SECRET U.S. NAVY COMBAT REPORT -- JAPANESE ATTACK ON AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS FRANKLIN 1944 76624
41,072
Published 2015-10-06
Made by the U.S. Navy, this silent film shows the aircraft carrier USS Franklin both before, during and after the Japanese attack that crippled and nearly sank the ship. The 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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All Comments (11)
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Thank you for showing this. My Father served on the USS Hickox DD 673 which was one of the ships to come to the aid of the sailors on the Franklin. I've never seen this footage and my dad never talked about the war.
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Not all the footage is of the Franklin…It looks like some was of the Bunker Hill and another Essex-class ( the one that took a Kamikaze hit to island ). Excellent footage that’s not widely seen. Thanks for putting it up!
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that's amazing!
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This was my dad's journal entry for that day while aboard the carrier Hancock. Mar 19-45 "Franklin hit - estimated 1400 killed. She was off our port beam & looked bad. I'm beginning to get scared now. " Another report from the Hancock's ships log said this. "At 0705 Hancock (CV19) reported via TBS that her lookouts had sighted a twin engine enemy plane and at 0706 that the bogie was closing the Franklin. " For the rest of my father's journal, googl 'hancock payhip'
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Hence the Midway class was built with an armored flight deck.
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Tremendous explosions.
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Great color film, but printed backwards from the end of the opening banner to the closing credits!
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USS Franklin was as good as sunk as she never returned to active service.
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This was my cousin Bernard J. Leavy's ship. He was KIA.
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It's printed backward.
