USS New Jersey (BB-16) was the fourth of five Virginia-class battleships of the United States Navy, and the first ship to carry her name.She was laid down at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts, in May 1902, launched in November 1904, and commissioned into the fleet in May 1906.The ship was armed with an offensive battery of four 12-inch (305 mm) guns and eight 8-inch . Armed as such New Jersey was formally recommissioned 6 April 1968 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Captain J. Edward Snyder in command. During his time in the Navy department, Edison pushed to build the Iowas, and to build one at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which secured votes for Roosevelt in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the 1940 presidential election. [8], Departing Long Beach 2 September, New Jersey touched at Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay before sailing 25 September for her first tour on the gun line[19] along the Vietnamese coast. New Jersey would remain in the waters of the DMZ until after New Years, shelling Communist bunkers for ground troops until leaving to support the 1st Marine Division 3 January 1969. The task force returned to the Marshalls 19 February. Artillery sites neutralized 2 Learn how steam , Thank you sponsors and ticket buyers! Forces stationed in Japan into South Korea. USS New Jersey (BB-16) - Wikipedia The last observed mission was fired on the evening of 31 March against an enemy bunker complex three-and-one-half miles northeast of Con Thien. In addition to these losses, Allied forces succeeded in damaging two Japanese carriers and a battleship. "[8], As part of president Ronald Reagan's and Navy Secretary John Lehman's effort to create a 600-ship Navy, New Jersey was selected for reactivation in the spring of 1981, and she was towed from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to Long Beach Naval Shipyard at the end of July 1981 for modernization/reactivation. Enemy movement was restricted by the fire of her big guns. Her first action as a flagship was in Operation Hailstone, a two-day surface and air strike by her task force against the major Japanese fleet base on Truk in the Carolines. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the name on 25 May 2015, at a ceremony in Jersey City, New Jersey. [8], New Jersey's main battery consisted of nine 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 guns in three three-gun turrets, which could fire 2,700-pound (1,225kg) armor-piercing shells some 23 miles (42.6km). New Jersey destroyed a trawler and, with other ships, sank the destroyer Maikaze. New Jersey's big guns went to work on the complex, firing 16inch shells into tunnels and bunkers to aid the ground troops. Uss New Jersey Pictures, Images and Stock Photos Present were Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, former Governor Walter E. Edge and other dignitaries.