New Jersey (BB 62) - Naval Cruise Book

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ADM IRAL l. HALSEX .. , 59 5-Q i f ' ,,Np5f ' 5 F , 11 L R 3:2 -F I CPR ' - 1 5 iiaifefib 5 3-4591 if fi Q ' 'T-iff f f f 'li ipl .. 1 W u. 1 x., 'bee- VOL. 2 PO. I3 U. S. S. -NEW JERSEY SEPTEMBER 3, ISM'-l LWEQKL iiiliml-Maisie! H.iiSEY'JFf- Admiral William F. Halsey is one of the few military leacers of this var who has become a legend in his own time. And toda the U.S.S. NEW Y JERSEY has the lucky prospect of b t f th t r fl ecoming a par o a au a o eg- end and history which lill surround the name of Halsey as long as Amer- ican naval traditions e remembered. - When the history of :Eg var against Japan is lritten, it wi l be in part the story of the achievements of Admiral Halsey,America's nfightinest Admiral since David Farragut of the , ,, . s ee - Civil war. The fa-ous Civil war AIIIRAL HALSI-Y h s long b n one of gre legit Ad-irq-L ordered' Damn the torpedoes imlte heroes of the VFW JERSPI. Reason: he is l and full speed. ahead ' It is hard to native-born-JERSEYNAN. He was born at Elizabeth. :' . N.j., and lived there for live years. The tate say 'blah of the -any Halsey 'clung' of New Jersey claims him as its own, although 'ill be re-e.bered. It -ight be The his legal residence is Cnlifornis. When the NEI . l ,. . JERSEY 'ns searching for n tradition to live up only good Jap 1. G dead Jap' It to, the state of New jersey proudly handed over .ight be one of half 5 hundrgd Qther Admirlsl wllulleybnlock. lstocz usd barrel ss the gutty remarks.he has made at high ftfie i 2fL-- -....--,-. moments of our recent naval history. Admiral Halsey has the priceless Or it light be some order he 'ill genius of being able to put into give on board the NEW IERSE! in the cold and chiselled vords the burning months ahead. , gsmotiona menvyf-fl in lar ----- tlnei-it ---RE'I'RICI'EDISSUE-Nottobelailedhole-Foruseonlyonship--- File The ship's newspaper Jerseyman welcomes ADM Bull Halsey. and second tour from March 1953 to November 19531 the ship was flagship for the Seventh Fleet. Duties in Korean waters included gun strikes along the coast of North Korea and gunfire support at the 38th parallel bombline. Targets included bunkers, bridges and even moving trains: a true test of 16-inch gun accuracy. In Korea, NEW JERSEY fired over 7,000 16-inch rounds. On May 21, 1951 the ship took its only wartime casual- ty. A Korean coastal battery opened fire when the battleship entered its range. A near-miss, one four-inch shell exploded aft of the ship fportj. The shrapnel killed one man and in- jured two others. Also, the ship's forward 16-inch gun turret took a direct hit but the turret crew suffered no casualties and the turret sustained little damage. NEW JERSEY maintained her reputation gained in World War II that she was a lucky', ship. Uponreturning tothe UnitedStatesanduntilthesummer of 1 957, N EWJ ERSEY. operatedlwith the Atlantic. Fleet out of her home port, Norfolk, Virg. Some of these operations in- cluded two midshipmen cruises to Europe, short reserve cruises, a five-month cruise with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean and participation in NATO operations during the fall of 1956. In December 1956, NEW JERSEY reported to the New York Naval Shipyard for inactivation and on Aug. 21, 1957, she was decommissioned and placed in the inactive reserve fleet at Bayonne, N. J. She was moved to the Inactive Ship Mainte- nance Facility at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. On Nov. 5, 1957, the world's last active battleship, the WISCONSIN was also decommissioned. V1etn am Era But surprisingly, on August 1, 1967, the decision was made to recommission NEW JERSEY, in the best shape of the four battleships, once again for duty with the fleet. A debate had been spurred throughout the battleship's hiatus between proponents of rapidly advancing missile technologies and tried- and-true artillery, and also the age-old argument between naval and air bombardment. At the time, an average of one American aircraft per day was lost in Vietnam and an all-weathern sup- port capability was needed. The ship was outfitted inthe Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for a cost of 821.5 million in Navy operating and maintenance funds. Eight months later, on April 6, 1968, the recommission- ing ceremony marked the entrance into the fleet of the world's only active battleship. She left Philadelphia in May, transited the Panama Canal, and arrived on the West Coast in early June for refresher training. NEW JERSEY left her home port of Long Beach, Calif., and arrived on station off Vietnam Sept. 29. She conducted gunfire support missions for allied forces fighting in South Vietnam and shelled enemy coastal positions in North Vietnam before Lyndon Johnson's Nov. lst bombing halt. The effect on the Communists was enormous, physically as well as psycholo- gically. Her actions were lauded by ground troops. After deliv- ering almost 12 million pounds of high explosives onto Commu- nist targets in Vietnam, NEW JERSEY returned to Long Beach on May 5, 1969. Her new life was cut short 20 months after recommission- ing by political sentiments which attempted to limit the devel- oping war machine. Much to the dismay of many naval experts, Marines, soldiers and especially crew, the battleship was de- commissioned Dec. 17, 1969, marking what many thought would be the end of the battleships. The Commanding Officer, Captain Peniston, retired her with the words rest well, yet sleep lightlyg and hear the call, if again sounded, to provide fire- power for freedom. Throughout the '70's, NEW JERSEY and her sister IOWA's experienced several close calls, both for reactivation and for being struck from the Navy list. Feasibility studies de- termined the ships would be too difficult to activate on short notice during surges in the Vietnam situation. Some in power believe money was being wasted on ships that would never see ' .1 V. , 5 I if , ,,,+Qr,,',,,..,,:f.W1Jikq'.11':l:l'1'..Zw,1 jg 1 ' 1 , will J. , , .rwga W... 1- -' ,.fi,,'f1i,,,,.,,..,1,47'.flIJM:f.w4i,1rW'f:'fi,wwmfiwvii3'I- ' , ,, ', , :,g','i '1,1j.'w,',i ifffff,nlg.2u,'-. g,f1' iw i,,., ' . . , ,i.,wfi,l47fimw 2,MyWf.4v'wwwtlw0.fy.m1'-lmw-i14hw1'l1-f,- , Nw ,. 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tion, the ships had been previously pounded by naval gunfire. USS NEW JERSEY CBB-621 The present NEW JERSEY was authorized by an act of Congress May 17, 1938 and the contract was awarded to the Philadelphia Navy Yard in July, 1939. Previous battleships of the five prevailing naval superpow- ers were limited by a 1922 Washington treaty to stop the mad- dening gunsfarmorfhull cycle of increasing size and thickness to 35,000 ton hulls and 16-inch guns. An additional 10,000 tons took the shape of NEW J ERSEY,s long, graceful bow. This made her much faster than her predecessors, giving her the classification 'ifast battleship? She was built forjust S1 10 mil- lion. Launched Dec. 7, 1942 Cexactly one year after the bomb- ing of Pearl Harborj, the ship was commissioned May 23, 1943. She was fitted out at Philadelphia and departed on her shake- down cruise Aug 9, 1943 in preparation for her part in World War II. World War II NEW JERSEY took to sea Jan. 2, 1944 bound for the Pacific. She participated in operations in Truk in the Marshall Islands, Western New Guinea, the Marianas Turkey Shoot, the battle of the Philippine Sea, the Caroline Islands, the battle of Leyte Gulf, Luzon, Formosa, the battle of Cape Engano, Iwo Jima and finally Okinawa, earning a total of nine battle stars. The ship operated with both the Third and Fifth Fleets and was flagship for Admirals William F. fBullJ Halsey and Raymond A. Spruance. Even so, her World War II career was somewhat disap- pointing. Already, strategy had changed to favor the aircraft carriers. The battleships escorted them, serving as anti-aircraft platforms. NEW JERSEY never had the chance to prove her- self against the Japanese fleet, which was rapidly being sunk by American ships, planes and submarines by the time she en- tered the Pacific. At one time, during the American invasion of Leyte, she narrowly missed a confrontation with the Japa- nese 70,000-ton super-dreadnought YAMATO. NEW JER- SEY was detached from amphibious escort duties to pursue an unloaded carrier decoy force. The YAMATO's group advanced, then retreated from a miraculously effective, albeit mismatched defensive force before NEW JERSEY could re- turn at top speed to join the fray. YAMATO, one of two of A postcard depicts NEW JERSEY upon commissioning. HING Fine Copy E U BATTLESHIP ' S' S N . EW 1 R NAVY y-AR ' 1942 E-A-li ADBIIRAL 17, IA -4. J. C p U.S.1v zz., -. zvrnxf. Jn., U.S.1:i?,L31:nANT S AGER ARLE S EDI HQN- WIFE 0 C ovleklvon DISON 'Pura Sz-ATE 0:11-NEW JERSEY PHIL ANN0 the l3fgCSTDELPHIA Navy YUNCED BY battleships ever built, ARD DEvEL0 was sunk by successive waves of PMENT ASS unopposed air attacks by more planes than at- N tacked Pearl Harbor. One Japanese battleship, the MU- SASHI, was sunk by at least 16 bomb and 21 torpedo hits. The last real battleship-to-battleship confrontation took place in the Atlantic breakout of the famous Voss-built Ger- man battleship BISMARK which sunk the HMS HOOD. BISMARK was disabled by a lucky aircraft torpedo shot and was subsequently engaged by massive naval artillery strikes 12,876 5- and 16-inch shellsj and torpedo C601 attacks. Brit- ish Rear Admiral Tovey, as he left the scene with his battle force signalled cannot get her to sink with guns? Whether she sank or was scuttled by her crew remains unclear. One other fact remains, however. While the ARIZONA and OKLAHOMA were sunk in Pearl Harbor, no U. S. bat- tleship was sunk in action at sea in World War II, despite massive damage to several. In fact, the ships proved so hardy that in the Bikini atom bomb tests, the USS PENNSYLVA- NIA was still afloat after surviving two nuclear blasts. In 1947, NEW JERSEY was attached to the Atlantic H 1 Fleet and on June 30, 1948 was A decommissioned and joined the A reserve fleet at Bayonne, N. J. She and her sister IOWA-class battleships - IOWA and WIS- CONSIN - were put to rest , with the exception of the USS MISSOURI, named for the i I home state of President Harry 'W M Truman, who probably favored 1 . her. Korean Conflict NEW JERSEY didn't sleep long. She was recommis- sioned in November 1950 to as- sist United Nations forces in the Korean Conflict. During the time the ship was in Far Eastern waters ffirst Korean tour from April 1951 to November 1951, l!l.....nuu! A .. ...Y

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M NEW JERSEY fires a broadside off the coast of Korea. service again. Museum societies prepared to accept and pre- serve the battleships. The Carter administration opposed New Jerseyis recommissioning. 4th Commissioning But in 1982, NEW JERSEY was commissioned by one of her greatest fans, President Ronald Reagan, who said the Navy gala reminded him of a film he acted in called Operation Hellcat. He said he had to confess that while he was still in love with his leading lady, Nancy, he was developing a great respect for the leading lady in these ceremonies. Sheis gray, she's had her face lifted. but she's still in the prime of her life, a gallant lady: The NEW JERSEY. It was the first time a President had commissioned a ship in over 40 years. Secretary of the Navy John Lehman was also there to sup- port the 514th of his 600 ship Navy. After much congressional deliberation, NEW JERSEY had been the first ofthe IOWAS to be recommissioned for a price of S326 million, on time and far under budget, in fact, for about the price of a new frigate. The battleship was inundated with requests to serve by over 4,000 volunteers. Only 1,550 men were chosen, 300 in crit- ical ratings: a far cry from the 2,500 men who served in World War II. The battleship was reconditioned with capabilities for car- rying 32 Tomahawk missiles: the most ad- vanced of naval missiles and four times the num- ber carried by any ship at that time. She also carried 16 Harpoon anti-surface missiles, four Vulcan-Phalanx close-in gatling-guni' weapon systems for de- fense against incoming aircraft or missiles, a modern electronic countermeasures sys- tem, a cruiser-style NEW JERSEY lies at anchor with the fleet at Ulithi. File Photo -EKMQW communication system, aviation facilities and operating sta- tions for SH-60B helicopters, updated air and surface radars, and conversion of the fuel plant to burn Navy distillate fuel. Beirut NEW JERSEY was on a three-month Shakedown cruise off Southern California when there were political flare-ups in Central America that demanded her attention. Then, the Beirut crisis began. She transited the Panama Ca- nal, having been designed to do so with a clearance of approx- imately two feet. The battleship remained on station with the Sixth Fleet for six more months in support of U. S.fMarines W Y In , g 5 mlfifll wr as , -f Y af., Mtv File Photo CAPT Peniston departs the ship after decommissioning in 1969. Modern Dreadnought i File Photo 5 V Y Y -l