Lucky Lady: The World War II Heroics of the USS Santa Fe and Franklin [Hardcover]

Steve Jackson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2002

Steve Jackson’s Lucky Lady chronicles the saga of the aircraft carrier Franklin, the light cruiser Santa Fe, and their tragic encounter on March 19, 1945, when a Japanese bomber broke through U.S. air cover and dropped two 500-pound bombs on the Franklin. Fires were set off as ammunition and fuel exploded. The Franklin was near sinking, with all her 2,500 sailors in mortal danger. To the Japanese high command, American aircraft carriers represented supreme power. If several could be sunk, it might vanquish America’s resolve. Against this backdrop, the Santa Fe, nicknamed the “Lucky Lady” for its unparalleled record of avoiding casualties throughout the war, came steaming to the Franklin’s aid. In a maneuver heralded as one of the greatest feats of seamanship in naval history, the Santa Fe bellied up alongside the listing tinderbox of the Franklin, rescuing more than 800 sailors who were ferried across rope catwalks as flames on the burning sea licked at them from below. Despite the risk of being swamped by the much larger ship, the Lucky Lady remained alongside the Franklin, helping to shepherd the crippled vessel toward safety. Meanwhile, in the skies above, a vicious battle was fought, as the Franklin was stalked by Japanese planes eager to finish off their kill. In a haunting conclusion, Jackson measures the sacrifices and the triumphs of the two ships. This book is a fitting memorial that will move readers everywhere. 8 pages of black-and-white photographs heighten this dramatic saga.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The destinies of the cruiser Santa Fe and carrier Franklin dramatically intersected off the coast of Japan in March 1945, when the former, nicknamed the Lucky Lady, came to the rescue of the stricken latter. Jackson (No Stone Unturned) spends the first half of his account covering the ships' preparations and initial war experiences. He follows a few men through the narrative (many others are mentioned only once), and offers lively descriptions of shipboard life, but tells his tale episodically and not always chronologically, which undermines the story's flow. In chapter nine, Jackson begins to alternate between Santa Fe and Franklin, as they undertake joint operations, including the liberation of the Philippines, during the latter part of 1944. Both ships face kamikaze attacks; the Franklin was hit by a suicide aircraft. Thanks to a "magnificent piece of seamanship" by her captain, the Santa Fe avoided a torpedo and a suicide plane simultaneously; she also avoided a now infamous typhoon. Both ships took part in the greatest naval engagement of World War II, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and Jackson includes some dramatic accounts from downed aviators. On March 19th, 1945, when the Franklin was struck by two bombs from a Japanese dive-bomber, the Santa Fe stood by the Franklin and was instrumental in saving it from sinking. The heroic efforts of the crews of both ships to save the carrier, told through survivors' stories, is the most gripping part of the book. Unfortunately, the Franklin's captain wouldn't allow those who had left the ship during the attack-some of whom were blown off deck and into the water-to return to it; acrimony developed between those who had stayed on board and those who didn't. The epilogue gratuitously brings the "new kamikazes" of the terrorist attacks of 9/11 to this well evoked corner of the War.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"An effort evocative of James Bradley's FLAGS OF OUR FATHERS . . . . Rich in moods and memories . . . Down-home, heart-tugging stories...." -- Naval History Magazine, August 2003

"In this exciting book . . . , readers come to know the ships' crews as ordinary men who triumphed under extraordinary circumstances." -- Sea Power Magazine, May 2003

A biographical testament, told by everyone from captains to seamen.... As good as any military technothriller. -- Library Journal

An intense . . . account of the men aboard the ships . . . and the war that kept the men united. -- The Colorado Springs Gazette

Masterfully tells the saga of these two ships.... Eloquently describe[s] the almost spiritual camaraderie among shipmates. -- The Dallas Morning News

The pathos of Ernie Pyle and the historic intuition of Stephen Ambrose. . . . [U]nsentimental when it might have been maudlin. . . . Eloquent. -- Denver Post, December 29, 2002

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 1St Edition edition (November 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786710616
• ISBN-13: 978-0786710614
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,815,206 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Best-selling and award-winning author and journalist Steve Jackson lives and works in the mountains of Colorado with his wife, and their three children. Born in Bethesda Naval Hospital in 1955, he grew up in Hawaii and Colorado. He graduated in 1979 from Colorado State University with a BA in Journalism.

A newspaper journalist for 25 years, he worked in locales as varied as Montana, Hawaii, Guam, Micronesia, Indonesia, Indiana, Washington D.C., Florida, Oregon and Colorado. During his career with newspapers, he received numerous national and regional awards for feature writing and investigative reporting.

His first non-fiction book, Monster, was published in October 1998, and he has been writing full-time since 2001. His latest non-fiction book, Not Lost Forever, was published Oct. 6, 2009. In 2003, his World War II dramatic narrative, Lucky Lady, received The Colorado Book Award, best biography/history, from the Colorado Center for the Book; Lucky Lady was also the runner-up that year for the Admiral Samuel Morrison Naval History Award.

Several of his books, beginning with Monster, have been listed on the New York Times Bestsellers list. He also ghost writes a popular "crime thriller" fiction series. "But if I told you the name, I'd have to kill you," he says.

Outside of writing, his interests include backpacking, fly fishing, skiing, guitar, reading, softball, music, wine, beer and spending time with his family and friends.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Human war, human history, December 24, 2002

By 

Ron Franscell, Author of 'Sourtoe Cocktail Club' - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lucky Lady: The World War II Heroics of the USS Santa Fe and Franklin (Hardcover)

Sometimes, a lock is the key.

When Colorado author Steve Jackson found a lock of honey-colored hair buried deep in an old box his father kept from World War II, an epic story unfolded before him. The hair was his mother's - before she was his mother, or even his father's bride - and the story was the story of a generation before it became known as the "greatest generation."

Jackson's new non-fiction book "Lucky Lady" - a departure from his best-selling true-crime books such as "Rough Trade" and "No Stone Unturned" - is the story of two ships, two crews, and at its heart, the relatively few years that changed his father's life. The result: a history of men at war with all the pathos of Ernie Pyle and the historic intuition of Stephen Ambrose. All told, Jackson's account is unsentimental when it might have been maudlin, and eloquent when it might have been academic.

A Midwestern farm boy from a broken family, Donald Jackson joined the U.S. Navy before the war. He was due to muster out in 1942, but then came Dec. 7, 1941. The radioman, wearing his sweetheart's ring around his neck with his dogtags, came aboard the cruiser USS Santa Fe in 1943.

Known as the Lucky Lady because she logged the war's longest tour - 221,750 miles with stops in such exotic hotspots as Wake Island, Tarawa, Saipan and Iwo Jima -- with only two casualties and insignificant damage, the Santa Fe became her crew's guardian angel and surrogate soul.

The USS Franklin was the United States' fifth Essex-class aircraft carrier and the fifth naval vessel to carry the name - the original was a fishing boat loaned to the Continental Army in 1775 and re-named for Ben Franklin. Although "Big Ben" bore the seemingly unlucky naval designation as CV-13, she'd become World War II's most decorated naval vessel.

The Franklin and Santa Fe crossed historic paths on March 19, 1945, when a lone Japanese plane dropped two bombs on Big Ben, penetrating both the ship's bowels and brain. Dead in the water without radio contact and very little power, the Franklin was burning fast and listing badly. Worse, much of its crew had been blown overboard, killed or wounded.

With 724 killed and 265 wounded, the Franklin's surviving 106 officers and 604 crewmen valiantly tried to save the ship. Jackson recounts the heroic efforts of many of them, including eventual Medal of Honor winners Lt. Cdr. Joseph T. O'Callahan, a chaplain who administered last rites, organized firefighters and rescuers, and helped flood munition magazines before they could explode; and Lt. (jg) Donald Gary, who discovered 300 men trapped in a charred mess hall and made several trips below to lead them to safety.

The Santa Fe's crew was no less heroic as it pulled alongside to pluck sailors from the sea and cram its decks and wardrooms with the Franklin's wounded.

But "Lucky Lady" isn't just the story of inanimate steel, fuel oil, and gunpowder that make warships. It's about the men - boys, really - who are the spirit and soul of these two ships.

Through them and many others, Jackson captures not only the battle histories of two legendary ships, but the bluejacket's life, from the captain's chair to the deepest, darkest corners of the bilge-soaked hold, from boot camp ("Do you like girls, sailor?") to burial at sea. All of it is retold here through the eyes of the men who faced death and survived.

It is good to be reminded of common men's grace under fire, and that each of them enters the world stage from a place far away. Jackson's old soldiers, already fading away, help him bring this splendid, moving history to readers who will never know them.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Read, December 6, 2002

By 

A. Harding (Livermore, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lucky Lady: The World War II Heroics of the USS Santa Fe and Franklin (Hardcover)

As the son of one of the men on the Santa Fe, I had the privilege of being allowed to read the original draft of Lucky Lady. My father told many stories about the war as I was growing up, but the author was able to draw out considerably more than I ever could have from my father, as well as from many others. This book is not all guns and bayonets, but goes into the lives of the crewmembers, and to some extent, the families waiting back home. It was fascinating following the transformation of the sailors, some only teenagers, as they fought for their lives, and how their lives were forever changed by the experience. Lucky Lady is written in a way that shows how the entire generation of people changed, not just the few selected for the book.

Through the eyes of many different men on different ships, from engine rooms to airplanes, Lucky Lady makes the reader feel like a part of the crew. The rescue of and survival of the Franklin is the obvious highlight of this book, but that incident was one day of a multi-year experience. The reader shares the terror of being on a ship hit by a Kamikaze, and the sadness of watching the Marines land on an island. Even the victory of sinking a Japanese ship was not cause for celebration as the men on the surviving ships knew it could have as easily been Americans waiting to die in the water.

Regardless of your age or interest, I think everyone will enjoy Lucky Lady.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read, but it needs a little help, May 5, 2003

By 

Eric Hobart (La Center, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lucky Lady: The World War II Heroics of the USS Santa Fe and Franklin (Hardcover)

Steve Jackson, in his new book Lucky Lady, has provided us with an insight not often seen into the annals of Military history. Jackson has chosen to focus on Naval history during World War II, with an emphasis on two ships that are seemingly unrelated except for their assignment into the same task forces during combat exercises.

Jackson interviewed many of the ships' crew members in order to tell their tales, and supplemented that material with official histories of the ships and their combat experiences.

I found Jackson's style of writing to be easy to read, and very descriptive of the events encountered by the crew members. I thoroughly enjoyed his style of bringing the sailors to life in the book, and explaining the grim realities of naval & air combat.

The book also gave me new insights into some of the key military players in the war - I have a different perspective now of Admiral Halsey than I did when I started the book, and Captain Gehres is a man that I had never heard of, but I now have seen an interesting perspective of the man and respect for his struggles to save his ship.

I feel that although Jackson has provided us with a strong narrative history, he sometimes repeats information that was previously written in the book. The seemingly haphazard style of bouncing between the events occuring on the two ships sometimes leads to confusion, but this is easily overcome if each chapter/section is read as a separate "tale" to be told about naval warfare in the Pacific.

I think that this is a very good book, and will interest anyone that has a desire to learn more about warfare and the men who fought on these two ships.