not too many naval engineers since have second guessed his trade-offs.
Nothing is more frightening to to a Navy Sailor than fire at sea.
@Unkraut60 drowning is what you do when your ship is gone. Fire is worse.
Amen, brother!
Back then I think being captured and tortured by the Japanese would be my biggest fear..imho
RIP sailors and marines of CV-13
Amen!
Brave men, one and all!
Thank you from Australia R.I.P.
My Dad was on the USS Bunkerhill. He talks of it his name is Frank Draper.
This well documents how well the Essex-class aircraft carriers were designed and constructed. My uncle served on both USS Bennington and USS Bunker Hill during the war as a Water Tender.
They were fire traps with weak Armour and this is the end result.
That was incredible footage
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing this video. Wow!
A testimony to their ruggedness. Even such heavy explosions failed to sink them!!!
The enduring testimony to the Essex-class carriers is that none were lost to enemy action during the Pacific war (although USS Franklin came close!).
The ordeal of "Big Ben" is truly one of the most astonishing episodes of the Pacific war.
There was nobody better at ship design and crew training.
Bringing the reality of war home to those who saw the ship come into the harbour.
My dad was a photographer on The Big Ben but was injured by the air duct explosion. All sailers but 502 were evacuated. 502 men took her back to New York. CV-13 was an unlucky
my dad designed the big ben
Royal Navy carriers had armoured flight decks which meant they carried less aircraft but were much more able to take hits.
Well, you have to remember the US maintained its carriers with wooden teak decks in order to allow for better speed. It’s easier to evade enemy fire that way, and allows them to get to places quicker.
US decided to trade armored flight deck for armored hangar deck for expediency. The Essex Class carriers used an existing hull design (with some modifications) that wouldn't handle the extra weight of an armored flight deck. It allowed for rapid construction and deployment of new and much needed carriers out to the Pacific. It proved to be the best choice. These great vessels served well into the 1970s.
@@ozone-xv7hk All that beautiful old growth teak...all gone now.
@@barrybarnes96 it was a shame to see so many carriers left to rot, mothballed at the end of the war. Those photos are saddening.
@@ozone-xv7hk true, However your attack fleet should protect you instead of trying to guess what manoeuvre for evasive action leaving you like a sitting duck.
As a proud U.S. NAVY veteran I salute the brave crew of the USS Franklin. I would hope I would be as brave as they were if I were in a similar situation.
At ease gentlemen, you have fulfilled your duties. ✌🏻🌹🇺🇸
Simply amazing.
My father was on a destroyer escort on its way to Guam when they passed close to the Franklin He remarked that it was amazing it was still afloat and they lowered the flags to half staff in memory of the hundreds of sailors who were lost
I would venture to add that not only was the hangar deck armor plating a significant factor in the ship's survival, but the obvious and valiant efforts of the Captain and crew in fighting this disastrous attack and the accompanying explosions and fire. Can you imagine how difficult it must have been NOT to give the order to abandon ship? An unbelievable event that gives testimony to the spirit, determination and bravery of the men who fought in WW2. My grandfather served aboard the USS Columbia as one of the two ships' doctors. They were attacked by 3 kamikaze's. The trauma of that battle was something he rarely talked about.
His failure was in condemning the wounded. You may say what you like. I will never forgive Gheris.
Crew were heroes. Captain was significantly less
It's hard to imagine a ship so torn up and not only surviving and still afloat, but returning to new york under her own power and withe her crew. They built them to last with iron ment in steel ships!
Didn’t the narrator state that she had to be towed? And that they eventually lite off a boiler to “assist the tow?” I understand the tremendous grit and bravery demonstrated by this ship and crew, but it didn’t return to port under its own power, it had to have help, which is completely understandable.
I often wonder if we, the USA, are capable of making this type of total effort in a time of Great War and calamity. Those folks truly were “the greatest generation.” No doubt.
And stay active till 1966
My Father was 1st class radar and gunner aboard the Franklin that day, he never did receive his purple heart, he never talked about it but I found a letter he wrote my Grandmother when he woke up in Guam, he deserved it.
You should look in to it being awarded now. If he is eligible than your family should get it. I suspect you will learn quite a bit about his service and that day in particular if you make inquiries. It will take time, but it will be worth it.
My uncle had come up from below when a 500lb bomb exploded. My uncle was blown from the ship into the water
The movie "Battle Stations" (1956) seems to be based in this event. It's available here on CZcams.
The IJN had developed new weapons toward the end of the war.
One of those was a heavy naval shell (16 inches & more) modified into an armour-piercing bomb.
It was probably this kind that struck USS Franklin.
IJN had those at the start of the war as well. They were used heavily during the Pearl Harbor attack and one of them is thought to have destroyed the Arizona.
You need velocity for armor piercing
@@thebosscatman7 bombs deployed from dive bombers or high level bombers travel at near terminal velocity; I imagine the velocity would be somewhat similar to that reached by a shell in the final diving stage of its arcing path after being fired from a naval gun
@@ZTIERK it's a bit less. Battleship shells at practical battle range retain between 1,000 and 1,500 ft/sec of velocity, depending on size, shape, and weight. I've seen analysis of bombs at Midway that states bomb velocity from a dive bomber strikes at about 600 ft/sec, and then bases discussion of fuse settings based on that velocity.
These bombs (remember there are two of them) were 250 kg SAP bombs with a modest fuse delay. If it had been one of the larger AP bombs mentioned above there would only have been one.
@@kemarisite I did some more reading and found that battleship shells rarely exhibit true "plunging fire" and instead strike their targets at generally less than ~35 degrees even at extreme range; under these conditions, it makes sense then that (like you said) battleship shells would retain more velocity than bombs, since their flight paths are influenced both by gravity and by their initial muzzle velocity. However, it would be important to consider that since bombs strike their targets at much steeper angles (dive bombers generally dove at ~45-60 degrees), less velocity is necessary to penetrate deck armor in comparison to a shell impacting at a shallower angle. That said, the significantly greater velocity of shells fired by naval artillery probably overcame this difference handily :D
My grandfather survived that attack. Karl Braddick, Good rest his sole now!
and we think we had a bad day
I knew a man who was on the Franklin when this happened. I don't know if he is still alive today.
1:22 Damn, look at all those ships. totally different navy than what we had at the end of 1941.
czcams.com/video/iGw6TfXGTSg/video.html&feature=emb_rel_end
czcams.com/video/cT-3DE6nSZs/video.html
The Franklin wouldn't listen to the coral sea BOOGIES ON THE WAY. 3 TIMES THE CORAL SEA MESSAGED THEM. YHE FRANKLIN DIDNT CONFIRM.
It's a shame that almost no sailors in the USN today have ever heard of the Franklin, the most decorated ship and crew in Naval history
nope the enterprize tho is most decorated
@@walterquick8649 The Franklin had the most decorated CREW.
How did anyone survive that?
Japan was a ferocious enemy. Highly trained, skilled and fearless.
At this point in the war, Japan had lost the majority of its skilled pilots and were sending young pilots with minimal training on suicide missions.
That pilot who carried our this attack was probably one of the few well trained ones left.
Kamikaze attacks caused many casualties but by this time is the war it was never going to make any difference.
@@TheBluBalls Yet one small plane amongst a fleet of 25 ships wounded it's very best.
What a situation critical situations wow how to survives
Can you believe the courage?
The frustration?
The body parts?
Today, May 17th, 2020 it seems like the whole world is hiding from a virus with a 99.7 percent survival rate. What happened to us?
Far out!.. scary🤔
Didn't the skipper of the Franklin threaten to court-martial crewmen who abandoned ship, or were blown overboard, until high authority intervened? I seem to recall hearing that after the calamity, at an all hands muster of the survivors, the skipper reamed out the crew and threatened to court-martial those who went overboard. Thankfully, as I understood it, someone in the chain of command above him interceded and said that it just wasn't a very advisable thing to do. If that's true, then all I can say is what a colossal dick that CO was.
Yes he did.
@@stanstenson8168 Possibly to divert attention from the fact that he had turned his ship into a floating molotov cocktail in order to improve the efficiency of flight operations. Well, he didn't improve ship safety, that's for sure.
Wow
Damn, a single aircraft was able to cripple and nearly sink a carrier. How the hell did the aircraft know where the fleet was without it or its spotter being detected?
The aircraft used cloud cover.
Until watching this video,all these yrs I thought the Franklin had sunk.I get the news,even though it's 80 yrs late.Still,great news.
Franklin was as good as sunk as she never returned to active service.
She would have been returned to service if the war didnt end
@Melvin Johnson: The thing is that SHE DIDN'T SINK, asshat. Yes, she didn't return to service, but she brought the majority of her crew home UNDER HER OWN POWER. If Franklin had indeed sunk, the 700+ crew still aboard would have had to abandon ship... stressful enough for the able-bodied, and downright dangerous for any wounded remaining aboard. Not to mention that the sea has dangers all her own, despite the proximity of the remainder of the Task Force.
- Navy vet and flattop sailor
So what? They didnt know that at the time. And you know, it's disgusting how people on the internet like yourself always have to try and diminish the bravery and sacrifice of others just to get attention.
USS Franklin was out of the war, regardless, despite the courage of it's survivors in tackling the blazes and continuous explosions. I forget the exact figure, but more than 800 of its complement were literally incinerated or blown to pieces by the raging fires that consumed it - many of their bodies were never found, others were too badly charred to be identified.
But the Franklin was out of the war, even more damaged than the Bunker Hill, and it would have been perfectly understandable to earmark it for scrapping in the process. But it was, incredibly, eventually repaired and put back in service, although I don't believe it ever saw action again (someone correct me if I am wrong!). Eventually though, despite a lot of protests from the survivors of this attack, and the relatives of those who didn't make it, it was scrapped rather than preserved as a monument, w hich is what a lot of people were calling out for.
@@xj900uk 1966
One of the best Japanese pilot and his friend did their duty. He could fly through 1,000 American ships and bombed one the biggest American carrier.
wow
goes to show Essex class carriers were made not to sink except for the Oriskany for which i was on 74 76
Bit random, but someone help me out with the music they used here? For example, the opening is the Welsh national anthem. How would i go about getting more information about the music they used?
Try searching - "Land of Our Fathers" (I think, me being Irish). I hear "Men of Harlech" as well.
Slante.☘🏴
My mother was 18 months old when this happened .I can not believe she's older than the men who perished on the ship.
Say what???
Most impressive! I salute the brave men of USS Franklyn. Amazing damage control. Small wonder the “Midways” were built with armored flight decks...
Most important factor in Franklin's survival was not armor BUTthe CREW !
The Captain should be held accountable!
4:20 and 16:07
Man thats unbeleivable. I couldnt imagine bein there that day. And Im not a person that freaks out or freezes when shit hits tha fan. When all said & done i bet survivors were DRAINED
How many ships and boys would have lived had we had armored flight decks... just like the Sherman, send boys to fight in substandard vessels.
Im 68 now before im a frontline firefifgther n theres d back fighter
5:25 in the white smoke you have a lion's head.
フランクリンに二十五番を２発叩き込んだ日本機は彗星か陸爆の銀河か意見が別れていますがアメリカ側では彗星としているようですね🤔💦特攻では無く正攻法の爆撃で大破させ結局､戦線へ復帰させなかったのだから撃沈したのと同じです。このフランクリンに対する攻撃が日本海軍の米海軍正規空母に対する最後の戦果となった訳ですね。
God Bless all those less fortunate men who gave the final measure, it is in them that we put our trust on that fateful day. Many who fought the fires while many were trapped and unable to be anything but a reason for others to swiftly be at their work daring to rescue them even if they died they were at the very least able to save others and the ship while giving their all. God is our gracious Creator and relents not the goodness of His Kingdom unto the men who laid their lives down for the sake of others. Into the hands of God you've been committed and there will you be when we reunite in the end of our times.
All deck crew must train being firecrews
Lots of boys would be alive if they had armored flight decks like the Brits.
wooden deck
So many lives. Looks like NYC. Shame what it has become today
Shame you're so ignorant.
de weg naar het geluk
FUBAR
That insipid orchestra music just drives me crazy. Didn't Americans ever get sick of hearing that crap? Every movie or short reel during that time had the same awful music with trumpets, trombones, and etc that sounded the same, ugh...
Must've really sucked being stuck one of those big ships. It's an amazing feature of ammunition that there can be low order detonations but no high order ones. That they were able to keep this ship from sinking is incredible.
The Aftermath For choosing Speed and agility instead of being a Armoured ship.
If the platform decks were steel plated the bombs would have bounced and just caused cosmetic damage.
No doubt these men were patriots .
Excellent account of the heroic damage control effort here: czcams.com/video/9tJh-XkVyYA/video.html
If memory serves...2 Medals ofd Honor were awarded for actions on her deck after the attack.
One to a Jesuit priest and the other a black man.