Battleship USS New Jersey BB-62 Main Page

Welcome Aboard!

This Month in the History of Big J...

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.

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.

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, March 28th, Captain Snyder ordered a broom run up the halyard for all to see - the Navy's traditional symbol for a clean sweep.

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!

Big J's Volunteers were awarded
the 2003 Governor�s Award for
�Mobilization of Volunteers."
To date over 500,000 volunteer hours
have been logged for tours, renovation
and maintenance work. Bravo Zulu to
the crew, keep up the good work!

The USS New Jersey is open for tours,
for information about visiting click Here.

To see photos taken at the ships
Grand Opening Celebration on
October 15, 2001 click Here.

Interested in Volunteering onboard?
For Information on joining the Crew click Here.

To see photos from my most recent
Volunteer Day onboard click Here.

For information on upcoming events
onboard the USS New Jersey click Here.

To see photos taken at the
new Smithsonian Air & Space
Museum Annex click Here.

To see photos taken during my visit
onboard the Heavy Cruiser USS Des
Moines (CA-134) during a parts raid
before she was scrapped click Here.

The Jerseyman, a Quarterly online
periodical written and edited by
Master Chief Tom Helvig, USN (Ret.),
is available on this site. To read
the current or past issues of
The Jerseyman click Here.

* * Current Status and General Information about the Ship * *

Welcome to the Online Home Port of the Battleship New Jersey.� The USS New Jersey completed her Final Voyage home from Bremerton, WA to the former Philadelphia Naval Ship Yard, arriving appropriately enough, on Veteran's Day 1999.� The Navy's decision of where to permanently berth the Battleship was announced on January 20, 2000, and the winner was... Camden!!!� On July 27, 2000 she was moved to the South Jersey Port Corporation's Beckett Street Terminal, where she remained for about 2 weeks.� While there she was opened to the public for Deck Tours on August 9th & 10th, and drew an estimated 11,000 visitors.� She was moved again on August 15, 2000 to another dock, the Broadway Terminal, where she underwent a year long, $7.3 Million restoration.� Finally, on September 23, 2001 she was moved to her new permanent home on the Camden waterfront.� She was officially opened to the public for tours on October 15, 2001.

This site contains lots of information about the USS New Jersey, the Navy's most decorated Battleship, including the Ships History, Battle Record, and Iowa Class Statistics. It also contains information about how you can help with her ongoing restoration and operation and also fund the construction of a permanent onshore museum. If you are a New Jersey Resident there are several easy ways you can help and there are also other ways everyone can help.� I myself belong to the the Home Port Alliance, they are the organization that currently has control of the ship and have opened her as a Museum on the Delaware River. Another organization that worked a long time to bring Big J home is the Battleship New Jersey Historical Society.� These two organizations worked hard to bring the Navy's most decorated warship home to the state she was named for, and I'm proud to be a small part of their efforts.

If you're interested in reviewing Photos and entries from a Daily Journal kept during the ships final trip home, click on the Final Voyage button. The Photo Gallery contains photos taken during the ships 4 different active duty periods and an extensive collection of pictures chronicling her final voyage home to New Jersey. It also contains hundreds of photos taken by me over the past 8+ years showing the ships complete restoration, grand opening to the public and ongoing operations. If you want to see a picture of a certain area of the ship, chances are you'll find it in the Photo Gallery, and if not, send me an e-mail and describe the area, and I'll take some for you the next time I'm onboard.

Feel free to send me any Comments or Suggestions you may have about this site, I value your input.� If you're interested in visiting websites for other Battleships, other Warships or Naval related sites be sure to check out the extensive Related Links list I compiled while researching for this site.� The list contains links to sites for well over 400 warships and many other Navy related sites.

I encourage you to get involved and help this great cause if you can.� You can join the Home Port Alliance for as little as $40.00 per year or you can help in numerous other ways.� For more information about how you can help, click on the You Can Help button.� Even purchasing items from the Home Port Alliance's Ships Store helps the cause, and the Hats, Shirts and other items there are very nice.� Buy an official USS New Jersey Hat, a T-Shirt or a Golf Shirt and wear it with pride knowing a portion of its purchase price went to help restore and maintain the Battleship. I thank you in advance for any help you can provide to this effort.�� Don't forget to stop by and sign the Ships Log before you leave.� There are hundreds of entries in the Ships Log, many are from former crewmen looking for old shipmates.� Check out the Log Entries and see if you can hook up with an old buddy.� If you too are trying to get in touch with old shipmates, click on the Crew Info button for some helpful hints to get you started on your way.