Tennessee (BB 43) - Naval Cruise Book

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ReTurning Trom nighT cruising The morning oT March 27, seven suicide planes picked The TENNESSEE QVOUP as Their TargeT. There had been snooper planes arOUf1CI mosT oT The nighT, none oT Them coming ne n Tion To aTTack, buT They musT have inviTed Their Kamikaze Triends. The planes circled The TormaTion, Taking Thelf Time in sizing up The siTuaTion and selecTing a 'TargeT. AT 06I5, iusT in The TwiIighT area beTween daybreals and sun-up, The TENNESSEE opened up wiTh The secondary baTTery and was quickly ioined by oTher ships in The TormaTion. Four planes were quickly shoT down, buT Three oThers goT inside The TormaTion, one crashing The NE- VADA, iusT oTT The beam To sTarboard. The DORSEY was hiT by a diving plane and The BILOXI suTTered damage Trom a near miss. The Three planes which crashed The ships were all smoking beTore They hiT. ar The Torma- In many ways This aTTack was Typical oT The hundreds ThaT The TanaTical Japanese carried ouT againsT The aT- Tacking American Torces in The Okinawa area. OTher raids were larger, some smaller, and oTTen single planes came screaming ouT of nowhere To crash inTo a ship. Daybreak and evening TwilighT were TavoriTe Times Tor suiciders ThaT resorTed To every decepTion To approach The ships wiThouT deTecTion. During The days prior To The landings on Okinawa, planes operaTed Trom airTields on The island and oTher nearby insTallaTions. When The enemy was Tinally driven Trom use oT The Okinawa air- Tields They sTarTed coming in Trom as Tar as Formosa and The home island oT Kyushu. Day aTTer day, beTore The landings on April I, EasTer Sunday, The TENNESSEE cruised along The coasT, pre- paring The way Tor marines and soldiers, covering under- waTer demoliTion Teams, Throwing sTeeI inTo every ThickeT and clump oT bushes ThaT mighT hide a Jap insTallaTion. ReporTs poured in oT suicide plane aTTacks, parTicuIarIy on single ouTIying ships on pickeT duTy. Submarines, midgeT subs, suicide boaTs, suicide swimmers, and The new bake bomb sTabbed aT The American ships. There were long hours aT baTTle sTaTions Tor all hands and The signs oT sTrain and weariness showed plainly on Their Taces. The day oT The landing was made To order, brilIianT sunshine, no misT or haze, and a soTT, warm spring breeze blowing genTIy Trom The green hills oT Okinawa. There was a TerriTic pre-landing bombardmenT ThaT IiTTed as The Troops hiT The beach. In The area prepared by The TENNESSEE There was no opposiTion. In oTher areas There was only sporadic reTurn Tire Trom small arms or morTars. AT The Time iT seemed unbelievable ThaT The Troops were on The beach wiTh so IiTTIe opposiTion. Many an Qld campaigner on The TENNESSEE immediaTely guessed Jfhaf The Jap had a Trick up his sleeve, and IaTer evenTs proved him correcT. The enemy had reTired To The souTh, massing Torces in advanTageous prepared posiTions. IT was To Take many weeks, and many lives, To drive The Japanese Trom These posiTions and To clear The island. '-, By nighTTaII oT D-Day more Than 65,000 Troops had landed and supplies were pouring ashore in The greaTesT T amphibious operaTion in The PaciTic. The immediafe obiecTives, YonTan and Kadena airTieIds had been secured and seabees were already on The scene wiTh bulldozers and oTher heavy equipmenT, rushing repairs To make The Tields ready To receive American TighTer planes. I Days Tollowing The landings developed a sameness, Tar Trom boredom, buT Tilled wiTh The sTrain oT long hours aT The guns, There were bombings and Torpedo aTTacks on boTh by day and aT nighT, occasionally briIIianT Tlares being dropped. IT was apparenT ThaT The enemy had designaTed The Kamikaze Corps oT Suicide PiIoTs To de- liver his mosT Telling blows wiTh Their one-way ramming TacTics. In The Tive weeks Tollowing The landings There were more Than 500 air raids by 2,200 planes. AmmuniTion was nearly depleTed and The TENNES- SEE puT inTo The Kerama ReTTo anchorage April 7 To rearm and Take on supplies. In The Tew days since The group oT islands had been secured, supply organizaTion had been perTecTed, a seaplane base was in Tull operaTion, and Kerama was a haven Tor suicide damaged ships. The busTIing harbor, wiTh all acTiviTies aTloaT, could provide all needs oT The TIeeT excepT Tor maior repairs. While in The anchorage reporTs sTarTed coming in oT an approaching enemy surTace Torce consisTing oT The baTTleship YAMATO, one or Two cruisers, and abouT eighT desTroyers. I-lurriedly compleTing rearming acTiviTies, The TENNESSEE reioined Task Force 54 and Tormed in baTTle line To meeT The approaching Torce. ThroughouT The aTTer- noon The Torce sTeamed back and TorTh as TurTher con- TacTs were reporTed wiTh The enemy, operaTing aT a speed ThaT would bring Them To The Okinawa area around mid- nighT. The old baTTIeships, TENNESSEE, IDAI-IO, NEW MEXICO, WEST VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, and COLO- RADO were headed Tor acTion. While waiTing Tor The enemy To approach The area. a single bogey was reporTed and he headed sTraighT TOT The TormaTion. The cruisers oT The righT Tlank opened Tire buT The sake-diver barrelled Through The barrage and crashed The MARYLAND. Minor damage was reporTed. IT was a happy crew ThaT heard oT The ouTsTandir1q success Task Force 58 had experienced. A swarm oT dif- craTT had sunk The YAMATO and mosT oT her escorTS. The survivors Turning back To make a dismal rep0r'f +9 headquarTers. CondiTions ashore by April II indicaTed ThaT TGPICI IOTOQFGSS Tollowing The landings could noT be Tained. Marines were meeTing meager opposiTion i drive norThward and were haIT The disTance up The Peninsula. In The souTh, l.T.iGeneraI Simon B. XXTV A'mY COFIOS was meeTing sTiTT opposiTion 'ePO'TIn9 heavy morTar, arTiIIery, and small arms

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