USS Tennessee (BB-43) - "The Fire Support Guru"

Warship Guide - USS Tennessee BB-43
USS Tennessee is one of my favorite battleships. She was beautiful, with her clipper bow and standard type classic lines. She made it through the chaos of December 7th, 1941, and emerged from the oil slicks and ashes of Pearl Harbor to become one of the bedrocks of the Pacific fleet’s fire support force. Her main battery hurled over 9,000 14 inch shells at the Japanese during the Pacific War, and some of these were fired during the last battleship on battleship confrontation in history during the Battle of Surigao Strait. She earned a Navy Unit Commendation, as well as 10 battle stars for World War 2 service.
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Credits (photos):
US National Archives, Navsource, Naval History & Heritage Command
#history #navalhistory #usnavy #unitedstatesnavy #worldwar2 #pacificwar #ww2 #battleship #worldofwarships #worldofwarshipslegends

[@calliecooke1817]

Wonderful video. One thing that everyone, always fails to include though. Her 14" rifles were forged at the Washington, D.C. Navy Yard. At one time the Navy Yard had 60,000 employees, totally racially diverse in the era of Jim Crow. It also boasted the most modern blast furnace in the U.S. This was the only real "heavy" industry ever located in a city who's main product is the government. It's often overlooked. For over 150 years, almost all of the Navy's big guns were forged here. Thanks.

[@robertschumann7737]

Jim Crow were laws enacted in the southern states. Not surprising a company in DC didn't follow them.

[@LastRonin47]

John Dahlgren approved

[@OldMovieFan1973]

This is the History that we need to keep. Thankyou

[@liamthompson9090]

She was a beautiful ship.

[@robertwoods2650]

My uncle was aboard on December 7, 1941. He survived the attack and the war. US Marine. He helped man a gun on the 7th.

[@jonmcgee6987]

My favorite Battleship for very clear reasons.

[@RichardCorongiu]

Everything about her looks.....proper... as they say ..it looks good it probably is good...

[@BrianPeloso-ln4ry]

I met a guy in 1994 in northern Ontario who retired to the north shore of Lake Superior...he served in 2 turret ...he freaked out that I knew of her and Tsurigao straight. When I showed off by naming Oldendorf he invited me to his home...serendipity is awesome.✌️🇨🇦👍

[@francisbusa1074]

Wow. Enjoying a piece of living history for sure! It was like that for me and dad. I was born shortly after he came home in November '45. For years we enjoyed watching Victory at Sea together. When I was about 6 years old he got me a Revell model of an F6F Hellcat, telling me what a great fighter it was. Ever since then I began learning all about the war in the Pacific. The officers and men on his ship, USS Birmingham (CL-62), published a book after the war detailing the ship's history (I think I've almost memorized it). In the late '60s during Vietnam I got to steam in some of the same waters he did. I miss him so much. He passed in 2013.

[@BrianPeloso-ln4ry]

@@francisbusa1074 Wow thanks...

[@paulprovenzano3755]

Flex for the shipbuilding capabilities of the time . ‘’Remember all those old battleships that you tried to sink ? They’re the ones redrawing the geography of ‘your’ islands. They’ll be our islands, soon enough. Just thought you might want to know.”

[@maximusmeridius3380]

Such an ignoble end for such a magnificent ship. 😢

[@karlheinzvonkroemann2217]

My father was a Marine in WW2 and a friend from his neighborhood (in the Bronx) served on the Tennessese.

[@douglaspriest2770]

History... not forgotten 😢

[@jeremymackevincaylor5041]

Love seeing her from my couch in the beautiful green ridges of East Tennessee

[@danielmackormack8524]

The battleship was not broken up into scrap ?

[@JoshuaFare]

Woulda been better at Vicksburg

[@HighlanderNorth1]

As was true with the USS Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, South Dakota, West Virginia and Colorado, the USS Tennessee was also named after a great and famous seafaring state. It's just a shame they didn't save her as a museum ship, permanently moored at the Atlantic port of Nashville. 😁

[@gingerli5820]

@@HighlanderNorth1 I was wondering where in orbit were you observing earth from when I realized you were being sarcastic/factious. Agree - all of those landlocked farmlands should have their own battleship museum.

[@Wyomingchief]

So happy to finally see you do a video on this magnificent battleship. My grandfather and his brother both served on the USS Tennessee, both of them being attached to the ship in late 1941 through 1945. My grandfather was a wireless radio operator and later a radar fire Direction technician. His brother worked in the engine room, not sure exactly what he did.

[@TheValorVault]

Thank you so much. Tennessee is definitely my favorite of the standard series. I greatly appreciate the service of your grandfather and his brother. It's men like them, of every generation, that allow me to enjoy my life.

[@Wyomingchief]

​@TheValorVault yeah I got a hold of my uncle, and he said that my grandfather's brother was a machinist mate first class and actually worked in the machine shop. I just wish I'd spent more time with him before he passed. Luckily he did share a lot of stories, which is what really ignited my is passion for the US Navy in World War II

[@spikespa5208]

Tennessee was my father's first ship that he served on when he joined in the early '30s. Was sad when he heard she had been finally scrapped. Have heard that she was noted for using her main battery as 14" sniper rifles at close ramge for individual bunkers and other targets on Suribachi.

[@heliop2516]

It’s a shame so few of the old girls are left I’m lucky here we have the Massachusetts,and her sister is still alive as well we also have the three younger sisters, but we should have saved one sister from each class that way we would have a complete generation off them . He are close with the Texas but not all the lady’s are represented ,any how keep up the good work I enjoy it very much.

[@HighlanderNorth1]

We saved all 4 Iowas, as well as one or more of the North Carolina and South Dakota classes, plus the USS Texas. But I'd trade 1 or 2 of the Iowas for one each of the Tennessee, Colorado and New Mexico classes. But at least we managed to save several of our battleships, whereas England and every other battleship producing country scrapped ALL of theirs!

[@MikeHunt-fo3ow]

good job telling her story

[@RussellMiller-gh7fb]

The ships bell is still on display at the Senator Howard Baker Museum in his hometown of Huntsville Tn.

[@6thmichcav262]

Strikes me that the damage analysis drawings from 9:00 to 9:30 were all drafted by hand. What high quality graphics in multiple views!

[@arthurrobinson7859]

In that era all drawings were done by hand.

[@6thmichcav262]

Obviously, that’s the point.

[@RichardCorongiu]

Rather impressive the redesign rate of change .and...the speed of implementation..great thinking...

[@nunyabeeswax9463]

I wish I could of served on a ship like that. The ship I served on one big thing were the secret talks between North Vietnam and America towards the end of the Vietnam war. I served on a deployment to Beirut in 82-83. The ship I served on had a "better" fate. It was sunk in the early 2000's for a "terrorism" exercise.

[@TheValorVault]

@@nunyabeeswax9463 thank you for your service

[@aegrotattoo9018]

Much appreciated, excellent clip ! 🙂

[@johnbrowning8785]

Would have been nice to have had her steamed up the Mississippi to Memphis and made into a musem ship near Mud Island.

[@rifleman7.62]

Unfortunately we couldn't even take care of the memphis belle. But growing up in Memphis that would have been sweet to see!

[@gingerli5820]

All that refitting, rebuilding, replacing, modernizing didn't make much sense in light of TN's quick decommission in February of 1947, then mothballed and finally struck in March, 1959, followed by immediate scrapping. This was the spending momentum invested in obsolete military enterprises that Eisenhower warned of. The spending is so out of control now, it's no longer budgeted - it's merely heaped into more debt. And museums? They're not very popular with today's liberal indoctrinated, America hating youth. And Memphis is no longer safe to live in let alone visit a museum there.

[@johnbrowning8785]

@gingerli5820 Okay "Captain Hindsight" what would you have done at the end of 1941? When the US was reeling from Pearl Harbor and the invasion of the Phillipines? Ike wasn't referring to Wartime spending during WWII, he was referring to the permanent National Security State that was embarked upon in 1947 with Truman's National Security Act.

[@johnbrowning8785]

@rifleman7.62 I remember as a kid when it was falling apart in front of the National Guard building. They did fix it up and put it under a pavillion on Mud Island for awhile. Tennessee would have been nice moored nearby.

[@chloehennessey6813]

Tennessee was very very protective of her boys on land.

[@madjeepernh6834]

My grand father John Goulding was a cook and gunner for the USS Tennessee. im glad he made it home that thing withstood some shit!! thank you for serving soldiers!!.

[@jackgreen412]

Most excellent.

[@chaunceycrosbysr.]

Outstanding

[@DISGUYROX]

I was born in January of 1939. I can remember much of the years of WWII and what it was like living in America during those years and the following years. America was a wonderful experience for this little boy back then. I had two uncles and two cousins in WWII, my two cousins were in the ETO while my two uncles were in the Pacific with one of them in a 14" turret in the Tennessee and the other a tail gunner and etc in a B29. They al had their stories to tell and the nly one who kept it all to himself was that cousin who was in infantry in the ETO. No doubt what he saw and experienced cause him to keep it to himself. These great American guys FROM the GREATEST GENERATION were who led me to join the navy. They were ANTIFAS and SO AM i.

[@huskergator9479]

Excellent! Love hearing about the older wagons. Keep it up!! Thank you!!

[@francisbusa1074]

One magnificent beast of a man of war!

[@GM-fh5jp]

Yep, good video and pretty decent commentary too. Good job V.V team.

[@73Trident]

Great video thanks

[@lonzo61]

I want my own battleship.

[@benjisterchi5195]

Born and raised in Chattanooga Tennessee, it’s a shame she was not saved by the Navy or the State of Tennessee to serve as a Museum Ship. What a waste, just the ships bell in Huntsville Tennessee! Wow, guess that’s better then nothing.

[@davidmccarty6445]

She's a beautiful lady

[@randallgschwind3799]

I guess they shot up all 14 inch ammo before she was cut up!!!

[@gregflotron7995]

The post-WW2 narrative that battleships were relegated to “secondary duties” and not contributing as much to the war effort is myth that has been torn apart by many naval historians over the last 20yrs. I’ve never understood how protecting troop convoys and bombarding invasion beaches is a “secondary role” when it is enforcing command of the seas; their primary role. She fired over 9,300 14’’ shells during the war; more than any other battleship on any side, in any theater. She was on the frontlines constantly.

[@francisbusa1074]

I think you meant Cape Horn, not Cape of Good Hope which is in Africa.

[@douglasthompson201]

Practically no ships go around Cape Horn. Ridiculously dangerous to risk passage around the Cape, the path is through the Strait of Magellan, but I don't know the size limit for that.

[@derek6579]

I thought Arizona was sunk by a torpedo from a sneaky mini sub?

[@huskergator9479]

At 5:50 there is a pic of what looks to be a mini sub off to the left, complete with three torpedo wakes or trails. I saw a video that explained that those three ‘rooster tails’ or geysers are from the sub’s screw that breached as it fired each fish. But where Arizona was parked inside, i doubt it took a torpedo hit. But i really do not know enough to be talking about this.

[@BrianPeloso-ln4ry]

​@@huskergator9479I think you explained it perfectly. I love modesty.

[@jimwolaver9375]

Those mini subs could only carry two torps. The three wakes you saw may have included air-dropped torpedoes - there were quite a few that morning...

[@SergioLuizCardosodeSouzaJunior]

Compro 50.000 navios dessa classe para a marinha do Brasil Rio de Janeiro niteroi Brasil

[@toomanyhobbies2011]

Very good AI? Poor pronunciation and identically pronounced, repeated words...

[@Wyomingchief]

And nobody cares

[@RayyMusik]

I like it. Very clear pronunciation, helpful for non-native speakers.

[@evilisfun9935]

Trolls everywhere, even on history videos. Please, internet troll, leave the basement, and go outside for a while lol.

[@williamfankboner4206]

Yeah, I was puzzled by the pronunciation of Eniwetok (Marshall Islands), which added a note of inauthenticity to the narrative. You suddenly realize the narrator is not a real person. Still, a superb history of a fine ship on which my father served as chief medical officer prior to its rendezvous with destiny at Pearl.

[@mrcpu9999]

I agree, this voice is all over tiktok, and takes away the personalization of the channel. It just makes it more generic, whereas the ones where you get to know the channel owner and a little bit about them are for more interesting. But there's no "connection" here, just a robot reading, regardless of how good the script is.