Attack on carrier USS Franklin 19 March 1945

Photographed by PHC Albert Bullock

Uploaded by User:Dna-webmaster to Wikimedia Commons

Photographed by PHC Albert Bullock from the cruiser USS Santa Fe (CL-60), which was alongside assisting with firefighting and rescue work.
Photo #: 80-G-273880, Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
The carrier is afire and listing after she was hit by a Japanese air attack while operating off the coast of Japan - the crew is clearly seen on flight deck.
After the attack the vessel lay dead in the water, took a 13° starboard list, lost all radio communications, and broiled under the heat from enveloping fires. Many of the crewmen were blown overboard, driven off by fire, killed or wounded, but the hundreds of officers and enlisted who voluntarily remained saved their ship through sheer tenacity. The casualties totaled 724 killed and 265 wounded, and would have far exceeded this number if it were not for the exemplary work of many survivors.