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Total Run This Leg:
2,299.1
Nautical Miles
Total Average Speed: 5.18 Knots
Hours / Days This Leg: 443.5 Hours, 18.48 Days
Distance To Go This Leg: 648.7 Nautical Miles
Estimated Time Of Arrival: 7:00 a.m., Saturday, October 16, Balboa Sea
Buoy, Panama
Present Course: 117 Degrees Southeasterly
Winds: West-Southwest at 10 Knots
Seas: 1 Foot
Swells: 7 Feet from the West-Southwest
Barometric Pressure: 1011 Millibars
Air Temperature: 79 Degrees
Sea Temperature: 79 Degrees
Visibility: 10 Miles
Skies: Broken Overcast
Sea Floor: The ocean depths beneath yesterday's track, and at
today's point of USS New Jersey's passage, are deeper than nearly all, if not all, of her
transit so far, charted at 3,191 Fathoms or 19,146 Feet. Position:
The Battleship New Jersey is now 160 Nautical
Miles West- Southwest of the border of Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Panama's immediate
neighbor to the West. Six days from this morning, she will be approaching her berth
in Balboa, Panama for a mid-passage welcome and celebration, a respite, and a farewell
send-off through the famous Canal locks, then on to her Delaware River destination.
Time:
The Sea Victory's clocks advanced one
hour at 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning to conform to the Eastward advancement of the USS New
Jersey's track to Panama.
Birthday Correction:
Birthday Correction: In yesterday morning's
report, we calculated that if the U.S. Marine Corps was formed in 1775, and celebrated its
birthday next month, November 10th, the Corps would be 204 years old. Wrong! Make
that 224 years. Thank you, Major Randy Peterson, USMC, on duty in the Republic of
Panama.
"She Was Known as a Very Lucky Ship"
A fourth grader at Lenox Elementary School's social
studies class last Thursday in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, asked the visiting VIP teacher
Did anyone on the USS New Jersey ever die in battle during her career?
Remarkably, the Battleship's 57-year, 4-war history has
recorded only one shipboard casualty. Seaman Cook Robert Osterwind. On the
morning of May 21, 1951, with the Jersey's hook still buried in the harbor of Wonsan,
Korea, Osterwind took a slug of shrapnel through his life vest from North Korean mountain
cave fire that also managed to strip thick steel plating off one of the ship's turrets.
Before the injured sailor reached the Battleship's casualty treatment center, he
was dead. Her only official onboard casualty.
Another Jerseyman fell to an enemy truck bomb in Beirut,
Lebanon, thirty-two years later. USS New Jersey Chief Electronics Technician Michael
Gorshinsky, on Saturday, October 22, 1983, left the ship in waters off Beirut to offer his
technical expertise to the beseiged U.S. Marines holding their position against daily
raids on shore. The next day, Sunday, Gorshinsky and 240 Marines were blown away by
a suicide truck bomber who had loaded his vehicle with explosives and rammed into their
barracks.
The remainder of the New Jersey's Lebanon battle action
cruise was dedicated to his memory.
With all the action she saw in World War II, Korea,
Vietnam and Lebanon, it's a tribute to her commanders, her officers, her crew, and perhaps
even her destiny, that the USS New Jersey was able to escape even more harm.
The curious, young Pompton Lakes' student Thursday
learned quickly about "The Big J's" reputation, when visiting Governor Christie
Whitman "substitute teaching" the class as part of her monthly, statewide
volunteer outreach answered the student's question.
"She actually never sustained any major
damage," the Governor responded. "She was known as a very lucky ship.
And people liked to serve on her because she was known for that. You know,
they're pretty superstitious in the Navy, particularly, and she had a reputation for being
a very safe ship, so people liked to serve on her," Governor Whitman explained.
Luck? Destiny? Coincidence?
Ten days ago, USS New Jersey was passing 82 Nautical
Miles due West of the popular resort of Manzanillo, Mexico. Her position was logged
that night at 19 Degrees, 14 Minutes North Latitude; 105 Degrees, 47 Minutes West
Longitude.
Yesterday, the National Weather Service in Miami, Florida
alerted vessel traffic in the Eastern Pacific Ocean of its latest advisory:
"Tropical storm Irwin moving away from the
Mexican coast. At 2 p.m. PDT... 2100 Zulu ... The center of Tropical Storm Irwin was
located near Latitude 19.1 North ... Longitude 107.2 West ... or about 170 Miles ... 275
Kilometers ...West Of Manzanillo Mexico. Irwin is moving toward the West Northwest
near 7 MPH ... 11 KPH ... and this motion is expected to continue today with a turn toward
the West tonight. Maximum sustained winds are now near 60 MPH ... 95 KPH ...with
higher gusts. Little change in strength is forecast during the next 24 hours.
Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 70 Miles ...110 Kilometers from the
center. Estimated minimum central pressure is 997 Millibars ... 29.44 Inches. This
will be the last public advisory on Irwin"
Captain Kaare Ogaard was notified of Tropical Storm
Irwin's forecasted potential last night, with the note that it was not expected to affect
his present track to Panama. The Captain had already been back there on September
30. Ten days ago is not today. And tomorrow is yet another weather day on USS
New Jersey's transit to Panama, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic seaboard, and up to the
Delaware Bay.
But carrying Governor Whitman's observation to the Lenox
4th grader about 'The Big J's" good fortune through the years doesn't hurt, does it?
Submitted by Bob Wernet onboard the Sea Victory.
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