“AIR RAID. PEARL HARBOR. THIS IS NO DRILL.”
The 32,300-ton battleship USS Tennessee left the New York Navy Yard in June 1920. A member of Battleship Force, Tennessee rated an E for excellence during gunnery training in the 1920s along the Pacific Coast. As tensions with Japan increased, her base was moved to Pearl Harbor in 1940.
Tennessee was moored on Battleship Row at Pearl, alongside USS West Virginia when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. Her crew manned the anti-aircraft guns and attempted a defense, but Japanese bombs struck two of her four gun turrets and eventually all four were rendered inoperable. Debris from the hit to turret 2 struck and mortally wounded the commanding officer of the West Virginia, Mervyn S. Bennion. When the magazine of the Arizona exploded, burning oil showered down on the Tennessee. The ship remained trapped for 10 days before it could be freed and sailed to Puget Sound for repairs.
By May 1943, an updated and modernized Tennessee set sail. She steamed to the Aleutians area, where she bombarded Kiska when that island was invaded in August. During the next year, from November 1943 into September 1944, she participated in bombardments of Tarawa, Kwajalein, Eniwetok, New Ireland, Saipan (where she was damaged by Japanese counter-fire), Guam, Tinian, Anguar, and Peleliu. In October, Tennessee’s guns pounded the Leyte invasion area as U.S. forces returned to the Philippines, and she helped sink the Japanese battleship Yamashiro in the Battle of Surigao Strait.
After a stateside overhaul, Tennessee supported the Iwo Jima and Okinawa operations in February and March 1945. Hit by a suicide plane on 12 April, Tennessee remained in action for a few more weeks until she went in for repairs; she returned to Okinawa to continue her gunfire support during June. In July and August, she operated in the waters off China. Following Japan’s surrender, the battleship took part in the occupation effort before returning to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in December 1946.
In 1947, she underwent the “mothballing” process and was decommissioned. USS Tennessee was part of the Atlantic Reserve Fleet for 12 more years and was sold for scrapping in July 1959.
USS Tennessee: Combat Statistics
339 days of combat operation
Shot down 16 enemy aircraft
Shot down or damaged another 11 more with other ships
Helped sink 8 Japanese naval vessels
Damaged five times by enemy fire
Total of 219 casualties over the course of her life—at Pearl Harbor, 4 killed, 22 wounded, and 1 missing
From 1941–1945, steamed a total of 170,073 miles
Received 10 service stars and, following naval commendation, her personnel were allowed to wear the Navy Unit Commendation ribbon
Her Navy Commendation reads, in part,
“For outstanding heroism in action against Japanese enemy forces during the period from January 31, 1944, to June 21, 1945. Conducting extensive bombardments with devastating accuracy throughout thirteen major operations, the U.S.S. TENNESSEE methodically reduced enemy defenses . . . making possible the advance of our forces through the Central Pacific without prohibitive loss of life. In the historic Battle of Surigao Straits, she contributed materially to the destruction of a powerful portion of the Japanese Fleet, including at least two battleships. The TENNESSEE's splendid record of achievements, from the Aleutians to the Ryukyus, reflects the superb teamwork and gallantry of her valiant officers and men and is in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”
Adapted from U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval Historical Center and USS Tennessee cruise book. Photograph: Battleships West Virginia (BB-48) (sunken at left) and Tennessee (BB-43) shrouded in smoke following the Japanese air raid, December 7, 1941, U.S. Naval Institute Photograph Collection, U.S. Navy Historical Center.
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