The Pacific War exposed both the resilience and vulnerability of the aircraft carrier. These airfields afloat substituted battleships as the nexus of naval supremacy, but they also became the priority target for enemy fighter pilots. Few tales illustrate this razor-thin margin between existence and obliteration as vividly as the USS Ommaney Bay, USS Intrepid, and USS Franklin stories.
The escort carrier USS Ommaney Bay, nearly 500 feet long, suffered her fatal end on January 14, 1945, during the Philippines liberation operations. She was part of a task force off Manila, serving to stand watch against the constant barrage of kamikaze attacks that had been Japan’s last desperate measure near the end of the war.
Early that morning, a Japanese plane dived in, releasing two bombs before crashing into the ship. One of them destroyed the water mains used for fighting fires, while the other ignited flames amidst the aircraft parked on the hangar deck. In the turmoil, young gunner Joe Cooper jumped six stories into the ocean, hanging on to a punctured life jacket for hours before he was rescued. Ninety-three shipmates never made it back.
With the ship on fire and beyond salvage, Ommaney Bay was intentionally sunk to avoid further loss. For years, her resting place was a secret until finally divers found the wreck deep in the Sulu Sea. To the Navy, such places are sacred ground, left as the resting place of those who went down with their ship.
Though Ommaney Bay was lost, the USS Intrepid gained the status of a survival legend. The Essex-class carrier had nicknames such as “The Decrepit” and “The Dry I” due to her run of bad luck—but no matter the damage inflicted upon her, she always came back. In 1944, a faulty torpedo jammed her rudder, yet she still managed to return in time to contribute to sinking the behemoth battleship Musashi at Leyte Gulf.
From 1944 to 1945, Intrepid withstood four individual kamikaze attacks. On November 25, two aircraft crashed into her in a matter of minutes, causing explosions and fires that killed over 60 sailors. Each time, she limped back home, was repaired, and returned to duty—along with the savage campaign for Okinawa.
Following the war, Intrepid was retired, refurbished, and subsequently brought back into service during the Cold War. She even participated in recovering astronauts from space missions. Presently, she lies in New York as a museum ship, a testament to the toughness of her crews.
While Intrepid represented tenacious perseverance, the USS Franklin represented raw tragedy and survival against overwhelming odds. Commissioned in 1944, Franklin fought in the Marianas, Guam, and the Philippines, barely escaping devastation during one kamikaze raid that autumn. But her worst experience occurred on March 19, 1945.
Working only 50 miles off Japan, Franklin’s deck was filled with fueled and armed planes when one lone enemy bomber got through and released two bombs directly onto her. The destruction was instant. Explosions tore apart the hangar, rockets and ammunition blazed, and firestorms consumed the ship. Hundreds of sailors left her, but an equal number remained to battle for her life. The official casualty count totaled 724 killed and 265 injured, though some estimates put the figure even higher. Miraculously, Franklin remained afloat, returned to port, and was ultimately repaired—though she would never fight again.
The kamikaze campaign led the Navy to reconsider carrier defense. Anti-aircraft guns bristled on ships, radar became more acute, and crews practiced relentlessly to respond to surprise raids. But no technology could eliminate the psychological burden of knowing that at any given time, an airplane could crash into the deck. For those who endured it, memories of fire, terror, and loss never dissipated.
Through it all, these carriers—and the men who served on them—became symbols of endurance. Some were lost forever, some returned battered, and some, like Franklin, limped home barely alive. Their stories remind us of the sacrifice behind every victory and the unshakable determination to keep fighting even when the odds seemed impossible.