USS New Jersey    BB-62

The USS New Jersey, one of four Iowa battleships of the World War II era, and the widest ship to ever transit the Panama Canal, made her final canal crossing on October 18, 1999. The ship left Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, under tow, on September 12 and is expected to arrive in Philadelphia, PA November 5, 1999.

The New Jersey is being towed by the sea going tug Sea Victory, which also towed her sister, the USS Missouri, to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1998. The Sea Victory is owned by Crowley Marine Services, and was hired by the State of New Jersey to move the famous battleship from Washington to Philadelphia. After her arrival, the New Jersey will receive historical landmark status, and await a final US Navy decision for her eventual destination in New Jersey.

Launched December 7, 1942 from the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, the New Jersey was commissioned on May 23, 1943. She made her first Panama Canal transit January 7, 1944, while enroute to the Pacific ocean to join the US Navy's pacific fleet. Her 108 foot beam was designed to barely fit in the lock chambers. She had less than a foot of clearance on each side, and her dimensions were tested for the first time that Friday morning. Fortunately, she transited the locks without trouble.

After serving proudly during World War II, where she saw action in the Marshall Islands, as well as Iwo Jima and Okinawa, New Jersey was decommissioned on June 30, 1948. She entered the reserve fleet at Bayonne, NJ, , where she remained mothballed for two and one half years. In the wake of the North Korean attack against South Korea in June 1950, the US Navy ordered New Jersey to be readied for additional service. On Sept 29, 1950, workers began the task of removing covers, checking the hull, and assembling a fresh crew. Recommissioned November 21, 1950, she spent several months at the Brooklyn Naval shipyard where she received additional repairs and updated equipment. In April, 1951 she steamed toward the Pacific ocean, transiting the Panama Canal April 20th.

At the conclusion of the Korean War, New Jersey began a series of world deployments. On November 9, 1953, she once again sailed towards the Panama Canal for a northbound transit. While entering Miraflores Locks, she suffered an embarrassing mishap - she ran aground. It had been a very dry year in Panama, and canal employees were trying to conserve water when filling the lock chambers. The bottom "corners" of the chambers are rounded, not squared. The pilot had allowed enough water to flow under the keel - barely. The bow made it into the chamber, but bilge keel (which run along the most lower part of the hull on each side) got hug up on the rounded corners of the chamber. Additional water had to be let into the chamber, raising the ship a foot or two so she could float free.

The US Navy has no sense of humor when it comes to running one of its ships, especially a capital ship, aground. In just about any other situation, the grounding of a naval vessel, even if it occurs while under the control of a pilot, earns her captain a very early retirement. But the Panama Canal is different - the captain must not only turn control of his vessel over to the pilot, he must relinquish command as well. So, as additional water began to flow under the keel, the skipper of the USS New Jersey ordered some coffee, lit up a cigar, and waited for the ax to fall some place else.

New Jersey was decommissioned for a second time on August 21, 1957, and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet at Bayonne, NJ. The decommissioning ceremony was more like a funeral to the few hundred crew members who participated. No one expected the ship to steam under her own power again. But almost twenty years later, as the United States became entangled in the Southeast Asia conflict, the order was given to reactivate New Jersey for Vietnam war duty. Her second recommission was held April 6, 1968 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. On June 4, 1968, she entered the canal from the Caribbean sea. During the course of the past twenty some years, it seemed either the New Jersey had swelled in size, or the walls of the canal had somehow shrunk. The squeeze through the locks seemed tighter than ever. Fire hoses were used to dampen smoke produced when the sides of the ship scraped against the lock walls.

The New Jersey made her first deployment to the waters off Vietnam between Sept 1968 and April 1969. She returned to the United States in May for refit and training exercises. She had been scheduled to sail from Long Beach, CA on Sept 5, 1969 for her second Vietnam wartime cruise. But on Aug 21, 1969, the Secretary of Defense announced that dozens of Navy ships were to be decommissioned - and the New Jersey was at the top of the list. Instead of heading west, she prepared to set sail for Bremerton WA where she again would be decommissioned and mothballed. On Sept 6, 1969, as a navy band played the hymm "Eternal Father, Strong to Save," the USS New Jersey pulled away from her Long Beach pier for the final time under her own power....or so everyone thought.

Like a cat with nine lives, Big J came back. In the spring of 1982, due to a buildup of tensions in the Middle East, she was towed from Bremerton, WA to Long Beach CA for another refit. On December 28, 1982, she was commissioned for the forth time. New Jersey made her final transit of the Panama Canal under her own power on Sept 12, 1983 as she sailed to the Mediterranean sea. On February 8, 1991 she was again decommissioned and sent to Bremerton WA for mothballing.

The USS New Jersey Battleship Commission has been created by the state of New Jersey to provide for the preservation of the famous ship as a historical monument and museum. Pending a final decision from the navy regarding her New Jersey destination, Big J will remain in Philadelphia harbor. The October 18th Panama Canal transit will most certainly be her last. But then again, New Jersey has shown it's very difficult to predict world events. Is it possible that sometime in the not so distant future, the USS New Jersey will again be called upon to set sail over the waves? Will she be allowed to test her design, and the skills of the soon to be Panamanian owned canal workers one more time during another transit? Probably not.....then again, if Big J were a cat, she still has five lives to go.