Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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if -..,.,, .. 1-. ..... 1, In Dense Smoke. fhe WARHAWK Plowed info fhe TENNESSEE .... weft. Lx 4'P ,, .m ,. ,4 1-1 nf. 40 J, , ...ua wg 143' .Ww 3 ,- +V-sw x, 1 . , 4 PC Beachhead Secured.

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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.

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