New Jersey

Type

Battleship

Period

20th Century

Nation

United States

Overview: USS New Jersey (BB-62) is an Iowa-class fast battleship of the United States Navy and is recognized as the most decorated battleship in U.S. Navy history. She is one of the largest battleships ever built and today serves as a museum ship in Camden, New Jersey. Specifications: As an Iowa-class battleship she measures roughly 887 feet in length with a full-load displacement around 45,000 tons. Her main battery consisted of nine 16-inch/50 caliber Mark 7 guns in three triple turrets, capable of firing 2,700-pound armor-piercing shells roughly 23 miles, supplemented by 5-inch secondary batteries; her armor included a 12.1-inch belt, 11.3-inch bulkheads, and turret faces up to 19.5 inches thick. During her 1980s modernization she was fitted with Armored Box Launchers and Quad Cell Launchers for Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles plus four 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts for close-in defense. Service History: Commissioned in May 1943, New Jersey served in the Pacific during World War II, taking part in the Marshalls invasion, the raid on Truk, the Marianas invasion, the Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and operations supporting Iwo Jima and Okinawa. She was decommissioned and recommissioned multiple times, returning to service for the Korean War in 1950-1953, and again in 1968-1969 as the only battleship recalled to duty during the Vietnam War, providing naval gunfire support along the South Vietnamese coast. She was reactivated once more in the 1980s under the 600-ship Navy program, receiving missile and CIWS upgrades, and served in Cold War and Middle East operations before her final decommissioning in February 1991. Notable Facts: New Jersey earned a Navy Unit Commendation and 19 battle and campaign stars across World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Lebanese Civil War, and Persian Gulf service, more than any other completed Iowa-class ship. She was struck from and reinstated to the Naval Vessel Register more than once before being permanently replaced by USS Iowa as the Navy's mobilization asset in 1999. Donated to the Home Port Alliance, she was restored and opened as a museum ship in Camden, New Jersey on 15 October 2001, directly across the Delaware River from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where she was built.