Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

Page 75 text:

QX :- W X H x - ' ff 'f'-T 'ff ' 4 'L x S XX 1 i ' Q ' fg NWI!! MPP- Xi -...N X 11- , . GE S42-3 X- 'QE-2 snx N X ,1 H N r g: , N Q i xx ,-,A lul- N 13 g via 'Q - - - '- Y A-' -',- '- .. . x E , w U S1 g im L 'Qf-L E-. B, .L.,.f,, -. 4- - - . 711.4 FLEET ' ,X Ax -'fi X X S . ' N- 1 D' -,-. Q , - 1- WRSWZ ,, , 1 - N1 - 4 f as 'W -if .,A, 3 1' 453 ff ,gi f: ? . X A Qilv V J Aqiv J SK .Q . .I.l '- F 1 S if-W7 -5 P - 2 Q M 121 -MN1 iblNA l: 5 -, VI-I fl ', 4' - ir -f,- ' J -.- 5 lf-gf, SV in Z! I c'AT , A1 -. Q' - , ' T A x Xa - I 1 Fi ' jQa'Qg111flf ' R A 4 W- X I- I I- E1 ' -iw Sz' X 5 W I .il A -gt ' - - c'i1f'A. --L fn- 'nfs-XX X-fi-'bf' A i 5 W 4 i-g .-.Lp ' 1--. X X ' 1 N if l 2 1, 'f . 7 1. - Q - 'f J fd Q - f ' --Sim i ff: Q, 7:1 - 111- ..1 - i - .Rail ff N N - I Q , S -- 5- -v --.P 5' W X Q - w QS E swf A I Q - .L- ! ,F Q- ' Xa? Z XJ V 1 v' :.l4S ' -'-in Q M X Q U Xu X N 1 S x N X V' -- Q J f f 5 I Q' ' 3-'14 S , 4 f Q -- 5: - : -ff X ., Q '-gg, X XY ,I 1 A Y E w - -. f fi-J-T: ' ,9KKKxK5 E .l K , I - -E R NX XE., +L tg I f ' '- lx N X12393? l I 1+ xix -N f 7 -:Q - Ss-55 ifi -H --- iN Rx N ,,, N - - ,-'r' A 'L - - ' Xxx I' X xi Q., E. x S, X -'- - M XX - X5 -Q 1-'-El' Q N Q -,f' f Q SEA 1 ?

Page 74 text:

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

Page 76 text:

Everyone breaThed a liTTle easier as Army AirTorce TighTers sTarTed buzzing around. Jap air aTTacks decreased To a greaT exTenT. Previously There had been as many as 4l air aTTacl4s a day, sTrilcing aT combaT ships The beach- head, and The Troops inland. Red l.eTTer Day Tor TENNESSEE FYEGPT -'.' Gcroper 29 when Rear Admiral Chandler TransTerreo his Tlag To The USS CALIFORNIA and announced on 'ne ouarweredeck ThaT The TENNESSEE was going back TO 9 ge' Sound Navy Yard Tor a much neeoed overhai . me o'a'eo ve crew Tor Their gallanT acTEon ara ' nappy leaves in The STaTes. While Tlag personnel wffrf air aTTack developed and rain Tanlcer, Tho Calf and The Bra T. wr-r Too big a TargeT Tor a Jap To miss. Lines were casT oTT and The TENNESSEE sTeamed ouT oT The gulT. PugeT Sound bound. When The Tennessee sTopped Tor one day in Pearl T-larbor aT Ford lsland, where Three years beTore The TirsT Japanese aTTacl4 had soughT To end her career, EleeT Admiral ChesTer NimiTz, Commander-in-Chief oT The PaciTic EleeT, boarded The ship. WiTh all hands rnusTered aTT he inTormed Them ThaT he and The enTire Navy lcnew and were proud oT The record which The TENNESSEE, her ohficersy and men had esTablished. RugeT Sound was The STaTes, The STaTes were home, and home was wonderTul. There was leave Tor everyone. and in every STaTe oT The TorTy-eighT men oT The TEN- NESSEE were wiTh Their Tamilies, Tor The TirsT Time in over cighTeen monThs. LX The Flrsi' Leave Was Welcome