Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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Field area. The sky was Tull oT planes bearing The Rising Sun emblem oT Japan. Overhead droned a TlighT Time again To geT in The killing blows. FirsT came aerial Torpedoes, Then heavy bombers and dive bombers. Wifhin a Tew minuTes oT The commencemenT oT The aTTack we were hiT direcT Two Times by bombs. One bomb bursTing on The Torward TurreT dis- abled one gun, and a TragmenT Trom iT peneTraTed The shield on The bridge above killing a sailor, and severely wounding an oTTicer. The commander oT The WEST VlRGlNlA, CapTain Mervyn S. Bennion, was morTally wounded by a porTion oT This bomb when he emerged Trom The conning Tower To The bridge oT his ship. The second, a l5- or I6-inch proiecTile, which The enemy was using as a bomb, hiT The aTT TurreT, buT TorTunaTely iT did noT explode, buT pierced The Top, killing Two men under The poinT oT impacT. AT abouT 8:00 a.m,, a Terrific explosion Took place in our new asTern, ARIZONA, which Tairly liTTed us in The waTer. She blew up in an enormous Tlame and a :loud oT black smoke when her Torward magazine ex- ploded aTTer a Japanese bomb had dropped down her Tunnel. Her back broken by The explosion, The enTire Torward porTion oT The ship canTed away from Thr- aTT porlion as The ship began To seTTle on The bcTToin. lT was a :crane which cannoT easily be TorgoTTen- 'iw ATQTQTONA was a mass oT Tire Trom bow To Tore- maiT, on divck and beTween decks, and The surface of This waTrr Toi a large dis.Tance around was a mass oT Tlaming oil Trom millions oT gallons oT Tuel oil. Over a Tlaifiuand dead men lay in her TwisTed wreck, Among Thom who perished were Rear Admiral lsaac C. Kidd, and Capmin Franklin Van Valkenburgh. A Tew momenTs aTTer This disasTer our aTTenTion fi' abucrbcd in The OKLAHOMA. STabbed several Timex in her porT side by Torpedoes, she heeled very genTly over, and capsized wiThin nine minuTes. The waTer was doTTed wiTh The heads oT men. Some swam aihcre, covered Trom head To TooT wiTh Thick, oily rum, buT hundreds oT men Trapped in The vessel's hui! were drowned. VJe had only been in The aTTack a Tew minuTes -sfrieri The VVEST VIRGINIA. abouT 20 TeeT on our porT beam. began slowly To seTTle by The bow, and Then are it .- f- ,- ,- -,il f --'T ' 7 T TTL' 'T KM, 1 -,:. ' ,Nw- f ,,.!.3m ? A- ' , j f - -M 2 4 Tie Q se. ....-- f7 'QgaX.'3 0 , 'IL-FF ,6 'C+-as 'f e -ff-T , ,Q t':?nK s , f T We X lv

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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

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Took a heavy lisT To The porT. She had been badly hiT by several Torpedoes in The opening aTTaclc. Incendiary of horizonTal bombers aT an alTiTude oT abouT l0,000 TeeT. Some sixTy enemy planes were diving aT our ships. Then a very greaT many Things happened in a very shorT Time. The Japanese planes sTruclc Time and bombs sTarTed Tires which Tilled her declcs and super- sTrucTure wiTh Tlame and smolce. ln The midsT oT all This Turmoil, The NEVADA, The nexT ship asTern oT The blazing ARlZQNA goT under way and headed Tor The channel. As she moved dawn sTream The vessel was a TargeT oT many enemy planes unTiI badly crippled by a Torpedo, and aTTer ThaT she ran aground To prevenT sinlcing. The nexT picTure was a desTroyer, name unlcnown, leaving The harbor under a wiThering Tire Trom Japanese planes. BuT To reTurn To The TENNESSEE, The real sTory oT This ship lies in The splendid manner in which The ohficers and men on board arose To The emergency. When General QuarTers was sounded all hands dashed To Their baTTle sTaTions. There was no panic. The shoclc Tound each and every man ready Tor his iob. AnTi-aircraTT and machine guns were guiclcly manned, The TirsT gun geTTing inTo acTion in less Than Three minuTes aTTer The alarm. For The nexT TorTy minuTes The TENNESSEE was The cenTer oT a whirlwind oT bombs and bulleTs. The Japanese planes bombed our ship and Then bombed again. They opened up wiTh machine guns in low Tlying aTTaclcs. The ship's gun crews ToughT wiTh uTmosT gallanTry, and in a mosT Tenacious and deTermined manner. They had no ThoughT Than To lceep The guns going and Thereby annihilaTing Those slanT-eyed sons- OT-biTches Trom The land oT The Rising Sun. l-losTile planes swooping down on whaT They ThoughT an easy prey. were greeTed wiTh volleys Trom our anTi-aircraTT and machine guns. ATTer such a warm recepTion The Japanese airmen gave The TENNESSEE a wide berTh. So TerriTic Was The noise oT The explosions and our own anTi-aircraTT guns ThaT one could noT hear himselT speak and had TO shouT in anybody's ear. The air seemed To be Tull oT TragmenTs and Tlying pieces. ln The general din There was The whoosh, Tollowed by a 1 X X .K R ' -1 :J QJ 9, -J' Q! inf -- 'rgfhr , y 'iwiin . X Q -. ii' ' :t N133 in X - 'L N X 'i i E--.12 E'.:' ' X n