USS+New+Jersey

=**USS New Jersey**=


 * The USS New Jersey started its’ third mission in 1968, under the command of Captain J. Edward Snyder. The USS New Jersey was all set for her destination, fitted with a brand new helicopter landing pad and top of the line electronics. With these supplies she could face anything. But it wasn’t only choppers and radars; she received a few new weapons as well. Her 40-millimeter battery was removed and replaced with 16-inch guns. These bad boys were able to reach targets on shore that smaller guns could not. She was ready to go. But where was she going? Vietnam.

Docked in Philadelphia, the USS New Jersey was the only active battleship at the time. She left for California on May 16, stopping at Norfolk before going through the Panama Canal. She reached her first destination on June 11, Long Beach, California. There the USS New Jersey received ammunition from an AE-16 helicopter. This was the first time that a battleship received heavy supplies via helicopter at sea.

She left, Long Beach, California, on September 3, 1968 and stopped briefly in Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay, Hawaii. On September 25, New Jersey departed on the final leg of her trip to give support through gunfire near the Demilitarized Zone of Vietnam. She hadn’t fired shots in sixteen years and was ready to blow out supply areas and gun positions in North Vietnam. Soon after a spotting plane was forced down at sea by enemy fire. New Jersey was there to recover the crew.

For half of the next year she held a steady pace of support fire along North Vietnam’s coast. In only two months time New Jersey had fired nearly ten thousand rounds of ammo at her Communist targets, many of these were sixteen-inch projectiles. Her bombardments were occasionally interrupted by trips back to Subic Bay to replenish supplies.

At the end of her first tour, New Jersey made one last stop in Subic Bay, leaving on April 3, 1969 for Japan and finally back to America. While New Jersey was in route to the U.S., North Vietnamese fighter planes gunned down an unarmed electronic surveillance plane over the Sea of Japan. After this incident she was under orders to come about back to Japan and wait in readiness for further instructions. The New Jersey was released once the crisis had lessened and continued on her voyage back to Long Beach, California, uninterrupted. That was her first homeport visit in eight months. During the summer months of 1969 the crew of the New Jersey worked to make her ready for another mission. But before they could leave again, the U.S. Navy issued a list of ships to be decommissioned. New Jersey was on that list. About a week later, Captain Snyder was relieved his duties aboard the USS New Jersey, and was replaced by Captain Robert C. Peniston. The USS New Jersey is known as one of the most powerful war machines of all time.

The USS New Jersey docked in Camden Currently the New Jersey resides in Camden as a museum. Sources: http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/ships/battleships/newjersey/bb62-nj.html

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