March 19, 1945 -- Off the coast of Japan, the USS Franklin had just launched its aircraft in an attack of the shipping industry in Kobe Harbor when a single enemy aircraft pierced the cloud cover and made a low level run on the ship known as "Big Ben." In a matter of seconds, the aircraft�s 250kg bomb would strike the Franklin, piercing the deck and setting off a chain reaction of exploding ordnance and aviation fuel. Afire, listing heavily to starboard, and with over 1,000 killed or wounded, it appeared as if the USS Franklin would find her end among the waters of the Pacific. The events that followed, however, would make the story of Big Ben one of the most dramatic and inspiring in naval history.