The next day she answered eight call for fire support missions from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, in the process destroying eight Viet Cong bunkers and five structures. Four hundred Marines stationed in Beirut attended the show. Aerial spotters were called in to look at the suspected gun position; they reported no artillery present but fresh tire tracks leading to a concealed area, suggesting that there had been artillery there earlier. After a review of both plans, the Navy selected the Home Port Alliance as the battleship's final resting place. As part of the ongoing Operation Magic Carpet New Jersey took aboard nearly a thousand homeward-bound troops, with whom she arrived at San Francisco 10 February. Secondary explosions 46 Enemy killed in action (confirmed) 136 On the second day of preinvasion air strikes, 12 June, New Jersey shot down an enemy torpedo bomber, and during the next two days her heavy guns battered Saipan and Tinian, in advance of the marine landings on 15 June. On 28 Novemberafter 23 October 1983 Beirut barracks bombingthe U.S. government announced that New Jersey would be retained off Beirut although her crew would be rotated. New Jersey got underway on the voyage 6 September, departing Long Beach for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. The problem was apparently resolved after the Navy was able to locate additional powder supplies which had not been remixed. Each of the carriers in the Third Fleet had a weatherman aboard, and as the fleet flagship New Jersey had a highly experienced weatherman: Commander G. F. Kosco, a graduate of the aerology course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who had also studied hurricanes in the West Indies; despite this, none of these individuals or staffs were able to give Third Fleet due warning of the impending typhoon. The next day, Halsey shaped his course north after the decoy force had been spotted. [8], Between 17 March and 10 April, New Jersey first sailed with Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's flagship Lexington for an air and surface bombardment of Mille, then rejoined Task Group 58.2 for a strike against shipping in the Palaus, and bombarded Woleai. Every deadline was met and on 30 September, NEW JERSEY took station in a gray dawn off the coast of Vietnam's Demilitarized Zone. Supplemental artillery support was provided through some twenty 5" Mark 12 series cannons and air-defense accomplished through 80 x 40mm guns and an additional 49 x 20mm guns. Vietnam War: Aerial view of USS New Jersey Iowa-class battleship as it passes through the Gatun Locks of the Panama Canal. Archive photo of a tomahawk missile launch. Just a $50 donation to fire a salute! She was often referred to fondly as "Big J". Using both the 16in and 5in guns New Jersey engaged and destroyed 13structures and an artillery site, in the process halting an enemy platoon moving through the DMZ. [17], On the night of 23 October New Jersey steamed north to rearm before taking up position in support of the 3rd Marine Division 25 October. New Jersey returned to Wonsan 18 July for an exhibition of perfect firing: five gun emplacements demolished with five direct hits. On the 15th, while New Jersey was still at sea, North Korean jet fighters shot down an unarmed EC-121 Constellation electronic surveillance plane over the Sea of Japan, killing its entire crew. 1776. New Jersey and its sister ship, USS Virginia, were both sunk in 1923 during aerial bombing tests . [24], At the time of the reactivation the Navy envisioned using New Jersey and her sister ship Iowa to meet sustained global requirements and relieve the strain on the Navy created by an increase in U.S. commitments to the Indian Ocean and Caribbean Sea regions. [16] In August 1967 the Secretary of Defense made the decision to recommission a battleship "for employment in the Pacific Fleet to augment the naval gunfire support force in Southeast Asia". The New Jersey 's history spanned over half the 20 th century, from her design in 1938 until 1991. [17] Early on the morning of 12 October New Jersey trained her guns in anticipation of shelling the heavily fortified and well protected Vinh caves. Full History - Battleship New Jersey Here she destroyed large-caliber guns, bunkers, caves and trenches. [8] New Jersey stood out of Norfolk 7 September 1955 for her first tour of duty with the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. May 8, 1945 welcomes in VE Day, "Today the war in Europe came to an end!" [39] Some 30 of these massive projectiles rained down on a Syrian command post in the Bekaa Valley east of Beirut, killing the general commanding Syrian forces in Lebanon[40] and several other senior officers. [61][62] Ultimately, nothing came from that effort and the ship remains in Camden. Carrying on a tradition he had begun in World War II of spending Christmas with U.S. forces overseas, Bob Hope and his troupe of entertainers gave a show on board the New Jersey on 24 December 1983. New Jersey destroyed a trawler and, with other ships, sank the destroyer Maikaze. The New Jersey was 860-feet long, with a displacement of 57,350-tons. America's Battleship USS New Jersey Sailed To Vietnam And Fired 5,688 A gun emplacement on tiger island decided to try their luck and lob a shot at us. [35] The arrival of New Jersey was one of several factors contributing to a reduction in the number of attacks on the Marines.[37]. Brief stays at Manila and Okinawa preceded her arrival in Tokyo Bay 17 September, where she served as flagship for the successive commanders of Naval Forces in Japanese waters until relieved 28 January 1946 by Iowa (BB-61). New Jersey sailed for Europe once more 27 August as flagship of Vice Admiral Charles Wellborn Jr., Commander United States Second Fleet. [25] These ideas were ultimately dropped, and New Jersey retained her No. New Jersey was recommissioned at Bayonne on 21 November 1950, Captain David M. Tyree in command, and proceeded to the Caribbean, where she welded her crew into an efficient body which would meet the demanding requirements of the Korean War. [8], New Jersey's main battery consisted of nine 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 guns in three three-gun turrets, which could fire 2,700-pound (1,225kg) armor-piercing shells some 23 miles (42.6km). 3 16in gun turret (located aft of the superstructure). [14] As with the other battleships of TF 38, skillful seamanship brought New Jersey through the storm largely unscathed. New Jersey screened the aircraft carriers from Japanese attack as planes from Task Group 58.2 flew strikes against Kwajalein and Eniwetok 29 January 2 February, softening up the latter for its invasion and supporting the troops who landed on 31 January. View of USS New Jersey Iowa-class battleship firing shell from the She arrived on the 8th, and began preinactivation overhaul to ready herself for decommissioning. On 30 August New Jersey set sail from Pearl Harbor, and for the next eight months was based at Ulithi to lend support to Allied forces operating in the Philippines. President Harry S. Truman was caught off guard when the invasion struck,[15] but quickly ordered U.S. [8] New Jersey returned to the key task of direct support to troops at Kosong 7 June. The battleship's target was a suspected subterranean staging area for a Viet Cong regiment. uss new jersey sinks island before and after [20], Upon completion of this mission New Jersey steamed south, taking a position off Da Nang and Point DeDe to lend naval gunfire support to the U.S. 1st Marine Division operating in the area. She also hit a target that flamed spectacularly: either a fuel storage area or an ammunition dump. Preliminary modernizations schemes included the removal of four of the ten 5inch gun mounts on New Jersey to make room for the armored box launchers that would be required to carry and launch the BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles. [46], In 1986 New Jersey began her next deployment, this time operating as part of the Pacific Fleet and as the centerpiece of her own battle group. Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial, a van carrying a 2,000 pound load of explosives, slammed into the U.S. embassy in West Beirut, killing 63, a catastrophic explosion in her No. Declassified 23 April 1980. She was briefly reactivated in 1968 and sent to Vietnam to support US troops before returning to the mothball fleet in 1969. In 1997, while the ship was still in the mothball fleet, the New Jersey State Review Board for Historic Sites recommended that it "be listed in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, contingent upon the transfer of the battleship to New Jersey waters. [8] Between 4 and 12 July, New Jersey supported a United Nations push in the Kansong area, firing at enemy buildup and reorganization positions. The Navy was to ensure that both of the reinstated battleships were in good condition and could be reactivated for use in the Marine Corps' amphibious operations. In a melee of anti-aircraft fire from the ships and combat air patrol, New Jersey shot down a plane whose pilot maneuvered it into the port gun galleries of Intrepid, while machine gun fire from Intrepid wounded three of New Jersey's men. Kids can sleep in the bunks where the sailors slept in an overnight encampment. At Ulithi 27 January Admiral Halsey lowered his flag in New Jersey, but it was replaced two days later by that of Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger II commanding Battleship Division 7. This was to allow the Japanese Center Force to enter the gulf through San Bernardino Strait. She also received hostile fire when North Vietnamese gunners attempted to strike at New Jersey with artillery positioned near Cap Lay. Enemy movement was restricted by the fire of her big guns. She guarded the carriers in their strikes on Formosa, Okinawa, and Luzon, on the coast of Indo-China, Hong Kong, Swatow and Amoy, and again on Formosa and Okinawa. Eventually, the ban was lifted and New Jersey was allowed to use her big guns again. [8] Another highly satisfactory day was 16 October, when the spotter over the Kansong area reported "beautiful shooting every shot on target-most beautiful shooting I have seen in five years." [37] On 8 February 1984, New Jersey fired almost 300 shells at Druze and Shi'ite positions in the hills overlooking Beirut. Peniston. [17] On 4 November New Jersey received orders to reinforce southern II Corps near Phan Thit; she arrived on station later that night. "[44][45] The inaccuracy is believed to have resulted because the ship's main gunpowder had been remixed by the Navy, under the direction of Captain Joseph Dominick Miceli at the Naval Weapons Support Center, and rebagged. [57] Overnight encampments, typically for the benefit of Scouting organizations, offer the opportunity to sleep and eat in the original berths and mess decks. The last observed mission was fired on the evening of 31 March against an enemy bunker complex three-and-one-half miles northeast of Con Thien. [17], On 16 October New Jersey took up station in support of the U.S. 3rd Marine Division. Truman also sent U.S. based troops, tanks, fighter and bomber aircraft, and a strong naval force to Korea to support the Republic of Korea. Her ports of call included Gibraltar, Valencia, Cannes, Istanbul, Souda Bay; and Barcelona. [8] Relieved as flagship by Wisconsin, New Jersey cleared Yokosuka for Hawaii, Long Beach and the Panama Canal, and returned to Norfolk 20 December for a six-month overhaul. Over two thousand United States Naval Academy and NROTC midshipmen received seagoing experience under the command of Admiral Richard L. Connolly, Commander Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, who broke his flag in New Jersey at Rosyth, Scotland 23 June. [28], Section 1011 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 required the United States Navy to reinstate to the Naval Vessel Register two of the Iowa-class battleships that had been struck by the Navy in 1995; these ships were to be maintained in the United States Navy reserve fleets (or "mothball fleet"). Panama Canal Zone 6/4/1968 CREDIT: Neil Leifer. The anti-aircraft fire of New Jersey and the other screening ships proved virtually impenetrable; two American ships were slightly damaged during the battle. The maneuver, according to the command history, "marked the first time a U.S. battleship had operated in the Soviet Navy's backyard. Briggs. The battleship operated near the coast of Korea prior to the opening of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, then departed for Australia to participate in the Australian bicentennial celebrations. [8], Aside from a brief break in firing 23 September to take aboard wounded from the Korean frigateApnok(PF-62), damaged by gunfire, New Jersey was heavily engaged in bombarding the Kansong area, supporting the movement of the U.S. X Corps. Visitors marvel at the 16" guns. When reactivated in 1982, New Jersey had four twin 5"/38 caliber DP mounts removed. With the eyes of the world on her, at 0730, the battleship unleashed the first 16-inch barrage fired in anger in over 15 years. New Jersey remained in the Persian Gulf for the rest of the year, returning to the United States in February 1990. Battleship New Jersey (BB-62) | World War II Database - WW2DB She was launched on 7 December 1942 (the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor)[6] and commissioned on 23 May 1943. Although New Jersey performed her job expertly during the intervention in Lebanon some have criticized the decision to have New Jersey shell Druze and Syrian forces. From that ridge, the Militia gunners could shoot directly downhill at those locations with artillery. The training fleet was westward bound 18 July for exercises in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic. Meet The USS New Jersey: 57,350 Tons of Battleship Power Air spotters reported Yangyang abandoned at the end of this action, while railroad facilities and vehicles were smashed at Kansong. The warship boasted four General Electric steam turbines with a top speed of 33-knots. [8], After rehearsing in the Marshalls for the invasion of the Marianas, New Jersey put to sea 6 June in the screening and bombardment group of Admiral Mitscher's Task Force. As the carriers prepared for the invasion with strikes there and on Honsh, New Jersey fought off air raids, used her seaplanes to rescue downed pilots, defended the carriers from suicide planes, shooting down at least three and assisting in the destruction of others. [48], According to a declassified command history for the nuclear-armed battleship New Jersey, during her transit through the Sea of Okhotsk on 2728 September 1986, "close passes" were made by Soviet Bear and Badger bombers, a Hormone helicopter, and a May maritime patrol airplane. [8], New Jersey dashed up the North Korean coast raiding transportation facilities from 1 to 6 November. For the next three days New Jersey fired her guns to support the II Corps, in the process destroying Viet Cong bunkers and supply depots and neutralizing enemy cave posts. The next day New Jersey engaged targets of opportunity, destroying 11 structures, seven bunkers, a concrete observation tower, and an enemy trench line. MAIN BATTERY Section 1012 also required the transferee to locate the battleship in the State of New Jersey. The NEW JERSEY crew is undoubtedly the finest and most professional group of men with which I have ever had the privilege of serving. The Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial today. Although in command of her own Battleship Battlegroup New Jersey did sail with the aircraft carriers USS Ranger (CV-61) and USS Constellation (CV-64) while deployed in 1986. One of her men was killed and two severely wounded when she took a hit from a shore battery on her number one turret and received a near miss aft to port.
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