Conflict in the Pacific during the Second World War revealed the carrier’s might and vulnerability. These carriers operating far away from land had already substituted the battle ships as the center of the naval war, yet they were on the list of the enemies’ most wanted targets. Hardly any events that demonstrate the narrow margin between survival and devastation can be compared with those of the USS Ommaney Bay, USS Intrepid, and USS Franklin.
Ommaney Bay, a 512-foot escort carrier, ran into a catastrophic failure on January 14, 1945, while it was engaged in operations to free the Philippines. While she was supporting landings at Manila, the scene of the action was in a high state of alert because of the ever-present danger of the kamikaze menace – a suicidal tactic employed by desperate pilots to inflict the maximum possible damage in their last moments.
It was that morning when a Japanese bomber attack took place, in which the plane crashed into the deck after it released two bombs right on the ship. One of the detonations disabled the water mains used for firefighting, while the other made aircraft, which were on the hangar deck, catch fire, and thus the flames could spread very quickly as the carrier was suffocated with smoke. During all the commotion, 22-year-old gunner Joe Cooper was escaping six stories down into the sea and survived the ordeal by holding onto a broken life jacket for hours until he was rescued. Out of the crew, ninety-three people lost their lives.
The burning ship, which was beyond salvation, was evacuated by sinking it under their own command to prevent further deaths. The place where she lies in the Sulu Sea was not known for a very long time until divers finally found the sunken ship. For the Navy, places like that are something sacred, as they are the last memorials of those who have given their lives for the cause.
The loss of Ommaney Bay was tragic, but Intrepid managed to get through and become a legend. The carrier of the Essex-class, which was also called “The Decrepit” and “The Dry I” because of her unlucky streak, was very successful in regaining her strength after being hit by adversities, over and over again. In 1944, their attempt to torpedo her went wrong, resulting in her rudder getting jammed; nevertheless, she was able to return to the fleet just in time to participate in the sinking of the mighty battleship Musashi at Leyte Gulf.
Between 1944 and 1945, the Intrepid survived as many as four kamikaze attacks. Twice on November 25, two suicide planes hit the carrier within a few minutes of each other, and the explosions, as well as the fires that followed, went on to claim the lives of 60 people or so. Every time she headed back to the harbor for repairs and then went back into battle, which also consisted of the hard Okinawa campaign.
Intrepid was decommissioned after the war, though she was brought up to date and even called back for the Cold War as well as for astronaut recovery missions. Currently, she is in a museum in New York, which is a monument to the bravery and persistence of her crews.
While Intrepid was very much alive and symbolized strength, the USS Franklin is the one that went through the most and still managed to survive. Launched in 1944, Franklin was a soldier who fought hard and took part in all kinds of battles in the Marianas, Guam, and the Philippines. She walked away from a kamikaze attack that fall with a scar, but the real end of days that she faced was on March 19, 1945. As she was off the coast of Japan, her flight deck was loaded with fueled and armed aircraft when, suddenly, an enemy bomber dropped two bombs right on her.
The damage was horrendous. The hangar that was directly hit by the explosion was torn apart, fires ran wildly, and ammunition went off in multiple places. A large number of sailors left the ship, while many others stayed and bravely fought the fire, as well as tried to keep Franklin afloat. Official reports show 724 dead and 265 injured, though the actual numbers might have been higher. Facing these heavy odds, she staggered back to the port and was later on fixed, but never came back to battle.
Eventually, the looming danger of the kamikaze forced the U.S. Naval forces in the U.S. to change their defense strategies for the carriers. The ships were all equipped with anti-aircraft guns, radar systems were upgraded, and the crews were incessantly training in their preparedness for the sudden attacks. None of these steps, however, could remove the psychological dread that a survivor would always be feeling, that is, an enemy plane could be in the process of crashing on top of them. Survivors’ recollection of fire, smoke, and chaos haunted them for the rest of their lives.
Even through all of this, the endurance of both the ships and crews was commendable. Some of the vessels were lost, some returned battered, while some, like Franklin, made it through against amazing odds. Their stories are timeless reminders of courage, sacrifice, and the will to continue fighting, even when survival looked impossible.