Warbird Information Exchange

Originally posted by Mark Allen. Images restored 11-02-2018. Scott WRG Editor

Well probably not really helped per say, but he was flying top cover for the guys who did sink her. The date was October 25, 1944 and his logbook states he was flying CAP that day with VF-13 off the USS Franklin (F6F Hellcats). Dad, in his very few conversations about his wartime experiences, did once mention the sinking of a Japanese carrier by his air group.
-Mark Allen


F6F-5 Hellcats, Avengers and Helldivers of Air Group 13 lined up on the deck of USS Franklin (CV-13).

The Japanese carrier was the 'Chitose' below which was sunk by dive and torpedo bombers of VB-13 and VT-13 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

WIKI
"Both IJN carriers Chitose and Chiyoda were sunk by a combination of naval bombers, cruiser shellfire and destroyer-launched torpedoes during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. According to the plan for the Sho-ichi go operation, both carriers were divested of aircraft and successfully used to decoy the main body of the American fleet away from the landing beaches in the Philippines. Chitose was sunk by torpedo hits during the first air strike made by naval aircraft of Task Force 38 (TF 38) from the carrier USS Franklin and USS Essex off Cape Engaño.

At 08:35, she took three torpedo hits, or possibly near misses from bombs on the port side forward of the number 1 elevator. This resulted in boiler rooms 2 and 4 being flooded with an immediate list to 27° and rudder failure. The list was reduced to 15°, but by 08:55 further flooding had brought it back up to 20°. At 08:55, the starboard engine room flooded, cutting speed to 14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph). The port engine room followed at 09:25. The Chitose was dead in the water, and her list grew to 30°. At 09:37, at position

19°20′N 126°20′ECoordinates: 19°20′N 126°20′E, she rolled over to port and nosed under, with the loss of 903 men. The cruiser Isuzu rescued 480 men, and destroyer Shimotsuki a further 121."

Anthony P. Tully
"25 October 1944 Battle off Cape Engano in the Battle of Leyte Gulf: Air attack by planes from U.S. TF 38. At 0835 a line of three near-miss bombs or - more likely, torpedo hits - exploded against the hull on the port side forward abreast the No.1 elevator. Massive hull rupture resulted, and Boiler rooms No.2 and No.4 on the port side immediately flooded, and the carrier heeled quickly to a dangerous 27 degree list. But damage control was swift, and after the attack, the list was corrected to 15 degrees and CHITOSE remained underway. However the rudder had failed and it was necessary to steer the carrier by using the after engines. At 0855 the list to port increased again to 20 degrees, the forward starboard engine room flooded, and speed down to 14 knots. At 0915 the after starboard engine failed, and speed dropped still further. The carrier struggled on, but at 0925 the port after engine room flooded and she went dead in the water. Though the list was 30 degrees, RAdm Matsuda on HYUGA ordered ISUZU to close and attempt to take her in tow. This proved impossible.
Sunk: At 0937 CHITOSE lay right over on her port side and nosed under with the loss of Captain Kishi Yoshiyuki and 903 officers and men. The ISUZU rescued 35 officers and 445 men and SHIMOTSUKI rescued 121 officers and men.(Position 19 - 20' N, 126 - 20' E.)"



And here's the result below. Sorry for the poor photo quality and can't quite make out the content of the article yet but it seems to state "Pearl Harbor Avenged" at the top. These photos were sent to me recently and clearly show this carrier sinking.



And the fellows who did the fine work. Pilots of VT-13 and VB-13 USS Franklin CV-13.











A few more photos of missions during that period





Fighting 13 of the USS Franklin October 1944







Of course just a couple days later the USS Franklin was on the receiving end of an attack. But even though suffering a good amount of damage luckily did not sink. Dad was sitting in a Hellcat warming up for launch when this attack happened. Barely survived this one as his Hellcat took a hit crumpling a wing and he had to quickly unstrap and jump off the other wing to run for cover. Close call for sure.


USS Franklin on the left and the USS Belleau Wood on the right after a Kamikaze attack on October 30, 1944.

















Thought may be some of you US Navy History buffs would enjoy this little bit of history.

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Might as well show the man ... and his buddies.


Dad on the left


Looking a little tired and bewildered I'd say.

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Just found this yesterday, oddly enough... you'll surely find this interesting.

http://www.researcheratlarge.com/Ships/CV13/1946DamageReport.html

Cheers,

Lynn

Yes indeed Lynn, Thx I have a hard copy of that report as well. Posted this report here a while back. Thanks for posting. Fascinating stuff IMO.
Just goes to show that if you dig deep enough, there is a wealth of information floating out there. I tend to dig real deep sometimes

M

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a virtually priceless time capsule!! don't discount your old man flying cap, he contributed to victory cut & dry!!

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tom d. friedman - hey!!! those fokkers were messerschmitts!! * without ammunition, the usaf would be just another flying club!!! * better to have piece of mind than piece of tail!!

My Uncle Baxter Little was on the Franklin that day and was down in the mess hall when they hit. He came top side and a Chief Petty officer ask who he was and after stating he was a pilot, he was told to get off the ship. There is a great book out called Above and Beyond which is about his Sqdn. He and another pilot were the ones who buzzed the B-24 base inverted...

Lynn

Any idea why he would be told that Lynn? I don't recall my dad ever stating the ship was in danger of sinking. Just wondering what the story was there. As far as I recall dad somewhat downplayed the extent of the damage from that attack. Not downplaying the extent of casualties of course but damage in relation to other carriers being hit by similar Kamikaze attacks. I could be way off in my assertion as maybe he was downplaying the extent of damage to his Hellcat he was sitting in at the time. Hard to say now upon reflection. One thing for certain that back then Carrier war was a very dangerous business.

BTW what squardon was your uncle in? VF-13, VB-13, VT-13? I may have a few photos of him.

Mark

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Sounds like Lynn's uncle may have been talking about the March 19th, 1945 attack on the Franklin, which is certainly more well known than the October 30th Kamikaze attack. There were some conflicting orders where the Air Groups were told to evacuate to the Santa Fe when it pulled alongside.

Yes I would agree this may be the case. That was a real bad one.

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Naval History and Heritage Command home page

"During the Japanese Navy's "Sho-Go" operation that produced the Battle of Leyte Gulf, Zuikaku was flagship of Vice Admiral Jisaburo Ozawa, commander of the operation's northern force. Ozawa's was a desperate mission -- provide an attractive target for U.S. Admiral William F. Halsey's Third Fleet, hopefully pulling the powerful American "fast carriers" north so that Japanese surface ships could slip in and attack U.S. invasion forces off Leyte. His ships were not expected to survive their diversionary employment.

Ozawa's ships, Zuikaku and the light carriers Zuiho, Chitose and Chiyoda, two battleships, three light cruisers and a modest number of destroyers, steamed south from Japan on 20 October. They carried only 116 planes, much less than their normal capacity and nowhere close to a match for the aircraft of Halsey's task forces.

Despite their role as "bait", the Japanese carriers sighted Halsey first and launched a strike in the late morning of 24 October. This accomplished nothing, and only a few planes returned to the carriers, leaving them with less than thirty. The Japanese ships tried hard to be conspicuous, and U.S. aircraft finally spotted them in mid-afternoon. Admiral Halsey, believing that his aviators had driven the other Japanese forces away, headed north to attack.

At about 0800 on the morning of 25 October, American carrier planes began a series of attacks on the Japanese ships, making one torpedo hit on Zuikaku and sinking the Chitose. A second strike came in around 1000, stopping Chiyoda and leaving Zuikaku making only about 18 knots. Somewhat later, Vice Admiral Ozawa moved his flag from the crippled carrier to the light cruiser Oyodo. In a third attack, shortly after 1PM, Zuikaku received three torpedo hits and was soon dead in the water"

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The "Zuikaku" was the carrier that my great uncle helped attack in the Battle of the Philippine Sea, scoring himself a damaging near miss. I also read later that he flew down the length of the flight deck and his gunner's in the Avenger fired upon the bridge where Admiral Ozawa and his aides were...

F6FFan..

Your great uncle was "The man" my friend. Sounds like quite the warrior.
Here's the Zuikaku's deck in better days. Before they were seriously numbered by folks such as your great uncle.


Zeros on the Zuikaku's flight deck


Zero A6M2-M21 Zuikaku Coral Sea

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Great stuff. Thanks for sharing all this with us

Oh, and thank you Mark for sharing with us. Your father was quite "The Guy." too. I find it very interesting he was on the cruise after my great uncle's on the Hornet.... On a side note of interest, (well it has to do with the Zeroes..), My friend and I found when I was last visiting Guam what I believe to be a prop blade from a Zero..

Getting back on topic..

Those are some seriously awesome pictures of Zuikaku in it's better days..

Just a marvelous presentation, Mark. Thank you for sharing it.