The New Jersey was the first ship to operate the Tomahawk, and carried more than any warship then afloat. 25 Feb 1945 : USS Wisconsin escorted carriers as the carrier aircraft attacked Hachino, Japan. Volume XIII, The Liberation of the Philippines, 1944-1945, @ 1959 Samuel Eliot Morison. She was Fifth Fleet flagship during the mid-February raid on the Japanese base at Truk, where she used her guns to sink one enemy ship and join in sinking another. 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. From USS New Jersey, Admiral Halsey saw her gunners hit a kamikaze who nonetheless again crashed into Intrepid, which went through hell. The New Jersey was designed to have a crew complement of 117 officers and 1,804 crew. their website at: USS
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. The Official
With barometers setting record lows, Halsey postponed refueling and ordered the fleet to hold a new course, which inadvertently prolonged its ordeal in the typhoon and prevented skippers from maneuvering independently. 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. Naval Institute Proceedings, May 1952. Lo and damaging several others. Missouri opened as a museum in 1999. Only the New Jersey played a role in every major amphibious invasion after 1943: the Marshall Islands, the Caroline Islands, the Marianas Islands, New Guinea, the Palau Islands, the Philippines, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Battleships trace their lineage back to the ships-of-the-line. Her part in the battle was finished, and her guns were cold.. The New Jerseys secondary battery from 1943 through 1982 consisted of twenty 5-inch/38-caliber Mark XII guns with rifled barrels. Aft and amidships, the ship was fitted with eight quadruple Mark 143 Armored Box Launchers to fire thirty-two Tomahawk missiles. Your ORIGINAL HOMETOWN and State are asked for because that confirms who you are in your shipmate's memories. Her bulkheads are 11.2 inches thick and form the forward and aft ends of the citadel. Millington, TN 38055-3120. Some of her single barreled 20mm anti-aircraft guns were replaced by twin barreled 20mm mounts. Expert researcher and WWII historian Bill Beigel will conduct a thorough search of deck logs, squadron after action reports, and other records, concerning units and individuals who served in the Navy in World War II. Was part of Decommissioning crew. She twice attacked Truk, Japans Gibraltar of the Pacific, and with Iowa sank fleeing Japanese warships the only surface combat by the Iowa-class ships. USS Refuge (AH-11) - Wikipedia While USS New Jersey was away, the Korean truce talks had broken down, and new President Dwight D. Eisenhower had go[ne] to Korea to find a way to peace. Her helicopters worked to rescue downed aviators. It was an honor and a privilege to serve on-board the USS New Jersey with my fellow shipmates, and to be part of the final decommissioning crew. By using the list of officers in the deck logs and the muster rolls, one can compile a list of the crew. Volume VIII, New Guinea and the Marianas, March 1944-August 1944, @ 1953 Samuel Eliot Morison. It involved about 200,000 sailors and airmen, almost a thousand aircraft, nearly three hundred major warships, and hundreds of other ships. Bush ordered them to the Persian Gulf after Iraq invaded Kuwait on August 2, 1990. USS New Jersey is the most intact of any American battleship. Unfortunately, this took Third Fleet right in the path of Typhoon Cobra. USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) Crew Roster. Most of them were scrapped or expended as targets in atom bomb tests. USS New Jersey was decommissioned on August 21, 1957, in Bayonne, New Jersey, after a party featuring actress Julie Newmar as Miss New Jersey. Design was begun by naval architects of the Design Division section of the Navys Bureau of Construction and Repair. In 1982, she acquired new SPS-10 and SPS-49 surface and air search radars, and later the SPS-67 surface radar. She fired the last salvo of the war at Wonson when the armistice was signed on July 27, with a New Jersey delegation present. As one observer stated: The battleships, cruisers, and destroyers put up a tremendous barrage which, together with burning planes all around the horizon, created the most awesome spectacle. The Japanese naval air arm lost four hundred planes and had two carriers sunk by American submarines. And USS New Jersey was at the heart of it all, its flag plot the room where it happened.. Admiral Halsey decided to take USS New Jersey and the entire Third Fleet to attack the carriers. Other ports/arrival records
Like the spotter planes of old, these unmanned aircraft could be launched and recovered from the ship, perform surveillance, acquire targets for the ships guns, and assess damage. 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. USS New Jerseys other anti-aircraft armament evolved with experience with air attacks during World War II, and with reduced air threat and higher jet speeds after the war. Some of the records for personnel on aircraft carriers also include corresponding images of the ship. USS Pollux (AKS-4) - atozwiki.com USS New Jersey, which served longer and with greater distinction than any other battleship, now serves as a unparalleled museum and memorial of all of Americas major conflicts from 1943 to 1990. Clancy also included USS New Jersey in his second book in 1986. The WWII-era USS New Jersey was the second Iowa-class battleship completed. Moreover, it gave the Navy the battleships unparalleled ability to visibly project power. The ships hull, main guns, and much of its superstructure appear as they did when the New Jersey served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, and the Cold War, making it a fitting museum and memorial to all the conflicts and eras during which it served. Some of these targets, too fortified to be destroyed by artillery or aircraft, were demolished by the unmatched penetrating power of the New Jerseys 16-inch guns. It was estimated she saved 100 lives every day she was on station. 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. The Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial is a living museum with veterans and other volunteers and staff educating thousands of guests every year. As the fleet neared Saipan after midnight on June 12, Japanese aircraft dropped flares and launched torpedoes, but the New Jersey shot down an attacking torpedo bomber. 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. In October and November, she ranged far north up the North Korean coast, bombarding Hungnam, Hamhung, Iwon, Tanchon, Songjin, and Chongjin, almost within 16-inch range of Siberia. 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. It towered like a skyscraper and stretched away, seemingly for blocks, on either side, hiding the atoll. Looking at the majestic main deck of the New Jersey, the Caines officers see the New Jerseys pelican hook was as big as the Caines main guns; one link of the battleships anchor chain would have stretched across the minesweepers entire bow; and the main battery, the long, long cannons with their turrets, seemed bigger than the whole Caine. The great central citadel of the bridge and stacks jutted out of the deck skyward, a pyramid of metal, nervous with anti-aircraft batteries and radars; the deck dwindled aft beyond it for hundreds of feet. To e-mail Dave click Here. On the way back to Majuro, the New Jersey escorted carriers striking the Japanese vessels and aircraft remaining at Truk on April 29-30 and helped down two Japanese planes attacking the fleet. By 1945, eight twin-mounted 20mm guns replaced some of the single 20mm guns. The Rhees and Eighth Army commander General Maxwell Taylor attended USS New Jerseys 10th anniversary celebration at Incheon on May 23. However, the Navy and Marines quickly absorbed the lessons of Tarawa and were able to make future offensives far less costly. | Most had left by February 26, when the New Jersey fired thirteen 16-inch shells after U.S. reconnaissance planes were fired upon. 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. USS New Jersey (BB 62) - Navy Site Trigger Submarine 1941-1945 - Wreck Wrak Epave Wrack Pecio Lee was the victor in the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, the only clash of battleships in the Pacific thus far. On August 8, the New Jersey used her 16-inch and 5-inch guns to bombard Wake Island, captured after a heroic defense by the Marines in 1941. Crew Roster Battleship NC The New Jersey rescued fliers downed at sea using its Kingfisher float planes, and then screened carriers again striking the Palaus. As Admiral Kuritas chief of staff admitted, the battle spelled the collapse of our Navy as an effective fighting force. Japans ships never again tried to challenge the United States Navy in battle. That two such massive amphibious invasions could be launched simultaneously on opposite sides of the globe was an impressive tribute to the Allied war effort. 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. She made port calls in Italy and France, crossed the Panama Canal, and arrived at Long Beach on May 5. He was the only sailor ever killed in action on the New Jersey throughout the many conflicts in which she participated over her four commissionings. Her 55,000 sq. 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. She thus helped apply pressure on the Communist negotiators at Panmunjom. Kamikazes from Japan eventually struck the fleet off Iwo Jima, sinking an escort carrier, the last carrier sunk in the war. In all, the New Jersey fired an unbelievable 12 million pounds of munitions against the enemy in less than a year. Box BB-62
SERVER UPGRADE IN PROGRESS. Nonetheless, the Battle for Leyte Gulf was a smashing American victory, and one of the most decisive naval battles in World War II. Home Join Now About Hullnumber Before You Register Tell A Shipmate FAQs Related Links Contact Us. 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. The Marianas were part of Japans defensive cordon, and Tokyo was only 1,200 miles away within bombing range if the Americans could capture Saipan and base the new B-29 Superfortress there. The New Jersey also fired her 5-inch guns in support of the Marines ashore on several occasions. Vietnamese Counter-Offensive Phase VI, and 3. While the aircraft carrier remains the foundation of American naval power, the battleship will today be the sovereign of the seas. For all the complaining we did, it was one of the best commands I ever served with. I consider this the gravest error I committed during the Battle of Leyte Gulf.. P.O. The New Jerseys history spanned over half the 20th century, from her design in 1938 until 1991. Spruance avoided publicity; Halsey gave printable, incredibly bellicose statements to the press which lionized him. The USS New Jersey (BB-62) was an Iowa-class battleship that entered service in 1943 and saw combat in World War II and later fought in Korea and Vietnam. Good time were had aboard Our Lady Gray. 24 Mar 1945 : USS Wisconsin bombarded Okinawa, Japan. 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. With no clear target to retaliate against, USS New Jersey could only send some of her Marines, sailors, and doctors ashore to rescue and treat survivors. On December 11, 1944, Admiral Halsey in USS New Jersey led the Third Fleet whose planes blanketed Luzon on December 14-16 to support Army landings on Mindoro Island in the Philippines. People of the Philippines, I have returned.. On August 1, during the Republican National Convention, General Norman Schwarzkopf, victor of Desert Storm, gave a nationally televised address to veterans from the deck of this great battleship New Jersey that made so much history and witnessed so much heroism.. Research Guide: Crew Lists and Muster Rolls - Navy With Admiral Kurita heading for San Bernardino Strait, Admiral Halsey at 1512 sent a radio telegram from USS New Jersey to his subordinate commanders stating that the New Jersey, three other fast battleships, five cruisers and numerous destroyers WILL BE FORMED AS TASK FORCE 34 under Admiral Lee, his battleship commander. U.S., World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949 - Ancestry