USS Franklin WW2 Carrier

[tomahawk6]

In todays command climate Capt Leslie Gehres ,later promoted to Rear Admiral, would probably have been fired for lack of confidence.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/aircraft-carrier-chaos-u-navy-140500266.html

Franklin’s ordeal also yielded hard-won lessons about naval architecture and shipboard practices, and about firefighting and damage control in particular. These are the standard lessons of the affair. To oversimplify, the chief lesson was: equip ships with more of everything. Assigning more people to a damage-control organization would give it a better chance of withstanding damage. Installing more and longer fire hoses would bolster fire parties’ capacity to get at blazes in remote recesses of the ship. Furnishing more portable pumps would let firefighters do their work should fireplugs fail. More high-capacity foam systems would help control and extinguish flaming fuel. Mounting quick-access “scuttles” on armored hatches would allow crewmen to escape compartments should hatches become jammed or too hot to handle. And on and on.

 

[Staff Weenie]

If his crew had been less professional, then Capt Gehres could have ended up as 'lost at sea' on the trip back to the US.

 

[tomahawk6]

Captain Queeg comes to mind. In the days of sail he might end up in a rowboat. ;D

 

[Rifleman62]

Great movie, The Caine Mutiny. The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial was not too bad.

 

[Old Sweat]

There is a classic shot of the chaplain administering the last rites to a casualty. The stuff we saw about it in the early postwar years was big on the heroism of the crew, but somehow omitted the shortcomings of the skipper.

 

[mariomike]

There is a classic shot of the chaplain administering the last rites to a casualty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_T._O%27Callahan#/media/File:OCallahan_JT_g49132.jpg

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while serving as chaplain on board the U.S.S. Franklin when that vessel was fiercely attacked by enemy Japanese aircraft during offensive operations near Kobe, Japan, on 19 March 1945. A valiant and forceful leader, calmly braving the perilous barriers of flame and twisted metal to aid his men and his ship, Lt. Comdr. O'Callahan groped his way through smoke-filled corridors to the open flight deck and into the midst of violently exploding bombs, shells, rockets, and other armament. With the ship rocked by incessant explosions, with debris and fragments raining down and fires raging in ever-increasing fury, he ministered to the wounded and dying, comforting and encouraging men of all faiths; he organized and led firefighting crews into the blazing inferno on the flight deck; he directed the jettisoning of live ammunition and the flooding of the magazine; he manned a hose to cool hot, armed bombs rolling dangerously on the listing deck, continuing his efforts, despite searing, suffocating smoke which forced men to fall back gasping and imperiled others who replaced them. Serving with courage, fortitude, and deep spiritual strength, Lt. Cmdr. O'Callahan inspired the gallant officers and men of the Franklin to fight heroically and with profound faith in the face of almost certain death and to return their stricken ship to port.