USS New Jersey
I dedicate this instalment to Staff Member Dave O’Meara (aka Grumpyoldman).
General Statistics
Displacement: 14,948 tons
Length: 441.3 feet
Beam: 76.3 feet
Draft: 23.8 feet
Speed: 19 knots
Complement: 812 officers and men
Armament: 4 x 12 inch guns
8 x 8 inch guns
12 x 6 inch guns
The first United States Navy New Jersey (BB-16) was a Virginia-class battleship.
She was launched the10th of November 1904 by Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts; sponsored by Mrs. William B. Kenney, daughter of Governor Franklin Murphy of New Jersey; and commissioned the12th of May 1906, with Captain William W. Kimball in command.
Here is a picture of the USS New Jersey undergoing her dock fitting out in 1906.
The USS New Jersey's initial training in Atlantic and Caribbean waters was highlighted by her review by President Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay during September 1906, and by her presence at Havana, Cuba, from the 21st of September through to the 13th of October to protect American lives and property threatened by the Cuban Insurrection.
From the15th of April to the14th of May 1907, she lay in Hampton Roads representing the US Navy at the Jamestown Exposition.
Following her participation in world cruise of The Great White Fleet, the USS New Jersey was modernized. She was painted grey and outfitted with the new "cage" masts
Apart from a period out of commission in reserve at Boston from the 2nd of May 1910 until the 15th of July 1911, New Jersey carried out a normal pattern of drills and training in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean, carrying midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy in the summers of 1912 and 1913.
Here is the USS New Jersey with flags on display
With Mexican political turmoil threatening U.S. interests, the USS New Jersey was ordered to the Western Caribbean in the fall of 1913 to provide protection. On the 21st of April 1914, as part of the force commanded by Rear Admiral Frank F. Fletcher, following Mexican refusal to apologize for an insult to American naval forces at Tampico, sailors and marines landed at Veracruz and took possession of the city and its customs house until changes in the Mexican government made evacuation possible.
New Jersey sailed from Veracruz the 13th of August, observed and reported on troubled conditions in Santo Domingo and Haiti, and reached Hampton Roads the 9th of October.
Until the outbreak of World War I, she returned to her regular operations along the East Coast and in the Caribbean.
During World War I, the USS New Jersey made a major contribution to the expansion of the wartime Navy, training gunners and seamen recruits in Chesapeake Bay.
After the Armistice, she began the first of four voyages to France from which she had brought home 5,000 members of the AEF by the 9th of June 1919.
The USS New Jersey was decommissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard 6 August 1920, and was sunk off Cape Hatteras on the 5th of September 1923 in Army bomb tests conducted by Brig. Gen. William Mitchell.
The next instalment will be the arrival at Magdalena Bay
Regards
Sean
