Slate begins film reading: Sante Fe alongside to take off wounded. (Refers to the light cruiser USS Sante Fe (CL-60) evacuating survivors from the aircraft carrier USS Franklin (CV-13) after it was bombed by Japanese aircraft during World War 2.) View of the Sante Fe starboard of the Franklin. Survivors are watching from the forward section of the Franklin as wounded are transported to from the Franklin to the Sante Fe by bos'n chair and similar means for transporting wounded on cots. Aboard the Franklin, sailors help an ambulatory wounded to a place where medics are giving first aid. They help him to a bed, of sorts that a medic quickly prepares on deck. Sailors passing a wounded to others who prepare him for evacuation. Back on deck, medics are tending to some wounded, bandaging injuries and preparing bed-ridden for evacuation. Intervening slate reads: Most terrific blast of morning.(Note; all explosions are made from ships distant from CV-13. Impossible to shoot film aboard during detonations.) (Indicates that subsequent scenes are filmed from other ships.) Distant views of huge fire ball and dense smoke coming from the USS Franklin. Slate reads: Sante Fe returns. Had been forced by explosions to shear off The Sante Fe seen starboard of the Franklin and closing with her fire hoses directing streams of water on the Franklin. Water running off the Franklin's deck. Small fire seen below decks. The Sante Fe inundating the Franklin with water from her hoses. View of aft deck of Franklin in pieces. Slate intervenes stating: Until dark Father O'Callahan, paying no heed to explosions and his own great peril attends the dying. Glimpse of sailors hauling lines on the Franklin flight deck. Then, Navy Chaplain, Father Joseph Timothy O'Callahan, is seen administering last rites to a dying sailor on the deck.
A U.S. New Orleans class cruiser underway with a task force in the Pacific, during World War 2. Upper of two 3x8 gun turrets seen (lower out of sight). Both the bow and the stern of ship are awash periodically. Three Navy TBF Avenger aircraft are seen in formation, flying slowly at low altitude overhead, all with landing gear extended.
Aerial views, from a biplane, of the British Battleship, King George V underway at sea.
Smoke rises from bombed aircraft carrier USS Princeton (CVL-23) off Luzon in World War 2. Time code 00:29,shows F6F-5 #7 "Paper Doll," of VF-27, (mount of Ensign Bob Burnell who painted most of the famous "cat mouths" on the cowls of VF-27 Hellcats).Pilots walk across flight deck of USS Essex (CV-9). TC:01:04, F6F-5 #47 (VF-15) is seen with Horizontal stripe near rudder tip identifying it as an Air Group 15 aircraft. Further along is F6F-3 #8 (VF-15) Late production -3 with superseded tri-color paint scheme and 7 Japanese victory flag emblems under cockpit. F6F-3 #F-11 (VF-27) Late production -3, "F-11" lettered prefix to aircraft number (unusual on an operational fighter probably indicating a recent replacement). Plane captain is cleaning windshield on the "Minzi III" when Captain David S. McCampbell, the top U.S. Navy ace, approaches and climbs aboard the aircraft. Thirty Japanese flags are painted on the fuselage below the cockpit. McCampbell straps in and starts his engine. He gives a "thumbs up" sign. "Airedales" push empty Hellcat belly tanks across Essex flight deck. A Destroyer fires antiaircraft guns. Japanese aircraft seen in flight over water. Fire from 40 mm guns. (Note: Some planes of Squadron VF-27 on the Princeton, were recovered on the Essex.)
United States Navy fleet maneuvers in the Pacific, during the period between the World Wars. Numerous battleships are seen. Curtiss SOC "Seagull" Scout-Observation Planes launch from the battleships and join up to fly in formation above the ships.
Engineering personnel at work below decks in the engine compartments of the SS Leviathan troop transport ship while underway, carrying 12 thousand soldiers of the American Expeditionary Force to France during World War 1. Men in control room adjust engine settings. Firemen, stripped to the waist, stoke ship's boilers. View forward from the bridge, as rough seas break over the bow of the ship.