In the 1960s, with American involvement ramping up in Vietnam, there were repeated calls to bring back a battleship. To build the New Jersey required expenditures of approximately $100 million dollars ($1.8 billion in 2020 dollars) and 32,800,000 manhours. Admiral J. Paul Reason, the Navys first African American 4-star Admiral, commanded Cruiser-Destroyer Group 1 and Battle Group Romeo from the New Jersey. To save money, only a minimum amount of work was performed. The weather was unsettled, but on the New Jersey the barometer was normal and Halseys aerologist, a weather expert, did not think it would worsen. By contrast, Admiral Kuritas more powerful force debouched from San Bernardino Strait at 0035, expecting a fight but finding no ships guarding the strait. She also received the National Defense Service Medal and the China Service Medal. For the first time, a major enemy base was beaten down without the aid of land-based air power or amphibious invasion. The assault led by the New Jersey prevented Japan from ever again using Truk as a fleet base, stopped it from interfering with the assault by Marines and Army troops on Eniwetok on February 17, and kicked open the door to further American advances in the Central Pacific. About. Admiral Kinkaids messages to Admiral Halsey on USS New Jersey were being monitored at Pearl Harbor by Admiral Nimitz. After a refit, USS New Jersey was once again the flagship of a midshipmens summer cruise, this time to San Francisco, Tacoma, San Diego, and Hawaii, where her crew listened as man first walked on the moon. Below that is a splinter deck of 0.625 inches. A closed-circuit television system was also added for a crew raised in a television age. Feeling as stunned as if I had been struck in the face, Halsey angrily crumpled the message and threw it and his cap on the deck of the New Jersey, stomping on them and furiously cursing. This information is provided for informational purposes only. From then until April 1969, she conducted frequent bombardments along the South Vietnamese coast. While preparing for a second Vietnam tour, she was ordered inactivated and decommissioned in December 1969. The New Jersey still has all eight armored box launchers for the Tomahawks and two launchers for the Harpoons. Beginning in the 1880s, armored, turreted battleships became the capital ships of the worlds major naval powers. To buy tickets, visit battleshipnewjersey.org/purchase. 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. The refit added a pair of SLQ-32 electronic countermeasure units to detect, classify, and scramble the radars of incoming missiles. In 2007, best-selling author Tom Clancy had his 60th birthday party on the fantail of the New Jersey, attended by retired Secretary of State Colin Powell, Sean Connery, and Stephen Spielberg. In some cases, deployment of the New Jersey will free up our overstressed aircraft carriers for other uses. Red Storm Rising, by Tom Clancy, @ 1986 Tom Clancy, Published by G.P. Admiral Spruance ordered the New Jersey and six other fast battleships, with cruisers and destroyers, to form a battle line under Admiral Lee. The New Jerseys remaining single mount 20mm anti-aircraft guns had been removed and were replaced by eight more dual 20mm mounts by the time she sailed for Korea. Finally, she is a military and technological landmark. USS New Jersey has an overall length of 887 feet, 7 inches, with a waterline length of 860 feet. The New Jersey resumed escorting carriers but spent most of her time in the Sea of Japan bombarding the east coast of North Korea, destroying coastal batteries, communication facilities, train tracks, bridges, and tunnels, and other targets at Kojo, Chongjin, Hungnam, Songjin, and Wonson. Thus, Spruance kept Fifth Fleet within supporting range of Saipan, and placed Lees battleline including the New Jersey fifteen miles in front of Admiral Marc Mitschers carriers to protect them. Starting around 1890, the United States built its own battleships (designated BB). During her four-month tour off Vietnam, USS New Jersey fired 5,688 16-inch shells and 14,891 5-inch shells. The crew of the New Jersey, flagship of the largest battle at sea in history, visited HMS Victory, flagship of the largest naval battle in the age of sail. New Jersey ranged far and wide from 30 December 1944 to 25 January 1945 on her last cruise as Admiral Halsey's flagship. For several years more than her three sisters combined she was the worlds only operational battleship. Despite massive air and naval support, Iwo Jima became the most savage and the most costly battle in the history of the Marine Corps. As Admiral Nimitz stated, uncommon valor was a common virtue, illustrated by the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi. After fighting enemy ships and planes, escorting carriers, and bombarding hostile islands across the Pacific, they carried home thousands of American troops. There on April 12, 1954, she hosted the Atlantic Fleet change of command ceremony, presided over by now-Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Carney. However, some criticized Admiral Spruance for guarding the landing force rather than charging after the Japanese carriers a criticism which played a role in the New Jerseys next big battle. Sixteen of them, with white-painted hulls, comprised President Theodore Roosevelts Great White Fleet that circumnavigated the world in 1907-09, announcing Americas arrival as a global naval power. Admiral Spruance was cerebral and thorough; Admiral Halsey was emotional and impulsive. Halsey had to decide whether the whole Third Fleet should guard San Bernardino Strait, whether the New Jersey and Task Force 34 should guard the strait while the Third Fleet carriers struck Ozawas carriers, or whether the entire Third Fleet should go after Ozawas carriers still 300 miles to the north. Franklin Ship's Company 6 Men Lost via Accidents 1944-1945 55 Men Lost October 13, 15, 30, 1944 631 Men Lost March 19, 1945 Marine Detachment 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. The catapults that had launched her Seahawk floatplanes were removed to make room for landings on the fantail by a new Sikorsky HO3S-1 helicopter. 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. USS New Mexico (BB-40) was a battleship in service with the United States Navy from 1918 to 1946. Thereafter, the Communists made peace overtures but resumed ground attacks. The New Jerseys history spanned over half the 20th century, from her design in 1938 until 1991. shipmates. Naval Academy, The Sullivan Brothers and the Assignment of Family Members, Historic Former U.S. Navy Bases and Stations, The African American Experience in the U.S. Navy, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in the U.S. Navy, Contributions of Native Americans to the U.S. Navy, The World Cruise of the Great White Fleet, Navy Underwater Archaeology Return Program, Annual Navy History and Heritage Awards - Main, Research Permits for Sunken & Terrestrial Military Craft, Scanning, Copyright & Citation Information, Obtain Duplications of Records and Photos, Research Guide: Crew Lists and Muster Rolls, Research Guide: Drawings, Maps, Charts of Buildings, Structures and Installations of the US Navy, Research Guide: Navy Record Groups at the National Archives, Research Guide: Sources for the Study of Naval Equipment. However, the Missouri, named after President Trumans home state and christened by his daughter, was chosen instead. Nishimura encountered torpedo-firing PT boats, and then faced massed torpedo attacks by destroyers. The Japanese formations were decimated by superior American pilots and fighters in what one pilot said was just like an old-time turkey shoot down home! Japanese planes which got through the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot mainly attacked the heavily armored battleline. Winds up to 100 knots blew destroyers around like corks. One of these ships was the first battleship USS New Jersey (BB-16), which displaced 15,000 tons and could reach 19 knots. That is, the barrels mouth could fire 16-inch shells, and the barrels length was 50 times 16 inches, or 66.66 feet long. Admiral Gerald Bogan, commander of one of Halseys carrier groups, used TBS to contact the New Jersey and reiterate his night scouting pilots had seen that Admiral Kuritas force was again heading toward San Bernardino Strait and that the Japanese had turned on the straits navigation lights. The attack forced the Combined Fleet to withdraw to bases in the Philippines, and compelled its commander, Admiral Mineichi Koga, to flee in a flying boat that was lost in a typhoon. The escort carriers planes relentlessly attacked Japans armored behemoths with whatever weapons they had, including depth charges, small bombs, rockets, and machine gun bullets. Back to 1st page. As a member of the Decommissioning crew in 1991 I lost contact with a lot of good men from the crew. The New Jersey received a more substantial tripod mainmast in place of her previous pole mast, allowing her to handle more radar and radio antennas. Registration and communicating with shipmates at Hullnumber.com is FREE FOREVER. Moreover, the destruction of all major hostile surface navies, the coming of peace, and the advent of nuclear weapons reduced the need to maintain the largest fleet in history. There they joined the Central Pacific Force, the Navys main fleet, containing the fast carriers and fast battleships intended to fight the Japanese fleet. Moreover, the New Jersey was the first ship on which Admiral Chester Nimitz flew his five-star flag as admiral of the fleet. In 2004, USS New Jersey was added to the National Register of Historic Places and the New Jersey Register of Historic Places. They sank a heavy cruiser, two light cruisers, several destroyers, and many transports bearing reinforcements. Millington, TN 38055-3120. The captains gig and other ships boats are in place. They captured its capital Seoul and drove the beleaguered South Korean units and reinforcing U.S. forces into the Pusan Perimeter. The carriers strikes destroyed an estimated 500 planes and reduced Japanese air attacks during the Okinawa landing. The Admirals: Nimitz, Halsey, Leahy, and King, by Walter R. Boreman, @ 2012 Walter R. Boreman, Published by Back Bay Books, New York, NY. Back to the USS New Jersey (BB 62) page|Crew List main page| The Marianas were over 1,000 miles from the nearest American airbase on newly captured Eniwetok, so the carriers escorted by the New Jersey would have to supply all the air support. Only after the War of 1812 did America operate ships-of-the-line, which were named after states starting in 1820. The New Jersey was the only Iowa-class battleship to support every Marine amphibious invasion in the Pacific in 1944-45, as well as General MacArthurs amphibious operations in New Guinea and the Philippines. 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. As Admiral Halsey later told Sprague: you wrote the most glorious page in American naval history that day. Sadly, later that day, Japan for the first time launched kamikaze suicide planes. These suicide attacks, and the fanatical resistance by Japanese soldiers on Okinawa until June 22, helped convince new President Harry Truman that invasion of Japan itself would be exceedingly bloody and that use of the atomic bomb was a better alternative. Before she was put to sleep, Part of the Last Decommissioning crew of 1991. To avoid the weather, Halsey moved the fueling rendezvous south. Two months later, World War II broke out in Europe when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. The Fleet at Flood Tide, America at Total War in the Pacific, 1944-45, by James D. Hornfischer, @ 2016 James D. Hornfischer, Published by Bantam Books New York, NY. Korean Summer/Fall Offensive, and 4. Armament: 9 16", 20 5". They had just attacked the Bonin Islands, where Navy aviator and future President George H.W. Another great place is the USS New Jersey Veterans Association website, their address is below. As naval aviator and POW Jeremiah Denton said in the 1980s when he was a Senator urging the reactivation of the New Jersey: In Vietnam, we lost hundreds of aircraft at great cost in lives, as well as in dollars, that could have been saved had a battleship been on station. Ultimately, the rear 16-inch turret was retained, and was put to good use. USS Pollux AKS-4 was a Castor-class general stores issue ship commissioned by the U.S. Navy for service in World War II. Date of Birth: 04/12/1934. At Pearl Harbor, the New Jerseys flag quarters were enlarged and updated to be the best in the fleet.. On March 5, 1953, the New Jersey left Norfolk for her second tour off Korea. Since leaving Pearl Harbor in August, she had been at sea for 85 of 95 days, engaged in near-constant fighting, and steamed 36,185 miles equal to 1 times around the world. That day, the New Jersey was ordered to speed 7,042 miles west, arriving off North Korea on April 22. Over her career, the New Jersey fired more shells in combat than any other battleship ever built. They were alphabetical listings of enlisted personnel who were subject to significant status changes during the month. It witnessed the last battle in which battleships fought other ships, the last naval gunfight between battle lines, and the first use of suicide planes. The Two-Ocean War, A Short History of the United States Navy in the Second World War, by Samuel Eliot Morison, @ 1963 Samuel Eliot Morison, Published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, MA. Organization for Veterans is The USS New Jersey BB-62 Veterans, Inc. For her two tours between May 17, 1951, and July 27, 1953, USS New Jersey was awarded the Korean Service Medal with four battle stars 1. She bombarded Communist supply dumps and gun positions in the so-called Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating North and South Vietnam. EN. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy, @ 1984 Tom Clancy, Published by Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. The New Jersey carried three different types: the BGM-109A Tomahawk Land Attack Missile Nuclear (TLAM-N) with a W80 nuclear warhead; the RGM/UGM-109B Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile (TASM) with a 1,000-pound warhead; and the BGM-109C Tomahawk Land Attack Missile Conventional (TLAM-C) with a 1,000-pound warhead. After the Battle for Leyte Gulf, USS New Jersey picked up downed fliers and Japanese sailors in the water. It truly was an awsome ship, it was an honor to be a part of the decom crew. Admiral Nimitz said the typhoons damage represented a more crippling blow to the Third Fleet than it might be expected to suffer in anything less than a major action. The New Jersey lost its float planes but escaped serious damage. Her 16-inch guns could range twenty miles inland, outdistancing Army artillery and demolishing targets that had survived repeated air attacks. On March 24, 1945, USS New Jersey bombarded Okinawa in preparation for the April 1 invasion by four Army and three Marine divisions. The New Jersey protected carriers striking Japans new Combined Fleet base in the Palau Islands on March 30-April 1. One-third of the ships workforce was comprised of women, now known collectively as Rosie the Riveters.. Halseys carrier strikes surprised Okinawa and the Ryukyus Islands. As Admiral Halseys flagship, she led the Third Fleet as it supported General MacArthurs difficult, two-month struggle to take Leyte from the reinforced Japanese Army. The Navy's ranks totaled 126,418 in September 1939. The Modern Military Branch, National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001, has custody of deck logs from 1941 to 1983, as well asmuster rolls created after 1938. broken down by years, with e-mail links to individuals, Many former crew On 12 June 1944, a new Gearing -class destroyer, USS Chevalier (DD 805) was laid downlike the 451, the third ship of her class from Bath Iron Works. In September 1986, armed with nuclear cruise missiles, the New Jerseys battle group transited the Sea of Okhotsk, north of Japan but otherwise surrounded by Soviet territory. The New Jersey then passed through San Bernardino Strait; the same strait through which Japanese battleships fled from the New Jersey in the Battle for Leyte Gulf. Iwo Jima Operations, and 9. Thus, the Leyte landing occurred before Imperial Japan could train enough naval pilots and reunite its fleet. USS New Jersey (BB-62) is the most decorated battleship in Navy history, earning distinction in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and conflicts in the Middle East. Iowa Class Battleships, Their Design, Weapons; & Equipment, by Robert F. Sumrall, @ 1988 Robert F. Sumrall, Published by US Naval Institute Press, Annapolis MD. Meanwhile, at 1600 in the Sibuyan Sea, Admiral Kurita had turned away from San Bernardino Strait to retire temporarily from the zone of enemy air attacks. However, at 1714 Kurita resumed his course towards the strait. Personnel deaths that occurred during the month were also recorded on these reports. The only thing between Admiral Kuritas fleet and the American amphibious ships were the Seventh Fleets three groups of escort carriers. The goal was to secure a base to escort and recover B-29 bombers attacking Japan from the Marianas. And with a speed of 35 knots, the New Jersey will be among the fastest ships afloat.. When they ran out of ammunition, they made repeated dummy runs through heavy anti-aircraft fire to divert the Japanese ships.
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