The U.S. Naval Institute Wheel Books provide important information, pragmatic advice, and cogent analysis on topics important to all naval professionals. Drawn from the U.S. Naval Institute’s vast archives, the series combines articles from the Institute’s flagship publication Proceedings, selections from the oral history collection, and Naval Institute Press books to create unique guides on a wide array of ...
“Sudden death was everywhere. . .”
On the morning of March 19, 1945, about fifty miles off the coast of Japan, the aircraft carrier USS Franklin was bombed by Japanese aircraft. Two heavy bombs penetrated the hangar deck killing everyone inside. The planes on the flight deck were knocked into the air, their whirling propellers smashing gas tanks which spilled ...