Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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l fluen crossed over fo Marine office on flue porf side, and found flue lock luad been knocked off flue door by a working parfy defailed fo secure all baffle porfs. l fluougluf if would be iusf as well fo gafluer up our service-record books in case if was necessary fo quickly abandon sluip, so l puf flue records in my pillow case and carried fluem up fo casemafe No. IO. Someone fold me fluere were a few Marines man- ning flue main fop, some 70 or SO feef above flue deck, access fo wluiclu could be gained by ascending a series of iron ladders running up flue inferior of flue masf. Deciding fo luave a look fluere for flue missing men, I clambered up flue ladders, pasf flue firsf landing, flurouglu a belf of luof acid funnel smoke, and was lualf- way fo flue fop wluen enemy planes suddenly reap- peared and soon we were in flue fluick of a bombing and a sfrafing affack. lf is difliculf fo wrife clearly of flue defails of fluis affack for flue wluole fluing oufdid flue mosf imaginafive picfure of a baffle. llue Japs dive-bombed our sluips again and again, wluile low-flying planes, no more fluan IOO feef above flue wafer sfrafed flue gun crews. Tluey flew fo flue end of flue bay, made a furn and came back. For abouf fwenfy minufes flue sfrafing affack kepf up, flue planes going confinuously up and down, spraying flue long row of bafflesluips wiflu ma- cluine-gun bullefs. ln flue general din l could luear flue sfaccafo bark of flue pom-poms on flue MARYLAND iusf aluead of us. Tluere was somefluing fremendously luearfening abouf flue sound of fluem, and flue very noise was inspiring. Affer wluaf seemed ages fo me some of flue raiders leff and flue sky was clearer. A ferrible scene of desfrucfion was revealed fo me as l fook a general look around. Tlue WEST VIRGINIA iusf abeam of us was blazing furiously. Cnly flue boffonu of flue OKLAHOMA was visible. 'llue ARL ZONA was an inferno now, emiffing dense volumes of smoke wluiclu luung over flue luarbor like a funeral pall. Our nexf aluead, MARYLAND was luif by a large bomb on flue forecasfle wluiclu penefrafed flue deck and made an ugly luole in fuer porf bow. An armor-piercing bomb luad exploded in one of flue casemafes on flue PENN- SYLVANlA. Looking fowards flue CALll:QRNlA l noe ficed fluaf slue luad a lueavy lisf fo flue porf side, and Nm cu QX7- i 3 f N l

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NTT duII whoomph oT huge expIosives which sTrucIc so close To The ship ThaT she shivered Trom end To end. During The TirsT aTTacIc a Iow-TIying Torpedo carry- ing pIane coming in asTern oT us was blown inTo in- TiniTesimaI pieces by a direcT hiT Trom our anTi- aircraTT baTTeries. IT happened, Ii+eraIIy speaking, in a TIash: one momenT There was an aT'TacIcing plane: The nexT momenT iT was a puTT oT smoke. When This cIeared There was noThing To be seen save dusT seTTIing on The waTer. The Marines were sTaTioned on The 5-inch broad- side guns numbers 6, 7, 8, 9, and IO. They had noThing acTive To do aT The beginning oT The acTion-any Tiring by The broadside baTTeries was absoIuTeIy ouT oT The guesTion as The porT guns Trained on The adiacenT WEST VIRGINIA, while The sTarboard guns aimed aT Ford Island. They had simply To sTand-by under a heavy aerial assauIT unable To repIy, or To puT iT in The vernacular oT The Marines in casemaTe No. IO, iVVe TeIT like basTards aT a Tamily reunion. CapTain Chevey S. WITiTe INorTon, Kan.I, in com- mand oT The Marines, seeing ThaT iT was no use Iceep- ing The Marines on The broadside baTTeries senT a vcIunTcer crew To man The 3finch gun on The sTar- beard side oT The guarTer-deck, and The surpIus were givin a chance To TighT iT ouT wiTh ancienT Lewis inaciwiiwcf guns pIacod in advanTageous posiTions abouT TIW- Thin There was an inTervaI oT comparaTive calm, which ,L'4fVITl',fI a good opporTuniTy To ascerTain The casuaITies uTTi iced by The Marines and maI4e a reporT To CapTain Wnifr, AccordingIy I began a Tour oT The assumed riaTTIc f.TaTion's checking The men by The rosier which I had broughT wiTh me. I counTed 75, There had been 9 I My nexT job Then was To Take a IooIc around The 'hip Tor The men missing. NaTuraIIy, my TirsT ThoughT was To fee iT They were among The wounded. I wenT f1'3IC2'iJ To second deck, where sick bay was IocaTed. The C-aii-age-way OuTside The ward was covered wiTh men Iving on maTTresses or on coTs. STepping care- 'eIT,f beTs-'Teen The rows oT maimed. burned, and bleed- ing I gropeo my way To The surgeons oTTice. A hos- c7TaI cerpsman 2nTormed me ThaT no Marines appeared on The casuaITy IisT. T XI ii? we Ti T X X XTX 3

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smoke appeared To be coming Trom her. The NEVADA had been run hard ashore, in a sinking condiTion. My aHenTion was called To The bridge of The WEST VIRGINIA. I-ler CapTain was lying There morTally wounded. Rescue parTies could noT reach him because The bridge was wreaThed in Tire and smoke. STill cap- able of movemenT, he was Trying To roll away Trom The choking fumes and blisTering heaT. I Then goT down Trom The Tops and made anoTher Tour of The baTTIe sTaTions, and aT each Tound The same picTure. The men were cool and in Tine spiriT. Everyone was doing his uTmosT, and The Things ThaT we had been Training Tor Tor many monThs were being achieved. The men had seT up machine guns on Tem- porary mounTs and were blazing away aT The aTTackers. A volunTeer crew on The quarTer-deck worked The 3-inch gun wiTh The precision and cerTainTy oi a well- regulaTed machine, They mighl have been aT drill Tor all The exciTemonT They displayed. A .lap plane Tlew over: The gun flamed, iT roared, iT leaped To The rear, iT slid To The TronT: The gun was loadedt anoTher TargeT appeared, The gun was Tired again, and The proiecTiIe screamed skyward. I ThoughT These men periormed Their duTies in a mosT eTT'icienT manner despiTe The TacT ThaT They had no previous experience in The use oT ThaT parTicular Type gun. Going To The bridge I came upon The body oT a sailor who had been killed by bomb TragmenTs which peneTraTed The bridge shield like iT was Tissue paper. I-Ie was propped in a siTTing posiTion and sTilI wore head phones. ConTinuing my Tour oT baTTle sTaTions I was sur- prised To Tind a soldier aT a baTTIe sTaTion. I-le had come aboard ThaT morning To visiT a Triend and when General QuarTers sounded he wenT To The baffle sTaTion wiTh his Triend. Very early in The acTion an incidenT occurred which hisTory may record as The TirsT hand-To-hand encounTer oT The American-Japanese War. A Nipponese plane crashed on Ford Island near us and The uniniured piloT sTarTed running Toward a nearby clump oT Trees when a Marine senTry wiTh a bayoneTed riTle inTervened. The Tlier Took ouT his pisToI and aTTempTed To shooT The Marine, buT The IaTTer plunged his bayoneT inTo The Jap unTiI he was dead. I personally did noT see This, buT some oT The ship's company were wiTnesses. EvenTually The aTTackers gradually Tlew away, and Toward I0:I5 a.m., I saw one soliTary Jap plane dis- appear beyond The mounTain in back oT Pearl Harbor. The acTion Tor us was ended alThough we did noT Think so aT The Time. The exacT number oT enemy planes disposed oT cannoT be ascerTained wiTh any cerTainTy, buT my impression is ThaT iT was noT very large. We, oT course, do noT know where The aTTackers came Trom, buT iT is ThoughT ThaT They came Trom land bases as well as Trom aircraTT carriers. The Japanese Marshall Islands are abouT 2000 miles souThwesT oT Pearl I-larbor. lvlosT disappoinTing on This occasion was The absence oT our own aircraTT. During The aTTack on Pearl I-larbor iTseIT There was noT one American plane To be seen in The sky. Those who parTicipaTed in The baTTle had one ThoughT, one quesTion, Where in The hell is our air Tome? Lacking air defense, The brunT of The TighTing Tell To The anTi-aircraTT gun crews. They were perTecT. Their loT was The hardesT, Tor iT Takes rugged men To sTick To Their guns as dive bombers come screaming aT Them, and low-Tlying planes spray The decks wiTh machine-gun bulleTs. Ignoring The bombs and sTraTing. These gunners pumped a hail of meTal above The harbor iusT as coolly as iT They were aT TargeT pracTice. and accounTed Tor several raiders. No praise can be Too high Tor Them. The TENNESSEE casualTies were only 4 men killed or died oT wounds, l officer and 36 men wounded, and l man missing, which was really an asTonishingly lighT number considering The ToTal casualTies oT The aTTack. IT will never cease To be a source ol' wonder To me ThaT we did noT share The TaTe oT The ARIZONA. One iii? WH may aTTribuTe our comparaTive immuniTy To The Tollow- ing: I. The Grace of God-Tor an armor-piercing bomb, deTlecTed by The yardarm, sTruck The rooT oT The aTT TurreT a glancing blows Had The yardarm noT been in iTs paTh, The proiecTiIe would have peneTraTed The TurreT and de- TonaTed in The aTT magazine. 2. ThaT The WEST VIRGINIA berThed alongside shielded us Trom The Torpedo planes, 3. To The bravery and persisTency oT our 6IfCraTT gun crews in TighTing To The I TenT oT Their abiIiTy and equipmerff, was so heaw ThaT The Japanese Torced To swerve off course, bombs To Tall shorT o-F The