Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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NQESQ-Ng 'XX -foe- Rf ' REQ -I f .kiilfx . -x' ff 'AX fr- X eye-WI'l'l1e5S 'for - 4-'I we f ' bass story of 65161-1 N-N is X X GQ: 1' 'if X X I xiii T vQ '- - 1' rg 1. W V 5,7 -1-.AMS T 9 USS 6l1l1eSSe6 X '5 A iNH ...g,. b fx 'fmzigill' ,- ff Q I ' Ill IIITII ,,,.,-5-Z . , ll' 'f' A I I I T,-if T I buffle of TGTNITDT X. I li I h b S-J XT xx Pedl' dl' Ol' l -X o k ,Z I z I 2 I I I Q I I I n I T By SERGEANT MAJOR ROGER M. EMMONS Marine Defachmeni, USS TENNESSEE EdiTor's NoTe: ITh' narraTive oT The USS TENNESSEE aT The BaTTIe oT Pearl I-Tarbor is a copy is oT an accounT wriTTen immediaTeIy aTTer The acTion. The accuracy oT Times and oT sTaTemenTs, such as The number oT Japanese planes, casuaITies, eTc., is noT guaranTeed, b TT IT T oTTiciaI records were noT avaiIabIe.I and in some insTances is cerTain To e a au , or AT 7:55 a.m., on 7Th December, I94I, The Japanese made a surprise aerial aTTack on The U. S. PaciTic EIeeT in Pearl Harbor, TerriTory oT I-Iawaii. The sole obiecT oT The aTTack was To annihiIaTe The Amer- ican TIeeT-baTTIeships in parTicular. The USS TENNESSEE, CapTain C. E. Reordan commanding, was one oT eighT baTTIeships which par- TicipaTed in The baTTle. On ThaT occasion The CALI- FORNIA, MARYLAND, TENNESSEE, ARIZONA, and NEVADA, respecTiveIy, were moored in single Tile aT Eord lsland in The middle oT Pearl I-Iarbor. The OKLAI-IGMA was berThed alongside The MARYLAND, while The WEST VIRGINIA was beside The TENNES- SEE. The eighTh baTTleship, PENNSYLVANIA, was in drydock aT The Navy Yard. OTher warships oT various Types were also presenT in The harbor. IT was a beauTiTuI morning wiTh Tleecy clouds in The sky, and The visibiliTy was good. Aboard The TENNESSEE The usual Sunday schedule prevailed. Many oT The oTTicers had gone ashore over The week- end. The Marine DeTachmenT was drawn up on The TanTaiI Tor morning Colors, mess Tables were being cleared away, some oT The men were geTTing dressed preparaTory To going on liberTy, while oThers baTTed- The-breeze over Their aTTer breakTasT smoke. In iTs beginning The 'day was iusT anoTher peaceTuI Sunday aT The UniTed STaTes' IargesT naval base. A Tew minuTes beTore 7:55 a.m., several squadrons OT musTard-yellow planes Tlew over The island oT Oahu Trom The souThwesT, buT This caused no alarm as miliTary planes overhead was The usual Thing. When Those squadrons approached Pearl I-Iarbor They maneuvered inTo aTTack TormaTions aT low aITiTude over Merry's PoinT. AT 7:55 a.m. wave aTTer wave oT Those warplanes sTreamed across The harbor and hurled Their deadly missiles upon The unsuspecTing baTTle TIeeT. Every plane seemed To have iTs obiecTive selecTed in advance, Tor They separaTed inTo groups and each group concenTraTed on a speciTic ship. When The TirsT wave oT aTTacking planes came over I was in The Marine DeTachmenT oTTice on The second deck oT The TENNESSEE. PTc. George W. Dinning IDavenporT, Iowal, The clerk, was seaTed aT The desk making ouT The Morning ReporT. Suddenly we TeIT a violenT bump which gave us The Teeling ThaT The ship had been pushed bodily sideways, and as I did noT hear any explosion I remarked ThaT some ship had run inTo us. lmmediaTeIy aTTer ThaT The alarm gongs sounded General QuarTers. I was so surprised ThaT I could hardly believe my ears, buT The noise oT explosions Through The open porTs Torced iT upon me. George never did Tinish ThaT Morning ReporT: he iumped seemingly sideways Through The door and was gone like The wind. SnaTching a deTachmenT rosTer Trom The desk I dashed aTTer him. My baTTle sTaTion was on The 5-inch broadside guns where I could see whaT acTuaIIy was happening around us. I had a hurried look around Trom The case- maTes on The sTarboard side and Then wenT over To The porT side. The sky was doTTed wiTh black puTTs oT anTi-aircraTT Tire. A plane, Trailing a plume oT smoke, was plunging earThward over Eord Island. OTT in The direcTion oT SchoTieId Barracks There was a vasT cloud OT black smoke. AT The same Time Two billowing pillars oT smoke arose Trom The Navy Yard and l'Iickam