Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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D-Day Tor Angaur came on SepTember I7 and aT 0830 The Army's 8IsT Division hiT The beaches ThaT had been pulverized by six days oT naval gun Tire. Erom early in The morning unTiI The Troops were on The beach a Ter- rific volume oT Tire covered The landing areas. Main and secondary baT'Teries, plus The TorTy millimeTer guns main- Tained conTinuous Tire as The I.CI's and oTher landing craTT neared The beach, Tire was Then moved To The Tlanlcs, smoThering The area wiTh hoT sTeeI. Men oT The 8IsT Divi- sion meT no opposiTion in The areas prepared by The TENNESSEE. The Angaur landings and preparaTory bombardmenT proved The value oT The TorTy millimeTer Tire. Whenever The ship was wiThin range Tor The TorTies, Tire was walked up and down The beaches and inland, probing every pos- sible cover Tor The enemy. More Than 25,000 rounds oT TorTy millimeTer ammuniTion were used. SupporT Tire Tor The Army Troops was oelivered The following day, blasting a heavily wooded area on The norThern parT oT The island where The Army hao encoun- Tered opposiTion. A dispaTch in The Tenrwes ee Typhoon Tor SepTember I9 said: T More Than 5,500 Japs have been Icilled on Peleliu and Angaur Islands in The Palau group by Marine and Army Troops, Admiral NimiTz announced aT Pearl Harbor. Marines oT The FirsT Division lcilled nearly all oT These in a Tour-day baTTIe oT Turious TighTing. The 8IsT lnTanTry Division on Angaur killed 48 in opposing IighT resisTance. Army auThoriTies declared Angaur secured on OcTo- ber I, excepT Tor a small pocIceT. Bloody TighTing con- Tinued on Peleliu Tor more Than a monTh. Final Tigures showed ThaT The Marines Icilled more Than I2,000 on Peleliu. Army Troops Icilled I,I28 on Angaur and cap- Tured only Ten prisoners. AmmuniTion was running low and The TENNESSEE slipped inTo Kossol Passage To replenish The supply. In The meanTime, underground agenTs and guerrilla TighTers in The Philippines were in direcT conTacT wiTh General Doug- las MacArThur, urging ThaT plans be hasTened Tor The invasion oT The islands as The Time was more Than ripe. Rushing preparaTions To liberaTe The Philippines, iT was noT long unTil This ship was engaged in The daring landings on I.eyTe and meT her desTiny in Surigao STraiT. Rockeis Poised To Plosier The Angaur Landing Beaches ,

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-..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

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