Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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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

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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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demoliTion Teams explored The beaches, clearing Them Tor The landings. Roads and road iuncTions were kepT undef Tire, prevenTing The movemenT oT enemy equipmeflf and Troops. AT dawn oT D-Day The TENNESSEE Took up her Tiring posiTion off The easTern coasT of The island oT LeyTe and resumed Tiring on Japanese shore insTallaTions beTween The Towns of San Jose and Dulag. AbouT 0625 an enemy plane flew across The ships in The gulf. dropping a bomb in The waTer asTern oT The cruiser LOUISVILLE. operaTing near The TENNESSEE. There were many reporTs oT enemy planes in The vicinily buT They sTayed clear oT This ship. The hour Tor The landings had been seT Tor IOOO and aloouT 0800 a hosT of LCl's and LST's moved inTo posiTion some 6,000 yards ofishore. Troops in The TransporT area, some Tive miles To seaward, sTarTed embarking in landing boaTs. Meanwhile The TENNESSEE Tired her bombardmenT schedule of Tour 4-gun salvos Trom The secondary baTTery, and one 6-gun Salvo per minuTe Trom The main baTTery. Shell bursTs walked up and down The beaches and Tar inland, smoThering enemy opposiTion. Landings were made on schedule, righT To The doT. There was some morTar Tire as The Troops approached The beaches buT iT was negligible compared wiTh ThaT oT oTher operaTions. ATTer landing The Troops encounTered slighT resisTance and soon pushed Torward 500 yards. There was a sTeady Tlow oT Troops and equipmenT Trom ship To shore ThroughouT The day. LaTe in The aTTernoon General MacArThur made a broadcasT announcing To all oT The world his reTurn To The Philippines, news ThaT had been broadcasT To The naTives by The big guns Tor The pasT Two days. ATTer The broad- casT a Jap plane slipped inTo The gulT and Threw a Torpedo inTo The HONOLULU. This was The Third aTTack oT iTs kind in Two days againsT a cruiser and TENNESSEE men specu- laTed wheTher The Japs had The inTormaTion ThaT Mac- ArThur was billeTed on a cruiser. Air aTTacks increased in inTensiTy as Tokyo radio screamed aT all hours ThaT They had successTully lured The Americans inTo a Trap. As'Tonishing claims were made oT damage To The aTTacking TleeTs and ThreaTs oT annihila- Tion were made' by speaker aTTer speaker. Enemy airmen musT have lisTened To Their own propaganda as They whipped up Their enThusiasm Tor more desperaTe aTTacks, sTriking in Torce aT sun-up and sundown each day. IT was The TENNESSEE'S job as parT oT Rear Admiral OldendorT's Torce, To proTecT The beachheads and all oT The shipping ThaT had been massed in LeyTe 6ulT. aircraTT were able To slip undeTecTed inTo The land area, meeTing a hail oT Tire Trom The warships. The NESSEE had good hunTing, shooTing down one plane, assisTing in The desTrucTion oT Three oThers, repulsing many aTTacks wiTh her concenTraTed Tire. The day aTTer The landings, abouT 2000, The TEN- NESSEE was assisTing in driving oTT an air aTTack. A heavy smoke screen had been laid and in The murk a collision occurred wiTh The TransporT WARHAWK which rammed inTo The sTern on The porT side. There were no casualTies and The damage was noT very greaT buT iT caused The cancellaTion oT orders Tor The TENNESSEE To Turnish Tire supporT during The nighT on LeyTe lsland. Though The air aTTacks persisTed, Things wenT well on The beach. On OcTober 22, General ivlacArThur an- nounced: The invasion launched in The CenTral Philip- pines has secured The easTern coasT oT LeyTe lsland. Troops are now widening Their beachheadf' By 0cTober 23, MacArThur had reached Tacloben, capiTal ciTy oT LeyTe, and announced in a dramaTic broadcasT The esTab- lishmenT oT a Temporary seaT oT governmenT oT The Philippines aT ThaT ciTy. Things happened quickly on OcTober 24. AbouT 0800 The anTi-aircraTT gun crews were ordered To man Their baTTle sTaTions when Two Japanese carriers were reporTed some l60 miles To The souTh oT LeyTe lsland. ln an air aTTack which Tollowed. one LCI was sunk and a LiberTy ship was damaged by enemy planes. The men were back aT Their guns again shorTly before noon when radar indicaTed many enemy aircraTT in The area. They approached simulTaneously Trom Three differ- enT direcTions and sTruck aT American insTallaTions on The island. The aTTernoon was quieT, Tew enemy aircraTT in The viciniTy, buT scuTTlebuTT was Tlying TasTer Than The planes. AT T700 The guns were manned To TighT oTT The Third aerial aTTack oT The day. As The aTTack passed The Execu- Tive OTTicer, Commander S. P. SmiTh, announced over The ship's public address sysTem: ATTenTion all hands! ATTenTion all hands! lT is ex- pecTed ThaT a Japanese naval Task Torceyvill aTTempT To enTer LeyTe GulT TonighT. We are making preparaTions To greeT Them. A , Following The announcemenT The warships of The Task Torce Took up baTTle TormaTion and headed Tor The Trance To Surigao STraiT. The TENNESSEE meeTing desTiny.