The design of the Tennessee class was a considerable improvement over that of earlier U.S. Navy battleships. The two ships featured the same twelve 14"/50 guns and armor protection as in the preceding Idaho class, and had a similar hull. However, their newly developed four-layer anti-torpedo system, built into the hull sides, and the revised arrangement of boiler and engine rooms permitted by their turbo-electric machinery greatly enhanced their combat survivability. Increased elevation of the main-battery guns and improved gunfire directors atop heavier "cage" masts allowed greater battle ranges. All of the five-inch secondary battery guns were now in the superstructure, where they were less vulnerable to heavy seas.
These ships were active units of the inter-war Battle Force. They received modest improvements during the 'Twenties and 'Thirties, among them heavier 5"/25 anti-aircraft guns, the addition of .50 caliber anti-aircraft machineguns and improved gunfire controls. Both were at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese began the Pacific War with their 7 December 1941 surprise attack. Following that disaster, the sunken California was out of the war for over two years, but the relatively lightly-damaged Tennessee was back in service by early 1942.
Both ships received what was probably the most extensive reconstruction given to any of the Navy's wartime major combatants, emerging with much heavier deck armor, a huge improvement in their anti-aircraft battery and modern gun directors. Standard displacement went up some 2500 tons, speed dropped slightly below 21 knots and beam increased to 114 feet, making them too wide to transit the Panama Canal. Their appearance was drastically changed, and now superficially resembled that of the brand-new South Dakota class. Tennessee completed her modernization in May 1943, in time to take part in the Aleutians Campaign. California, which needed extensive repair of her Pearl Harbor damage, was finished in early 1944.
Both ships were heavily engaged in providing bombardment support for amphibious operations through the rest of the war. They were present for the World's final battleship-against-battleship engagement, the Battle of Surigao Strait on 24-25 October 1944, and stayed in action despite receiving "Kamikaze" damage in 1945. Laid up in 1946-47, they were part of the Reserve Fleet until sold for scrapping in 1959, nearly forty years after they were first commissioned.
The Tennessee class numbered two ships, one each
built in east coast and west coast Navy yards:
Tennessee class "as-built" design characteristics:
This page features a modest selection of photographs of Tennessee class battleships, plus images related to these ships' basic design features, and provides links to more extensive pictorial coverage of the individual ships.
For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy battleships, see: Battleships -- Overview and Special Image Selection.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
Photo #: NH 61483 USS California (BB-44) At sea, during the middle-1930s. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 540 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 97316 USS Tennessee (BB-43) At sea during the later 1930s. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. Online Image: 117KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-326899 USS Tennessee (BB-43) In Buckner Bay, Okinawa, 17 July 1945. Taken by a USS Makin Island (CVE-93) photographer. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 124KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: 80-G-166187 USS California (BB-44) Underway, probably in the Puget Sound area, circa January 1944. The ship is painted in camouflage Measure 32, Design 16-D. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 136KB; 740 x 610 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 50770 Pearl Harbor Raid, December 1941 USS Tennessee (BB-43), at left, alongside the sunken USS West Virginia (BB-48), photographed from the capsized hull of USS Oklahoma (BB-37) on 10 December 1941, three days after the Japanese raid. The mainmast of USS Arizona (BB-39) is visible in the right distance. Collection of Vice Admiral Homer N. Wallin. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 102KB; 740 x 615 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 80528 USS California (BB-44) View of the battleship's forward superstructure and 14" gun turrets, in 1938. Note gunfire concentration dial just below the fire-control top, rangefinders atop the pilothouse and conning tower, and two .50 caliber anti-aircraft machine gun mountings just forward of the armored conning tower. Courtesy of Howard F. Ailes, 1974. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 100KB; 570 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 42390 USS Tennessee (BB-43) Bombarding Okinawa with her 14"/50 main battery guns, as LVTs in the foreground carry troops to the invasion beaches, 1 April 1945. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 130KB; 740 x 610 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 55016 USS California (BB-44) Sliding down the building ways during her launching, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 20 November 1919. Note group on the christening stand in the lower right, including the ship's sponsor, Mrs. R.T. Zane (at left), a Navy Captain lifting his hat to the ship, a motion picture cameraman and a Navy bugler. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 129KB; 740 x 605 pixels |
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Photo #: 19-N-45071 USS Tennessee (BB-43) Underway in Puget Sound, Washington, on 12 May 1943, after modernization. Note the greatly increased beam that was one element of this work. Photograph from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 158KB; 600 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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For more views of Tennessee class battleships, see:
For coverage of other classes of U.S. Navy battleships, see: Battleships -- Overview and Special Image Selection.
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 29 August 2000
Coding updated 26 March 2001