Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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J 1 iw. 've Philippine Schools Had io Be Desiroyed. . . f zz Aw v A 1, D, e 4 f Q, V , . wiff. 'lr .. , M v IR ai? . Q-F' JL v ll Churches Had +o Be Desiroyed