JFK+50: Volume 7, No. 2152
USS TENNESSEE SURVIVES PEARL HARBOR AND WORLD WAR II
Honolulu, Hawaii (JFK+50) At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time 75 years ago this morning, December 7, 1941, Oahu and the city of Honolulu came under air attack by Japanese war planes.
Two waves composed of more than 350 Japanese aircraft participated in the raid in which eight American battleships were severely damaged or destroyed.
The most famous of those ships was the USS Arizona which not only sunk to the bottom of the harbor, but took 1,177 officers and men with her. The USS Arizona Memorial here in Honolulu is one of the most visited sites in Hawaii.
Docked west of the Arizona was the USS Tennessee* which not only survived the attack but "went on to fight in 13 engagements during World War II, more than any other battleship in the Navy."
When the USS Tennessee was commissioned in 1920, she was the largest battleship of the Navy at a cost of $20 million.
USS Tennessee took two Japanese armor-piercing bombs at Pearl Harbor which took the lives of 4 of her crew while wounding 22. One sailor was missing-in-action. The stern of the ship was set ablaze from Arizona's burning fuel oil.
"The Rebel Ship" earned ten Battle Stars and one Presidential Unit Citation, and she traveled more than 170,000 miles.
*USS TENNESSEE (1920-1959) was built at the New York Naval Shipyard & launched on April 30, 1919. She was sponsored by Helen Lenore Roberts daughter of Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts. USS TN was commissioned on June 3, 1920.
She took part in bombings at the Aleutian Islands, Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines, Iwo Jima & Okinawa.
SOURCES
"Pearl Harbor and the USS Tennessee," December 7, 2016, Knoxville News-Sentinel
"Sunday in hell: Pearl Harbor Minute by Minute," by Bill McWilliams, Tennessean Research
USS TENNESSEE SURVIVES PEARL HARBOR AND WORLD WAR II
Honolulu, Hawaii (JFK+50) At 7:55 a.m. Hawaii time 75 years ago this morning, December 7, 1941, Oahu and the city of Honolulu came under air attack by Japanese war planes.
Two waves composed of more than 350 Japanese aircraft participated in the raid in which eight American battleships were severely damaged or destroyed.
The most famous of those ships was the USS Arizona which not only sunk to the bottom of the harbor, but took 1,177 officers and men with her. The USS Arizona Memorial here in Honolulu is one of the most visited sites in Hawaii.
Docked west of the Arizona was the USS Tennessee* which not only survived the attack but "went on to fight in 13 engagements during World War II, more than any other battleship in the Navy."
When the USS Tennessee was commissioned in 1920, she was the largest battleship of the Navy at a cost of $20 million.
USS Tennessee took two Japanese armor-piercing bombs at Pearl Harbor which took the lives of 4 of her crew while wounding 22. One sailor was missing-in-action. The stern of the ship was set ablaze from Arizona's burning fuel oil.
"The Rebel Ship" earned ten Battle Stars and one Presidential Unit Citation, and she traveled more than 170,000 miles.
*USS TENNESSEE (1920-1959) was built at the New York Naval Shipyard & launched on April 30, 1919. She was sponsored by Helen Lenore Roberts daughter of Tennessee Governor Albert H. Roberts. USS TN was commissioned on June 3, 1920.
She took part in bombings at the Aleutian Islands, Tarawa, the Marshall Islands, the Marianas, the Philippines, Iwo Jima & Okinawa.
SOURCES
"Pearl Harbor and the USS Tennessee," December 7, 2016, Knoxville News-Sentinel
"Sunday in hell: Pearl Harbor Minute by Minute," by Bill McWilliams, Tennessean Research
USS Tennessee (BB-43)
May 12 1943
US Navy Photo
USS Tennessee (L) & USS West Virginia (R)
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
December 10, 1941
NARA Photo
