Joseph A. Springer

Well crafted account of the service life of CV 13, the USS Benjamin Franklin. The author relies heavily on accounts from the crew throughout, encompassing the air crew, deck crew and both officers and enlisted as well as Marine. This adds an excellent feature to the book and the author weaves in and out of their accounts effectively. It is interesting that the captain was aware of enemy planes approaching and did not have the ship at general quarters, which meant hundreds were lined up to eat and died in the blast. No action was taken against him but the captain of the Indianapolis was prosecuted with particular venom by the navy and hounded to his eventual suicide. A cynic might chalk it up to political witch hunting.
The story of the crew of the Franklin is tremendous and this book serves their memory well. Good book.… (mer)

Very interesting read abt the USS Franklin, a most historic naval ship. This is especially interesting to any family members that want to learn of the relatives that may have served on the ship.The USS Franklin was attacked by kamikaze near Okinawa,Japan on March 19,1945.The ship made it back to NYC Harbor under its own steam and considering the damage the ship had suffered,this is a miracle in itself.The Veterans of this ship keep its history alive,but the US Government needs to do more to keep the memory of this historic ship and those that served on her.… (mer)