A battleship could have knocked out the Thanh Hoa bridge that I was bombing at the time I was shot down [in 1965]. After a minor overhaul, she served as flagship for the Fifth Fleet as the Second World War closed. 1957 1968 The damaged Iowa was decommissioned in October 1990, and it was decided the New Jersey would be next. Even before she was launched, the New Jersey began serving her country. Report an offensive or inappropriate entry. Her unique round bridge was replaced by the same squared off bridge that had been installed on Missouri and Wisconsin during their construction and on Iowa during a refit. Great job, tough work but was proud of that ship more than any other command I was on. These line of battle ships or battleships were the mainstays of their fleets and decided the fate of empires. He described her as still in the prime of life, a Gallant Lady, the New Jersey. Recommissioning the New Jersey was the centerpiece of his 600-ship Navy program that helped convince the Soviet Union to end the Cold War. MacArthur controlled not only the invading Army divisions but also the accompanying Seventh Fleet under Admiral Thomas Kinkaid, whose older battleships, small escort carriers, and amphibious ships landed and supported the ground troops. Had a lot of good times and met a lot of great people. In summer 1956, she conducted the midshipman cruise to Norway, Great Britain, and Cuba, returning July 31. However, Tirpitz sustained enough damage from British midget submarines that she required months of repairs. Last updated on April 03, 2012. After the Korean War, the Navy again began decommissioning ships. HullNumber.com does not retain your payment information if you make a purchase. War at Sea, A Naval History of World War II, by Nathan Miller, @ 1995 Nathan Miller, Published by Scribner, New York, NY. On May 23, 1947, the New Jersey had a 4th birthday bash in Bayonne, New Jersey, attended by New Jersey Governor Alfred Driscoll and former Governor Walter Edge. On November 25, the New Jersey shot down six kamikazes and damaged several others, but some still struck four carriers. In support of amphibious operations, the New Jerseys 16-inch guns can deliver shells as heavy as an automobile with pinpoint accuracy. There they joined the Central Pacific Force, the Navys main fleet, containing the fast carriers and fast battleships intended to fight the Japanese fleet. Before she was put to sleep, Part of the Last Decommissioning crew of 1991. New Jersey was one of the Iowa-class "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair.She was launched on 7 December 1942 (the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor) and commissioned on 23 May 1943. Nonetheless, befitting a ship that survived so many crises, the New Jersey opened as a museum and memorial on October 14. It truly was an awsome ship, it was an honor to be a part of the decom crew. I point out that the Thanh Hoa bridge was only 12 miles inland, well within the range of the 16-inch guns on the Iowa-class battleships. Moreover, the 16-inch guns would allow the New Jersey to support the troops while out of range of shore batteries that were damaging cruisers firing 8-inch guns. Japan committed to the attack all its modern battleships, including for the first time its treaty-busting battleships, Yamato and Musashi, with displacement exceeding 64,000 tons and 18.1-inch guns both the largest ever for a battleship. The generated steam supplied four sets of Westinghouse geared, double reduction turbines to provide an output shaft horsepower to the four propeller shafts totaling 212,000 horsepower, with the shafts turning up to 202 RPM. This March, the American Red Cross New Jersey Region is honoring those who make its mission possible during the 80th annual American Red Cross Month celebration a national tradition that began in 1943 when , The Battleship New Jersey and the Independence Seaport Museum next Lecture as part of their yearlong Fleet Talk series will take place at the Independence Seaport Museum on Saturday, March 25 at 7pm. At 1115 when, as Halsey later stated, the remnants of Admiral Ozawas northern force was exactly 42 miles from the muzzles of my 16inch guns on the New Jersey, she, five other battleships, and the rest of Task Force 34 reversed course and headed south. Box BB-62 Middletown, New Jersey 07748-0062 Phone: (908) 233-9093 Fax: (908) 233-0823 Or click below to visit their website: However, they still had limited speed (21 knots) and displacement (32,600 tons), and in World War II were used primarily for shore bombardment. After receiving several of Kinkaids delayed messages, Halsey replied from the New Jersey at 0927: I AM STILL ENGAGING ENEMY CARRIERS. At 1000, Kinkaid sent another uncoded plea to the New Jersey: WHERE IS LEE? When she was commissioned for the third time on April 6, there were a few protestors among the many well-wishers at the Philadelphia celebration. Her guns destroyed enemy troops, rocket launchers, antiaircraft sites, trenches, bunkers, tunnels, and supply dumps. During her tour, USS New Jersey made resupply and liberty visits to the Philippines, Japan, and Singapore. high-explosive round, to a maximum range of 41,622 yards (23.6 miles). To save money, only a minimum amount of work was performed. These frames and spacings along with the many other bulkheads provide the ship with approximately 1,100 individual compartments. The topic , The Battleship New Jersey will hold her annual Vietnam War Living History Day on Saturday, April 1 to commemorate the anniversary of the re-commissioning of the USS New Jersey into the Vietnam War on April , Second Annual Admiral Halsey Awards Dinner will take place Thursday, May 11, 2023. After training exercises in the Caribbean, the New Jersey and the midshipmen arrived in New York on August 28. Following overhaul, she again became Fifth Fleet flagship during the final days of World War II and remained in the Far East until early 1946. In 1982, she acquired new SPS-10 and SPS-49 surface and air search radars, and later the SPS-67 surface radar. Vietnam, An Epic Tragedy, 1945-1975, by Max Hastings, @ 2018 Max Hastings, Published by HarperCollins, New York, NY. The bores were checked for dangerous residue, then elevators from the handling rooms rose to the back edge of the ramps and the shells were rammed into the waiting gun barrels. On January 22, 1944, the New Jersey and Iowa reached the Ellice Islands. Pers-312 She thus helped apply pressure on the Communist negotiators at Panmunjom. Her ten-gun 5-inch broadside blew up an armed minesweeper/trawler, and she finished off the destroyer Maikaze. She served in the Atlantic, was a training ship during World War I, and was sunk in tests of aerial bombardment by General Billy Mitchell in 1923. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were repulsed with heavy losses by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces, but the Tet offensive shocked America and fueled opposition to the war. She returned to Long Beach in February 1990. During her deployment, she had steamed from the westernmost arm of the Pacific to the easternmost arm of the Atlantic and served with all four of Americas active Fleets. USS New Jersey, World War II to the Persian Gulf, by Robert F. Dorr and Neil Leifer, @ 1988 Neil Leifer (under the title USS New Jersey the Navys Big Guns, From Mothballs to Vietnam), @ 2002 Neil Leifler, Published by MBI Publishing Company, St. Paul, MN. In August 1985, USS New Jersey headlined San Franciscos celebration of the 40th anniversary of V-J Day, renamed Peace in the Pacific, which the New Jersey had helped secure. Please send any Comments or Questions regarding this site to the webmaster. From January 25 to February 4, the New Jersey protected carriers striking the Japanese bases on Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls, enabling the Army and Marines to invade Kwajalein and Majuro atolls. A flight of aircraft is a momentary and vulnerable show of force; post-war ships have insufficient armor to operate close to land; but a battleship anchored off a hotspot sends a clear message. These cruises involved removing some of the ships own crew and bringing on board Naval Academy midshipmen to rotate through various departments of the ship and learn various jobs. The Navy accepted the Home Port Alliances application on January 20, 2000. The New Jersey displays a Kaman SH-2 Seasprite helicopter, the type assigned to the ship in the 1980s for target-spotting. The Korean War brought New Jersey back into commission in November 1950. And USS New Jersey was at the heart of it all, its flag plot the room where it happened.. Kelley, emphasized: There is no weapon system in the world that comes even close to the visible symbol of enormous power represented by the battleship.. The Big J is being reactivated with the latest in missile, electronic warfare, and communications technology. [3] The new AEGIS system allowed Ticonderoga to track and engage many aerial targets more effectively than any previous U. Ticonderoga entered service in 1983 and deployed later . In the 1960s, with American involvement ramping up in Vietnam, there were repeated calls to bring back a battleship. * Her original fuel oil capacity of over 7,250 tons (over 2,175,000 gallons) gave her an endurance range of over 15,000 nautical miles when cruising at 15 knots, allowing her to operate without resupply for a month and to refuel smaller ships. Fear of another expensive naval arms race led to the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty. Ww2 Uss Attu Cve-102 Us Navy Cruise Book History Hardcover 'Little A' $536.67 Buy It Now , Click to see shipping cost , 3-Day Returns, eBay Money Back Guarantee Seller: braywash (2,020) 100% , Location: Newton, New Jersey, US , Ships to: US & many other countries, Item: 120358993584 Consider doing this if your retired. AC. The Japanese lost warships displacing 305,710 tons (a fleet carrier, 3 light carriers, 3 battleships, 6 heavy cruisers, 4 light cruisers, 9 destroyers), about 300 planes, and approximately 12,500 sailors and airmen. She hosted a Christmas show for crew and troops by actress Ann-Margret and comedian Bob Hope, who joked the New Jersey was so big she was Wake Island with a rudder.. Design work for the Iowa class was premised on the recent South Dakota class and the calculations that a ship 108 wide and 860 long at the waterline would make the fastest possible hull form that could fit through the 110-wide Panama Canal. In addition to Spruances Fifth Fleet and Halseys Third Fleet, the New Jersey subsequently served as flagship for the occupation of Japan, the post-war Eastern Atlantic & Mediterranean Fleet, the Seventh Fleet during the Korean War, and the Second Fleet during the Cold War. Beginning in mid-October 1968, USS New Jersey moved south to support Marine, Army, South Vietnamese, and Korean troops in the I Corps area of South Vietnam. Ed Spivey points to the part of the ship USS New Jersey where he spent 27 months at sea during World War II. The slipway then had to be lengthened by 325 feet and reinforced to accommodate the New Jersey which was 12% longer and 30% heavier. Free shipping for many products! Six new battleships (BB-55 through BB-60) of the North Carolina and South Dakota classes would be launched in 1940-42 and fought in World War II. The vessel is the only battleship on active duty in the U.S. Navy. Moreover, the museum has exhibits telling the story of the ship from design and construction through final deactivation. On February 10, 1945, Admiral Spruance led USS New Jersey and the rest of the Fifth Fleet to the Bonin Islands in support of the invasion of Iwo Jima. He was now awarded the main Pacific fleet as his first fleet command. Read more Price: US $449.99 No Interest if paid in full in 6 mo on $99+* Buy It Now Add to cart Best Offer: Make offer Add to Watchlist This required a greater displacement of over 45,000 tons, the adoption of a lighter turret design, and the use of special treatment steel (STS), a high tensile steel with armor properties comparable to heavier Class B armor, to replace armor and structural steel in some areas. As Halsey put it: Instead of the stagecoach system of keeping the drivers and changing the horses, we changed drivers and kept the horses. It facilitated planning and confused Japanese Intelligence, but [i]t was hard on the horses, including the New Jersey, the only ship to serve as flagship for both Spruance and Halsey. Search for a command's Crew List| By contrast, the next day, D-Day, Allied ships carried 160,000 soldiers only 50 miles across the English Channel, supported by nearby English ports and airbases. Her remaining sixteen twin 20mm mounts were removed, and a Navy librarian removed any books from her library that might be deemed subversive in the McCarthy era. On March 19, the New Jersey shot down about a half dozen aircraft attacking the carriers, damaged others, and used her floatplane to rescue a downed carrier pilot. Volume XIV, Victory in the Pacific, 1945, @ 1960 Samuel Eliot Morison. She was the second of the Iowa class to be commissioned by the U.S. Navy. During her return trip to Majuro, the New Jersey protected carriers striking the base at Woleai in the Caroline Islands. Instead, she fielded sixteen and then twenty quadruple mounts for Bofors 40-millimeter guns for a total of 80 barrels distributed along the main deck and the superstructure, with a firing rate of up to 160 round per minute and a range of 11,000 yards. Within hours of USS New Jerseys imposing appearance off Beirut on September 25, a ceasefire was instituted. In his speech, USS New Jerseys captain told her to Rest well, yet sleep lightly, and hear the call, if again sounded, to provide Firepower for Freedom. That firepower was sorely missed in 1972 when the North Vietnamese launched their divisions and tanks across the DMZ into the South, and U.S. bombing of the North resumed. The ceremonies were limited by security concerns after the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Unsinkable Sailors: The Fall and Rise of the Last Crew of USS Frank E. Evans: Th 9780979164231 | eBay The next two ships Missouri (BB-63) and Wisconsin (BB-64) were to be built in the New York and Philadelphia Navy Yards respectively alongside the Iowa and the New Jersey. Admiral Spruance on the New Jersey took tactical command of this force the first time a four-star Navy admiral was on a ship in a sea action. And she did so without losing a man in combat. Kamikazes from Japan eventually struck the fleet off Iwo Jima, sinking an escort carrier, the last carrier sunk in the war. This 58,000-ton ship, whose armor alone weighs more than our largest cruiser, is being recommissioned at no more than the cost of a new 4,000-ton frigate. By contrast, Admiral Kuritas more powerful force debouched from San Bernardino Strait at 0035, expecting a fight but finding no ships guarding the strait. USS Pollux AKS-4 was a Castor-class general stores issue ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. On March 31, President Lyndon Johnson announced he would enter negotiations, drop his bid for re-election, and halt bombing north of the 19th Parallel thus shielding much of North Vietnam (including the Thanh Hoa bridge) from bombardment by the New Jersey. The Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall was torn down, and democracies replaced the Communist governments in Eastern Europe. Upon returning to Ulithi on January 25, 1945, the New Jersey hosted Admiral Spruance who conferred with Halsey. Missouri had been decommissioned in Bremerton in 1955. The New Jerseys multiple tour routes have a total length of over a mile and half. Today the New Jersey continues her service as a living museum and memorial in Camden, New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia where she was built. Back to 1st page. The refit equipped USS New Jersey to fire thirty-two Tomahawk cruise missiles. The task force was subjected to a flurry of attacking bombers and kamikazes, including the first use of rocket-powered piloted flying bombs. After fighting fascism, communism, and terrorism, she was decommissioned for the final time in February 1991. On June 30, 1948, USS New Jersey was decommissioned at Bayonne in a ceremony headed by four-star Admirals H. Kent Hewitt and Thomas Kinkaid, who had led amphibious invasions in the European and Pacific Theaters, respectively. At 0707, Admiral Kinkaid sent Admiral Halsey on USS New Jersey an uncoded radio message: ENEMY B[ATTLESHIP]S AND CRUISER REPORTED FIRING ON Taffy 3. On September 8, 1944, Admiral Halsey on USS New Jersey joined up with the Third Fleets fast carriers. During June, while U.N. forces penetrated the Iron Triangle, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Forrest Sherman, Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet Admiral Arthur Radford, and Far East Naval Commander Admiral Turner Joy boarded the New Jersey and watched her bombard Wonson. Key items of equipment still operate, including sighting devices for the main battery, the three portside 5-inch batteries and .50 caliber machine gun that can be fired, the ground-breaking analog targeting computer, and missile firing displays. The only thing between Admiral Kuritas fleet and the American amphibious ships were the Seventh Fleets three groups of escort carriers. The Chinese then launched a major offensive against General Almonds X Corps near the east coast. Most of them were scrapped or expended as targets in atom bomb tests. Volume XIII, The Liberation of the Philippines, 1944-1945, @ 1959 Samuel Eliot Morison. They hit Taffy One and Taffy Three, sinking Spragues escort carrier St. USS New Jersey (BB 62) Crew List The table below contains the names of sailors who served aboard the USS New Jersey (BB 62). Help| On March 23, 1944, she led the fleet 2,000 miles west, deep in Japanese waters. Chevalier commissioned 9 January 1945 and served in the US Navy until 2 June 1975, when she was . At her launch 29 October, she was sponsored by Mrs. Marguerite Chevalier, wife of LCdr. The captains gig and other ships boats are in place. At Pearl Harbor, the New Jerseys flag quarters were enlarged and updated to be the best in the fleet.. The New Jersey was the first U.S. battleship to enter the Persian Gulf, and she remained there until December 14, 1989. That means it lobbed 5,866 sixteen-inch shells and 14,891 five-inch shells. Roughly half the workforce building the New Jersey was from New Jersey and took the ferry across the Delaware River to the Yard, making the New Jersey one of the few battleships built by laborers from her namesake state. USS New Jerseys main battery consisted of three turrets, each with three Mark 7 16-inch/50-caliber gun barrels. But the New Jersey and Iowa were faster, handier, more stable, better constructed, and could fire faster and more accurately. Thousands of civilians visited her, and 6,000 active and reserve Navy sailors volunteered to serve in her 1,500-man crew. She was carrying 206 maintenance and supply men of the 248th Air Regiment. Including the New Jersey and six other fast battleships, eight heavy cruisers, thirteen light cruisers, and sixty-nine destroyers, the fast carrier task force had the greatest tonnage of any single naval formation ever to go to battle. Xxx. at 0048, US submarine USS SEAHORSE (SS-304, Lt. Cdr. In June 1945 she was repainted in the horizontal "two-tone" Camouflage Measure 22, which she wore for the rest of the World War II era. From only 60 miles off the Japanese coast, Fifth Fleets planes blasted airfields and aircraft plants. Charles Edison, now the former Secretary of the Navy, welded the first two keel plates together. The New Jersey was awarded the prestigious Spokane Trophy for the best overall excellence in combat systems and warfare readiness. USS New Jerseys armor protection is extensive and layered, using both Class A and Class B armor. HullNumber.com does not share your information. Speeding north in USS New Jersey, Admiral Halsey did not receive Kinkaids 0707 message until 0822. The New Jersey rendered more active service than any other Iowa-class ship. The United States was still recovering from the Great Depression. After visiting Portugal, Scotland, and Norway, she led NATO exercises north of the Artic Circle. The Japanese decoy plan had succeeded. The New Jersey helped shoot down three attacking aircraft. She bombarded Wonson multiple times over the next two years, silencing any shore batteries that fired back. USS New Jersey stopped at devastated Kwajalein and replenished at Majuro. Volunteers swarmed over the ship in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where she was built. After the New Jerseys float plane spotted fleeing Japanese ships 25 miles away, the New Jersey raced towards them, avoiding enemy torpedoes and fighting off enemy aircraft. She again fired her big guns in combat during the Lebanon crisis of 1983-84 and deployed to the western Pacific in 1986 and 1989-90, with the latter cruise extending to the Persian Gulf area. https://newtube.app/Gauche357 On April 7, while still hundreds of miles from Okinawa, Yamato and several escorts were sunk by 280 American planes from the carriers, while the New Jersey protected the carriers from attacking aircraft. Only USS New Jersey served in the Vietnam War and the conflict in Lebanon, and she served in the Persian Gulf. She has a mean draught of 28 feet, 11 inches at a hull load of 45,000 tons, and a full load draught of 37 feet, 9 inches when at a full displacement of 57,540 tons. The work to recommission the New Jersey was performed in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where she had been built. One of these ships was the first battleship USS New Jersey (BB-16), which displaced 15,000 tons and could reach 19 knots. The radio telegram led both Nimitz and Kinkaid to assume Halsey was forming Task Force 34 and leaving it to cover San Bernardino Strait. Two turrets are forward, and one is aft. This database contains U.S. Navy muster rolls and associated reports of changes for U.S. Navy enlisted personnel who served on U.S. Navy ships or in other naval activities between 31 January 1938 and 31 December 1949. By 1950 these had been replaced by helicopters, for which the New Jersey has a landing pad and flight control tower. The New Jersey and the other fast battleships bombarded Saipan and Tinian on June 13, the older battleships did so June 14, and the troops landed on mountainous Saipan on June 15. 24 Mar 1945 : USS Wisconsin bombarded Okinawa, Japan. The New Jerseys unmatched service in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the conflicts in Lebanon and the Persian Gulf put her in harms way in more battles, campaigns, and wars than any almost any other vessel.