title: George Ryan

text: George Homer Ryan was born in Maquoketa, Iowa to Jeannette (née Bowman) and Thomas Ryan, a pharmacist. Ryan grew up in Kankakee County, Illinois. After serving in the U.S. Army in Korea, he worked for his father's two drugstores. He attended Ferris State College of Pharmacy (now Ferris State University) in Big Rapids, Michigan. Eventually, he built his father's pair of pharmacies into a successful family-run chain (profiting from lucrative government-contract business selling prescription drugs to nursing homes) which he sold in 1990.


title: George Ryan

text: Ryan was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1954. He served a 13-month tour in Korea, working in a base pharmacy.


title: George Ryan

text: On June 10, 1956, Ryan married his high school sweetheart, Lura Lynn Lowe (July 5, 1934 – June 27, 2011), whom he had met in a high school English class. She grew up in Aroma Park, where her family (originally from Germany) had lived since 1834. Her father owned one of the first hybrid seed companies in the United States. The couple had five daughters (including a set of triplets); Julie, Joanne, Jeanette, Lynda and Nancy; and one son, George Homer Ryan, Jr.


title: George Ryan

text: Lura Lowe died of lung cancer at Riverside Hospital in Kankakee on June 27, 2011. Ryan's brother, Tom, was a prominent political figure in Kankakee County. In addition, Ryan's sister Kathleen Dean's former son-in-law, Bruce Clark, is the Kankakee County, Illinois Clerk.


title: George Ryan

text: Ryan began his political career by serving on the Kankakee County Board from 1968 to 1973 (his brother Tom J. Ryan was Mayor of Kankakee for 20 years from 1965 to 1985). He was then elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, where he served from 1973 to 1983, including two terms as Minority Leader and one term as Speaker. He then spent 20 years in statewide office, as Lieutenant Governor under Governor James R. Thompson (1983–91), Secretary of State from 1991 to 1999, and as governor from 1999 to 2003. During his first term as Secretary of State, then–State Treasurer Pat Quinn was publicly critical of Ryan. Specifically, he drew attention to special vanity license plates that Ryan's office provided for clout-heavy motorists. This rivalry led Quinn in a failed bid to challenge Ryan in the 1994 general election for Secretary of State.


title: George Ryan

text: Ryan was elected Governor in 1998, defeating his opponent, Glenn Poshard, by a 51–47% margin. Ryan's running mate was first-term state representative Corinne Wood. Ryan outspent Poshard by a 4-to-1 margin. Poshard, a firm believer in campaign finance reform, placed limits on individual donations and refused to accept donations from corporate or special interests.


title: George Ryan

text: One of Ryan's pet projects as governor was an extensive repair of the Illinois Highway System called "Illinois FIRST". FIRST was an acronym for "Fund for Infrastructure, Roads, Schools, and Transit". Signed into law in May 1999, the law created a $6.3 billion package for use in school and transportation projects. With various matching funds programs, Illinois FIRST provided $2.2 billion for schools, $4.1 billion for public transportation, another $4.1 billion for roads, and $1.6 billion for other projects. He also improved Illinois's technology infrastructure, creating one of the first cabinet-level Offices of Technology in the country and bringing up Illinois's technology ranking in a national magazine from 48th out of the 50 states when he took office to 1st just two years later. Ryan committed record funding to education, including 51% of all new state revenues during his time in office, in addition to the billions spent through Illinois FIRST that built and improved schools and education infrastructure. In 1999, Ryan sparked controversy by becoming the first sitting U.S. Governor to meet with Cuban President Fidel Castro. Ryan's visit led to a $1 million donation of humanitarian aid, but drew criticism from anti-Castro groups. In 2000, Ryan served as a chair of the Midwestern Governors Association.


title: George Ryan

text: Ryan helped to renew the national debate on capital punishment when, as governor, he declared a moratorium on his state's death penalty in 2000.


title: George Ryan

text: This decision was heavily influenced by lawsuits filed by exonerated prisoners who made false confessions as a result of police torture under the direction of a police commander named Jon Burge. "We have now freed more people than we have put to death under our system," he said. "There is a flaw in the system, without question, and it needs to be studied." At the time, Illinois had executed 12 people since the reinstatement of the death penalty in 1977, with one execution, that of Ripper Crew member Andrew Kokoraleis, occurring early during Ryan's term. Ryan refused to meet with religious leaders and others regarding "a stay of execution" in light of the impending 'moratorium' and other facts relative to the 'flawed' capital punishment system in Illinois; in fact, under Ryan's governorship, 13 people were released from jail after appealing their convictions based on new evidence. Ryan called for a commission to study the issue, while noting, "I still believe the death penalty is a proper response to heinous crimes ... But I believe that it has to be where we don't put innocent people to death."


title: George Ryan

text: The issue had garnered the attention of the public when a death row inmate, Anthony Porter, who had spent 15 years on death row, was within two days of being executed when his lawyers won a stay on the grounds that he may have been mentally disabled. He was ultimately exonerated with the help of a group of student journalists at Northwestern University who had uncovered evidence that was used to prove his innocence. In 1999, Porter was released, charges were subsequently dropped, and another person, Alstory Simon, confessed and pleaded guilty to the crime of which Porter had been erroneously convicted. Simon himself was later released after serving fifteen years for the crime, after it was proven that he, too, was wrongfully accused.


title: George Ryan

text: On January 11, 2003, just two days before leaving office, Ryan commuted (to "life" terms) the sentences of everyone on or waiting to be sent to Illinois' death row — a total of 167 convicts — due to his belief that the death penalty could not be administered fairly. He also pardoned four inmates, Aaron Patterson, Madison Hobley and Leroy Orange (all of whom were interrogated by Burge and released), and Stanley Howard. However, Patterson is currently serving 30 years in prison after being arrested for drug trafficking he committed after his release from death row. Howard remains in prison for armed robbery. Ryan declared in his pardon speech that he would have freed Howard if only his attorney had filed a clemency petition; Ryan then strongly urged investigators to examine Howard's alleged robbery case, because it appeared to be as tainted as his murder conviction.


title: George Ryan

text: These were four of ten death row inmates known as the "Death Row 10," due to widely reported claims that the confessions that they had given in their respective cases had been coerced through torture. Ryan is not the first state governor to have granted blanket commutations to death row inmates during his final days in office. Arkansas Governor Winthrop Rockefeller also commuted the sentence of every death row inmate in that state as he left office after losing his 1970 bid for a third two-year term, as did New Mexico Governor Toney Anaya before he left office in 1986 and Ohio Governor Dick Celeste before he left office in 1990.


title: George Ryan

text: Ryan won praise from death penalty opponents: as early as 2001, he received the Mario Cuomo Act of Courage Award from Death Penalty Focus, in 2003 the Rose Elizabeth Bird Commitment to Justice Award from the same organization, and in 2005 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. On the other side of the Atlantic, Robert Badinter, who had successfully introduced the bill abolishing the death penalty in France in 1981 praised Ryan's decision. Many conservatives, though, were opposed to the commutations, some questioning his motives, which came as a federal corruption investigation closed in on the governor and his closest political allies (see below). Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan called Ryan "pathetic", and suggested the governor was attempting to save his public image in hopes of avoiding prison himself. Buchanan noted "Ryan announced his decision to a wildly cheering crowd at the Northwestern University Law School. Families of the victims of the soon-to-be-reprieved killers were not invited."


title: George Ryan

text: Ryan's political career was marred by a scandal called "Operation Safe Road", which involved the illegal sale of government licenses, contracts and leases by state employees during his prior service as Secretary of State. In the wake of numerous convictions of his former aides, he chose not to run for reelection in 2002. Seventy-nine former state officials, lobbyists, and others were charged in the investigation, and at least 76 were convicted.


title: George Ryan

text: The corruption scandal leading to Ryan's downfall began more than a decade earlier during a federal investigation into a deadly crash in Wisconsin. Six children from the Willis family of Chicago, Illinois, were killed; their parents, Rev. Duane and Janet Willis, were severely burned. The investigation revealed a scheme inside Ryan's Secretary of State's office in which unqualified truck drivers obtained licenses through bribes.


title: George Ryan

text: In March 2003, Scott Fawell, Ryan's former chief of staff and campaign manager, was convicted on federal charges of racketeering and fraud. He was sentenced to six years and six months. Former deputy campaign manager Richard Juliano pleaded guilty to related charges and testified against Fawell at trial. Roger Stanley, a former Republican state representative who was hired by Ryan and testified against Fawell, pleaded guilty to wide-ranging corruption, admitting he paid kickbacks to win state contracts and campaign business, secretly mailed out vicious false attacks on political opponents and helped obtain ghost-payrolling jobs.


title: George Ryan

text: The investigation finally reached the former governor, and in December 2003, Ryan and lobbyist Lawrence Warner were named in a 22-count federal indictment. The charges included racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering and tax fraud. The indictment alleged that Ryan steered several state contracts to Warner and other friends; disbursed campaign funds to relatives and to pay personal expenses; and obstructed justice by attempting to end the state investigation of the license-for-bribes scandal. He was charged with lying to investigators and accepting cash, gifts and loans in return for his official actions as governor. On September 19, 2005, the case went to trial.


title: George Ryan

text: Fawell, under pressure from prosecutors, became a key witness against Ryan and Warner. He agreed to a plea deal that cut the prison time for himself and his fiancée, Andrea Coutretsis. Fawell was a controversial witness, not hiding his disdain for prosecutors from the witness stand. According to CBS Chicago political editor Mike Flannery, insiders claimed that Fawell had been "much like a son" to Ryan throughout their careers. At Ryan's trial, Fawell acknowledged that the prosecution had his "head in a vise", and that he found his cooperation with the government against Ryan "the most distasteful thing I've ever done". Nonetheless, he spent several days on the witness stand testifying against Ryan and Warner. Once a tough-talking political strategist, Fawell wept on the witness stand as he acknowledged that his motivation for testifying was to spare Coutretsis a long prison sentence for her role in the conspiracy. The jury was twice sent out of the courtroom so that he could wipe tears from his eyes and regain his composure.


title: George Ryan

text: Ryan's daughters and a son-in-law, Michael Fairman, were implicated by testimony during the trial. Stipulations agreed upon by the defense and prosecution and submitted to the court included admissions that all five of Ryan's daughters received illegal payments from the Ryan campaign. In addition to Lynda Fairman, who received funds beyond those her husband Michael testified he had received, the stipulations included admissions from the rest of Ryan's daughters that they did little or no work in return for the payments. In addition, Fawell testified that Ryan's mother's housekeeper was illegally paid from campaign funds, and that Ryan's adopted sister, Nancy Ferguson, received campaign funds without performing campaign work. The prosecution took nearly four months to present their case, as a parade of other witnesses (including Juliano) followed Fawell.


title: George Ryan

text: On April 17, 2006, the jury found Ryan and Warner guilty on all counts. However, when ruling on post-trial motions, the judge dismissed two counts against Ryan for lack of proof. Ryan said that he would appeal the verdict, largely due to the issues with the jury.


title: George Ryan

text: Patrick Fitzgerald, the federal prosecutor, noted, "Mr. Ryan steered contracts worth millions of dollars to friends and took payments and vacations in return. When he was a sitting governor, he lied to the FBI about this conduct and then he went out and did it again." He charged that one of the most egregious aspects of the corruption was Ryan's action after learning that bribes were being paid for licenses. Instead of ending the practice he tried to end the investigation that had uncovered it, Fitzgerald said, calling the moment "a low-water mark for public service".


title: George Ryan

text: On September 6, 2006, Ryan was sentenced to six and a half years in prison. He was ordered to go to prison on January 4, 2007, but the appellate court granted an appeal bond, allowing him to remain free pending the outcome of the appeal. His conviction was affirmed by the Court of Appeals of the Seventh Circuit on August 21, 2007, and review by the entire Seventh Circuit was denied on October 25, 2007. The Seventh Circuit then rejected Ryan's bid to remain free while he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear his case; the opinion called the evidence of Ryan's guilt "overwhelming". The Supreme Court rejected an extension of his bail, and Ryan reported to the Federal Prison Camp in Oxford, Wisconsin, on November 7, 2007. He was transferred on February 29, 2008, to a medium security facility in Terre Haute, Indiana, after Oxford changed its level of medical care and stopped housing inmates over 70 years old. He was listed as Federal Inmate Number 16627-424 and was released on July 3, 2013.


title: George Ryan

text: Ryan's defense was provided pro bono by Winston & Strawn, a law firm managed by former governor Jim Thompson. The defense cost the firm $10 million through mid-November 2005. Estimates of the cost to the firm as of September 2006 ranged as high as $20 million. Ryan served as Thompson's lieutenant governor from 1983 to 1991. After the United States Supreme Court declined to hear Ryan's appeal, Thompson indicated that he would ask then President George W. Bush to commute Ryan's sentence to time served. United States Senator Dick Durbin wrote a letter to Bush dated December 1, 2008, asking him to commute Ryan's sentence, citing Ryan's age and his wife's frail health, saying, "This action would not pardon him of his crimes or remove the record of his conviction, but it would allow him to return to his wife and family for their remaining years." Bush did not commute Ryan's sentence.


title: George Ryan

text: After his conviction Ryan's annual $197,037 state pension was suspended under state law. Ryan's attorneys litigated the pension matter all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court, which ruled on February 19, 2010, that state law "plainly mandates that none of the benefits provided for under the system shall be paid to Ryan". Ryan was paid $635,000 in pension benefits during the three years between his retirement and his political corruption conviction, plus a refund of the $235,500 in personal contributions he made during his 30 years in public office.


title: George Ryan

text: In 2010, Ryan requested early release, partly because his wife had terminal cancer and was given only six months to live, and partly on the grounds that some of his convictions should be vacated in light of a Supreme Court ruling that was alleged to have affected their legitimacy. On December 21, 2010, U.S. District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer denied Ryan's request.


title: George Ryan

text: On January 5, 2011, Ryan was taken from his prison cell in Terre Haute, Indiana, to a hospital in Kankakee to visit his dying wife. He was present when she died five months after that visit. Ryan entered a Salvation Army halfway house in Chicago on January 30, 2013. Less than three hours later, he was released back to his home in Kankakee where he remained on home confinement until July 3, 2013.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Canadian public debt, or general government debt, is the liabilities of the government sector. Government "gross debt" consists of liabilities that are a financial claim that requires payment of interest and/or principal in future. They consist mainly of Treasury bonds, but also include public service employee pension liabilities. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits (where a deficit occurs when government expenditures exceed revenues).


title: Canadian public debt

text: For 2021 (the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022), the market value of gross debt was $2,942 billion ($76,135 per capita) for the consolidated Canadian general government – federal, plus provincial, territorial and local governments (PTLGs) combined.


title: Canadian public debt

text: As a ratio of GDP, gross debt was 117.2% (GDP was $2,510 billion in 2021), down from 130.0% in 2020, the highest level ever recorded, but significantly above the pre-pandemic level (105.6% in 2019).


title: Canadian public debt

text: The sustainability of government debt depends on sound fiscal management by the provincial, territorial and local governments (PTLGs), given that Canada is one of the world's most decentralized federations. Approximately half of Canadian general government gross debt in 2021 was debt of the federal (central) government ($1,570 billion or 62.5% of GDP), and half was debt of the PTLGs. Public debt is sustainable when it "does not grow continuously as a share of the economy". While the federal government's fiscal strategy was assessed as sustainable over the long-term, this was not the case for the subnational sector as a whole, according to a 2022 Parliamentary Budget Officer report.


title: Canadian public debt

text: General government "net debt", or gross debt minus financial assets, reached $1,453 billion or 57.9% as a share of GDP in the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022. This is down from 70.7% the year previously. Federal government net debt, at $910 billion, or 36.3% of GDP, was above the pre-pandemic level, but was down from 42.7% of GDP in the previous year.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Commonly-used government debt terms are gross debt, net debt, and debt securities liabilities. These measures are often presented as a share of GDP, as in the table below, to gauge the size of debt relative to the size of the economy. The debt-to-GDP ratio is a key indicator of the sustainability of government finance, according to the OECD.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Gross debt, also called "total debt", consists of all liabilities that require payment of principal or interest at some point in the future. Gross debt is the commonly-used measure of debt in international comparisons by the IMF and the OECD.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Net Debt is gross debt minus financial assets. It takes into account the financial assets governments hold, such as investments to cover the liabilities associated with civil servants' (government employee) pension plans. An issue with calculating net debt is that some government assets are difficult to value. Examples of difficult-to-value assets include nonmarketable equity investments, and loans that might never be repaid if the loan-receiving firms become insolvent.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Another issue with net debt is which government assets should be included. The Department of Finance's method to calculate net debt has been criticized for including the assets (but not the liabilities) of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and Quebec Pension Plan (QPP). Yakabuski and Clemens and Palacios argue that the Department of Finance methodology understates net debt, since CPP and QPP assets are set aside to pay for future public retirement plan benefits, so they are not available to also pay down government debt.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Debt securities liabilities are liabilities in the form of debt securities (chiefly bonds and bills.) Government debt securities provide a useful measure of government debt as they are a large share of government debt (76.2% in 2020), and are relatively straightforward to measure. By contrast, the second largest debt component, employee pension plan liabilities, are less easy to value as they depend on employee longevity and the pension plan investment returns over many years.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Debt securities can be valued at "market value" or at "book value" (also called the "nominal value").


title: Canadian public debt

text: The value of a debt security measured at market prices is most relevant for a purchaser (price varies with changes in market yields). However, the book value is more relevant for a government issuing a security because the book value indicates the amount owing to the creditor at any moment.


title: Canadian public debt

text: In 2021, the book value of debt securities liabilities for the consolidated Canadian general government was about 1% lower than the market value ($2,187 billion at book value "vs." $2,202 billion at market value), and about 2% higher for the federal government ($1,246 billion at book value "vs." $1,227 billion at market value.)


title: Canadian public debt

text: "Notes:" Data are for 2021 (the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022). The consolidated general government includes all federal (central), provincial, territorial and local governments. Debt is measured at market value. GDP in 2021 was $2,510 billion.


title: Canadian public debt

text: "Sources:" Statistics Canada, "The Daily", Statistics Canada Tables 10-10-0147-01, 10-10-0016-01, and 36-10-0222-01.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Overview During the Great Depressiona severe global economic depression from 1929 to 1939the Canadian consolidated general government gross debt as a share of GDP exceeded 100%. It reached 150% following World War II. The ratio fell until the 1970s, then rose to over 100% in the mid-1990s. The federal government's gross debt to GDP ratio fell from the mid-1990s, before rising briefly following the financial crisis of 2008-09. It then resumed a downward trend until the pandemic-related spike in 2020. By contrast, provincial government gross debt as a share of GDP has increased fairly steadily since the 1960s.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Government bond issues soared in 2020 to finance COVID-19 related spending, as shown in the figure below. As a consequence, by the third quarter of 2020, the ratio of all government debt securities liabilities to GDP jumped to 95.3%, surpassing the 1995 peak of 93.7%.


title: Canadian public debt

text: The Fiscal consolidation of the 1990s Successive years of federal budget deficits in the 1980s and early 1990s, and a rising debt to GDP ratio, led to concerns about debt sustainability. The federal government's deficit reached 8% measured as a share of GDP in 1983 and 1984, and from 1985 to 1990 Canada's public debt increased sharply from $USD166 billion to $USD290 billion with compounding interest accounting for more than 80% of the increase. In 1990, then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney introduced a budget that included a two-year freeze on health care and post-secondary education transfers to the provinces, the elimination of cash grants to businesses, and a 5% cap on spending increases for foreign aid and the military. Plans to privatize Petro-Canada were also announced, a continuation of the privatization program that began in the 1980s which included sales of 23 of Canada's 61 crown corporations, Air Canada, Havilland Aircraft of Canada, Canadian Arsenals, and Connaught Laboratories These measures were expected to decrease the federal deficit from $USD25.3 billion to $USD8.3 billion by 1995.


title: Canadian public debt

text: An editorial in the "Wall Street Journal" in 1995 said Canada might need an International Monetary Fund bailout and called Canada "an honorary member of the Third World." When Jean Chretien became Prime Minister in November 1993, he undertook a fiscal consolidation that was achieved mainly by big spending reductions. The ratio of spending cuts to tax hikes was seven-to-one. Tax revenues could not be boosted by much partly because Canada's top marginal income tax rate was already around 55%. The policy shift represented "the biggest reduction in Canadian government spending since demobilization after World War Two." By FY 1995-1996 the federal net debt to GDP ratio peaked at 68%, and a budget surplus was achieved within four years.


title: Canadian public debt

text: In 2010, Canada's debt-to-GDP ratio was 77%. During the period that included the 2008 financial crisis and the Great Recession, Stephen Harper's CPC government reported six straight years of budget deficits. The federal debt (measured as the accumulated deficit) continued to increase after the financial crisis. The net debt-to-GDP ratio increased to 33% in 2013, and then began a slight decline.


title: Canadian public debt

text: During 2020, the first year of the historic COVID-19 pandemic, the sum of all government liabilities (gross debt) reached $2,852 billion (129.2% as a ratio of GDP). The consolidated general government (federal, provincial, territorial and local governments) posted an "historic deficit" of $325.5 billion to provide relief. Issuances of financial instruments in 2020Q2 reached record highs, including an additional $234.4 billion in federal short term paper and an additional $65.7 billion in federal bonds. Borrowing at the subnational level (mostly provincial government bonds) reached $62 billion. By 2022Q2, the GDP increased and the federal government's net debt-to-GDP ratio was 35.4%, down from 36.8% in Q1.


title: Canadian public debt

text: During the COVID-19 pandemic, interest rates were at an historic low which meant that the massive deficit spending was easier to finance. Interest payments on debt represented approximately 1% of GDP early in the pandemic, compared to 6% in 1995, when it reached its highest level. By mid-2021, interest payments on public debt were projected to rise for the federal government and nine of ten provinces. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022, interest expense on government debt liabilities was $65 billion, or approximately 7 cents of every dollar of revenue and 2.6% as a percent of GDP.


title: Canadian public debt

text: The total financial liabilities or "gross debt" of the Canadian consolidated provincial, territorial and local governments (PTLG) was $1,460 billion in 2021 (the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022), as shown in the table below. Provincial government gross debt is a substantial proportion of the $2,942 billion of public debt obligations of Canadians. Consolidated PTLG gross debt is 58.2% measured as a percentage of GDP, almost as large as the federal government's 62.5%.


title: Canadian public debt

text: The value of provincial outstanding debt securities liabilities expressed as a percentage of GDP was lowest for British Columbia (26.1%) and highest for Manitoba (71.4%) in 2021. Debt securities provide a useful measure of debt because they comprise the largest component of gross debt and are relatively straightforward to measure. (Another major component of gross debt, government employee pension plan liabilities, is more difficult to measure as it varies with a plan's investment returns and member longevity, for example.) The outstanding debt securities issued by the consolidated provincial, territorial, and local governments (PTLGs), at 40.9% as a percentage of GDP, is smaller but similar in size to the federal government's 48.9%.


title: Canadian public debt

text: "Notes:" Data are for 2021 (the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022). The consolidated general government includes all federal (central), provincial, territorial and local governments. Debt is measured at market value.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Data for the provincial governments are consolidated. "Consolidation is a method used to present one overarching statistic for a province that eliminates all transactions and debtor-creditor relationships among different government units within a province." These units include the "provincial government, health and social service institutions, universities and colleges, municipalities and other local public administrations, and school boards". "Consolidated data can be compared across provinces because consolidation takes into account differences in provincial administrative structures and government service delivery".


title: Canadian public debt

text: Consolidated data for the Canadian general government combines federal government data with provincial, territorial and local governments, but excludes data for the Canada Pension Plan and Quebec Pension Plan.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Provincial debt measurement: "Public accounts" vs. "national accounts measures of debt" The Canadian Department of Finance provides measures of federal and provincial debt on a "public accounts" basis, using reports from individual governments. An advantage of public accounts numbers is that they can provide detail on government expenditures. However, they are not strictly comparable across jurisdictions. By contrast, debt measured on a national accounts basis (employed in the table above) follows an internationally-agreed standard, in order to facilitate comparisons across countries and provinces. According to the Department of Finance, the divergence between public accounts and national accounts measures arise from differences in the reporting of public sector pensions and other future benefits, methodological differences, and timing adjustments.


title: Canadian public debt

text: From 2009–2010 to 2013–2014, the amount of the Canadian's debt held by foreign investors increased from 15% to 27% with a peak of 30% in 2012–2013. According to 2012 and a 2014 Department of Finance reports, debt held by foreign investors was lower than or comparable to most G7 countries in 2013-2014, including France at 64%, Germany at 62%, United States at 48%, Italy at 33%, United Kingdom at 29%, and Japan at 8%. In 2021 (the fiscal year ending 31 March 2022) non-resident investors held 29% of Government of Canada securities, up from 24% in the previous year, which the Department of Finance described as "in the mid-range compared to other sovereigns in the G7."


title: Canadian public debt

text: Major risk factors that can increase government debt include slowing economic growth, rising interest rates, and a decline in the value of the Canadian dollar.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Rising interest rates increase public debt charges, raising government expenditures. From 2011 to 2021, falling rates meant that while public debt rose, public debt charges decreased from $29 billion to $24 billion. The average interest paid on the federal debt was 4.6% in FY2007–2008, and by FY2020-2021 it was 1.4%. However, economist Don Drummond, a former Finance Department assistant deputy minister, said in October 2020 that the interest rate on public debt would certainly rise from the level at that time, which was by far the lowest in post-war experience. With federal government debt over $1 trillion, every one percentage point rise in the effective interest rate adds more than $10 billion per year to the federal deficit.


title: Canadian public debt

text: Drummond also noted that slow economic growth would reduce government tax revenue. Further, slower growth of GDP relative to growth of debt will increase the ratio of debt to GDP.


title: Canadian public debt

text: As of 2019, the International Monetary Fund views exchange rate risk as low for Canada because 90% of general government outstanding marketable debt instruments are denominated in Canadian dollars. For the 10% of debt denominated in foreign currency, there is exchange rate risk since if the Canadian dollar falls in value, a larger quantity of Canadian dollars is needed to repay the debt.


title: Canadian public debt

text: The level of government (central, state, or local) responsible for government programs differs across countries.  For this reason, international fiscal comparisons are usually made on a total government, national accounts basis.  For Canada, total government includes the federal (central), provincial/territorial, and local governments.  Another reason to measure debt on a total government basis is that the federal government may be viewed as responsible for the debt of other levels of government.  Credit rating agency Fitch said it expects the federal government to provide a province with access to debt markets, as it did early in the coronavirus pandemic. When Newfoundland needed debt repayment assistance in March 2020, it appealed to the federal government. Any aid delivered to one province would reduce the resources the federal government has available for its own debt repayment responsibilities, and to support debt repayment in other provinces.


title: Canadian public debt

text: The International Monetary Fund's (IMF) World Economic Outlook reports that for 2021 Canada's net debt-to-GDP ratio was 32% and the gross debt-to-GDP ratio was 113%. According to the IMF, for the last 15 years, Canada had the lowest net debt-to-GDP ratio, at around 33%, among G7 countries. The IMF notes that Canada's general government holds sizable financial assets (about 67.5% of GDP), including pension fund investment assets. The IMF's net debt calculation excludes unfunded pension liabilities, as they are not reported by many other countries. Also, Canada's general government debt includes sizable accounts payable (around 19 percent of GDP), which many advanced economies do not report. If these were excluded, Canada's gross debt would be smaller.


title: Canadian public debt

text: The general government gross debt to GDP ratio for countries the IMF classifies as Advanced economies that have a population of at least 5 million is shown in the table below. In 2021, Canada had the fourth highest level of gross public debt as a percent of GDP among the G7 – lower than Japan, Italy and the United States, but higher than Germany, the United Kingdom and France.


title: Canadian public debt

text: "Source:" International Monetary Fund, "World Economic Outlook Database", October 2022. Numbers for 2021 are IMF staff estimates for Austria, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, and Sweden.


title: Canadian public debt

text: In its staff report released in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the International Monetary Fund says the Canadian federal government experienced favorable economic conditions since the 2018 budget that led to sizeable windfall gains: higher than anticipated revenue collections, lower transfers to households, and lower projected interest rates.  On the other hand, pressures loom large on the horizon at the provincial level, with annual health care spending growth expected to rise from 3% to 4½% over a 10-20 year timeframe, contributing to rising net debt to GDP ratios by around 2025.


title: Canadian public debt

text: The July 2022 Fiscal Sustainability Report by the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) said that while the current fiscal policy of the federal government and the Quebec, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia governments was sustainable over the long-term, this was not the case for all provincial and territorial governments. The report is based on a 75-year projection horizon and has assessed that the combination of public pension plans; federal government; and provincial, territorial and local governments are sustainable over that period.


title: Canadian public debt

text: A credit rating provides an indication of the sustainability of a government's debt, as it shows the rating agency's view of the ability of a borrower to "meet financial commitments". Credit rating agencies report on Canada's credit strength and their reports are used by investorsincluding sovereign wealth and pension funds. A credit rating may affect borrowing costs. Standard & Poor rates Canada's credit at AAA; Moody's is Aaa; Fitch's is AA+, and DBRS's is AAA. In 2022, all four credit rating agencies evaluate Canada's credit with a stable outlook. As of March 2022, Canada's DBRS AAA credit rating was maintained in response to expectations of the decline in the federal fiscal deficit 14.6% of GDP in FY 2020-2021 to 2.2% in FY 2022-2023.


title: Terry Date

text: Terry Date (born January 31, 1956) is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in rock genres, especially heavy metal. He is well known for his work with Metal Church, Dream Theater, Soundgarden, Overkill, Pantera, Dark Angel, Fishbone, Prong, White Zombie, Deftones, Slipknot and Limp Bizkit.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: USS "Tennessee" (BB-43) was the lead ship of the of dreadnought battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1910s. The "Tennessee" class was part of the standard series of twelve battleships built in the 1910s and 1920s, and were developments of the preceding . They were armed with a battery of twelve guns in four three-gun turrets. "Tennessee" served in the Pacific Fleet for duration of her peacetime career. She spent the 1920s and 1930s participating in routine fleet training exercises, including the annual Fleet Problems, and cruises around the Americas and further abroad, such as a goodwill visit to Australia and New Zealand in 1925.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" was moored in Battleship Row when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, which brought the United States into World War II. She was not seriously damaged, and after being repaired she operated off the West Coast of the US in 1942. In 1943, "Tennessee" and many of the older battleships were thoroughly rebuilt to prepare them for operations in the Pacific War and in June–August, she took part in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, providing gunfire support to troops fighting to retake the islands. The Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign followed from November 1943 to February 1944, including the Battles of Tarawa, Kwajalein, and Eniwetok. In March, she raided Kavieng to distract Japanese forces during the landing on Emirau, and from June through September, she fought in the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign, bombarding Japanese forces during the Battles of Saipan, Guam, Tinian, and Anguar.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The Philippines campaign followed in September, during which the ship operated as part of the bombardment group at the Battle of Leyte. The Japanese launched a major naval counterattack that resulted in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, a series of four naval engagements. During the Battle of Surigao Strait, "Tennessee" formed part of the US line of battle that defeated a Japanese squadron; this was the last battleship engagement in history. "Tennessee" shelled Japanese forces during the Battle of Iwo Jima in February 1945 and the Battle of Okinawa from March to June. During the latter action, she was hit by a kamikaze but was not seriously damaged. In the final months of the war, she operated primarily in the East China Sea, and after Japan's surrender in August, she participated in the occupation of Japan before returning to the US late in the year. In the postwar reduction of naval forces, "Tennessee" was placed in the reserve fleet in 1946 and retained, out of service, until 1959, when the Navy decided to discard her. The ship was sold to Bethlehem Steel in July and broken up for scrap.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The two "Tennessee"-class battleships were authorized on 3 March 1915, and they were in most respects repeats of the earlier s, the primary differences being enlarged bridges, greater elevation for the main battery turrets, and relocation of the secondary battery to the upper deck.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced as designed and up to at full combat load. The ship was powered by four-shaft General Electric turbo-electric transmission and eight oil-fired Babcock & Wilcox boilers rated at , generating a top speed of . The ship had a cruising range of at a speed of . Her crew numbered 57 officers and 1,026 enlisted men. As built, she was fitted with two lattice masts with spotting tops for the main gun battery.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The ship was armed with a main battery of twelve /50 caliber guns in four, three-gun turrets on the centerline, placed in two superfiring pairs forward and aft of the superstructure. Unlike earlier American battleships with triple turrets, these mounts allowed each barrel to elevate independently. Since "Tennessee" had been completed after the Battle of Jutland, which demonstrated the value of very long-range fire, her main battery turrets were modified while still under construction to allow elevation to 30 degrees. The secondary battery consisted of fourteen /51 caliber guns mounted in individual casemates clustered in the superstructure amidships. Initially, the ship was to have been fitted with twenty-two of the guns, but experiences in the North Sea during World War I demonstrated that the additional guns, which would have been placed in the hull, would have been unusable in anything but calm seas. As a result, the casemates were plated over to prevent flooding. The secondary battery was augmented with four /50 caliber guns. In addition to her gun armament, "Tennessee" was also fitted with two torpedo tubes, mounted submerged in the hull, one on each broadside.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee"s main armored belt was thick, while the main armored deck was up to thick. The main battery gun turrets had thick faces on barbettes. Her conning tower had thick sides.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The keel for "Tennessee" was laid down on 14 May 1917 at the New York Naval Shipyard; her completed hull was launched on 30 April 1919. Fitting-out work then commenced, and on 3 June 1920, the completed ship was commissioned into the fleet. Captain Richard H. Leigh served as the ship's first commanding officer. "Tennessee" then began sea trials in Long Island Sound, which lasted from 15 to 23 October. On 30 October, while moored in New York, one of her electric generators exploded and destroyed the turbine, wounding two men. Repair work was completed and problems with her propulsion system that were identified during trials were corrected, and on 26 February 1921, "Tennessee" got underway for further trials off Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She then steamed north, headed for Hampton Roads, Virginia, arriving on 19 March. She proceeded to Dahlgren, Virginia for shooting training to calibrate her guns. Maintenance in Boston followed, and two of her 5-inch guns were removed. before the ship moved to Rockland, Maine for full-power trials. With her working up now complete, she stopped in New York before steaming south, transiting the Panama Canal, and joining the Battleship Force, Pacific Fleet, in San Pedro, Los Angeles on 17 June.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the ships of the Pacific Fleet (re-designated as the Battle Fleet in 1922 and again as the Battle Force in 1931) conducted a routine of training exercises, the annual Fleet Problems, and periodic maintenance. The Fleet Problems began in 1923 and typically involved most major units of the US Navy and involved a variety of tactical and strategic war games, and they were conducted in many different locations, including in the Caribbean Sea, the area around the Panama Canal Zone, the Pacific, and the Atlantic. In early 1922, she took part in fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean that saw the Pacific and Atlantic Fleets combine for large-scale training exercises. The maneuvers included elements of the fleets simulating attacks and defenses of the Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, and Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The Pacific Fleet returned home in April. "Tennessee" placed first in 1922 and 1923 for accurate shooting among units of the Battle Fleet, and she earned the Battle "E" award in 1923 and 1924; during this period, her commander was Captain Luke McNamee.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The Fleet Problems laid the ground work for the US Navy's campaigns during the Pacific War; among the lessons learned by the fleet's officers was the importance of the developing aircraft carrier force, which proved to be more than a simple scouting element. Combined operations also revealed that the slow 21-knot battleships were a significant hindrance to the much faster carriers and led to the development of the fast battleships of the , , and es. The Battle Fleet conducted joint Army-Navy exercises to evaluate the defenses of Pearl Harbor in 1925 as part of Fleet Problem V, which also included maneuvers off the coast of California. Later that year the fleet steamed across the Pacific to visit Australia and New Zealand on a goodwill tour. The fleet returned to San Pedro in September. A three-month visit to Hawaii began in April 1927. In 1928, she had a crane and an aircraft catapult on her fantail to accommodate reconnaissance floatplanes.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Her original 3-inch antiaircraft (AA) battery was replaced by eight /25 caliber guns during 1929–1930. Fleet Problems X and XI were held together in the Caribbean in March and April 1930, and following their conclusion "Tennessee" visited New York for a month before departing for home on 19 May. In June, she embarked on a tour of the Hawaiian islands that lasted for fourteen months, finally returning to California in February 1932. She thereafter conducted routine operations off the west coast for the next year and a half until October 1934, when she crossed back to the Atlantic for further training there. The rest of the 1930s followed the usual routine. In around 1935, the ship received eight .50-cal. M2 Browning machine-guns. In 1940, two 3-inch guns were re-installed, one on either side of the forward superstructure.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Fleet Problem XXI, the last iteration of the series, was held in early 1940; afterward, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered that the Battle Force transfer its homeport from San Pedro to Pearl Harbor in response to rising tension with Japan over the latter's waging of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Roosevelt hoped the move would deter further Japanese expansionism. "Tennessee" steamed to the Puget Sound Navy Yard for repairs before moving to Pearl Harbor, arriving there on 12 August. Fleet Problem XXII was scheduled for early 1941, but it was cancelled due to World War II. "Tennessee" spent the rest of 1941 with small-scale training operations in the Pacific; by December, she was at anchor in Pearl Harbor with the rest of the fleet.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" was moored along Battleship Row, to the southeast of Ford Island, on the morning of 7 December when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. The battleship was tied up alongside, was ahead with abreast, and was astern. The first Japanese attack arrived at about 07:55, prompting "Tennessee"s crew to go to general quarters; it took some five minutes for the men to get the ship's anti-aircraft guns into action. The ship received orders to get underway to respond to the attack, but before the crew got steam up in her boilers, she was trapped as the other battleships around her received crippling damage. "West Virginia" was torpedoed and sunk and "Oklahoma" capsized after being torpedoed. Shortly thereafter, dive bombers arrived overhead and fighters strafed the ships' anti-aircraft batteries. "Arizona" exploded after being hit by an armor-piercing bomb that detonated her magazines, spilling burning fuel oil into the water. The explosion also showered burning oil over "Tennessee"s stern, and she was quickly surrounded by fire, which was augmented by oil leaking from "West Virginia".


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: At 08:20, Japanese bombers hit "Tennessee" twice; both bombs were converted large-caliber naval shells, the same type that had destroyed "Arizona", but neither detonated properly. The first partially penetrated the roof of turret III, failing to explode but sending fragments into the turret that disabled one of the guns. The second bomb hit turret II's center gun barrel and exploded, sending bomb fragments flying; one of these fragments killed the captain of "West Virginia", Mervyn S. Bennion, who had walked out to the open bridge. The blast disabled all three guns of that turret. Neither bomb inflicted serious damage, but the ship's magazines were flooded to avoid the risk of the fires raging aboard and around the vessel from spreading to them and igniting the propellant charges stored there. By 10:30 the crew had suppressed the fires aboard the ship, though oil still burned in the water around the ship for another two days. In an effort to push the burning oil away from the ship, she turned her screws at a speed of . In the course of the battle, "Tennessee"s anti-aircraft gunners were credited with shooting down or assisting in the destruction of five Japanese aircraft.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" remained trapped by the sunken battleships around her until "Maryland" could be pulled free on 9 December; she had been wedged into the dock by "Oklahoma" when she capsized and sank. The quays to which "Tennessee" had been moored had to be demolished to allow her to be towed out, as the sunken "West Virginia" had similarly forced her into them. This work was completed by 16 December, allowing the ship to be pulled slowly out past "West Virginia" and "Oklahoma". She was then taken into the Pearl Harbor Navy Yard for repairs. The fires had warped her hull plates, damaged seams, and loosened rivets, all of which needed to be repaired before she could get underway for permanent repairs. Once the hull was again watertight and her III turret received a patch cover, she got underway for Puget Sound for permanent repairs on 20 December, in company with "Maryland" and , both of which had also received only minimal damage in the attack. The three battleships were escorted by four destroyers.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: While en route to the west coast, "Pennsylvania" left "Tennessee" and "Maryland" to head to Mare Island for repairs, while the other two vessels continued on to Puget Sound. They reached the naval yard of 29 December, where permanent repairs and a modernization began. The portions of "Tennessee"s hull plating and electrical wiring that had been damaged by the fire were replaced, and her aft lattice mast was replaced with a small tower. In place of her .50-caliber machine guns, she received a battery of sixteen guns in quadruple mounts and fourteen Oerlikon autocannon. New Mark 11 versions of her 14-inch guns replaced the old Mark 4 barrels. The work was completed by late February 1942, and "Tennessee" got underway on 25 February with "Maryland" and the battleship . The three battleships steamed to San Francisco, where they joined Task Force 1, commanded by Rear Admiral William S. Pye. The ships then began a series of training maneuvers that lasted for several months to prepare for the coming campaigns in the central Pacific.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: In the immediate aftermath of the Battle of Midway on 5 June, Pye took his ships to sea to defend against a possible incursion by the Japanese fleet after its defeat in the battle. By 14 June, the anticipated attack did not materialize, and so Pye turned his task force back to San Francisco. Task Force 1 went to sea again on 1 August for further training, and later that month "Tennessee" escorted the carrier to Pearl Harbor, arriving there on 14 August. "Hornet" was on her way to the Guadalcanal campaign; Admiral Chester Nimitz did not deploy "Tennessee" and the rest of Task Force 1 to the campaign owing to their heavy use of fuel oil; at that time in the war, the fleet had just seven tankers available for operations, not enough to operate both the fast carrier task force and Pye's battleships. Instead, "Tennessee" then steamed back east to Puget Sound for a reconstruction; by this time, her sister had been brought to Puget Sound to be thoroughly rebuilt after the Pearl Harbor raid, and the navy decided that "Tennessee" should be similarly modernized.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The work on "Tennessee" lasted nearly a year, and saw the ship radically altered. New anti-torpedo bulges were installed and her internal compartmentalization was improved to strengthen her resistance to underwater damage. Her superstructure was completely revised, with the old heavily armored conning tower being removed and a smaller tower was erected in its place to reduce interference with the anti-aircraft guns' fields of fire. The new tower had been removed from one of the s that had recently been rebuilt. The foremast was replaced with a tower mast that housed the bridge and the main battery director, and her second funnel was removed, with those boilers being trunked into an enlarged forward funnel. Horizontal protection was considerably strengthened to improve her resistance to air attack; 3 inches of special treatment steel (STS) was added to the deck over the magazines and of STS was added elsewhere.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The ship's weapons suite was also overhauled. She received air-search radar and fire-control radars for her main and secondary batteries, the latter seeing the mixed battery of 51-caliber and 25-caliber 5-inch guns replaced by a uniform battery of sixteen 5-inch/38 caliber guns in eight twin mounts. These were controlled by four Mk 37 directors. The light anti-aircraft battery was again revised, now consisting of ten quadruple Bofors guns and forty-three 20 mm Oerlikons. The changes doubled the ship's crew, to a total of 114 officers and 2,129 enlisted men. With the reconstruction completed, "Tennessee" returned to service on 7 May 1943 with a crew composed primarily of recent enlistees and began trials off Puget Sound. On 22 May, she departed for San Pedro to re-join the fleet.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: On 31 May, "Tennessee" and the heavy cruiser steamed out of San Pedro, bound for Adak, Alaska, where they arrived on 9 June. On arrival, Rear Admiral Howard Kingman, the commander of Battleship Division Two, came aboard the ship. The ship joined Task Force 16, which had been organized to support the Aleutian Islands Campaign to recapture the islands of Attu and Kiska from the Japanese. By the time "Tennessee" arrived, the task force had already retaken Attu, so "Tennessee" was initially occupied with patrolling for Japanese forces that might launch a counter-attack. American radar operators, including those aboard "Tennessee", who were not familiar with operating the new equipment repeatedly made false reports of enemy contacts in the fog that blanketed the area. The supposed enemy contacts were in fact distant land masses that appeared to be ships that were much closer on the radar sets. These false reports culminated in the Battle of the Pips in late July, though "Tennessee" was not involved in that incident.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: On 1 August, "Tennessee" received orders to approach Kiska and join the pre-invasion bombardment. At 13:10, she steamed into range, along with the battleship and three destroyers. "Tennessee" slowed, deployed paravanes from her bow to cut the mooring cables for any naval mines that might be in the area, and launched her Vought OS2U Kingfisher scout planes to spot the fall of her shells. By 16:10, she had closed to a distance of about from the beach and she opened fire with her 5-inch guns. Poor visibility hampered the ability of the Kingfishers to observe the ship's fire, but she nevertheless began firing with her 14-inch guns at 16:24. She fired sixty 14-inch shells at the area of what had been a Japanese submarine base before checking her fire at 16:45, by which time visibility had further diminished. After recovering her Kingfishers, she and the rest of the ships steamed back to Adak.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Two weeks later, "Tennessee" was again sent to shell Kiska early on the morning of 15 August, now to support the landing of ground forces. She opened fire at 05:00, targeting Japanese coastal artillery batteries on Little Kiska Island. She then shifted fire with her main battery to target anti-aircraft batteries on Kiska proper while her 5-inch guns set an artillery observation position on Little Kiska on fire. Following the bombardment, the soldiers were landed, only to discover that the Japanese had already withdrawn from the island in July. "Tennessee" thereafter left the Aleutians and returned to San Francisco on 31 August, where she conducted extensive training exercises. After replenishing her ammunition and stores, she departed for Hawaii for further battle training. From there, she steamed to the New Hebrides, where the invasion fleet was preparing for operations in the Gilbert Islands.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The first target of the Gilbert and Marshall campaign was the island of Betio, the main Japanese position in the Tarawa Atoll. In the ensuing Battle of Tarawa that began on 20 November, "Tennessee" and "Colorado" provided extensive fire support as the marines struggled to fight their way ashore; while the initial preparatory bombardment had destroyed many crew-served weapons, it had not been sufficient to destroy Japanese beach defenses, a critical lesson the battle taught US forces. The two battleships withdrew from the area at nightfall to reduce the risk of a Japanese submarine attack before returning the next morning. The ships provided anti-aircraft support for the invasion fleet and shelled Japanese positions as the marines called in fire support requests. Both vessels withdrew again for the night and returned early on 22 November, by which time the Japanese had been pushed back to a small defensive position on the eastern end of the island. At 09:07, "Tennessee" began a 17-minute bombardment that saw her fire seventy 14-inch shells and 322 rounds from her secondary guns.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Later that day, the destroyers and detected the Japanese submarine and forced her to surface with depth charges. "Tennessee"s 5-inch guns joined those of the destroyers engaging the submarine, scoring several hits before "Frazier" rammed and sank "I-35". Fighting ashore ended the next day, 23 November, but "Tennessee" remained in the area until 3 December to guard against a possible Japanese counter-thrust. That evening, she got underway for Hawaii, where on 15 December she joined "Colorado" and "Maryland" for the voyage to San Francisco. There, she received a coat of dazzle camouflage and began extensive bombardment training on 29 December. On 13 January 1944, she departed for Hawaii as part of Task Unit 53.5.1, arriving off Maui on 21 January. James Forrestal, then the Undersecretary of the Navy, boarded "Tennessee" that day, and on 29 January the fleet got underway for the Marshall Islands.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The next operation, the assault on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshalls, began on 31 January. "Tennessee", "Pennsylvania", and two destroyers formed the bombardment group, with "Tennessee" still serving as Kingman's flagship, and they moved into positions some from the atoll's twin islands of Roi-Namur. "Tennessee" launched her Kingfishers at 06:25 and opened fire at 07:01, targeting pillboxes and other defenses. Her fire was interrupted by a flight of carrier aircraft, which were engaged by Japanese anti-aircraft guns; as soon as the American planes cleared the area, "Tennessee" shelled the guns and suppressed their fire. She kept up her fire until 12:00, at which point she turned away and recovered her floatplanes to refuel them. With that accomplished, she returned to her firing position and shelled Roi and Namur until 17:00, when she withdrew to cover the escort carriers of the invasion fleet for the night.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: During the first day's bombardment, marines went ashore onto five smaller islands to secure passage into the lagoon, and minesweepers ensured the entrance was clear for the invasion force. "Tennessee", "Colorado", and the cruisers and steamed into their bombardment positions east of Roi and Namur on 1 February and resumed firing at 07:08 before the marines landed later that morning. Ground forces hit the beaches at around 12:00, and "Tennessee" and the other ships continued firing to support their advance until 12:45. The marines quickly captured Roi, but the Japanese defenders on Namur put up a strong defense before being defeated the next day. "Tennessee" steamed into the lagoon later on 2 February, where Vice Admiral Raymond Spruance and Rear Admiral Richard Conolly came aboard to meet with Forrestal, who later went ashore to inspect the battlefield.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: US forces completed the conquest of the Kwajalein Atoll by 7 February, and preparations for the move to Eniwetok Atoll further west began immediately. That day, "Tennessee" steamed to Majuro, which had become the US fleet's primary anchorage and staging area in the Marshalls. There, she replenished fuel and ammunition and then returned to Kwajalein, where the invasion fleet was assembling. On 15 February, "Tennessee", joined by "Colorado" and "Pennsylvania", sortied in company with the invasion transports, screened by the Fast Carrier Task Force. Cruisers and destroyers conducted the initial bombardment on 17 February while minesweepers cleared the channel into the lagoon. At 09:15, "Tennessee" led the troopships into the lagoon and approached the initial invasion target, the island of Engebi. Small elements seized nearby islets that would be used as fire bases for field artillery, and late in the day, "Tennessee" used her secondary battery to support a marine reconnaissance company that set marker buoys to guide the assault craft the next day.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The ship remained in the lagoon overnight and at 07:00, the preliminary bombardment of Engebi began; "Tennessee" opened fire at 7:33 and the first wave of marines landed at 08:44. The island was quickly secured and forces immediately began to prepare to land at the other islands in the lagoon, primarily the main islands of Eniwetok and Parry Island. Troops landed on the former island after a short preparatory bombardment, and "Tennessee" spent much of 18 February anchored some from the island, bombarding Japanese positions as the marines ground their way across Eniwetok. That night, she fired star shells to illuminate the battlefield and prevent Japanese infiltrators from breaking through American lines. With the fight still raging on Eniwetok, "Tennessee" was diverted to support the landing on Parry Island with "Pennsylvania" the next morning.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Anchored just from the beach, "Tennessee" opened up a barrage of fire at 12:04 that continued throughout the day and into the morning of 22 February, interrupted only by the need to cease fire during air attacks to avoid accidentally hitting American aircraft. The bombardment leveled the island, demolishing all of the structures and knocking down all of the trees on Parry Island. The ship was so close to the beach that her 40 mm anti-aircraft guns could be used to attack the Japanese defenses. At 08:52 on 22 February, "Tennessee" checked her fire as the landing craft made their way to the beach. After that interlude, she again provided fire support to the marines as they fought their way through Japanese defenses. The island's garrison quickly fell and the island was pronounced secured that afternoon. As a result of the much heavier bombardments of the Eniwetok campaign, American casualties were significantly lighter than those of Tarawa. The next day, "Tennessee" departed for Majuro, where she joined the battleships , , and "Idaho" and began preparations for the next operation.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" and the three "New Mexico"-class battleships departed on 15 March as part of a task group that included two escort carriers and fifteen destroyers. The group's target was the Japanese base at Kavieng in northern New Ireland, part of the Bismarck Archipelago. The attack was part of the final phase of Operation Cartwheel, the plan to isolate and neutralize the major Japanese base at Rabaul; while "Tennessee"s unit raided Kavieng as a diversion, a marine force would land on Emirau. An airfield would then be built to complete the encirclement of Rabaul.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The ships arrived off Kavieng on the morning of 20 March. Poor visibility from rain squalls and low clouds masked their approach, and at 07:00 "Tennessee" launched her Kingfishers. A little over two hours later, "Tennessee" and the other ships had closed to about and at 09:05, they opened fire while steaming at a speed of . The ships fired slowly to avoid wasting ammunition, since spotting shots was difficult owing to the weather. A coastal artillery battery took "Tennessee" under fire once she had closed to about ; her secondary guns replied with rapid fire as the Japanese gunners worked to find the range. Shells splashed close to her starboard side and she was straddled several times, forcing her to increase speed to and turning away to open the range, though she was not hit. She briefly ceased firing before re-engaging the artillery battery for ten minutes, after which no further fire was received.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" and the other battleships and destroyers cruised off Kavieng for another three hours, bombarding Japanese installations and coastal batteries, but the visibility continued to hamper the gunners. At 12:35 the American guns fell silent and the ships withdrew. By that time, the marines had landed on Emirau, which had not been defended by Japanese forces. "Tennessee" was detached from the fleet to return to Pearl Harbor by way of Purvis Bay and Efate, arriving there on 16 April for periodic maintenance in anticipation of the next major offensive in the Pacific.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The Pacific Fleet began its next major offensive, code-named Operation Forager, the invasion of the Mariana Islands. The fleet was divided into two groups, Task Force 52, which was to attack Saipan and Tinian, and Task Force 53, which would be directed against Guam. "Tennessee" joined the bombardment group for the former, Task Group 52.17, under the command of Rear Admiral Jesse Oldendorf, which also included "California", "Maryland", and "Colorado". Task Force 52 assembled at Hawaii in mid-May and conducted landing exercises off Maui and Kahoolawe and then steamed to the Marshalls. On 10 June, Task Force 52 sortied to begin the operation, arriving off Saipan three days later. At 04:00 on 14 June, "Tennessee" and the rest of TG 52.17 began the approach to their bombardment positions off the island; the first ships opened fire at 05:39 and "Tennessee" joined them nine minutes later. She targeted beach defenses that were engaging minesweepers clearing lanes for the landing craft on the south-western end of the island. Later in the morning, "Tennessee" attempted to suppress Japanese artillery batteries on Tinian that engaged the bombardment group and had scored hits on "California" and the destroyer . She then shifted her attention back to the landing zone, finally ceasing fire at 13:31 and withdrawing from the area. She spent the night to the west of the island.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: In the early hours of 15 June, the invasion fleet moved into position and at 04:30, TG 52.17 began the pre-landing bombardment. "Tennessee" held her fire until 05:40, when she unleashed a barrage of shells from her primary, secondary, and 40 mm batteries at a range of . All shooting ceased at 06:30 to allow the carrier aircraft to make their attacks for the next thirty minutes. TG 52.17 resumed firing at 07:00 and continued until 08:12, when the amtracs and Higgins boats began to make their way to shore. As the marines fought their way ashore, "Tennessee" remained off the southern end of the landing zone, applying enfilading fire to support their advance. A battery of Japanese field guns hidden in a cave on Tinian opened fire on "Tennessee" and scored three hits, one of which disabled one of her secondary turrets; the other two did minimal damage and started a small fire. Eight men were killed and another twenty-five were wounded. The ship remained on station supporting the marines on Saipan but that afternoon, withdrew to make temporary repairs and protect the troop transports from the expected Japanese counterattack. She engaged a group of four dive-bombers that attacked the fleet that evening but scored no hits on them.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" returned to the invasion beach the next morning to resume providing fire support, which she continued into 17 June, helping to clear the way for American advances and to break up Japanese counter-assaults. By this time, Spruance had been informed that the Japanese carrier fleet was approaching, so the fleet reoriented itself to face the threat; "Tennessee" and the other old battleships moved to protect the invasion fleet transports. The Japanese were defeated by Spruance's carrier force in the ensuing Battle of the Philippine Sea, in which "Tennessee" did not participate. She refueled east of Saipan on 20 June before returning to the island the next day to resume bombardment duties. "Tennessee" left the Marianas on 22 June and sailed to Eniwetok, where she met the repair ship for permanent repairs to the damage sustained off Saipan.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The ship remained in Eniwetok until 16 July, when she got underway in company with "California", now assigned to TG 53.5, the bombardment group for the invasion of Guam. The ships arrived off Guam three days later and on the morning of 20 July, they joined the bombardment of the island that had begun twelve days before. The ships of TG 53.5 pounded Japanese positions around the island throughout the day. The next morning, they continued the shelling as ground forces stormed the beaches. "Tennessee" withdrew later in the day and steamed to Saipan on 22 July to replenish her ammunition. Tinian was the next island to be attacked, and "Tennessee" arrived off that island early the next morning as part of a diversionary bombardment meant to deceive the Japanese defenders as to where the landing would take place. She shelled the southwest coast throughout the morning and afternoon before withdrawing for the night.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" returned to Tinian on 24 July, this time cruising off the island's northwest coast in company with "California", "Louisville", and several destroyers. The bombardment group unleashed a flurry of shells from a range of around from 05:32 to 07:47, at which point the marines made their assault on the beach. The ships remained on station through 26 July, providing support to the marines as they battled the Japanese defenders. During the bombardment, "Tennessee" and "California" flattened Tinian Town with a barrage of 480 rounds from their main batteries and 800 shells from their 5 in guns. "Tennessee" rotated out to Saipan on 27 July to replenish fuel and ammunition before returning the next day. She once again left for more ammunition at Saipan on 29 July and resumed bombardment duties on the 30th. That morning, one of her Kingfishers accidentally collided with a Marine OY-1 spotting plane, causing both aircraft to crash and killing both aircrews. Fighting ashore continued until the morning of 31 July, and at 08:30, "Tennessee" ceased firing. After a stop at Saipan, she steamed to Guam, where the battle still raged, to provide fire support until 8 August.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: The ship then got underway with "California" and "Louisville", headed for Eniwetok and then to Espiritu Santo in the New Hebrides, arriving there on 24 August. From there, she moved to Tulagi, where she took part in amphibious assault training. The next major operation would be the reconquest of the Philippines, but to secure the southern flank and capture the Kossol Roads for use as a staging area, the high command decided that the islands of Peleliu and Anguar should be invaded next. "Tennessee" was assigned to the force tasked with landing at the latter island.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Early on 12 September, the ships of the bombardment group—"Tennessee", "Pennsylvania", four cruisers, and five destroyers—began the preparatory bombardment of Anguar. She first opened fire with her main and secondary guns at 06:32 at a range of , but as Japanese defenses were destroyed through the morning, she closed to within , at which point her 40 mm battery opened fire. The ship was ordered to destroy a large stone lighthouse to prevent the Japanese from using it as an observation post, but after hitting it three times, it remained standing, and so she shifted fire to other targets. Combined with repeated airstrikes from the carriers, the ships hammered Japanese positions around the island for five days. Minesweepers cleared channels to the landing beach on the western coast of the island.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: During the bombardment on 15 September, "Tennessee" was detached to nearby Peleliu to contribute her fire to the landing there. The next day, she returned to Anguar and resumed the bombardment there. Intent on demolishing the lighthouse, "Tennessee" steamed into position, but while she was training her guns on the target, the light cruiser fired a barrage of shells that destroyed the lighthouse. On 17 September, the Army's 81st Infantry Division stormed the beaches, and "Tennessee" remained offshore to provide fire support for the following two days. The American infantry encountered little serious resistance, and the Japanese garrison had been destroyed by 20 September, allowing "Tennessee" to steam to Kossol Roads, where she replenished fuel and ammunition. On 28 September, she departed for Manus in the Admiralty Islands to begin preparations for the Philippines operations. There, Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler replaced Kingman as the commander of Battleship Division Two.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" began the voyage to the Philippines on 12 October as part of 7th Fleet, commanded by Vice Admiral Thomas Kinkaid. The fleet carried two Army corps that were to land on the eastern coast of Leyte. "Tennessee", "California", and "Pennsylvania" were assigned to support the corps that was to land at Dulag; they formed part of the bombardment group that was still under Oldendorf's command. Minesweeping operations to clear paths into Leyte Gulf began on 17 October, and early the next morning Oldendorf sent his force into the gulf shortly after 06:00. They steamed at slow speed, since the minesweepers had not yet completed their task. The ships reached their bombardment positions in the early hours of 19 October, and at 06:45, "Tennessee" and the other vessels began the bombardment, which lasted throughout the day and prompted little Japanese response, apart from a single bomber that failed to hit any of the ships. At nightfall, the ships withdrew and took up their night stations outside the gulf.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Back in the gulf the next morning, "Tennessee" resumed firing at 06:00, initially targeting the beaches where the landing craft were to go ashore later that morning. Three and a half hours later, the Higgins boats began their run to the beach, and once they began disembarking troops at 10:00, "Tennessee" and the other fire support vessels shifted fire further inland to disrupt Japanese counterattacks and prepare the way for the ground troops to advance. The landing triggered the Japanese high command to initiate Operation "Shō-Gō" 1, a complicated counter-thrust that involved four separate fleets converging on the Allied invasion fleet to destroy it. While the Japanese forces made their way to the Philippines, "Tennessee" continued to operate off the beachhead; Japanese resistance ashore did not necessitate heavy fire support, but increased air attacks kept "Tennessee" occupied with providing anti-aircraft defense to the fleet. On the night of 21 October, the transport accidentally rammed "Tennessee" while the latter vessel lay inside a smoke screen. "Tennessee" was not damaged and there were no injuries. Operations continued uneventfully for the next several days, though on 24 October, the ship's commander received word that the Japanese fleet was expected to attack that night.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: On 24 October, reports of Japanese naval forces approaching the area led Oldendorf's ships to prepare for action at the exit of the Surigao Strait. Oldendorf had at his disposal six battleships, eight cruisers, and twenty-eight destroyers. Vice Admiral Shōji Nishimura's Southern Force steamed through the Surigao Strait to attack the invasion fleet in Leyte Gulf; his force comprised Battleship Division 2—the battleships and , the heavy cruiser , and four destroyers—and Vice Admiral Kiyohide Shima's Second Striking Force—the heavy cruisers and , the light cruiser , and four more destroyers. As Nishimura's flotilla passed through the strait on the night of 24 October, they came under attack from American PT boats, followed by destroyers, initiating the Battle of Surigao Strait, the last battleship engagement in history. One of these US destroyers torpedoed "Fusō" and disabled her, though Nishimura continued on toward his objective.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Observers aboard "Tennessee" spotted the flashes in the distance as the light American craft attacked Nishimura's force, and at 03:02, her search radar picked up the enemy ships at a range of . Oldendorf gave the order to open fire at 03:51, and "West Virginia" opened fire first a minute later, followed by "Tennessee" and "California", concentrating their fire on "Yamashiro"; the other American battleships had trouble locating a target with their radars and held their fire. "Tennessee" fired six-gun salvos in an attempt to conserve her limited stock of armor-piercing shells. "Yamashiro" and "Mogami" were quickly hit several times by fire from the American battleships and cruisers, suffering severe damage. At about 04:00, "Mogami" and then "Yamashiro" turned to retreat, both burning; the destroyer fled with them, though she had not suffered any serious damage.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: After the initial phase of the battle, the American battle line turned about, but "California" misinterpreted the vague order to "turn one five" (meaning to turn 150 degrees—"California"s captain read it as an instruction to turn 15 degrees) and turned incorrectly, passing across "Tennessee"s bow. By now realizing his mistake, Burnett ordered "California" to turn hard to starboard while "Tennessee" hauled out of line. The two ships narrowly avoided each other but in the confusion, "California" masked "Tennessee" and blocked her from firing for several minutes. At 04:08, "Tennessee" fired one last salvo at the fleeing Japanese ships. By this time, several torpedoes launched by the Japanese vessels approached the American line, but none of them struck the battleships. In the course of twelve minutes of shooting, "Tennessee" had fired 69 armor-piercing shells.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: In the meantime, the main Japanese fleet, the Central Force under Vice Admiral Takeo Kurita, had passed through the San Bernardino Strait under cover of darkness and arrived early on 25 October. The Japanese battleships and cruisers attacked Taffy 3, a force of escort carriers and destroyers guarding the invasion fleet in the Battle off Samar, prompting its commander, Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague to make urgent calls for help. Oldendorf immediately turned his ships northward to join the battle, and while en route the ships came under Japanese air attack. By the time the bombardment group arrived on the scene, Kurita had disengaged, having been convinced by Taffy 3's heavy resistance that he was instead facing the far more powerful Fast Carrier Task Force. After the battle, Oldendorf was promoted to the rank of vice admiral and made the commander of Battleship Squadron One, with "Tennessee" still as his flagship.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" saw little activity over the next several days, apart from helping to fend off air strikes by Japanese land-based aircraft. The ship received orders on 29 October to leave the Philippines for a thorough overhaul at the Puget Sound Navy Yard. She departed that day with "West Virginia", "Maryland", and four cruisers, bound for Puget Sound by way of Pearl Harbor. While in Hawaii, Nimitz visited the ship and congratulated the crew on their hard work in the preceding campaigns. She arrived there on 26 November and entered the dry-dock. In addition to periodic maintenance, she received updated fire control radars, including new versions of the Mark 8 radar for her main battery and Mark 12 and Mark 22 systems for her secondary battery. A new SP radar, capable of determining the height of aircraft, was installed to enhance her anti-aircraft capabilities, and her dazzle camouflage was painted over with a dark gray coat that was intended to make her less obvious to the kamikaze pilots who had started to appear over the Philippines. The work was completed by early 1945, and on 2 February, she got underway to rejoin the fleet.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: En route to join the invasion fleet for the invasion of Iwo Jima in the Bonin Islands, "Tennessee" stopped in Pearl Harbor and Saipan before joining the bombardment force, now under the command of Rear Admiral William Blandy. The ships reached Iwo Jima early on 16 February and dispersed around the island to their designated firing locations. Poor visibility from rain squalls hampered efforts to direct their fire, which began at 07:07 and continued intermittently through the day, as Blandy had ordered his ships to shoot only when their spotter aircraft could observe impacts to avoid wasting ammunition. "Tennessee" was tasked with shelling the southeastern corner of the island as well as Mount Suribachi, where the Japanese had installed a battery of four large-caliber guns that "Tennessee" was to neutralize. The weather had improved on 17 February, permitting the ships to more effectively target the Japanese defenses; "Tennessee", "Idaho", and the battleship opened fire at a range of before closing to , pouring crushing fire on various targets around the island for about two hours before breaking off at 10:25. Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) were sent in to clear beach obstacles and reconnoiter the landing zones, which the Japanese interpreted as the main landing. Dozens of artillery pieces came out of their protective caves and bunkers to engage the UDTs, forcing them to withdraw while the bombardment group resumed firing on the unmasked guns. "Tennessee" took on wounded men from three of the UDT gunboats to treat them in her sick bay.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" kept up the bombardment through 18 February; over the two days of shelling, she destroyed numerous pillboxes and an ammunition dump and set several fires around the island. The next morning, the troop transports arrived off the island and began preparations to send marines ashore. "Tennessee" and the rest of the bombardment group, reinforced by the fast battleships and and three cruisers, opened up with slow and deliberate fire on the landing beaches. The shooting was interrupted by a carrier strike, after which the ships took up a heavier pace of fire. Just as the marines were about to hit the beach at 09:00, the ships' main batteries ceased firing and their secondaries employed a rolling barrage to clear a path for the marines. As they probed the Japanese defenses and encountered strongpoints, the marines called on "Tennessee" and other ships to knock them out by way of shore fire control parties that were tied to individual ships.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: "Tennessee" operated off the island for the next two weeks, providing fire as requested from the marines ashore and launching star shells at night to help repel Japanese counterattacks. She was frequently called on to suppress the hidden Japanese guns as they attempted to attack the various support ships around the invasion beach. The ships of the bombardment group experimented with using telescopic sights to aim guns individually, which proved to be particularly effective in destroying point targets such as the Japanese artillery. On 7 March, "Tennessee" withdrew from the area, having fired some 1,370 shells from her main battery, 6,380 secondary rounds, and 11,481 shells from her 40 mm guns. Fighting raged on Iwo Jima until 26 March, but the fleet needed to begin preparations for the next assault against the island of Okinawa, so "Tennessee" sailed to the major staging area at Ulithi to replenish ammunition and other supplies. There, she joined the invasion fleet for that operation, consisting of 600 American and British ships.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: On arriving in Ulithi, Rear Admiral Morton Deyo, the new commander of the bombardment groupwhich was now designated as Task Force 54 (TF 54)came aboard "Tennessee" on 15 March. TF 54 got underway on 21 March and steamed to the Ryuku Islands. The Kerama Islands were their first target; the small group of islands was seized to provide an advanced staging area for the main assault on Okinawa. The bombardment group, which by now included "Colorado", "Maryland", "West Virginia", "New Mexico", "Idaho", "Nevada", and the older battleships , , and , along with ten cruisers and thirty-two destroyers and destroyer escorts, arrived off the islands five days later. The battleships opened fire at long range, since the minesweepers had not yet cleared the area of mines. The next day, a group of kamikazes struck the fleet, damaging several ships, a harbinger of the steady waves of such attacks over the course of the Okinawa campaign. One plane crashed near "Tennessee" but did no damage.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: After the routine pre-invasion bombardment, the main landing on Okinawa took place on 1 April. Unlike previous assaults, the marines faced no opposition early in the operation; Lieutenant General Mitsuru Ushijima had withdrawn the bulk of his 100,000-strong army to the southern two-thirds of the island, where hilly terrain favored the defense. And rather than engage in artillery duels with the battleships, his artillery batteries held their fire until the marines had come further inland. His intention was to delay the invasion as long as possible, thereby keeping the invasion fleet pinned in place as long as possible for the kamikazes that had been massed in the Home Islands for this purpose. On 12 April, the Japanese launched a major strike on the fleet. "Tennessee" came under attack by five aircraft diving from high altitude; all were shot down before they could hit the ship, but they diverted attention skyward, which allowed an Aichi D3A "Val" dive-bomber to approach at lower altitude, heading straight for "Tennessee"s bridge. The ship's light anti-aircraft battery opened up on the D3A and damaged it, but not enough to prevent it from crashing into her signal bridge at about 14:50. The impact destroyed a 40 mm mount, fire directors for the 20 mm guns, and hurled burning avgas over the area. The plane carried a bomb that penetrated the deck and exploded. The kamikaze killed 22 and wounded another 107 according to the "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships", or killed 25 and wounded 104, according to William Cracknell.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Later that night, "Tennessee" and "Idaho" came under submarine attack, but they narrowly evaded the torpedoes in the darkness. The evacuation transport took off "Tennessee"s wounded, and the dead were buried at sea the next day. After completing emergency repairs, the ship returned to the firing line on 14 April, remaining there for the next two weeks. Deyo transferred to one of the cruisers on 1 May, allowing "Tennessee" to detach for repairs at Ulithi, which were carried out by the repair ship . Damaged plating in the superstructure was cut away and replaced and new anti-aircraft guns were installed in place of those that had been destroyed in the attack. Back underway again on 3 June, she returned to Okinawa, arriving six days later. By this time, the campaign was in its final stage; the kamikaze force had been expended and the marines and soldiers had begun the final push to conquer the southern part of the island where the last organized resistance held out. "Tennessee" added her firepower to the effort over the next several days, bombarding Japanese positions until 21 June when the island was declared secure.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: Oldendorf, by now promoted to vice admiral, was placed in command of all naval forces in the area, and he made "Tennessee" his flagship. On 23 June, she embarked on a series of patrols in the East China Sea, searching for Japanese shipping in the area. From 26 to 28 July, she took part in a raid into the Yangtze estuary off Shanghai, China, while escort carriers launched strikes against Japanese positions in occupied China. Oldendorf's ships, including "Tennessee", launched a raid on Wake Island before returning to the East China Sea, where the ships remained until the war ended in August. By this time, the fleet had begun preparations for the planned invasion of Japan.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: With the war over, "Tennessee" was tasked with covering the landing of occupation troops at Wakayama, Japan, arriving there on 23 September. She then steamed to Yokosuka, where her crew inspected one of the Japanese fleet's main naval bases. On 16 October, she departed for Singapore, where Oldendorf transferred to the cruiser ; from there, "Tennessee" crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and steamed up the Atlantic to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which she reached on 7 December. This route had been dictated by her 1943 rebuild, as the large anti-torpedo blisters had increased her beam too greatly to allow her to pass through the Panama Canal. In the course of the war, "Tennessee" had fired a total of 9,347 shells from her main battery, 46,341 shells from her 5-inch guns and more than 100,000 rounds from her antiaircraft battery.


title: USS Tennessee (BB-43)

text: On 8 December, "Tennessee" was assigned to the Philadelphia Group of the Sixteenth Fleet, an inactive formation. Immediately after the war, the Navy began a major reduction in force to adjust back to a peacetime footing. "Tennessee" was by then nearing thirty years in age, but the Navy decided that she was still useful and so she was assigned to the reserve fleet in 1946. Accordingly, the ship needed to be preserved to remain in good condition while in reserve, and the large number of vessels that needed such work slowed the process, so "Tennessee" was not ready to be formally decommissioned until 14 February 1947. She remained laid up in reserve for twelve years, by which time the Navy decided that she no longer held value as a warship, and so on 1 March 1959, she was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register. She was sold for scrap to Bethlehem Steel on 10 July, was towed to Baltimore, Maryland on 26 July, and was thereafter broken up. Her bell is preserved and on display at the Museum of Scott County.


title: Mogwai (Chinese culture)

text: The word mogwai is the transliteration of the Cantonese word (Jyutping: ; Standard Mandarin: ; pinyin: ) meaning 'monster, 'evil spirit', 'devil' or 'demon'.


title: Mogwai (Chinese culture)

text: According to Chinese tradition, mogwai are certain demons, which often inflict harm on humans. They are said to reproduce sexually during mating seasons triggered by the coming of rain. Supposedly, they take care to breed at these times because rain signifies rich and full times ahead.


title: Mogwai (Chinese culture)

text: The term "mo" derives from the Sanskrit (), meaning 'evil beings' (literally 'death'). In Hinduism and Buddhism, Mara determines fates of death and desire that tether people to an unending cycle of reincarnation and suffering. He leads people to sin, misdeeds, and self-destruction. Meanwhile, "gui" does not necessarily mean 'evil' or demonic spirits. Classically, it simply means deceased spirits or souls of the dead. Nevertheless, in modern Chinese, it has evolved to refer usually to the dead spirits or ghosts of non-family members that may take vengeance on living humans who caused them pain when they were still living. It is common for the living to redress their sins by sacrificing money to "gui" by burning (usually fake) paper banknotes so that "gui" can have funds to use in their afterlife.


title: Big stick ideology

text: Big stick ideology, big stick diplomacy, or big stick policy refers to President Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy, "speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far". Roosevelt described his style of foreign policy as "the exercise of intelligent forethought and of decisive action sufficiently far in advance of any likely crisis". As practiced by Roosevelt, big stick diplomacy had five components. First, it was essential to possess serious military capability that would force the adversary to pay close attention. At the time that meant a world-class navy; Roosevelt never had a large army at his disposal. The other qualities were to act justly toward other nations, never to bluff, to strike only when prepared to strike hard, and to be willing to allow the adversary to save face in defeat.


title: Big stick ideology

text: The idea is negotiating peacefully but also having strength in case things go wrong. Simultaneously threatening with the "big stick", or the military, ties in heavily with the idea of Realpolitik, which implies a pursuit of political power that resembles Machiavellian ideals. It is comparable to gunboat diplomacy, as used in international politics by the powers.


title: Big stick ideology

text: Roosevelt (then Governor of New York) to Henry L. Sprague, dated January 26, 1900. Roosevelt wrote, in a bout of happiness after forcing New York's Republican committee to pull support away from a corrupt financial adviser:


title: Big stick ideology

text: Roosevelt would go on to be elected Vice President later that year, and subsequently used the aphorism publicly in an address to the Minnesota State Fair, entitled "National Duties", on September 2, 1901:


title: Big stick ideology

text: Four days later, President William McKinley was shot by an assassin; upon McKinley's death eight days after being shot, Roosevelt took his place as president.


title: Big stick ideology

text: Although used before his presidency, Roosevelt used military muscle several times throughout his two terms with a more subtle touch to complement his diplomatic policies and enforcing the Monroe Doctrine throughout multiple interventions in Latin America. This included the Great White Fleet, 16 battleships which peacefully circumnavigated the globe as an illustration of United States's rising yet neutral prestige under Roosevelt's direction.


title: Big stick ideology

text: In the early 20th century, Venezuela was receiving messages from Britain and Germany about "acts of violence against the liberty of British subjects and the massive capture of British vessels" who were from the UK and the lack of Venezuelan initiative to pay off long-standing debts. After the Royal Navy and Imperial German Navy took naval action with a blockade on Venezuela (1902–1903), Roosevelt denounced the blockade. The blockade began the basis of the Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe doctrine. Though he had mentioned the basis of his idea beforehand in private letters, he officially announced the corollary in 1904, stating that he only wanted the "other republics on this continent" to be "happy and prosperous". For that goal to be met, the corollary required that they "maintain order within their borders and behave with a just obligation toward outsiders".


title: Big stick ideology

text: Most historians, such as one of Roosevelt's many biographers Howard K. Beale have summarized that the corollary was influenced by Roosevelt's personal beliefs as well as his connections to foreign bondholders. The U.S. public was very "tense" during the two-month blockade, and Roosevelt requested that Britain and Germany pull out their forces from the area. During the requests for the blockade's end, Roosevelt stationed naval forces in Cuba, to ensure "the respect of Monroe doctrine" and the compliance of the parties in question. The doctrine was never ratified by the senate or brought up for a vote to the American public. Roosevelt's declaration was the first of many presidential decrees in the twentieth century that were never ratified.


title: Big stick ideology

text: The U.S. used the "big stick" during "Canal Diplomacy", the diplomatic actions of the U.S. during the pursuit of a canal across Central America. Both Nicaragua and Panama featured canal related incidents of big stick diplomacy.