USS Tennessee (BB-43)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Tennessee.

The U.S. Navy battleship USS Tennessee (BB-43) underway on 12 May 1943. Tennessee was damaged in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941 and was afterwards given a very extensive reconstruction. This gave her the enormous beam apparent in this photograph.
USS Tennessee (BB-43), underway on 12 May 1943.
History
United States
NameTennessee
NamesakeTennessee
Ordered28 December 1915
BuilderNew York Naval Shipyard
Laid down14 May 1917
Launched30 April 1919
Commissioned3 June 1920
Decommissioned14 February 1947
Stricken1 March 1959
IdentificationHull symbol:BB-43
FateBroken up, 1959
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeTennessee-class battleship
Displacement
Length
  • 600 ft (180 m) lwl
  • 624 ft (190 m) loa
Beam97 ft 5 in (29.69 m)
Draft30 ft 2 in (9.19 m)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement
  • 57 officers
  • 1,026 enlisted
Sensors and
processing systems
Armament
Armor

USS Tennessee (BB-43) was the lead ship of the Tennessee class of dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1910s. The Tennessee class was part of the standard series of twelve battleships built in the 1910s and 1920s, and were developments of the preceding New Mexico class. They were armed with a battery of twelve 14-inch (356 mm) guns in four three-gun turrets. Tennessee served in the Pacific Fleet for duration of her peacetime career. She spent the 1920s and 1930s participating in routine fleet training exercises, including the annual Fleet Problems, and cruises around the Americas and further abroad, such as a goodwill visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1925.

Tennessee was moored in Battleship Row when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, which brought the United States into World War II. She was not seriously damaged, and after being repaired she operated off the West Coast of the US in 1942. In 1943, Tennessee and many of the older battleships were thoroughly rebuilt to prepare them for operations in the Pacific War and in June–August, she took part in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, providing gunfire support to troops fighting to retake the islands. The Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign followed from November 1943 to February 1944, including the Battles of Tarawa, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok. In March, she raided Kavieng to distract Japanese forces during the landing on Emirau, and from June through September, she fought in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, bombarding Japanese forces during the Battles of Saipan, Guam, Tinian, and Anguar.

The Philippines campaign followed in September, during which the ship operated as part of the bombardment group at the Battle of Leyte. The Japanese launched a major naval counterattack that resulted in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a series of four naval engagements. During the Battle of Surigao Strait, Tennessee formed part of the US line of battle that defeated a Japanese squadron; this was the last battleship engagement in history. Tennessee shelled Japanese forces during the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945 and the Battle of Okinawa from March to June. During the latter action, she was hit by a kamikaze but was not seriously damaged. In the final months of the war, she operated primarily in the East China Sea, and after Japan's surrender in August, she participated in the occupation of Japan before returning to the US late in the year. In the postwar reduction of naval forces, Tennessee was placed in the reserve fleet in 1946 and retained, out of service, until 1959, when the Navy decided to discard her. The ship was sold to Bethlehem Steel in July and broken up for scrap.