Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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guam Cruising OTT The norThwesTern coasT oT Guam, The ship's secondary baTTery delivered harassing Tire againsT The enemy during The enTire nighT oT AugusT 3-4. Jap- anese Torces in The MounT SanTa Rosa area in The norTh- easTern area OT Guam received mosT oT The aTTenTion from The TENNESSEE. This area, a poinT oT sTubborn Japanese resisTance, again received The same aTTenTion The Tollowing day and Americans began To advance in The area. On AugusT 5, no call Tire was delivered and The day was spenT cruising oTT The coasT awaifing orders. ThaT nighT observers conTacTed several low-Tlying planes, pos- sibly enemy aircraTT Trom RoTa island. During The Tollowing Two days, The TENNESSEE cruised in The same general area, occasionally delivering Tire To cerTain TargeTs. The cruiser l-TONOLULU, operaTing in The area, reporTed The walces oT Two Torpedoes which missed Their marlcs. On Tuesday, AugusT 8, The ship moved To The wesT- ern side oT The island where The original landings had Talcen place in July. Some 5,000 rounds oT TTve-inch am- muniTion was Taken on Trom an LST which came alongside and The Tollowing day, The TENNESSEE, CALIFORNIA, The cruisers LOUISVILLE and l-IONOLULU and several screening desTroyers puT ouT To sea Tor EniweTolc. MosT oT The TighTing by ground Torces on These Three Marianas Islands-Saipan, Guam and Tinian-was now over and America had won valuable new bases Trom which To sTrilce The enemy. Saipan had been declared secure July 9, alThough several Thousand Nipponese Troops remained in small poclceTs To be wiped ouT aT leisure. On July 30, all organized resisTance on Tinian had ended, buT The cliTTs To The souTh end oT The island sTill reTained many TanaTical enemy soldiers. ATTer a sTubborn deTense oT The slopes oT lvlounT SanTa Rosa, The enemy was Tinally driven ouT and on AugusT I0 iT was announced ThaT all resisTance on Guam had come To an end. As in The case OT The oTher islands, small parTies oT Japanese remained and mopping up operaTions were immediaTely begun. More Than a monTh oT resT was ahead Tor The baH'le weary rebels oT The TENNESSEE. The nexT operaTion was To be a liT'Tle island called Angaur aT Palau, in The Carolines.

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angaur By SepTember, I944, The Time had come To shuT oTT The Tlow oT viTal war maTerials ThaT The Japanese were rushing Trom The sTolen lands oT The SouTh PaciTic. Bases were needed To exTend our operaTions and sTraTegisTs selecTed The Palau Islands of The Carolines as The mosT likely spoT To hiT The enemy where iT would hurT The mosT. ConTrol oT The Palaus by American Torces would make The enemy basTion of Truk a liabiliTy and The rampaging Third EleeT under The command oT Admiral William F. lBulll Halsey sTruck early in SepTember. Carrier planes Trom The Torce smashed aT Peleliu and Angaur, soTTening up The Two largesT islands of The Palau group in prepara- Tion Tor The bombardmenT Torces To come in and maul The area before The Troops crossed The beaches. For The invasion of The Palaus an armada esTimaTed aT close To 2,000,000 Tons was assembled and The TEN- NESSEE was again back on The firing line, This Time as- signed To The Angaur fire supporT group under The com- mand oT Admiral Howard F. Kingman wiTh his Tlag on The TENNESSEE. OTher ships wiTh The TENNESSEE were The MINNEAPOLIS and CLEVELAND, plus The desTroyers BENNETT, RATHBURNE, and GEORGE E. BADGER. Angaur, souThernmosT of The Palau islands, is abouT Two and a quarTer miles long, norTh-souTh, and one and a half miles wide. Reconnaissance inTormaTion poinTed To a number oT excellenT TargeTs Tor The TENNESSEE's Tire. Orders Tor This ship included: The desTrucTion oT all coasT defense guns, anTi-aircraTT guns, mobile baTTeries, and morTar baTTeries, plus covering Tire Tor mine sweeping and underwaTer demoliTion operaTion. The island is low-lying and was well covered wiTh Trees and underbrush. The Japanese had made exTensive improvemenTs. From large sTrip mines, locaTed in The cenTer oT The island. The producTion oT phosphaTe ore Ted The Japanese indusTrial machine. Two small lakes were Tormed in The cenTer of The island in abandoned phos- phaTe mines. Saipan Town, principal ciTy oT The island, was made up of abouT 200 buildings and The exTensive phosphaTe reTinery was nearby. Advance inTormaTion showed a radio sTaTion in The Town wiTh Two Tall anTenna Towers. A second coasT, iusT norTh oT Rocky PoinT. ProminenT TENNESSEE TargeT was a lighThouse, cenTered on The wesTern coasT. Reveille sounded aT 0423 The morning oT SepTember I2 and all hands were aT baTTle sTaTions ThirTy minuTes laTer as The Task group made The approach To Angaur Tor The opening bombardmenT. ShorTly aTTer sunrise gun Tire was observed on The horizon oTT The sTarboard bow. lT was Trom oTher warships oT Task Force 32 ThaT had sTarTed bombardmenT oT Peleliu lsland. some Tive and one-halT miles To The norTh oT Angaur. DisTance To Angaur was closed rapidly and Through The morning haze The beaches were visible as The main baTTery commenced Tiring aT 0632. lniTial range was l4,000 yards as The big shells screamed inTo coasT defense posiTions and Then The TargeT was changed To anTi-aircraTT insTallaTions. ThroughouT The morning The main and sec- ondary baTTeries baTTered The beaches and inland, sTrip- ping away all cover. The island was quieT, Too quieT. There was noT a sign oT enemy acTiviTy nor any kind oT reTurn Tire Trom The beach. The only sign ThaT The enemy was presenT were The rows oT barbed wire enTanglemenTs sTrung along The beach. During The aTTernoon The minesweepers prowled back and TorTh, drawing nearer To The beach wiTh each sweep, as The TENNESSEE sailed To and Tro oTT The easT side oT Angaur, lobbing shells inTo predeTermined TargeT areas. T The range was reduced To 3,750 yards and The TofTy millimefer guns added Their weighT To The sTeel ThaT waS plowing The island. Fire was checked Tor all guns as carrier based planes came in To sTraTe and bomb, concenTraTing on sTrucTures in Saipan Town and warehouses. As soon as The planes were clear oT The area The pounding was resumed. The lighThouse ThaT sTood ouT so clearly was an in- viTing TargeT and iT was ordered desTroyed because iT was Teared ThaT iT would serve as an observaTion poinT Tor The Japanese. Firing nine one-gun salvos Trom TurreT one and Three one-gun salvos Trom TurreT Tour, TENNESSEE gunners goT Three direcT hiTs buT The lighThouse sTill reels mained sTanding. radio sTaTion wiTh a sTick masT was siTuaTed on The easT DesTrucTion oT The lighThouse was abandoned