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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leyfe gulf landings WiTh The seizure oT The Palaus nearly compIeTe. pockeTs oT Japs sTilI resisTing on Angaur and Peleliu, The TENNESSEE hurriedly splashed her way To Manus in The AdmiralTy Islands To prepare Tor The Philippines. Under- cover agenTs and guerrillas in The Philippines had The sTage seT Tor The liberaTion oT The islands and General Douglas MacArThur was ready To make good his promise, I will reTurn. SelecTed Tor The TirsT assauIT was The Island oT LeyTe, eighTh IargesT oT The 7,000 islands in The archipelago, and sTraTegically locaTed beTween Mindanao To The souTh and Luzon To The norTh, where The main enemy Torces were believed To be concenTraTed. The selecTion Tollowed MacArThur's sTraTegy ThroughouT The war-- I-liTTing The enemy where They aren'T. In addiTion, LeyTe had The advanTage, if iT could be Taken, of separaTing The Japs and driving a wedge Through The hearT oT The Philippines. Admiral Halsey wiTh his TasT carriers had conducTed a reign oT Terror from The air ThroughouT The Philippines while Troops were securing The Palaus. I-le eTTecTively pre- venTed The Japs Trom inTerTering wiTh The operaTion and aT The same Time soTTened The deTenses in preparaTion Tor landings. TENNESSEE men aT Manus grabbed a Tew days oT much needed recreaTion and loaded supplies. Rear Ad- miral T. E. Chandler, USN, who died heroically aboard The USS LOUISVILLE in Lingayen C5ulT oTT Luzon in De- cember, assumed command oT BaTTleship Division Two, relieving Rear Admiral Kingman who had had his Tlag on The TENNESSEE since The Kiska operaTion. CapTain John B. HeTfernan, USN, replaced CapTain Mayer as com- manding oTlicer oT The TENNESSEE. By OcTober I2 all preparaTions Tor The Philippines had been made and The TENNESSEE sTeamed ouT oT The Lagoon aT Manus. She was accompanied by The baTTle- ships MISSISSIPPI, MARYLAND, WEST VIRGINIA, CALI- FORNIA, and PENNSYLVANIA. There were six cruisers. a aTTached screen. In command was Rear Admiral Jesse B, OldendorT wiTh his Tlag on The USS LOUISVILLE. IT was smooTh sailing unTil abouT noon, OcTober I4, when The TirsT signs oT a Tropical cyclonic sTorm were observed. There was no dodging The sTorm and Tor The nexT Three days The Big T piTched and rolled in heavy seas. The wind screamed Through The halyards on The signal bridge, gusTs oT 45 knoTs being recorded by The anemomeTer. As quickly as The sTorm had sTruck, iT ceased, and on The morning oT OcTober I8 The Task group sTeamed inTo LeyTe GuIT. The waTers were heavily mined and paravanes were sTreamed by all The ships oT The Torce. Marines were sTaTioned on The TENNESSEE's air deTense plairform and They had a busy aTTernoon Tiring aT TloaTing mines. Ma- chine guns on oTher ships were Tiring mosT oT The aTTer- noon, exploding mines. Minesweepers moved slowly up The channel wiTh heavy uniTs as a covering Torce. JusT beTore dawn, OcTober I9, The TENNESSEE Took up her Tiring posiTion midway down The coasT beTween San Jose and Dulag. The main baTTery opened The bom- bardmenT aT a range oT 8,300 yards and The secondary baTTery chimed in a Tew minuTes laTer. TargeTs were pill- boxes and bloclchouses iusT back oT Orange Beach and laTer Tire was shiTTed To anTi-aircraTT insTallaTions back oT Blue Beach, norTh oT Dulag Town. All morning long The ships blasTed Japanese insTalla- Tions, The TENNESSEE paying parTicuIar aTTenTion To CaTman I-Iill, sTrong poinT covering The beaches. Hun- dreds oT rounds blasTed The hillsides and The beaches, buT There was no reTurn Tire. There were reporTs, Trom Time To Time during The day, oT Japanese planes in The viciniTy. buT none came in To aTTack. In The aTTernoon a high alTi- Tude enemy bomber was knocked Trom The air by anTi- aircraTT Tire. JusT previously The plane had droppecI.5 huge bomb inTo The waTer OTT The bow oT The nearby I-IONOLULU. A sTeady bombardmenT was mainTained by main and SGCOndary baTTeries during The aTTernoon, wiTh more sTeeI pIasTering CaTman Hill. ArTiIIery empIacemenTs were dis- covered back oT The beaches and They were heavily large desTroyer screen, besides Twelve CVE's and Their Shelled. Minesweepers worked The area and underwaTer