Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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use only Their Torward TurreTs To reTurn The Tire-a gun- ner's dream in Tire-power superioriTy. The crushing weighT oT The American Tire had sTopped The Japanese Task Torce and Torced Them To reTreaT, badly damaged and crippled. The Two baTTleships, FUSO and YAMASI-IIRO, Two cruisers, and Two desTroyers were sunli- Our cruisers and desTroyers pursued The Tleeing enemy souTh To The end of The sTraiT. AT dawn The remnanTs oT The enemy TIeeT was Taken under aTTack by carrier GIFCVGTT- And so ended The BahTle oT Surigao STraiT. There is. oT course, a TurTher chapTer in The BaTTIe Tor LeyTe SUIT. In The maTTer oT Time iT is necessary To go back To The IaTe aTTernoon oT OcTober 24Th when The Third FleeT carrier aircraTT inTIicTed Terrible punishmenT on The main body oT The Japanese FleeT moving easTward Through The Sibuyan Sea in The direcTion oT San Bernadino STraiT. AT dusk This enemy Torce had reversed course To The wesT- ward and reporTs sTaTed ThaT iT mighT be reTiring. The nexT imporTanT eve.nT was ThaT abouT 8:30 p.m., The Third FIeeT IeTT iTs covering posiTion easT oT The Philippines and proceeded norTh To aTTack The enemy carrier Torce aT dawn, Thus leaving San Bernadino STraiT unguarded. During The nighT The enemy Sibuyan Sea Torce slipped siIenTly and unobserved Through San Bernadino STraiT inTo The Pacific. This Torce now consisTed oT abouT Tour baTTle- ships, six heavy cruisers, Two lighT cruisers, and eleven desTroyers. Turning souTheasT oT Samar Island, This Jap- anese FIeeT headed Tor The mouTh oT LeyTe GulT I50 miles away. EnrouTe The enemy Torce came inTo conTacT aT dawn wiTh an escorT carrier group oT The SevenTh FIeeT em- ployed on anTi-submarine duTy oTT Samar Island, roughly sevenTy miles To The norThwesTward oT LeyTe. The appear- ance oT The Japanese warships was a cornpIeTe surprise To These liTTle escorT carriers. Then Tor abouT Two and a haIT hours, The SevenTh FIeeT's escorT carrier group, comprised oT six escorT car- riers, Three desTroyers, and Tour desTroyer escorTs came under heavy TTre Trom Japanese baTTleships and cruisers. During The engagemenT Two escorT carriers, Two desTroy- ers, and one desTroyer escorT were sunk. This was a preTTy siTuaTion. The SevenTh FIeeT was in Surigao STraiT and low on ammuniTion: The Third FIeeT was engaging an enemy carrier Torce oTT Luzong and The main body oT The Japanese FleeT was aT hand and kicking hell ouT oT a group oT liTTle escorT carriers on The doorsTep oT LeyTe Gulf. The TaTe of The Philippines hung in The balance. For The second Time in as many days Vice Admiral Kinkaid direcTed Rear Admiral OIdendorT To prepare To defend LeyTe GulT, and Tor ThaT purpose assigned To him The Three baTTleships TENNESSEE, CALIFORNIA PENNSYLVANIA: and The cruisers LOUISVILLE PORTLAND, IVIINNEAPOLIS, NASHVILLE and I-l.IvI.A.S SI-IROPSI-TIRE, plus desTroyers. WiTh orders To block The norThern enTrance To LeyTe GUIT, This Task Torce goT under- way and proceeded To paTroI ThaT area. The movemenT was observed by Japanese planes which Tagged The Tor- maTion. In The meanTime a remarkable Thing happened. AbouT 9:20 a.m. when The baTTIe wiTh The escorT carriers was aT iTs heighT, The Japanese ships suddenly broke CTT The engagemenT and aTTer considerable milling around4They reTreaTed Through San Bernadino STraiT pursued by some aircraTT Trom Third FIeeT carriers which had been reTueling Tar To The norThwesT. I Ironically, This main body oT The Japanese FleeT escaped inTo The China Sea. ResuIT was a quaIiTied vicTory -annihiIaTion oT The enemy's main Torce is The obiecT oT baTTIe. Back aT The scene oT The aTTack on The Japanese carriers oTT Luzon, The Third FleeT Turned in one oT The greaTesT perTormances oT The war, resuITing in The sinking oT Tour carriers and aT IeasT Three oTher Jap uniTs, buT The sTory oT This briIIianT achievemenT belongs To The records oT The Third EleeT. I-TisTory and naval experTs can iudge wheTher or noT The righT decision was made in Taking The Third FleeT from iTs covering posiTion easT oT The Philippines and proceed- ing norTh To aTTack The enemy carriers oTT Luzon, Thus leaving San Bernadino STraiT unguarded. The Japanese apparenTIy were inTuriaTed over The resuITs oT The Surigao STraiT engagemenT and puT Their enTire Philippine airTorce aTTacking The beachhead and TransporTs, day and nighT. During The evening a heavy aTTack was launched againsT The TransporTs and several Japanese planes crashed inTo The sea in Tlames. Enemy air acTiviTy in The TENNESSEE's area was aT a minimum on OcTober 27. There was brighT moonIighT ThaT nighT and heavy aTTacks were anTicipaTed buT did noT develop. The USS CALIFORNIA, iusT asTern oT The TEN- NESSEE, broughT a Jap plane down in Tlames ThaT had been aTTempTing To dive bomb The ship. On OcTober 26 Rear Admiral OIdendorT senT The Tollowing message To all ships in his Task Torce: Now ThaT This phase, baTTIe phase oT our LeyTe operaTions seems To be over, I wish To say To all oT Those who shared so gaIIanTIy in our desTrucTive and epic VIC- Tory over The Japanese Navy, well done. Our obiecTive was To prevenT inTerTerence wiTh our land operaTions. Ho W well we succeeded is now a maTTer oT hisTory. ' A

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The ship s radar The Tabulous radio device rough darkness and conTacTs hosTiIe TargeTs picked up The advance enemy group aT disTance oT 43 900 yards and commenced Tracking The leading S. ' AT 3 50 a m when The range oT The advance enemy group had closed To abouT 20000 yards all ships were ordered To open Tire The BaTTle Line had now moved speed To I5 knoTs on course easT. The cruisers on The leTT Tlank were The TirsT To open Tire Then The baTTleships began. Fire was opened by The WEST VIRGINIA Tollowed by The TENNESSEE CALI- FORNIA and MARYLAND. Solid sheeTs oT Tlame leaped ouT oT The column as The warships along The line hurled Their salvos Through The PaciTic nighT Toward The Japa- nese FIeeT in Surigao STraiT. When a ship Tired There would be a TerriTic whirling sheeT oT golden Tlame boITing across The sea Tollowed by a massive Thunder and Then Three red balls would go inTo The sky up arch-over and Then down. When The salvos Tound The TargeT There would be a huge shower oT sparks and aTTer a momenT a dull orange glow would appear This glow would increase brighTen and Then slowly dull. The noise oT Tiring became like The roll oT conTinuous Thunder, as salvo aTTer salvo rolled ouT along The line, and The sky was praCTically conTinuously sTreaked wiTh red projecTiles. This Tire was very accuraTeg indeed, so accu- raTe ThaT a veriTabIe hail oT heavy proiecTiles was raining down on The leading group oT enemy ships. By This Time The enemy ships were slowed down To abouT Twelve knoTs, and sTarTed To reverse course. Unable To Turn simulTaneously, each Japanese warship Turned on in deTending LeyTe GuIT. His Task had been To prevenT The Japanese FIeeT Trom slipping inTo The GuIT Through reaching a cerTain poinT in The sTraiT. Our ships were Tiring on This Turning poinT, and as each Jap ship came To This spoT our salvos would score hiT aTTer hiT. From a disTance oT Twelve miles iT was impossible To make anyThing deTiniTe ouT in The enemy TleeT. Now and Then The dim Torm oT a Japanese ship would be ouTlined by a sheeT oT Tlame. One big explosion siIhoueTTed The sTack and pagoda masT oT a baTTleship oT The Fuso class. The American warships mercilessly smoThered The Jap Ships under a hail oT sTeel. Never beTore, noT aT Tarawa, or Kwaialein, or Saipan, had a TargeT been subiecTed To such TerriTic punishmenT. And iT looked as Though noThing could live under ThaT rain oT shells buT The Japanese TurreTs sTill belched Tlame CapTain I-Ienry E. Coleman commander oT The TEN- NESSEEs Marine deTachmenT waTched The big gun duel Through his binoculars and Then said IT is unbelievable ThaT a single Jap could live Through ThaT. The TENNESSEE Tired her TirsT salvo oT The evenTTul nighT aT 3:55 a.m.. This Three-gun salvo was Tired Trom Torward TurreT One aT The leading enemy heavy ship aT 20 500 yards. The TirsT salvo landed on The TargeT and ThereaTTer each salvo Tound iTs mark OT The ThirTeen salvos Tired 69 rounds Twelve were observed To be well cenTered on The TargeT. MaioriTy oT The salvos were six-gun salvos. One large explosion was observed in The TargeT area during The Tiring. The cenTral incidenT occurred aT 4:02 a.m. when The BaTTle Line changed course l50 degrees To The righT counTer-march on signal. AT The Turn an unTorTunaTe Thing happened. The CALIFORNIA misTransIaTed The Turn signal and came sharply across The TENNESSEES bow avoiding collision by a Tew yards. ResulT oT This error was ThaT The CALIFORNIA Touled The TENNESSEES line oT Tire Tor abouT Tive minuTes AT 4:08 a.m. all ships were ordered To Cease Firing When This order was given The MISSISSIPPI had lus'I' Time To Tire her sole salvo. The PENNSYLVANIA did noT Tire aT all. And so ended The BaTTIe oT Surigao STraiT so Tar as The baTTleships were concerned. L No single baTTleship suTTered any damage Trorn The Japanese gunTire, aIThough enemy salvo splashes were observed shorT oT The BaTTle Line. The enemy's Tire was sporadic and erraTic. Our Torces did noT come Through The acTion unscaThed, however. The desTroyer A. J. GRANT was hiT and heavily damaged during a Torpedo run, while The cruisers were repeaTedly sTraddIed. In The background Tlames rose Trom The shaTTered hull oT a burning Japanese ship. This vessel was in sighT Tor a spell and Then disappeared beneaTh The surTace. As daylighT broadened, columns oT black smoke Trorn oTher burning ships were made ouT on The horizon To The souTh. Rear Admiral OIdendorT had done a workmanlike job Surigao STraiT and desTroying General MacArThur's Trans- por'Ts and supply ships. I-Iis baTTleships in line across The opening oT Surigao STraiT Tormed The crossbar oT The T on The enemy column advancing up The sTraiT. In This siTuaTion The American baTTleships could bring all Their TurreTs To bear on The TargeT, while The Jap warships could 5-Q-Q IW- we is avi-fy, M I ... . ..

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