Holiday Inn

Less than two months after the aircraft carrier Franklin had been hit off Kyushu by two Japanese bombs and turned into a floating inferno (TIME, May 28), the same fate befell her elder, more experienced sister, the Bunker Hill. The circumstances were astonishingly similar: the ship was at flight quarters (launching planes). The enemy aircraft dived through the Bunker Hill's own combat air patrol so suddenly that they could not be splashed by U.S. fighters.

A Zeke (old-type Zero) dropped a delayed-action bomb which penetrated the Bunker Hill's flight deck, went out through the ship's side and burst over the water. But the Zeke itself crashed on the after half of the carrier's deck, crowded with 34 loaded planes, ready to go. That kindled a raging fire. Then a Judy (dive bomber) dropped a 500-pounder through the flight deck, and crashed into the base of the island structure. The Bunker Hill's fight for life was on.

Admiral's Escape. Vice Admiral Marc A. ("Pete") Mitscher, boss of the whole vast Task Force 58, happened to be away from his usual perch on a high chair on the flag bridge, where some officers and men of his staff were killed. Two other places where Mitscher might have been were hit --an office and his living quarters, where all his clothing except "the uniform he was wearing was destroyed. Soon Mitscher had to transfer by boatswain's chair to the destroyer English, which flew his three-starred flag with unaccustomed pride. Mitscher soon went to another carrier.

Carrier's Escape. The Bunker Hill's fight for survival lasted through many agonizing hours. A huge pillar of smoke billowed from the after half of the ship, where blazing gasoline and oil sloshed around. Crewmen manned hoses in the face of flames which scorched them to the limit of endurance. Part of the Marine detachment stayed in an ovenlike compartment, throwing bombs and rockets overboard. Tons of water, covered with burning gas and oil, were spilled off over the side in a sharp, skillful turn worked out by the navigator, Commander Charles J. Odend'hal Jr.

When the explosions ended and the fires were out, the chaplains led volunteers in a search for the dead. Next day, 352 men who had died to save their ship were committed to the sea; in all, 393 were killed or missing, 264 wounded.

The Bunker Hill had won her Navy nickname of "Holiday Inn" because her career started with holiday strikes (Armistice Day, Christmas and New Year's) against New Britain and New Ireland, a year and a half ago. Last week Holiday Inn, closed for alterations at Puget Sound Navy Yard, ranked next to the Franklin as the most cruelly ravaged U.S. ship ever to reach port under her own power.

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