USS Franklin (CV-13)

USS Franklin underway in 1944
History
United States
Name	Franklin
Namesake	USS Franklin (1775), named for Benjamin Franklin
Builder	Newport News Shipbuilding
Laid down	7 December 1942
Launched	14 October 1943
Commissioned	31 January 1944
Decommissioned	17 February 1947
Reclassified	CVA-13, 13 October 1952 CVS-13, 13 August 1953 AVT-8, 8 May 1959
Stricken	1 October 1964
Fate	Scrapped, 27 July 1966
General characteristics
Class and type	Essex-class aircraft carrier
Displacement	27,100 long tons (27,500 t) (standard) 36,380 long tons (36,960 t) (full load)
Length	820 feet (249.9 m) (wl) 872 feet (265.8 m) (o/a)
Beam	93 ft (28.3 m)
Draft	34 ft 2 in (10.41 m)
Installed power	8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 150,000 shp (110,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × geared steam turbines 4 × screw propellers
Speed	33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range	14,100 nmi (26,100 km; 16,200 mi) at 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement	2,600 officers and enlisted men
Armament	12 × 5 in (127 mm) DP guns 32 × 40 mm (1.6 in) AA guns 46 × 20 mm (0.8 in) AA guns
Armor	Waterline belt: 2.5–4 in (64–102 mm) Deck: 1.5 in (38 mm) Hangar deck: 2.5 in (64 mm) Bulkheads: 4 in (102 mm)
Aircraft carried	36 × Grumman F4F Wildcat 36 × Douglas SBD Dauntless 18 × Grumman TBF Avenger

USS Franklin (CV/CVA/CVS-13, AVT-8), nicknamed "Big Ben," was one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy, and the fifth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in January 1944, she served in several campaigns in the Pacific War, earning four battle stars. In March 1945, while launching strikes against the Japanese mainland, she was badly damaged when a single Japanese dive bomber struck her with two bombs. The attack resulted in the loss of 807 of her crew and Franklin became the most heavily-damaged United States aircraft carrier to survive the war.^[1] The complement of Franklin suffered 924 killed in action during the war, the worst for any surviving U.S. warship and second only to that of USS Arizona.^[2][3]

After the attack, she returned to the U.S. mainland for repairs, missing the rest of the war; she was decommissioned in 1947. In reserve, she was reclassified as an attack carrier (CVA), then an antisubmarine carrier (CVS), and finally an aircraft transport (AVT), but she was never modernized and never saw active service again. Franklin and Bunker Hill (damaged by two kamikazes) were the only Essex-class carriers not to see active service as aircraft carriers after World War II.^[4] Franklin was sold for scrap in 1966.