Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 62 text:

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

Page 61 text:

Z V 1 A 1 .C K 55, ' Wi! 5 I , ax f , mi? ' A Nl ,Mk 6. UI ' if 'in ' if l , 4? ' Xxx ' j x f NWN' ,J- -wg 1 'hr N f T4 I A r Qs .A X ff ef'e4- ' e I ' 7 ' - X ! ff! ,air Qixx V U 5 Q2 f x -T X e K J X 1 I N ,FEI-L I ,fmt f,., f ll V yr,-if Q - I Q e 'if ' 39' e 5 - ,,.--- fl 'Q AX' A f iw is .e 'N ' fe ' A e w X X 111 vii! -'n' XT? e f ' 'X X f-:- f -rig! 1 1 ' j7,,f,,, e X-ff-D 709 fff by f ,af ' 4' X l'l s Me Dogs, Doc-I Keep Wearin' My Shoes Oui' in 'l'h' Ins1'ep. 7

Page 63 text:

-..4.l -11? Direci' Hiis by The Main BaH'ery, and The Liqhihous momenT. When oTher TargeTs were exhausTed, orders came Tor The TENNESSEE To knock down The lighThouse, The evening beTore Angaur D-Day. Making a wide swing To geT in posiTion, and as The main baTTery Trained ouT, a shell Trom The cruiser USS DENVER operaTing on The oTher side oT The island, hiT The sTrucTure and iT Tumbled amidsT dusT and smoke. Scheduled Tiring was resumed early The morning oT SepTember I3. The minesweeps were busy blowing up The dangerous, black explosive mines ThaT TloaTed To The sur- Tace. AbouT l400 The minesweeper PERRY sTruck a mine abouT l,000 yards oTT Green Beach, and abouT 2,000 yards Trom The TENNESSEE. There was no explosion buT sTeam gushed Trom all oT The haTches and survivors scrambled Tor The liTe neTs as The ship seTTled rapidly, developing a porT lisT. The PERRY sank by The bow abouT l530. Ten iniured survivors oT The PERRY were Trans- Terred To This ship Tor medical TreaTmenT. UnderwaTer demoliTion Teams explored The landing beaches on SepTember l4. This ship provided inTensive Tire Trom The main and secondary baTTeries, covering The Teams as They worked The area. Even The TorTy millimeTers eRe ld TIN: Juv. mained. A Single, Li'Hle Cruiser :hell u were red hoT Trom The Tire Thar was walked along The beach To prevenT snipers and morTar crews Trom molesTing The underwaTer men. JusT beTore noon The TENNESSEE'S spoTTing plane was coming in Tor a landing and crashed, buT remained parTially aTloaT. The piloT and radioman crawled ouT on a RATHBURN who Turned her guns on The wrecked plane which sank wing and were picked up by The desTroyer immediaTely. Topside observers on The TENNESSEE had ringside seaTs Tor D-Day on nearby Peleliu where lsT Division Marines hiT The beach aT 0830, SepTember IS. JusT as The TirsT landing craTT Touched The sand, eighT-inch guns em- placed in a hillside opened up, making direcT hiTs on a number oT The craTT. MorTar Tire Tell among The Marines Trom The opposiTe hillside and The beach was packed wiTh Japanese anTi-personnel mines. Gunners oT The TEN- NESSEE sTood by To Tire buT were ordered To reTurn To Angaur and proceed wiTh The bombardmenT and The covering oT underwaTer demoliTion Teams ThaT were To make addiTional exploraTion oT The Angaur landing beaches. l .--nl