Sixty-four years ago today CV-13 Franklin was hit by two bombs dropped by a Japanese aircraft while operating off the coast of the Japanese mainland. The resulting conflagration killed some 724 sailors and wounded 265 others, leaving nearly a thousand casualties in its wake.

Last year I came across a damage report written post-war about the two hits Franklin had taken, a Kamikaze to the flight deck in October of 1944 and the bombing in March, 1945. That report has finally been finished as a web page and is readable here. This report includes very details description of the damage as well as details that will help the modeler who might wish to honor this ship and her crew by building a model of her at the time of the bombing. It's the first time I've seen a good plan of the deck spottings at the time of the attack (Damage Plates II and III).

I hope people here find it interesting and come away with a respect for her crew; what they did was nothing short of miraculous.