Key Points and Summary: The USS New Jersey (BB-62), known as “The Big J,” remains the most decorated battleship in U.S. Navy history, serving from WWII to the Gulf War.
-Commissioned in 1943, it played pivotal roles in major conflicts, including Leyte Gulf, the Korean War, and Vietnam.
-During its Vietnam deployment, it delivered nearly 12 million pounds of ordnance, showcasing its legendary firepower.
-Reactivated during the Cold War, the ship was equipped with Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles.
-Decommissioned in 1991, the New Jersey now serves as a museum in Philadelphia, drawing over 80,000 visitors annually as a testament to American naval history.
USS New Jersey: The Battleship That Shaped U.S. Naval History
The Iowa-class battleship USS New Jersey (BB-62) was recently in the news with the $10 million overhaul it received along with the USS Iowa (BB-61).
It is being overhauled to keep it tip-top to continue as a museum piece.
However, those big 16-inch guns would still wreak havoc on an enemy during a seaborne amphibious landing. This battlewagon is from a bygone era.
The Iowa-class battleships were the biggest and last battleships the US Navy ever built.
The Navy originally had plans to build six Iowa-class warships. Still, it ended up ordering only four, and all four re-entered service at various times during World War II to help the Navy deal with defeating the Axis Powers.
They were brought back into service during the Korean War. And were brought back again during the war in Vietnam. Their last action was during the Gulf War against Iraq, in which they once more supported ground troops with naval fire. This time, they were also equipped with Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles.
The Battleship New Jersey, “The Big J”
The battleship New Jersey (BB-62) has a storied history, having served in the Pacific Theater of World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Lebanese Civil War, and the Persian Gulf War.
The New Jersey, affectionately known as “The Big J,” has the most battle stars of any US battleship in the Navy’s history.
It was commissioned in May 1943, and the rest of that year was spent in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas.
The New Jersey went to the Pacific in early 1944 and conducted her first combat operations supporting the Marshall Islands invasion. She was the Fifth Fleet flagship during the mid-February raid on the Japanese base at Truk, where she used her guns to sink one enemy ship and join in sinking another.

USS New Jersey (BB 62) fires her 16” guns during a training exercise at San Clemente Island during fleet training exercises conducted off the coast of California. Photographed, July 15, 1968. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
Throughout the rest of 1944, she participated in raids on Japanese-held islands, the Marianas invasion and Battle of the Philippine Sea, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and operations against the Philippines.
From August 1944, she was the flagship of Admiral William F. Halsey’s Third Fleet.
The “Big J” continued her Pacific combat operations into 1945, supporting the invasions of Iwo Jima and the Ryukyus.
Following an overhaul, she again became the Fifth Fleet flagship during the final days of World War II and remained in the Far East until early 1946. In 1947, she went to the Atlantic and made one midshipmen’s training cruise to Europe before decommissioning in June 1948.
However, the big battleship didn’t have a long retirement as she was brought back into the active rolls in November 1950 when the Korean War started. The big battleship had tours of duty off the coast of Korea in 1951 and 1953. After the armistice, she went to the Atlantic and served there until 1957, when she was retired again.
The Battleship New Jersey In Vietnam
Once again, the battleship USS New Jersey’s retirement was short-lived. It was the only battleship used in Vietnam. But she was pulled out of mothballs again in time to arrive in Vietnam in September 1968. There, she would patrol the Vietnamese coast until April 1969, when she was deactivated again.
However, while the big battlewagon was off the coast, its bank of nine 16-inch (407mm) guns, she could damage anything within 27 miles of the coastline. The North Vietnamese didn’t have much of a navy so the New Jersey didn’t worry much about ships or shore gunfire.

An aerial port bow view of the battleship USS NEW JERSEY (BB-62) launching an RGM-84 Harpoon missile on the Pacific Missile Test Center Range.
While the war in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos was one that was fought in jungles and mountains by ground troops with air support, the Navy played a big role by having aircraft carriers offshore that could conduct airstrikes in North Vietnam and anywhere else. However, for eight months between 1969 and 1970, the Army and Marines had offshore fire support from a big battleship.
The total ordnance expended to nearly 12,000,000 pounds during her short tour in Vietnam.
Total rounds fired: 5,866 16-Inch, and 14,891 five inch shells.
Main battery rounds expended during New Jersey’s deployment to Vietnam were only 1,500 short of the total she fired in World War II, two tours in Korea, and several midshipman cruises.
But once again, the battleship wasn’t retired for long.
When she was reactivated in 1982 for the Lebanon Civil War, the battleship had removed four twin 5″/38 caliber dual-purpose gun mounts.
She was then outfitted with four Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) mounts to protect against missiles and aircraft.
USS New Jersey also installed eight Armored Box Launchers and four Quad Cell Launchers, designed to fire Tomahawk and Harpoon missiles. She would fire her guns in Lebanon and finally during Desert Storm. Then, she was retired for good.

A head on view of the forward 16″ gun turrets on the USS NEW JERSEY (BB 62).
In September 1999, the battleship New Jersey was towed from Bremerton, Washington, to the Philadelphia Ship Yard, where she remains a floating museum. She attracts more than 80,000 visitors annually.
About the Author
Steve Balestrieri is a 19FortyFive National Security Columnist. He served as a US Army Special Forces NCO and Warrant Officer. In addition to writing for 19FortyFive, he covers the NFL for PatsFans.com and is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA). His work was regularly featured in other military publications.

Robert Brown
January 20, 2025 at 8:02 pm
Fix “ordinance” in the title.
Donald L Blaszka
January 21, 2025 at 9:59 am
Big J is in Camden, NJ…NOT Philadelphia. She was recently in Philly for maintenance.