- Yes
- Maybe
- Unsure
- No
- As built
- 1922 Refit
- 1928 -1929 Refit
- USS Tennessee March 1942 Refit
- USS Tennessee June 1942 Refit
- 1943 modernization (Tennessee)
- 1944 Modernization (California)
- 1945 Refit (Tennessee)
- 1945 Refit (California)
- Unsure
- I said no to the first question
Background
The Tennessee class battleship was a class of which consisted of 2 super dreadnoughts, the USS Tennessee (BB-43) and USS California (BB-44), as was with all American super dreadnoughts since the Nevada class were constructed as standard battleships which involves classes of ships working together in the same battle line and in order to do so they are designed with similar capabilities such as speed, armor, and firepower however with each succeeding class from the previous standard battleship minor improvements would be made, in the case of the Tennessee class battleships they shared the same 12 14" inch guns layout in triple turrets with 2 super firing near the bow and the other 2 super firing near the stern as like the previous New Mexico class and Pennsylvania class battleships and a similar extent with the original standard battleships of the Nevada class with the difference being that the Nevada class used 2 triple 14 inch and 2 twin 14 inch turrets, as stated previously as with standard battleship progression each succeeding class would have minor improvements over the previous class and in this case it is said to mainly be increased underwater protection as well as giving the main guns increased gun elevation angles which allowed them to have extended firing range. The Tennessee class would be there last of the 14 inch super dreadnoughts of the USN as the succeeding class, the Colorado class, would be the last class of standard battleships ever built as by that point it was seen that it was not possible to retain the 14 inch guns while nations such as Britain were now using 15" inch guns on their most modern battleships at the time and Japan began work on the Nagato class which was planned to have 16 inch guns, that all being said their would be another 14" inch armed battleship that was planned for the USN being the North Carolina class battleships however due to the escalation clause of the Washington Naval treaty they were armed instead with 16 inch guns which was also something prepared for the North Carolina class design.
History
Development
Spoiler
The Tennessee class was the 4th standard battleship class constructed for the US Navy, as was common with the progression of previous standard battleships the Tennessee class was fairly based off the previous ship class, being the New Mexico class. Compared to their predecessors the Tennessee class made improvements in underwater protection though the General Board wanted to increase the ships armor to withstand the new 15" inch guns the European navies were either currently using or planning to use on any current or future super dreadnought and they also opposed the standard lineage due to the fact the designs were incremental improvements however this was overruled by the Secretary of the Navy who ordered that they would be repeats of Battleship 1916 (The New Mexico class) with limited modification, as a result the ships would see a improvement in protection however this was in the form of underwater protection as it was also known how European navies had begun to use more powerful torpedos and so the ships received torpedo bulkheads which came in 4 layers of armor in order to protect against torpedos and sea mines, the ships would be authorized on March 3rd, 1915 while still undergoing design work.
The ships would be designed with 12 14" inch guns in 4 triple turrets with 2 forward in super firing positions and another 2 aft also in super firing positions, the class also allowed these guns to have increased elevation which extended their range compared to previous standard battleships with a maximum elevation of 30 degrees, the secondary battery would consist of 14 5"(127mm)/51 with 10 being in casemates and 4 being on deck higher in open pivot mounts however originally the ships were to come with 22 however due to the lessons learned in WW1 they only came with 14 as the guns not included would only be usable in calm late seas, the ships also came with 4 3" inch (76mm) AA guns would round out the armament though excluding any saluting guns and oddly enough had a field guns and machine guns onboard for landing parties, finally as with many battleships from the period the ships came with 2 21" inch underwater torpedo tubes. The ships would displace from 32,000 to 33,000 tons in displacement depending on the load and were capable of 21 knots, the ship was powered by 8 boilers which powered 2 electric generators which powered the 4 electric motors that powered the propellers, the ships like the previous class had a belt that was 8 to 13.5 inches thick and shared the same general armor with the difference being that the ships now had torpedo compartments.
USS Tennessee
Spoiler
Inter war (Technically WW1 due to start date but was completed after the war)
USS Tennessee was laid down on May 14th, 1917 in the New York Naval yard, she would be launched on April 30th, 1919, and on June 3rd, 1920, she would enter commission into the fleet, then from October 15th to the 23rd in Long Island Sound, one week later on October 30th while at moored in New York one of her electric generators for her propulsion ended up exploding which destroyed the turbine and wounded 2 sailors and so she underwent repair work to fix this as well as other issues with her propulsion which were found during her sea trials, next on February 26th, 1921 she would be underway again to continue her sea trials off Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, following this she sailed for Hampton Roads in Virginia on March 19th, there she underwent gunnery training to calibrate her guns while off Virginia and would then proceed to Boston for repairs which saw 2 of the 5" inch guns removed before leaving for Maine in order to conduct her full power trials, once she was finished working up her systems she stopped in New York before departing for the Panama Canal in order to make her way to join the other battleships of the Pacific fleet in San Pedro, California where she would arrive on June 17th.
During her time in the Pacific fleet (would be renamed to the Battle fleet which would last until 1941 before Pearl Harbor) Tennessee would take part in a number of training exercises as well as the fleet problems exercises which would see the fleet either in the Pacific or the Caribbean and in 1922 she would see a major training exercise which was made up of the Pacific and Atlantic fleets, in 1922 and 1923 the Tennessee would be rated as having the highest accuracy out of all units in the battle fleet and she received the Battle E award in 1923 and 1924 which was a award for battle efficiency. In 1925 she would visit Australia and New Zealand as apart of a good will visit along with the rest of the pacific fleet and would return to San Pedro in September, then in April of 1927 she would have a 3 month visit to Hawaii and in 1928 she received aircraft catapults and cranes for reconnaissance float planes, from 1929 to 1930 she would see her 4 3" inch AA guns replaced with 8 5" inch (127mm)/25 AA guns, then in around 1935 she would receive 8 12.7 MM M2 browning machine guns and in 1940 she would see a surprise return of 2 3" inch AA guns onboard, as the battle fleet was ordered to move to pearl harbor Tennessee first stopped at Puget Sound for repairs before leaving for pearl harbor where she would arrive on August 12th, 1940 and she would be present during the attack on Pearl Harbor while moored in battleship row.
World War 2
On December 7th, 1941, USS Tennessee would be present during Pearl Harbor while moored in battleship row on the inner part while moored along side USS West Virginia, during the first wave as her crew went to general quarters her captain ordered her to raise steam to get her moving however this was impossible as she was blocked in from all sides as the ships around her took major damage which prevented them from moving and her AA batteries would be strafed by a Japanese fighter before USS Arizona exploded which resulted in oil that was on fire landing on Tennessee which was made even worse thanks to West Virginia who took torpedo hits and was leaking oil, she would be hit by 2 of the same bombs that resulted in the destruction of USS Arizona would hit her however lucky for Tennessee they would fail to detonate properly as the first failed to detonate but sent shrapnel of the super firing rear turret which disabled it while the other hit the gun barrels of the forward super firing turret which killed the captain which knocked out the guns of the turret and as a result the ship though not presently at risk of ammo detonation then flooded her magazines and the crew would extinguish the fires on board however the fire around the ship from the oil slick would continue to burn for 2 days, she would be credited with shooting down or assisting in destruction of 5 Japanese aircraft in total from the attack.
Tennessee would continue to remain trapped until Maryland was pulled out on December 9th and after further work to free her was completed she entered dock in the dry-docks in order to make necessary repairs for a journey back to the United States, then on December 20th she along with Maryland and Pennsylvania which were the other 2 ships that received lesser damage left of Puget Sound and were escorted by 4 destroyers. While en route Pennsylvania would leave the other ships for Mare Island while Tennessee and Maryland continued to Puget Sound for permanent repairs and modernization. The modernization would result in her receiving 4 quad 1.1 inch turrets which replaced her 12.7mm machine guns and received 14 20mm guns and her Mark 4 14" inch guns were replaced with newer Mark 11 14" inch guns and the work on her modernization would be completed in late February, 1942, and the ship would depart for San Fransisco on the 25th along with Maryland and Colorado to join TF 1, their they would under go training maneuvers for the next 7 months, following this she would go on to in August in 1942 to escort USS Hornet while on her way back to Pearl Harbor however Tennessee would not join Hornet when she left for the Guadalcanal campaign due their only being 7 oil tankers available for the operation which was not enough to fuel the carriers and battleships however instead Tennessee would head back for Puget Sound for another modernization upon the reasoning that she should be similarly modernized like her sister who was also at Puget Sound and so she went in for a modernization which would see here radically changed like the California and would similarly happen to USS West Virginia later even though she was of the Colorado class, as for the modernization it would see Tennessee modernized taking place for almost an entire year and saw the installation of new torpedo bulges, internal compartmentalization was improved to strengthen her resistance to underwater damage, her superstructure was completely reworked, her deck armor was improved, she received air search radars as well as fire control radar for her primary and secondary battery, all of her casemate 5"/51 guns as well as her 5"/25 AA guns were removed and replaced with 16 5"/38 guns in 8 twin turrets with 4 on each side of the ship, the 1.1 inch AA guns were removed and the ship now had 10 40mm Bofors and 43 20mm Oerlikon’s, additionally by this point the ships no longer carried torpedos (I don’t have a specific date when they were removed however it is definitive that they were removed in this refit however it’s possible it was removed earlier), thanks to all the changes the crew count had doubled which went from a total of 1,083 to a total of 2,243. She would return to service on May 7th, 1943 and would begin sea trails, then on May 22nd she would depart for San Pedro to rejoin the fleet, at the end of the month she along with the heavy cruiser USS Portland departed Sand Pedro for Adak Alaska on June 9th during the Aleutians campaign, by the time she arrived the Island of Attu was already recaptured and so she went on to provide bombardment as apart of the pre-invasion force for retaking Kiska along with USS Idaho and 3 destroyers would bombard the island as it was not known that the island was abandoned already by then, following this she would return to San Fransisco at the the end of August to replenish ammo and undergo more training exercises before leaving for Hawaii where she would continue training exercises and from there she left for New Hebrides where she would join the invasion fleet which was preparing itself for the Gilbert and Marshall island campaign.
Tennessee would take part in bombarding Tarawa along with Colorado on November 20th however they failed to destroy the Japanese shore defenses and left during the night in order to prevent night attacks from submarines, they would go on to repeat this the next day however this time the troops successfully landed and isolated the enemy forces and the next day upon returning both battleships would bombard the remaining enemy forces, later than day on the 22nd the destroyers USS Frazier and USS Meade detected the Japanese submarine I-35 which resulted in the destroyer dropping depth charges which force the ship to the surface where both the destroyers guns and Tennessees secondary guns opened fire on the submarine before being rammed by the Frazier which sunk the vessel, Tennessee would remain in the area even after the fighting had subsided until December 3rd in order to prevent any Japanese invasions from retaking the island once more, she would then return to Hawaii where she would be met by Colorado and Maryland and all 3 ships left for San Fransisco on December 15th. Upon returning she would receive her Dazzle camouflage and then underwent significant training for shore bombardment near the end of December. On January 13th, 1944, Tennessee would leave for Hawaii where she would join elements of TU 53.5.1 off Maui on January 21st and after having the secretary of the navy boarding her the force left for the Marshals islands on January 29th. Tennessee would then go on to support troops during Battle of Kwajalein along with USS Pennsylvania which was then followed by Battle of Eniwetok which would see her joined by the battleships New Mexico, Mississippi, and Idaho for the next operation where they would provide a distraction for the landings on Emirau by raiding the island of Kavieng, following which she returned to Pearl Harbor for mataince in preparation for the next operation.
Tennessee would go on to support landings and operations for the battle of Saipan, the Invasion of Guam and Tinian, the battle of Anguar, which was then followed by the Philippines campaign which at first was uneventful other than the usual shore bombardment and during which time while in a smoke screen was rammed by a transport to little effect, then on October 24th reports of the Japanese vessels approaching the Surigao Strait which resulted in Tennessee along with mostly other battleships from the attack on Pearl Harbor to reposition themselves at the exit of the strait to prevent the Japanese ships from breaking through to landing forces which resulted in the Battle of Surigao Strait, this forces consisted of 6 battleships, 8 cruisers, and 28 destroyers plus a number of PT boats while the Japanese force consisted of both Fuso class battleships, the cruiser Mogami, and 4 destroyers plus a additional force behind them which consisted of 2 more heavy cruisers, 1 light cruiser, and 4 more destroyers of which the second formation of Japanese ships would not engage and instead pull back in order to avoid a fight that was impossible to win as PT boats and Destroyers sunk Fuso before they came in range of the battleships and the battleship Yamashiro and Mogami as well as the destroyers left which resulted in most of the ships being sunk. Following this action she would see little action for the next week other than defending against enemy airstrikes before being sent back to pearl harbor and continue on to Puget Sound along with West Virginia, Maryland, and 4 cruisers, their she would undergo more maintenance as well as have more of her systems being upgraded and she would be repainted grey in order to make her less obvious to kamikaze aircraft, this work would be completed in early 1945 and would be underway by February 2nd to rejoin the fleet. Her next operation would be supporting the landings of Iwo Jima which saw her expend some 1,370 shells from her main battery, 6,380 secondary rounds, and 11,481 shells from her 40 mm guns before pulling back to Ulithi to replenish ammo and would join the American-British task force which assessed itself in preparation for the next big landings taking place as apart of the landings on Okinawa, their she along with Colorado, Maryland, West Virginia, New Mexico, Idaho, Nevada, and the older battleships New York, Texas, and Arkansas, as well as 10 cruisers and a mix of 32 destroyer and destroyer escorts began bombardment the Kerama Islands and on the first day the ships would stay at long range as the minesweepers had yet to complete clearing the area of mines, the following day the Japanese would respond with an attack by kamikaze’s and during this Tennessee would have one crash near her however it caused no damage, however these attacks would intensify over the following days resulting in Tennessee receiving a hit to her signal bridge on April 12th, later that night she along with Idaho would then come under attack by a Japanese submarine however she lucky evaded the torpedos. Following the capture of the islands Tennessee would take part in patrols off the china coast and take part in raids, by the end of the war she was in the East China Sea as the US prepared to invade mainland Japan. Following the war Tennessee had to go all the way around the world instead of going through the Panama Canal as the modifications that increased her Beam made her too wide for the Panama Canal.
Post War
After world war 2 on December 8th Tennessee was assigned to the Philadelphia Group of the 16th Fleet, an inactive formation. By this point the US sought to reduce the size of their navy however Tennessee along with her sister were kept around despite the fact they were near the age of 30 the navy sought to they were still useful and were kept in the reserve fleet in 1946, it would not be until 1947 that she was formally decommissioned. It would be another 12 years in reserve when at the beginning of March, 1959 the navy saw them as having no more use and were stricken from the naval register and was sold for scrap on July 10th.
USS California (aka the Prune Barge)
Spoiler
Inter War (Technically WW1 due to start date but was completed after the war)
From the very start of her life USS California would be special compared to any other US battleship ever built, she was laid down on October 25th, 1916 in Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California which itself made her very unique as she would be the only Dreadnought type battleship ever built and completed on the US West Coast rather than the US east coast (this includes any US battleship from the South Carolina class all the way up to the Iowa class), she would be launched on November 20th, 1919, and would be commissioned on August 10th, 1921 and immediately ended up as flagship of the pacific fleet once commissioned, during her time in the interwar period she received the nick name of Prune Barge after her namesake state of California which was growing at that time. During her time in the fleet California would take part in the fleet exercises as well as the Fleet problems exercises which sought to help develop American naval doctrine, during this time she would have her 4 3" inch AA guns replaced with 8 5"/25 AA guns as well as having 2 of her 5"/51 guns removed from 1929 to 1930, also during this time she would end up visiting a number of forging countries on good will visits or while they were out on a training exercise, California would find herself present in Pearl Harbor as the battleship at the from of battleship row on December 7th, 1941.
World War 2
During the attack on Pearl Harbor California was located at the front of battleship row as she was the closest to the Chanel that lead to the open ocean, during the attack her gunners quickly went through the ready ammunition which resulted in the need to open the ammunition stores and during this time 2 B5N torpedo bombers had dropped their torpedos which resulted in California being hit an began to flood with the torpedo bulkhead which deformed the first one while the other torpedo went below the belt armor, the flooding was not helped by the fact the ship was readied for inspection and so all the water tight doors had been opened which allowed for flooding to become difficult to manage, this would be followed then by an attack by dive bombers however. By the end of the attack she found herself sitting on the mud in the harbor. Following the attack it would be 7 months of salvage work and repairing her, she would finally be re-floated on March 25th, 1942, then on April 5th an accidental explosion would go off most likely the result of a mixture of fuel oil vapor and hydrogen sulfide gases, which dislodged the patch attached to her which caused more flooding and so the salvage team would have to reattach the patch and pump out the new water, then on April 9th she would be reflected enough to where she could enter dry dock No. 2 and would receive more extensive repairs in preparation for a voyage back to the US West coast of which the repair work was completed and was reflected on June 9th however she would stay in port for 7 months.
On October 10th California would depart Pearl Harbor en route to the US West coast where she met the destroyer Gansevoort at sea while on her way back to Puget Sound. California would undergo repairs which would last from October 20th, 1942 all the way until the end on January in 1944, this modernization wold see her superstructure completely reworked along with her secondary and AA battery to more along the lines of her sister who ironically enough was modernized similar to California before she was completed in modernization, similarly the Colorado class battleship USS West Virginia which also saw her modernization completed in 1944 was upgraded similarly to the Tennessee class ships and now more or less resembled the Tennessee class ships rather than her sisters with the exception of using twin 16" inch turrets. Following her completion she would undergo sea trials off San Pedro which was then followed by training exercises to prepare her crew for war which was then followed by a machinery overhaul while in San Francisco in April until May 5th when she left for Hawaii where she would take part in training for shore bombardment while off Kahoolawe, then at the end of May she would depart for the Marshall Islands where she would join TG 52.17.
Now in action her first target was the island of Saipan where she would provide shore bombardment against enemy forces, fortifications, and enemy armored units while taking minor damage in return and during which time she also suppressed enemy guns which were targeting USS Maryland on the island of Mañagaha before continuing to provide fire support until June 22nd when she pulled back in order to replenish her ammo stocks to Eniwetok where she would also undergo some repairs that took place from June 25th till July 16th, once the repair work was completed she headed back off to Saipan to join the other ships stationed their since the islands capture in preparation of the invasion of Guam where she joined her sister Tennessee as well as by 4 destroyers where they continued to provide fire support for friendly troops ashore before moving on to Tinian for some time until the end of July when she went back to Guam to support the troops who were still fighting Japanese forces which would last until August 9th when she left for Eniwetok once more to replenish her ammunition stocks and fuel. Once California had finished replenishing her supplies on August 19th she along with other ships left for Espiritu Santo and on the 23rd her sister Tennessee had her rudder malfunction which resulted her to fall out of line and collide the in Californias bow which killed 7 sailors while another 7 were trapped in their berthing compartment by bent bulkheads that had to be cut through to free them, following which damage control had to shore the damaged bulkheads and pump out the water that entered the ship, as a result Tennessee who ended up taking more damage had to leave the formation and head back to Pearl Harbor for repairs while California remained in the formation until arriving in which she then entered a float dry dock to repair the hole in the bow which lasted from August 25th to September 10th which would result in her missing out the Battle of Peleliu.
Californias next operation would be the Philippines campaign, after having her repairs complete she left on September 17th and while making her way there her crew witnessed Japanese and Australian forces engaging each other while passing by New Guinea. She would arrive in Manus in mid to late September where she joined a bombardment group, which now included Maryland, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and West Virginia and the fleet would leave for the Philippines on October 12th. Their the bombardment group would provide fire support and on October 19th one of the first kamikaze strikes would occur and attempted to hit California however heavy flak shot down the plane and it crashed off the starboard side of the ship causing no damage, and as mentioned previously along with the other battleships of the bombardment forces would move to prevent Japanese ships from reaching the landing forces during the battle of Surigao Strait where the last occurrence of battleships engaging each other occurred with the American battleships mostly being ships from Pearl Harbor engaging the older Fuso class ships, Mogami, and a small number of destroyers which would see most of the Japanese force destroyed by the end of the battle. On November 20th she departed for Manus for repairs that lasted from late November to mid December, then once the repair were completed she left for Kossol Roads in Palau where she stayed at until January 1st, 1945 where she left to rejoin the bombardment force and she would subsequently provide fire support as well as encounter more kamikazes, from January 10th to the 18th California left the gulf to patrol the South China Sea to guard against a possible attack by the Japanese fleet before she returned to Lingayen Gulf but departed once more on January 22nd for Ulithi, arriving there near the end of January. Following this she would then leave for Pearl Harbor where she arrived on February 6th where she stayed 2 days before leaving for Puget Sound for repairs and modifications after sustaining damage in the Philippines which were completed on April 24th before sailing to Long Beach on the 29th and she would undergo more work in early may before undergoing a shakedown cruise, then on May 10th she would leave once more in order to join the fleet to prepare for the invasion of Okinawa and would stop at pearl harbor that would last from May 16th till the 29th and then had a shorter stay in Ulithi where she arrived on June 9th and stayed for 3 days when she then sailed north towards the Ryūkyū Islands.
By the time California arrived the troops had already successfully landed and had been fighting for 2 months by that point, and so she would provide fire support for the troops ashore once more and was later sent east to join TF 95 in the East China Sea which lasted from July 22nd till August 8th when she was detached to head to San Pedro Bay in the Philippines for repairs and the work lasting from August 11th till the 15th and as such she would be there when the war ended.
Post War
With the 2nd World war concluded she assisted in the occupation of Japan and she first left for Nakagusuku Bay in Okinawa where she would stay from August 23rd till September 20th when she then left for Wakayama to help troops with the occupation, then she went further north towards Yokosuka on October 3rd where she anchored near the only remaining Japanese battleship from the war left afloat, Nagato, this was then followed by a return journey the long way around as the beam increase made it impossible for her to pass through the Panama canal and while on her long journey back she would make a few stops as well as return troops from other nations home before final reach Philadelphia on December 7th on the 4th anniversary on the attack. Like her sister she would be placed in a reserve unit in 1946 and wasn’t formally decommissioned until 1947 and she would remain on the naval register until 1959 when she was stricken from the register and sold for scrap on July 10th.
Specifications
Note: Any information in certain areas I am unable to find will include an inaccurate figure from an earlier listing of configuration and will say “:Figure not given or known” beside it unless it not a significant change, if a change is not mentioned but is believed to have occurred it will be listed as “:unconfirmed” until proven otherwise so it should not be taken as legitimate and more as a temporary figure.
Displacement:
(As built) 32,300 long tons (32,818 t) (Normal displacement)
(Modernized) 34,858 long tons (35,417 t) (Standard displacement
(As built) 33,190 long tons (33,723 t) (full load)
(Modernized) 40,345 long tons (40,992 t) (full load)
Length:
600 ft (182.9 m) (waterline)
624 ft (190.2 m) (overall)
Beam:
97 ft 5 in (29.7 m) (As built)
114 ft (34.7 m) (Modernized)
Draft:
9.2 m (As built)
10.1 m (Modernized) (*When at full load)
Installed power:
8 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers
28,600 shp (21,300 kW)
Propulsion:
2 × Westinghouse electric generators
4 × electric motors
4 × screw propellers
Speed:
21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) (As built)
20.6 knots (38.1 km/h; 23.7 mph) (Modernized)
Complement:
1,083 (As built)
1,401 (As of 1940)
2,243 total (1943/44 Modernization)
Radars:
USS Tennessee March 1942 Refit
SC radar
FC (Mk 3) radar
1943/1944 Modernization
SC-2 radar
SG radar
2 x Mk 8 radars
4 x Mk 4 radars
1945 Refit (Both)
SC-2 radar
SG radar
1 x Mk 8 radar
4 x Mk 4 radars
1 x Mk 13 radar
Armament:
As built (Both)
Primary Armament:
12 × 14 inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark 4 guns (4 x 4)
Secondary Armament:
14 × 5 inch (127 mm)/51 caliber Mark 8 guns (14 x 1)
AA Armament:
4 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber Mark 10 guns (4 x 1)
Torpedo tubes:
2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
1922 Refit (Both)
Primary Armament:
12 × 14 inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark 4 guns (4 x 4)
Secondary Armament:
12 × 5 inch (127 mm)/51 caliber Mark 8 guns (12 x 1)
AA Armament:
8 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber Mark 10 guns (8 x 1)
Torpedo tubes:
2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
1928 -1929 Refit
Primary Armament:
12 × 14 inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark 4 guns (4 x 4)
Secondary Armament:
12 × 5 inch (127 mm)/51 caliber Mark 8 guns (12 x 1)
AA Armament:
8 × 5 inch (127mm)/25 caliber Mark 10 (or Mark 11) guns (8 x 1)
8 x 12.7mm machine guns (8 x 1)
Torpedo tubes:
2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
USS Tennessee March 1942 Refit
Primary Armament:
12 × 14 inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark 4 guns (4 x 4)
Secondary Armament:
10 × 5 inch (127 mm)/51 caliber Mark 8 guns (10 x 1)
AA Armament:
8 × 5 inch (127mm)/25 caliber Mark 10 (or Mark 11) guns (8 x 1)
8 x 3 inch (76mm)/50 caliber Mark 20 guns (8 x 1)
8 x 12.7mm machine guns (8 x 1)
Torpedo tubes:
2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
USS Tennessee June 1942 Refit
Primary Armament:
12 × 14 inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark 4 guns (4 x 4)
Secondary Armament:
10 × 5 inch (127 mm)/51 caliber Mark 8 guns (10 x 1)
AA Armament:
8 × 5 inch (127mm)/25 caliber Mark 10 (or Mark 11) guns (8 x 1)
8 x 3 inch (76mm)/50 caliber Mark 20 guns (8 x 1)
8 x 1.1 inch (28mm)/75 caliber Mark 1 Chicago piano guns (2 x 4)
8 x 12.7mm machine guns (8 x 1)
Torpedo tubes:
2 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
1943 modernization (Tennessee)
Primary Armament:
12 × 14 inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark 11 guns (4 x 4)
Secondary Armament:
16 x 5 inch (127mm)/38 Mark 12 guns (8 x 2)
AA Armament:
40 x 40mm/56 Mark 2 Bofors AA guns (10 x 4)
43 x 20mm/70 Mark 4 Oerlikon AA guns (43 x 1)
1944 Modernization (California)
Primary Armament:
12 × 14 inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark 11 guns (4 x 4)
Secondary Armament:
16 x 5 inch (127mm)/38 Mark 12 guns (8 x 2)
AA Armament:
56 x 40mm/56 Mark 2 Bofors AA guns (14 x 4)
52 x 20mm/70 Mark 4 Oerlikon AA guns (52 x 1)
1945 Refit (California)
Primary Armament:
12 × 14 inch (356 mm)/50 caliber Mark 11 guns (4 x 4)
Secondary Armament:
16 x 5 inch (127mm)/38 Mark 12 guns (8 x 2)
AA Armament:
56 x 40mm/56 Mark 2 Bofors AA guns (14 x 4)
80 x 20mm/70 Mark 4 Oerlikon AA guns (40 x 2)
Armor:
As built
Belt: 8–13.5 in (203–343 mm)
Barbettes: 13 in (330 mm)
Turret face: 18 in (457 mm)
Conning tower: 16 in (406 mm)
Decks: 3.5 in (89 mm)
Note(s): Splinter deck and main turret roof thickness now 7" (178mm) thick
More Descriptive summary of armor: (applies at least to the 1940’s refit and prior)
Spoiler
13.5" (343mm) belt tapering to 8" (203mm) below the waterline
2" STS + 1.75" STS + 1.75" NS = 4.2" (51mm STS + 44mm STS + 44mm NS = 107mm) armor deck
3" STS + 1.75" STS + 1.75" NS = 5.3" (76mm STS + 44mm STS + 44mm NS = 134mm) armor deck over magazines
4.5" STS + 1.75" MS = 5.5" (114mm STS + 44mm MS = 158mm) over steering spaces
1" STS + 0.5" MS =1.3" (25mm STS + 13mm MS = 33mm) splinter deck
13" (330mm) bulkheads tapering to 8" (203mm) below waterline
18"/7"STS/10"/9" (457mm/178mm STS/254mm/229mm) turret
13" (330mm) barbettes
Splinter protection for 5"/25 guns
16"/6" (406mm/152mm) conning tower
9" (229mm) uptakes
17’3" (5.3m) underwater protection consisting an outer void compartment, two liquid compartments, and an inner void compartment with a holding bulkhead. This was designed to withstand a 400 lb (181 kg) explosive charge.
Post 1943/1944 modernization
belt: 343mm - 203mm
deck: 165mm - 140mm
splinter deck: 38mm
barbettes: 320mm
turrets: 457mm face, 254mm sides, 229mm rear, 178mm crown
CT: 127mm
Aviation facilities:
1924 Refit (Both)
1 x catapult
Late 1920’s Refit (Both)
2 x catapults
1943/1944 Modernization
1 x Catapult
Aircraft carried:
1924 Refit (Both)
1 x Floatplane
Late 1920’s Refit (Both)
3 x Floatplanes
1943/1944 Modernization
3 x Floatplanes (Tennessee)
4 x Floatplanes (California)
Sources:
Spoiler
Tennessee-class battleship - Wikipedia
USS Tennessee (BB-43) - Wikipedia
USS California (BB-44) - Wikipedia
naval encyclopedia - warships and naval warfare from antiquity to this day
TENNESSEE battleships (1920 - 1921)
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia: Tennessee Class, U.S. Battleships
https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/the-uss-california-bb-44.html
Image Sources:
Spoiler
naval encyclopedia - warships and naval warfare from antiquity to this day
USS California (BB-44) during World War II
USS California (BB 44) - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia
Pearl Harbor battleships after WWII: part II – wwiiafterwwii
USS West Virginia and USS Tennessee During the Pearl Harbor Attack
https://visitpearlharbor.org/ships-of-pearl-harbor-uss-tennessee/
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/comments/8r3uas/a_bow_on_view_of_uss_tennessee_bb43_1000_811/
https://www.reddit.com/r/WarshipPorn/comments/f389wf/how_to_fit_2_battleships_in_a_drydock_reserve/
USS California During the Pearl Harbor Attack
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/217439488235334140/