If you have
questions about
making a
donation to the
Big J, please
use
the form
below.
If you prefer, you can
call Phil directly
at (856)
966-1652,
extension
211,
or send him an
e-mail at
p.rowan@battleshipnewjersey.org.
| The Jerseyman | |
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Open Letter to Friends and Supporters of the Big J Phil Rowan, Executive Director & CEO, Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial |
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Donation Information Form |
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Dates to Remember in the History of the Big J Rich Thrash, Brass Team Volunteer
Below is a list of dates to remember in the history of the Battleship for the next 5 months. They include the 70th anniversary of the ships encounter with Typhoon Cobra later this month, and the 15th anniversary of the Navy's decision to award the ship to the Home Port Alliance in January. |
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December |
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December 7, 1942 - USS New Jersey launched at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard - sponsored by Mrs. Charles Edison. |
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December 15, 1968 - King Neptune came onboard and a Shellback initiation was held. The USS New Jersey crossed 000 degrees at 1403 hrs. while enroute to Singapore. |
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December 17, 1969 - USS New Jersey Decommissioned and placed in reserve at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. |
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December 18, 1944 - USS New Jersey and over 130 ships of Task Force 38 rode out “Typhoon Cobra.” Three destroyers were capsized and 790 men were lost. |
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December 23, 1944 - While anchored at Ulithi, USS New Jersey was hit by a 5-inch shell fired by a nearby destroyer during target practice. |
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December 24, 1983 - The Bob Hope USO Show performed for the crew while the ship remained on station off the coast of Lebanon. |
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December 28, 1983 - USS New Jersey Recommissioned by Pres. Ronald Reagan at Long Beach Naval Shipyard. |
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January |
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January 5, 1969 - Sunday morning, the weather broke briefly and three observed 16-inch missions were fired. During the first mission, Turret #2 fired its 1,000th round of the deployment. |
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January 7, 1944 - USS New Jersey makes her first transit of the Panama Canal, bound for action in the Pacific theater. |
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January 20, 2000 - Navy announces that USS New Jersey is awarded to the Home Port Alliance, clearing the way for her restoration to begin. |
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January 25, 1969 - USS New Jersey moored in flooded Drydock Six, Ship Repair Facility, Yokosuka, Japan at 0900 hrs to begin ten days of upkeep, combined with some well deserved liberty. |
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January 27, 1945 - USS New Jersey returned to Ulithi ending her last cruise as Admiral Halsey’s flagship. |
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January 28, 1946 - Relieved as flagship, commander of Naval Forces in Japanese waters by USS Iowa (BB-61). USS New Jersey took aboard nearly a thousand homeward-bound troops with whom she arrived at San Francisco on February 10th. |
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January 29 - February 2, 1944 - USS New Jersey's first combat operations of WW II. She screened carriers from enemy air attack while carrier planes struck Kwajalein and Eniwetok. She also softened up resistance on the beaches for invasion troops who landed January 31. |
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February |
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February 4, 1944 - On this day USS New Jersey began her distinguished career as a flagship in Majuro Lagoon, when Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the Fifth Fleet, broke his flag from her main. Her first action as a flagship was a bold two-day surface and air strike by her task force against the supposedly impregnable Japanese fleet base on Truk in the Carolines. |
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February 8, 1984 - While on station off Beirut, USS New Jersey fired 288 16-inch rounds into the surrounding hills to effectively knock out Syrian anti-aircraft missile sites. |
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February 8, 1991 - USS New Jersey decommissioned at Pier Echo, Naval Station Long Beach with hundreds of dignitaries and spectators looking on. In his speech, Captain R.D. Tucker uttered the words of former commanding officers, which, he said, will close the final chapter in the history of the Battleship New Jersey: "The hour cometh and now is to say farewell. But, before doing so, my last order to you -- Battleship New Jersey -- is rest well, yet sleep lightly, and hear the call, if again sounded, to provide ‘Firepower for Freedom.'" |
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February 19 - 21, 1945 - In support of the assault on Iwo Jima, USS New Jersey screened USS Essex's (CV-9) group in air attacks on the island. Four days later Big J provided the same service for the first major carrier raid on Tokyo, a raid aimed specifically at aircraft production. |
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February 25, 1990 - USS New Jersey returned to her homeport, Naval Station Long Beach, from the Indian Ocean, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Hawaii, ending a 34,500 mile deployment, the last deployment for the proud, veteran battleship. |
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March |
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March 5, 1953 - USS New Jersey departed Norfolk and prepared to make her fifth transit of the Panama Canal heading back to Korea for her second tour of duty there. |
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March 24, 1945 - USS New Jersey once again carried out the vital battleship role of heavy bombardment, shelling the beaches of Okinawa in preparation for the assault, which followed one week later. |
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March 27 - 28, 1968 - At 0600 on the 27th, off the Virginia Capes, USS New Jersey began building steam for a full power run, a brutal test of machinery that would push the battleship to the limits. At 1039 the pit log read 30 knots. Speed was reduced while the crew ate lunch, and in the afternoon another high speed run was commenced - this one to full power. All engines ahead flank. "Indicate 190 rpms", ordered the COD. "190 turns, aye... 190 indicated and answered for", replied the lee helm. More turns were added. 195.. .200.. .202. At 1547 the OOD ordered maximum turns, 207. "Pit log reads 35.2 knots", reported the lee helm. The ship maintained this speed for six hours, and when the Captain was satisfied with the performance of his engineering plant, it was time for the final test: to place maximum strain on the plant by going from all ahead flank to all back emergency. When the order was given, a smoke float was dropped over the side to measure the ship's forward progress. It took two miles for the ship to go dead in the water and start to make sternway. After the tests a thorough inspection of the engineering plant was conducted, it checked out perfectly. As the ship approached Pier 4, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, at 1400 on Thursday, 28 March, Captain Snyder ordered a broom run up the halyard for all to see - the Navy's traditional symbol for a clean sweep. |
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March 31, 1969 - USS New Jersey fired the last observed fire mission of her tour in Vietnam. The mission was fired against an enemy bunker complex three-and-one-half miles northeast of Con Thien. An aerial observer reported seven bunkers were destroyed. An additional 50 rounds of main battery and 815 rounds of secondary battery were fired unobserved that night. This brought the total ordnance expended to nearly 12,000,000 pounds in 120 days on the gunline. Total rounds expended were 5,866 16-inch and 14,891 five-inch. The main battery rounds expended during USS New Jersey's deployment to Vietnam were only 1,500 short of the total she fired in World War II, two cruises to Korea, and several midshipmen cruises combined! |
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April |
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April 2, 1945 - While conducting night maneuvers near Okinawa, the USS Franks (DD-554), collides with USS New Jersey. |
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April 2, 1984 - USS New Jersey departed the Beirut Operations Area and proceeded to Naples, Italy. During the preceding 191 days, she spent 178 days on station in the Eastern Mediterranean with a condition of readiness III or higher. |
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April 3, 1969 - Her Vietnam tour complete, USS New Jersey departed Subic Bay enroute to Yokosuka, Japan for a two-day visit, sailing for home on April 9th. Her homecoming was delayed when on April 15th, while USS New Jersey was still at sea, North Korean jet fighters shot down an unarmed EC-121 "Constellation" electronic surveillance plane over the Sea of Japan, killing its entire crew. A carrier task force was formed and sent to the Sea of Japan and USS New Jersey was ordered to return to Japan, arriving back at Yokosuka on April 22nd. She immediately put to sea in readiness for what might befall, but as the crisis lessened, she was released to continue her voyage home. |
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April 6, 1968 - USS New Jersey's third career began when she was recommissioned at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Captain J. Edward Snyder in command. She was fitted with improved electronics and a helicopter landing pad and with her 40-millimeter guns removed, she was tailored for use as a heavy bombardment ship. |
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April 16, 1951 - USS New Jersey sails from Norfolk to make her third transit through the Panama Canal enroute to Korea for her first tour of duty there. |
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April 23, 1953 - At Songjin, USS New Jersey scored six direct 16-inch hits on a railroad tunnel and knocked out two rail bridges. |
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Photos of Ships Launching Dave Boone, "The Tug Boat Painter"
I volunteer at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philly in the archives and library. I’ve been searching through the photo files that have not been catalogued as of yet. I’ve found many photos of the New Jersey under construction and better yet, her launching. I’ve never seen anything like it, good detailed U.S. Navy 8 X 10” glossy-finish photos. Of course being the tugboat nut I am, the photos of the ship with the tugs alongside was a real treat. Being able to identify each one was even better! It was always a question for the folks on the historic tug Jupiter if the tug was there when New Jersey was launched. That question was answered by the attached image as she is the lead tug on the hawser on the bow. I already have a painting planned of the Jupiter at work on the NJ. I have scanned several other views of the NJ in the River, I can pass them to you if you like.
Editors Note: The photos below, and the text above, came to me recently in an e-mail. I'll be in touch with Dave in the near future to try and get more of the photos he talks about. Below are two photos showing the day the Battleship was launched, December 7, 1942, 72 years ago this week. |
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Launching of the Battleship New Jersey, December 7, 1942. |
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Local tugs moving the ship around in the river after launching. |
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Battleship New Jersey 2014 Golf Tournament Reprint of Article from the Battleship New Jersey Website (www.battleshipnewjersey.org)
The annual Battleship Golf Tournament took place at Sea Oaks Country Club on Monday, Oct. 6. Over 90 golfers enjoyed a beautiful day on this great golf course! The PSE&G team, comprised of Eric DeGrave, Jim Rigler, Craig Smith and Craig Smith Jr. won first place at 15 under. Second place, with a score of 10 under, was the team of Greg Hammold and Chris Norton.
The Longest Drive was won by Mary Rinaldo. Chris Norton won closest to the pin.
Most importantly, however, the tournament raised some much needed funds for the Battleship. Proceeds go to the on-going restoration and preservation of our nation’s most decorated battleship.
A special thanks to sponsors Bowman & Company, Investors Bank, Brown & Brown Insurance, Flying Fish Brewing Co., Hunterdon Brewery, the many hole sponsors, Joe Messina and Sea Oaks Country Club, and the many Battleship volunteers who came out to help with the tournament.
We'll see you next year! |
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| Golf Tournament Photo 1 | |
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| Golf Tournament Photo 2 | |
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| Golf Tournament Photo 3 | |
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| Golf Tournament Photo 4 | |
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| Golf Tournament Photo 5 | |
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