Sunday, November 16, 2008
Scenes From a Previous Struggle
Rough day on the USS Franklin, CV13, which burns from the result of a successful Japanese Aichi B7A "Grace" dive bomber attack on it while the ship was just 50 miles off the coast of Japan. None of our Essex class carriers were sunk, but it was a close run thing for the Franklin which was taken out of the fight for the rest of the war by this one plane strike.
Although some of the damage control efforts were truly heroic, the subsequent actions of Captain Gehres was not as laudable. He accused many sailors of desertion, even the ones blown into the sea by the explosions. His baseless charges were quietly dropped before the war ended.
Labels: WWII history; Pacific Theater; USS Franklin
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 8:51 AM 
