Talyn
Emissary
The three-month battle for Okinawa in spring 1945 was an epic struggle. It pitted the U.S. Fifth Fleet—one of the mightiest armadas the world has seen—against thousands of Japanese kamikaze suicide aircraft, flown by young volunteers with the intent on crashing into U.S. ships for the glory of their emperor and the survival of their country.
The strategy 60 years ago was to seize Okinawa as a staging ground for the invasion of Japan proper. A vast armada of U.S. ships, from carriers and battleships to destroyer escorts, suffered staggering losses from kamikaze attacks.
Japanese bombers hit the fleet carriers Bunker Hill (CV-17) and Franklin (CV-13) on 19 March with devastating results.
Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's flagship, the Bunker Hill, took two kamikaze hits within 30 seconds, setting off fuel explosions that killed more than 350 of her crew.
en.wikipedia.org
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The Franklin—hit by two bombs while refueling and rearming her planes on the flight deck—suffered terrible damage and the deaths of more than 700 men. Raging fires detonated the exposed ordnance, including new 11.75-inch Tiny Tim rockets. Hundreds of men were blown into the sea.
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Captain Leslie H. Gehres led the fight to save his crippled carrier. Retaining a skeleton crew on board, Gehres evacuated hundreds of wounded men, suppressed the fires, stopped the flooding, and welcomed a tow from the cruiser Pittsburgh (CA-72).
Through their efforts, the Franklin became the most heavily damaged U.S. carrier to survive, making her slow but determined way to New York under her own power, an extraordinary 12,000-mile voyage home.
en.wikipedia.org
The strategy 60 years ago was to seize Okinawa as a staging ground for the invasion of Japan proper. A vast armada of U.S. ships, from carriers and battleships to destroyer escorts, suffered staggering losses from kamikaze attacks.
Japanese bombers hit the fleet carriers Bunker Hill (CV-17) and Franklin (CV-13) on 19 March with devastating results.
Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher's flagship, the Bunker Hill, took two kamikaze hits within 30 seconds, setting off fuel explosions that killed more than 350 of her crew.
USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) - Wikipedia
This Day in History: USS Franklin's Amazing Survival
On this day in 1945, USS Franklin is attacked by a Japanese dive bomber. Her crew thought she’d surely capsize—but she didn’t. Amazingly, Franklin even managed to limp back home to Pearl Harbor.It was the second time that Franklin had survived such an attack. Mere months earlier, she’d barely...
The Franklin—hit by two bombs while refueling and rearming her planes on the flight deck—suffered terrible damage and the deaths of more than 700 men. Raging fires detonated the exposed ordnance, including new 11.75-inch Tiny Tim rockets. Hundreds of men were blown into the sea.
This Day in History: USS Franklin's Amazing Survival (Pt. 2)
On this day in 1945, the aircraft carrier USS Franklin is miraculously saved. Just one day earlier, a Japanese Judy dive bomber had dropped two bombs on the American vessel.Franklin then had dozens of planes, fully gassed and armed, sitting on her flight deck or in her hangar. Those planes...
Captain Leslie H. Gehres led the fight to save his crippled carrier. Retaining a skeleton crew on board, Gehres evacuated hundreds of wounded men, suppressed the fires, stopped the flooding, and welcomed a tow from the cruiser Pittsburgh (CA-72).
Through their efforts, the Franklin became the most heavily damaged U.S. carrier to survive, making her slow but determined way to New York under her own power, an extraordinary 12,000-mile voyage home.