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Return to the United States for Repairs
The Franklin was taken in tow by Pittsburgh (CA-72) until she managed to churn
up speed to 14 knots (26 km/h) and proceed to Ulithi and then to Pearl Harbor where
a cleanup job permitted her to sail under her own power to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, arriving on 28
April 1945.
Upon the ship's arrival, a brewing controversy over the crew's conduct during the ship's
struggles finally came to a head; Captain Gehres had accused many of those who had left
the ship on 19 March 1945 of desertion, even those who had jumped into the water to escape
certain death by fire, or had been led to believe that "abandon ship" had been ordered.
While en route from Ulithi, Gehres had proclaimed 704 of the crew to be members of the
"Big Ben 704 Club" for having stayed with the stricken ship, but investigators in New
York discovered that only about 400 were actually on the Franklin continuously, the
others having been brought back before and during the stop at Ulithi. All charges were
quietly dropped.
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