Editing Tennessee-class battleship (section)

==Service history==
===Prewar careers and Pearl Harbor===
[[File:USS California (BB-44) - NH 82114.jpg|left|thumb|''California'' steaming at high speed, 1921]]

''Tennessee'' and ''California'' served in the [[United States Pacific Fleet|Pacific Fleet]], later renamed the [[Battle Fleet]] in 1922 and then the Battle Force in 1931, in the Pacific Ocean for duration of their peacetime careers, with ''California'' serving as the fleet [[flagship]]. She spent the 1920s and 1930s participating in routine fleet training exercises, including the annual [[Fleet Problem]]s, and cruises around the Americas and further abroad, such as a goodwill visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1925. The fleet problems conducted in the 1920s and 1930s provided the basis for the US Navy's operations in the [[Pacific War]], and experience that demonstrated that the standard type battleships were too slow to operate with [[aircraft carrier]]s led to the development of the [[fast battleship]]s built in the 1930s. Joint training with the [[United States Marine Corps|Marine Corps]] provided experience that proved to be useful during the [[island hopping campaign]] during the Pacific War. In November 1924, Lieutenant [[Dixie Kiefer]] took off from ''California'', the first night aircraft launch in history. While in [[Long Beach, California]], the ships sent crewmen ashore to assist with relief after the [[1933 Long Beach earthquake]].{{sfn|Evans}}{{sfn|DANFS ''Tennessee''}}

During a period of rising tensions with [[Empire of Japan|Japan]] over the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] in 1940, President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] ordered the Battle Force to relocate from its homeport in [[San Pedro, California]], to [[Pearl Harbor]] in [[Territory of Hawaii|Hawaii]] in an effort to deter further aggression. Modernization work for the ships that was scheduled for 1940 and 1941 was cancelled, as was the fleet problem for 1941, as the situation with Japan was approaching a crisis and the Navy determined that the fleet needed to be maintained at a high state of readiness. Nevertheless, when the Japanese attacked the fleet at Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, they did so having achieved complete surprise. Totally unprepared for the surprise attack, both ships were anchored in [[Battleship Row]], where ''California'' was sunk in shallow water. ''Tennessee'', moored inboard of the battleship {{USS|West Virginia|BB-48|2}} and thus protected from torpedo attacks, emerged relatively undamaged, though fires from other ships had warped some of her hull plates and necessitated repairs. She was also trapped when ''West Virginia'' sank and came to rest up against ''Tennessee'', forcing her up against the concrete [[quay]].{{sfn|Cracknell|p=201}}{{sfn|Evans}}{{sfn|DANFS ''Tennessee''}}

===World War II===
[[File:USS Tennessee off Anguar.jpg|thumb|''Tennessee'' bombarding [[Angaur]] during the [[Battle of Peleliu]] in 1944]]
After being freed from Battleship Row, ''Tennessee'' steamed to the [[Puget Sound Navy Yard]], where the initial modernization program began. ''California'' was raised from the harbor bottom in mid-1942 and taken to Puget Sound as well, where she was rebuilt, beginning in October. By that time, ''Tennessee'' had returned to service with her upgraded light anti-aircraft battery, but she saw no active operations owing to the crippling fuel shortage in the Pacific at the time.{{sfn|Evans}}{{sfn|DANFS ''Tennessee''}}{{sfn|Hornfischer|p=22}} The Navy decided that she should be rebuilt along the same lines as ''California'', so she returned to Puget Sound to be reconstructed. ''Tennessee'' was completed first, returning to the fleet in May 1943 in time to participate in the [[Aleutian Islands campaign]], thus beginning her career as a [[naval gunfire support]] vessel during the island-hopping campaign against Japan. In this role, she conducted preparatory bombardments to destroy Japanese defensive positions and provided support to marine and Army ground forces as they fought their way ashore, suppressing Japanese defenders and targeting defensive [[strongpoint]]s.{{sfn|DANFS ''Tennessee''}}

''Tennessee'' thereafter deployed to the central Pacific to take part in the [[Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign]], beginning with the [[Battle of Tarawa]] in November. The [[Battle of Kwajalein|Battles of Kwajalein]] and [[Battle of Eniwetok|Eniwetok]] followed in early 1944, by which time work on ''California'' had been completed. While ''California'' was still conducting [[sea trials]], ''Tennessee'' next took part in the final stages of [[Operation Cartwheel]] by bombarding [[Kavieng]] as a [[feint|diversionary]] attack. ''California'' was ready for service in time for the [[Mariana and Palau Islands campaign]] in mid-1944, and both ships shelled Japanese positions on [[Saipan]], [[Tinian]], and [[Guam]]. The two ships collided while en route to the last target in the campaign, [[Peleliu]], which prevented ''California'' from participating in the [[Battle of Peleliu]], though ''Tennessee'' remained in action. During the fighting on Tinian, ''Tennessee'' was hit by Japanese [[field artillery]] and slightly damaged.{{sfn|Evans}}{{sfn|DANFS ''Tennessee''}}

[[File:BB-43-LVT-okinawa.jpg|thumb|left|''Tennessee'' bombarding Okinawa with her main battery guns, as [[Landing Vehicle Tracked|LVT]]s in the foreground carry troops to the invasion beaches]]

Both ships had been repaired in time to participate in the next major offensive, the [[Philippines Campaign (1944–1945)|Philippines campaign]] that began with the [[Battle of Leyte|invasion of Leyte]] in October 1944. Both vessels supported the landing, which triggered the Japanese to launch [[Operation Shō-Gō 1]], a major naval counterattack that resulted in the [[Battle of Leyte Gulf]] on 23–26 October.{{sfn|Evans}}{{sfn|DANFS ''Tennessee''}} ''California'' and ''Tennessee'', as part of the bombardment group under [[Rear Admiral]] [[Jesse B. Oldendorf]], took part in one component of the complex battle, the [[Battle of Surigao Strait|action of Surigao Strait]], on the night of 24/25 October. There, the Allied fleet destroyed the Japanese Southern Force consisting of a pair of old battleships, one [[heavy cruiser]], and four [[destroyer]]s; only one Japanese destroyer escaped the overwhelming Allied fleet. ''California'' and ''Tennessee'' fired only briefly during the engagement, as a miscommunication between their commanders almost led to another collision, which threw them out of firing position. They were nevertheless present for the last battleship engagement in history.{{sfn|Tully|pp=152, 195–196, 208–210, 215–216}}{{sfn|Cracknell|p=217}}

''California'' continued operations off the Philippines, though ''Tennessee'' was recalled for a refit at Puget Sound. During the [[Battle of Lingayen Gulf]] in January 1945, ''California'' was hit by a [[kamikaze]] suicide plane, though she shot down a second attacker. She was not seriously damaged, but her crew suffered heavy casualties, with over 50 killed and more than 150 wounded. She returned to Puget Sound for repairs, by which time work on ''Tennessee'' was completed, allowing her to return to combat off [[Iwo Jima]] in early February. She provided heavy fire support, targeting [[Mount Suribachi]] before and during the [[Battle of Iwo Jima]], before proceeding to [[Okinawa Island|Okinawa]] to conduct the preparatory bombardment of this island for the coming invasion. She operated off the island for the next month; during the [[Battle of Okinawa]], where the Japanese made repeated and heavy kamikaze attacks on the Allied fleet, ''Tennessee'' was hit by one suicide aircraft on 12 April that did little damage but killed more than twenty and wounded more than a hundred. She was detached to [[Ulithi]] for repairs that were completed by early June, when she returned to the fighting off Okinawa. ''Tennessee'' was joined shortly thereafter by ''California'', though by then the fighting ashore was in its final stages.{{sfn|Evans}}{{sfn|DANFS ''Tennessee''}}{{sfn|Cracknell|p=219}}

The two ships were then assigned to [[Task Force 95]], which was charged with patrolling the [[East China Sea]], with ''Tennessee'' as the flagship of its commander, [[Vice Admiral]] Oldendorf. They supported the initial [[occupation of Japan]] in September before being sent home to the United States later that month. Now too wide to fit through the [[Panama Canal]] as a result of their 1943 reconstructions, they were forced to return to the east coast of the United States by way of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. There, they were decommissioned and assigned to the [[Atlantic Reserve Fleet]], based in Philadelphia. Both battleships were stricken from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] in March 1959, sold for [[scrap]] on 10 July, and thereafter [[ship breaking|broken up]].{{sfn|Evans}}{{sfn|DANFS ''Tennessee''}}