Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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ThaT so lew hiTs were obTained considering The number and proximiTy oT The bombs ThaT Tell around us. We compared noTes aTTerwards, and decided ThaT during The baTTle abouT eighTeen To TwenTy bombs Tell wiThin I00 yards oT The ship. 5. Thar aT Times The TENNESSEE was enTirely hidden by huge smoke clouds driTTing Trom The ARIZONA and WEST VIRGINIA. Scenes abouT The ship aTTer The baTTle beggar descripTion. The waTer surrounding The TENNESSEE was covered wiTh burning oil, which spread Trom The ARIZONA, and Tire brigades were engaged in a desperaTe TighT Tor Two days To save The ship. During This Time damage conTroI parTies ToughT Tor many hours To exTinguish a large Tire ThaT had sTarTed back aTT in The oTTicers' quarTers. In The meanwhile casualries and survivors Trom oTher ships began To arrive. ThaT aTTernoon Ten sur- vivors oT The ARIZONA Marine deparTmenT were re- ceived on board, and amongsT Them was CapTain John E. Earle, Jr., who had assumed command on The previous day. Prior To his TransTer on The 6Th oT December, CapTain Earle had been a deTachmenT oTTicer on The TENNESSEE and we were ThankTul To see him Turn up alive. IT was a greaT shock To us when he inTormed us ThaT oT The eighTy-eighT Marines who Tormed The ARIZONA DeTachmenT, only ThirTeen were able To escape, and The oTher sevenTy-Tive had perished. MosT oT The survivors had been in The main-Top when The ship blew up and in some miraculous way, in spiTe oT The inTense heaT and choking smoke, had climbed down The masT, iumped overboard, and swam ashore Through paTches oT oil burning on The waTer. The only iniury received by The swimmers was sore guTs, caused by shock oT bombs exploding in The waTer. Among Those who perished was The EirsT SergeanT oT The ARIZONA-SergeanT John Duveene. The sur- vivors Told us ThaT aTTer coming up on deck, SergeanT Duveene suddenly wenT back inTo The ship wiTh The obiecT oT recovering The deTachmenT's viTaI records. PresenTly he sTaggered on deck again badly burnT all over, his cIoThing on Tire, buT carrying The records. I-le leaped overboard, and was never seen again. AbouT 9:00 p.m. ThaT evening we had a mild scare, Two planes wiTh running lighTs on Tlew low direcTly over The TIee+, and every American gun ThaT would bear opened Tire. IT was like a Tireworks dis- play, The golden Tracer Tire sTreaked Trom end To end along The line oT ships. One oT The planes crashed on Eord Island, and The oTher was shoT down iusT beyond aT Pearl CiTy, sTarTing a blaze ThaT was visible Trom all parTs oT The harbor. The Tollowing day iT was learned ThaT These planes were Trom The aircraTT carrier USS ENTERPRISE. During The resT oT The nighT noThing TurTher hap- pened, excepT ThaT all This Time The ARIZONA had been burning Tiercely, lighTing up The harbor Tor a greaT disTance, and much To our discomTiTure we were visible Tor miles round. She burned Tor Two days. Then Tollowedvseveral days oT Tidying up The ship, evacuaTing our wounded, burying The dead, and wriTing oT The reporTs. IT was very hard To know which oTTicers and men To recommend Tor special recogni- Tion when all had done so well. AT 3:30 p.m. on The 20Th oT December, The baTTle- ships PENNSYLVANIA, MARYLAND, and TENNES- SEE, accompanied by desTroyer escorT, leTT Pearl l-Iar- vor bound Tor The UniTed STaTes. I-Iardly had we puT To sea when our desTroyers reporTed submarine conTacT, and The baTTleships commenced To Zig-Zag as The desTroyers swepT over The area dropping depTh charges, buT noThing could be seen oT The resulT owing To our speed. AbouT This Time The TENNESSEE Touled some sub- merged obiecT which may have been a submarine. Eor one momenT The ship suddenly seemed To slow downq Then, giving a series OT shorT ierks, she wenT on again. We all remarked on iT'in The casemaTe, and The people sTaTioned below reporTed ThaT iT TelT like we rammed someThing below surTace. There Then sTarTed The long voyage home during which we had a number oT submarine scares, including The rumored sinking oT one submarine by a desTroyer abouT I2:00 midnighT on The 28Th oT December. Eor The resT, a condiTion oT alerTness, a bad sTorm, and Tinally The mainland. I On The 29Th oT December The TENNESSEE enTered The PugeT Sound Navy Yard aT BremerTon, WashingTon, Tor proper repairs and some sTrucTural alTeraTions. For eighT weeks hundreds oT workmen were employed aboard us, working day and nighT, and we leTT BremerTon on The 26Th oT Eebruary, I942, no worse Tor The BaTTle oT Pearl Harbor, buT insread a more eTTicienT ship Than we had been beTore The acTion.