To avoid the weather, Halsey moved the fueling rendezvous south. On October 20, 1944, over 160,000 Army troops landed on Leyte, a large island in the center of the Philippines. On April 13, 1944, USS New Jersey and Admiral Spruances Central Pacific Force now renamed the Fifth Fleet steamed 2,000 miles west to support the amphibious offensive by General Douglas MacArthur and the Seventh Fleet against the Japanese in New Guinea. Login| Nonetheless, these initial waves sank three destroyers, three smaller warships, and two transports, and damaged two carriers and dozens of small ships, some beyond repair. The attack sunk twenty-nine ships and destroyed 214 aircraft. The Quiet Warrior, A Biography of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, by Thomas B. Buell, @ 1987 Naval Institute Press, Published by Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. Admiral Halsey in the New Jersey led preparatory airstrikes against the Philippines. 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. She returned to Long Beach in February 1990. As USS New Jersey led the entire Third Fleet north that night, some of Admiral Halseys subordinates were concerned that San Bernardino Strait was totally unguarded. Four gunners and 64 crew are KIA. She was the second of the Iowa class to be commissioned by the U.S. Navy. At 0707, Admiral Kinkaid sent Admiral Halsey on USS New Jersey an uncoded radio message: ENEMY B[ATTLESHIP]S AND CRUISER REPORTED FIRING ON Taffy 3. Equipment was coated with preservative grease like cosmoline, and non-moving parts were preserved under layers of paint. Fifty such shells were produced, but it is unknown whether they were deployed on the New Jersey or his sister ships. At 0215, USS TRIGGER attacks the convoy again, fires three torpedoes and all hit and sink DELAGOA MARU near Tanegashima. This was the New Jerseys third recommissioning still a Navy record. HullNumber.com takes your privacy seriously. The main radar antenna has been restored to rotate, and systems in the Combat Information Center have been reactivated. After the Battle for Leyte Gulf, USS New Jersey picked up downed fliers and Japanese sailors in the water. Her ten-gun 5-inch broadside blew up an armed minesweeper/trawler, and she finished off the destroyer Maikaze. It was the only battle where ships were sunk by submarines, aircraft, and other ships, using all types of guns, torpedoes, bombs, rockets, and mines. 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. information about joining, or getting membership information, contact them Add yours! The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were repulsed with heavy losses by U.S. and South Vietnamese forces, but the Tet offensive shocked America and fueled opposition to the war. They sank the light carrier Princeton, the sole American fast carrier sunk after 1942. | On Aug. 12, 1945, days after atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, the Donnors received an official telegram at their home in Big Rapids, Mich. Their son, U.S. Navy Radio Technician 2nd Class. The New Jersey was the only ship to serve as a flagship for both of Americas greatest fighting admirals in World War II: Raymond Spruance and William F. Bull Halsey, Jr. She is the only surviving flagship of Admiral Spruance, who commanded the Navys main fleet from the New Jersey twice, from February to April 1944 for the first attack on Truk, and from August to November 1945 to enforce Japans surrender as his last seagoing assignment. The New Jersey passed through the Panama Canal into the Pacific for the first time in 15 years. 06/20/2012 michael.missel@us.army.mil Michael Missel M Div./#2 Engine Room - 1988-1991 16234 Placid Dr. Whittier, CA 90604 United Nations Summer/Fall Offensive, 3. Iraq and Iran had been in a vicious war since 1980, and both had attacked tankers carrying oil through the vital waterway. Missouri had been decommissioned in Bremerton in 1955. U.S. involvement was at its height, with over half a million American troops deployed in South Vietnam. Franklin CV-13 in 1944 and 1945 and the dates they lost their lives. Her part in the battle was finished, and her guns were cold.. In August, warring militias started shelling the Marines, and on September 8 smaller U.S. ships began firing to defend the Marines. After fighting fascism, communism, and terrorism, she was decommissioned for the final time in February 1991. Halseys parting message from the New Jersey to the fleet accurately stated: We have driven the enemy off the sea and back to his inner defenses. As a member of the Decommissioning crew in 1991 I lost contact with a lot of good men from the crew. 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. In 1982, USS New Jersey was retrofitted with new batteries of state-of-the-art missiles. Ship morale was improved by a show by singer Wayne Newton, a Christmas Eve show by Bob Hope, Brooke Shields, Cathy Lee Crosby, Ann Jillian, and Vic Damone, and a visit by Secretary Lehman. For length of service, combat service, shore bombardment, fleet leadership, and decorations, USS New Jersey is second to none. 1985 1986 America needs the battleship once again to provide firepower for the defense of freedom and, above all, to maintain the peace. President Reagan and 10,000 people then toured the New Jersey. During World War II, USS New Jersey carried a complement of up to three observation floatplanes, initially OS2U Kingfishers and then Curtiss SC Seahawks. Mountainous waves broke over the carriers high flight decks, peeling them back like sardine can lids. This was the first time an American battleship had operated in the Soviet Unions backyard. USS New Jersey was in active service for over 21.5 years 2.5 years more than Iowa, 5 years more than Missouri, and 8.5 years more than Wisconsin. Thousands of civilians visited her, and 6,000 active and reserve Navy sailors volunteered to serve in her 1,500-man crew. These and other attacks cost Japan over a thousand aircraft and made April one of the bloodiest months in the war for the Navy. The catapults that had launched her Seahawk floatplanes were removed to make room for landings on the fantail by a new Sikorsky HO3S-1 helicopter. 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. Unlike the flammable carriers, the Iowa-class ships were near impervious to kamikazes. And with a speed of 35 knots, the New Jersey will be among the fastest ships afloat.. Nonetheless, befitting a ship that survived so many crises, the New Jersey opened as a museum and memorial on October 14. At 0412, when reporting the results of the battle in Surigao Strait, Admiral Kinkaid decided to radio Admiral Halsey on USS New Jersey to confirm: IS TF 34 GUARDING SAN BERNARDINO STRAIT? Because the radio message had to be transmitted from the Seventh Fleets flagship to General MacArthurs headquarters in the Admiralty Islands two thousand miles away, retransmitted to the New Jersey, and then decoded, it was not received by Admiral Halsey until 0648. The battleline fulfilled the role assigned by Admiral Spruance of protecting the carriers by downing most of the attackers with virtually impenetrable antiaircraft fire, while sustaining minimal injury. SEND LEE. As Tokyo Rose later commented, Kinkaids hallooing for help in plain English showed great anxiety.. Descend to Broadway and walk inside fire and boiler rooms of our nation's largest battleship. Admiral Spruance flew to Pearl Harbor to confer with the Commander-in-Chief Pacific Area (CINPAC), Admiral Chester Nimitz. 30 Sep 1968 The battleship USS New Jersey fires its 16-inch guns into the demilitarized zone here 9/30. Many former crew members belong to the USS New Jersey Historical Museum Society. Another source of information on locating ex-service members is the following publication: The Japanese decoy plan had succeeded. After over two months at sea, the New Jersey finally headed to Eniwetok and then to Pearl Harbor, arriving August 9, 1944. The New Jersey led battleships into the missile age, being the first warship to launch a Tomahawk cruise missile, and the first battleship to fire a Harpoon missile, the anti-ship version of the Tomahawk, and the Phalanx anti-missile gun. Awesome experience, Great Ship and Great Crew. 25 Feb 1945 : USS Wisconsin escorted carriers as the carrier aircraft attacked Hachino, Japan. Through Ancestry's Immigration Collection, select the database New York Passenger Lists. Soon after, the New Jersey received the Pioneer Remotely Piloted Vehicle. Back to the USS New Jersey (BB 62) page|Crew List main page| The mothballing process was reversed, and a new crew trained. History of United States Naval Operations in World War II, by Samuel Eliot Morison, Published by Little, Brown and Company, Boston, MA. On October 18, 1943, many months ahead of schedule, USS New Jersey was ready for duty. Date of Birth: 04/12/1934. They produced a variety of plans offering different solutions to the competing needs of displacement, armament, armor, internal protection, speed, endurance, seakeeping, and stability. By 1010, his force sank two destroyers, a destroyer escort, and the escort carrier Gambier Bay the first carrier to be sunk in the Pacific by enemy gunfire. Her helicopters rescued Navy pilots downed in or near North Korea, and her doctors cared for wounded from a South Korean frigate damaged by shore batteries. In World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Lebanon, and the Persian Gulf, the New Jersey earned a total of 19 Battle and Campaign stars, making her the most decorated battleship in American history, the most of any surviving U.S. Navy ship, and the second-most decorated ship in American history. I held the American Flag in the ceremony. Feeling as stunned as if I had been struck in the face, Halsey angrily crumpled the message and threw it and his cap on the deck of the New Jersey, stomping on them and furiously cursing. If you haven't been to the Museum in Camden, NJ, it's a must do. Last updated on April 03, 2012. The battle group commander muses that [w]hen his flagship was built, he was sailing boats in a bathtub. He believes that none of the Soviet ships could possibly survive more than two of his sixteen-inch projectiles, and that the Soviets anti-ship missiles would not be able to damage his ship gravely the New Jersey had upwards of a foot of class B armor plate. The Kirovs group retreats to Russia, and war is averted. During the battle, USS New Jersey was the principal American flagship where Admiral Halsey made some of the most difficult, dramatic, and debated naval command decisions in World War II. At 2022 on October 24, Halsey went into the New Jerseys flag plot, put his finger on Admiral Ozawas charted position, and told Admiral Carney, Heres where we are going, Mick. All but Kearsarge (BB-5) were named after states. They destroyed shipping and over 500 hundred aircraft around Tokyo in what Admiral Mitscher called the greatest air victory of the war for carrier aviation. The New Jersey then covered the carriers as their planes bombed Iwo Jima during and after the Marines landing on February 19. USS New Jersey (BB-62), From World War II, Korea, and Vietnam to Museum Ship, by David Doyle, @ 2019 David Doyle, Published by Schiffer Publishing, Ltd., Altgen, PA. USS New Jersey (BB-62), The Big J Battleship, @ 1996 Turner Publishing Company, Published by Turner Publishing Company, Paducah, KY. U.S. Battleships, An Illustrated Design History, by Norman Friedman @ 1985 United States Naval Institute, Published by the Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, MD. The Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, the Berlin Wall was torn down, and democracies replaced the Communist governments in Eastern Europe. In Norway, USS New Jersey was visited by King Haakon VII and escorted by future King Olav V. In England, members of her crew were entertained by King George VI and the future Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip. These were the first shells fired by the New Jersey in the Vietnamese war. While the aircraft carrier remains the foundation of American naval power, the battleship will today be the sovereign of the seas. The Soviet Union was pressured by President Reagans foreign policy initiatives and expansion of the Navy (which peaked at 594 ships), and challenged by East European discontent, Afghan resistance, and economic deterioration at home. 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. The first two battleships Iowa (BB-61) and New Jersey (BB-62) were to be built by the New York and Philadelphia Navy Yards, respectively. In the 1960s, with American involvement ramping up in Vietnam, there were repeated calls to bring back a battleship. USS New Jersey Veterans, Inc. Trustees Joseph Azzolina, Jr. Food Circus Supermarkets, Inc. Brian Bauerle Cooper's Ferry Partnership Captain Joseph Benton III McAllister Towing and Transportation Charles Fentress Luke Gordon Sheet Metal Workers Union Local No.19 Honorable Patricia Egan Jones Honorable George Leone, Esq. The Fast Carriers, The Forging of an Air Navy, by Clark G. Reynolds, @ 1968 Clark G. Reynolds, Published by McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, NY. On March 19, the New Jersey shot down about a half dozen aircraft attacking the carriers, damaged others, and used her floatplane to rescue a downed carrier pilot. Shes more than the best means of quickly adding real firepower to our Navy; shes a shining example of how [we] will rebuild Americas Armed Forces on budget and on schedule and with the maximum cost-effective application of high technology to existing assets. As a result, the two Iowa-class battleships under construction (Illinois (BB-65) and Kentucky (BB-66)) were scrapped, and the more powerful but slower Montana-class battleships (BB-67 through BB-71) were never started. merced toyota In 2004, USS New Jersey was added to the National Register of Historic Places and the New Jersey Register of Historic Places. Status changes included reporting to or transferring from the activity, promotions or demotions, change in rate, departing for or returning from leave, temporary attached duty, and formal inpatient status for treatment in a medical facility. For membership information or reunion inquiries, visit That means it lobbed 5,866 sixteen-inch shells and 14,891 five-inch shells. On September 16, President Rhee presented the Korean Presidential Unit Citation to the Seventh Fleet and Admiral Clark. Spruance avoided publicity; Halsey gave printable, incredibly bellicose statements to the press which lionized him. These cruises involved removing some of the ships own crew and bringing on board Naval Academy midshipmen to rotate through various departments of the ship and learn various jobs. The New Jerseys armament evolved continuously over her career. Just as Admiral Sprague expected his ships to be annihilated, Kurita ordered his ships north to reorganize at 0911. Tickets are still available for the @battleshipnj 's Evening Engine Room Guided Tour, Friday, March 3 at 6pm. As Admiral Halseys flagship, she led the Third Fleet as it supported General MacArthurs difficult, two-month struggle to take Leyte from the reinforced Japanese Army. When you took the Philippines, that was the end of our resources. The battle paved the way for liberation of the Philippines and Allied victory in the Pacific. Studies began in early 1938 to design faster battleships which could keep up with Americas fast carriers, outclass the Japanese fast battleships, and handle the big battleships which intelligence believed were being built in Japan. She was also the first battleship to enter the Persian Gulf, and the first battleship in thirty years to lead her own battle group a role in which Tom Clancy featured her in his best-selling novel The Hunt for Red October. After the Communists broke off talks in August 1951, the New Jersey provided naval gunfire support for the U.N. troops ashore near Kansong. Once again Wonson shore batteries fired and were silenced by the New Jersey. From September 1955 to January 1956, she joined the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, stopping in Gibraltar, Spain, and France. Fighting off kamikazes, the New Jersey protected carriers which struck Japanese bases in Vietnam, Canton and Hainan Island in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

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