| By the time Tennessee emerged from the navy yard on 7 May
1943, she bore virtually no resemblance to her former self. Deep new blisters
increased the depth of her side protection against torpedoes by eight feet
three inches on each side, gradually tapering toward bow and stern. Internal
compartmentation was rearranged and improved. The most striking innovation
was made in the battleship's superstructure. The heavy armored conning tower,
from which Tennessee would have been controlled in a surface gunnery
action, was removed, as were masts, stacks and other superstructure. A new,
compact, superstructure was designed to provide essential ship and gunnery
control facilities while offering as little interference as possible to the
fields of fire of the ship's increasingly essential antiaircraft guns. A
low tower foremast supported a main battery director and bridge spaces; boiler
uptakes were trunked into a single fat funnel that was faired into the after
side of the fore mast. Just abaft the stack, a lower structure accommodated
the after turret-gun director. Tennessee's old 5-inch battery, and
combination of 5" /25 antiaircraft guns and 5" /51 single purpose
"anti-destroyer" guns, were replaced by eight 5" /38 twin mounts. Four new
directors, arranged around the superstructure, could control these guns against
air or surface targets. All of these directors were equipped with fire-control
radars; antennas for surface and air search radars were mounted at the mastheads.
Close in antiaircraft defense was the function of 10 quadruple 40-millimeter
gun mounts, each with its own optical director, and of 43 20-millimeter
guns. |
| Thus revitalized, and her battle worthiness greatly increased,
Tennessee ran trials in the Puget Sound area and, on 22 May 1943,
sailed for San Pedro. The days of seeming purposelessness were over. Though
the slow battleships were still incapable of serving with the carrier striking
force, their heavy turret guns could still hit as hard as ever. Naval shore
bombardment and gunfire support for troops ashore -- then coming to be a
specialty in its own right -- was well suited for this earlier generation
of battleships which were also still quite usable for patrol duty in areas
where firepower was more important than speed. The refurbished
Tennessee's first tour of duty combined both of these missions. |
| Tennessee departed San Pedro with the cruiser
Portland (CA-33) on 31 May, bound for the North Pacific and arrived
at Adak, Alaska, on 9 June to begin patrol operations with Task Force 16,
the North Pacific Force. During the Midway operation, the Japanese had occupied
the Aleutian islands of Attu and Kiska. Attu was recaptured in May 1943;
but Kiska was still in hostile hands; and Japanese air and naval forces still
operated in the Aleutians area from bases in the Kuril Islands.
Tennessee plied back and forth through the legendary fogs and foul
weather of the Aleutians, with her crew heavily bundled in arctic clothing
for protection against intense cols and freezing rain as her radars probed
for some sign of the enemy. There was still much to be learned about radar
and its pitfalls and on several occasions, convincing images on the radar
screens sent patrolling forces to general quarters. During one patrol in
July, radio messages reported a force of nine surface ships 150 miles away,
steaming rapidly to intercept Tennessee and her consorts. Tension
grew as the unknown enemy drew closer, and all hands intently prepared for
their first action. The radar images were only 45 miles away, and
Tennessee's crew was at battle stations when the enemy suddenly
disappeared. Where the screens had been displaying what seemed to be a hostile
squadron, there was nothing. The hostile fleet had been a mere electronic
mirage. During this same period, another surface force fought a brief, but
energetic, gunnery action with the same kind of electronic "ghost" force
south of Kiska. Distant landmasses had appeared on ships' early radar sets
as ship contacts at much closer ranges. |
| At about noon on 1 August, Tennessee was out on what all
thought another routine patrol when the word was passed to prepare to bombard
Kiska. At 1310, she began a zigzag approach through the usual murk to the
island with
Idaho (BB-42)
and three destroyers. As the water grew shallower, the ship slowed down and
streamed mine-cutting paravanes from her bow. Tennessee approached
the island from the east, closing to a range from which she could open fire
with her 5-inch secondary battery. Her two OF2U Kingfisher floatplanes were
catapulted to observe fire; and, at 1610, the battleship commenced firing
from 7,000 yards. Though the island's shoreline could be seen, the target
area -- antiaircraft gun sites on high ground -- was shrouded in low-hanging
clouds and was invisible from the ship. Tennessee's aerial spotters
caught an occasional glimpse of the impact area and reported the ship's fire
as striking home. |
| The task group continued along Kiska's southern coast.
Tennessee's 14-inch guns chimed in at 1624, hitting the location of
a submarine base and other areas with 60 rounds before firing ceased at 1624,
hitting the location of a submarine base and other areas with 60 rounds before
firing ceased at 1645. Visibility had dropped to zero, and results could
not be seen. The battleship recovered her floatplanes, and the force turned
back toward Adak. |
| In the early morning hours of 15 August, Tennessee again
approached Kiska as troops prepared to assault the island. At 0500, the ship's
turret guns began to fire at coastal battery sites on nearby Little Kiska
as the 5-inch guns struck antiaircraft positions on that island. The 14-inch
guns then shifted their fire to antiaircraft sites on the southern side of
Kiska, while the secondary battery turned its attention to the artillery
observation position on Little Kiska and set it up fire. The landing force
then went ashore, only to discover that nobody was home. |
| After the loss of Attu, the Japanese, knowing that Kiska's turn
would soon come, decided to save the island's garrison. A small surface force
closed the island in dense fog and tight radio silence and, on 27 and 28
July 1943, succeeded in evaluating 5,183 troops from Kiska. |
| Arriving at San Francisco on 31 August, Tennessee began
an intensive period of training and carried out battle exercises off the
southern California coast before provisioning and shoving off for Hawaii.
After a week's exercises in the Pearl Harbor operation area, the ship headed
for the New Hebrides to rehearse for the invasion of the Gilberts. |
| The Japanese had occupied Betio on Christmas Day 1941. In nearly
two years, with the help of conscripted Korean laborers, they had done a
thorough job of digging themselves in. Americans still had a great deal to
learn about pre-landing bombardment. Air attacks and naval gunfire damaged,
but did not knock out, the beach defenses; and the landing marines met an
intense fire from artillery, mortars and machine guns. Casualties mounted
rapidly, and the landing force asked for all possible fire support. At 1034,
Tennessee's 14-inch and 5-inch guns reopened fire. The battleship
continued to shoot until 1138, resuming fire at 1224 and firing until a
cease-fire order was issued at 1300. The desperately contested struggle went
on until dark, with close support being provided by destroyers, which closed
the beach to fire their 5-inch guns at short range, and by waves of carrier
planes that bombed and strafed. To reduce the chance of submarine or air
attack, Tennessee and
Colorado
(BB-45) withdrew for the night to an area southwest of Betio and returned
to their fire-support area the next morning to provide antiaircraft protection
for the transports and to await a call for gunfire. |
| The battleships retired to their night area again at dusk. By
this time, the battle for the island, its outcome uncertain for the first
day and one-half of fighting, had taken a definite turn for the better. By
1600, the Marine commander ashore, Colonel David Shoup, could radio back
"we are winning." Tennessee was back in position south of Betio on
the morning of the 22nd. At 0907, she began to deliver call fire on Japanese
defenses at the eastern tip of Betio, dropping 70 rounds of 14-inch and 322
rounds of 5-inch ammunition on gun positions in 17 minutes of shooting. |
| During the afternoon, the screening destroyers Frazier
(DD-607) and Meade (DD-602) made a sonar contact. Depth charging drove
I-35, a Japanese long-range submarine, to the surface. Her position
was hopeless, but the enemy crew scrambled to man the undersea boat's single
5.5-inch deck gun as Tennessee's secondary guns joined Frazier
and Meade in hurling 5-inch projectiles. Tennessee swung clear
as Frazier rammed the submarine; four minutes later, I-35 went
to the bottom. |
| Betio was secured by the afternoon of 23 November.
Tennessee operated in the general area of Tarawa and Abemama atolls,
alert for possible counterattacks by air or sea. At dusk on 3 December,
Tennessee departed the area for Pearl Harbor and, on the 15th, headed
for the United States with Colorado and
Maryland
(BB-46). On arrival at San Francisco, four days before Christmas, she was
quickly repainted in a "dazzle" camouflage scheme designed to confuse enemy
observers. On 29 December, Tennessee began intensive bombardment practice,
pounding San Clemente Island in rehearsal for the invasion of the Marshall
Islands. |
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