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USS New Jersey BB-62
Preserved afloat · Camden, New Jersey
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.
Kits of this ship
+ Add a kitNo image | USS New Jersey BB-62 Battleship 1983 | Trumpeter | 1:700 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available |
No image | US Battleship BB-62 New Jersey (w/ Detail Up Parts) | Tamiya | 1:350 | Injection-Molded Plastic | Available |
Plans
No plan sets listed for this ship yet. Know of museum, archive or publisher drawings? Add them so the next builder can find them.
Links go to the publisher's or museum's own page. Ship Modelers Database lists plan sets; it doesn't host or display the drawings.
Build logs
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Resources
+ Submit a resourceHistory & specifications
- USS New Jersey (BB-62) - WikipediaWebsite
Comprehensive overview of the ship's design, armament changes across eras, and full service history; useful for modelers targeting a specific configuration/year.
Museums & archives
- USS New Jersey (BB-62) — Naval History and Heritage Command Photo CollectionMuseum
Official U.S. Navy historical photograph collection spanning her WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and 1980s service, useful for accurate paint schemes and equipment fit at different eras.
Books
- A Visual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey (The Design of Iowa-Class Battleships, Vol. 1)Book
John Miano's exhaustive photographic survey of the entire ship (nearly 600 illustrations and complete deck plans), including many non-public spaces, keyed to original blueprints — praised by the museum's own curator as the most accurate visual reference available.
Plans & drawings
- BB-62 USS New Jersey Booklet of General Plans (1984)Plans
Official 1984 Navy Booklet of General Plans with outboard/inboard profiles, deck plans (main, second, splinter, third decks), platforms, hold and sections looking fore and aft — the definitive scale drawing set for the ship.
Photos
- USS New Jersey BB-62 Museum Camden - Wikimedia CommonsPhoto
Free-to-use photograph of the ship as a museum ship in Camden, NJ, useful as a reference image for current appearance.
Video
- Battleship New Jersey Official YouTube ChannelVideo
Ongoing series of videos from the museum diving into specific compartments, restoration work, and equipment (engine rooms, turrets, new exhibits) that provide close-up construction and mechanical detail useful for accurate modeling.
- Virtual Tour of Battleship New JerseyVideo
Museum-produced walkthrough video of the ship's decks and compartments, giving modelers a visual sense of layout and structure not always visible in still photos.
History
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.