USS New Jersey (BB-16)

U.S. battleship New Jersey painted in camouflage

USS New Jersey (BB-16) was the fourth of five Virginia-class battleships of the United States Navy. She was originally going to be named the USS Virginia.^[1] She was built at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts in May 1902. She was launched in November 1904.^[2] After sea trials she was commissioned into the fleet in May 1906.^[1] The ship was armed with an offensive battery of four 12-inch (300 mm) guns and eight 8-inch (200 mm) guns. She was capable of a top speed of 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph). New Jersey was 435 feet (133 m) long, had 23,000 horsepower and was built at a cost of $3,405,000.^[2]

New Jersey spent her entire career in the Atlantic Fleet. In late 1906, she took part in the Second Occupation of Cuba.^[1] She participated in the Jamestown Exposition in April – May 1907. At the end of the year, she joined the Great White Fleet for its circumnavigation of the globe, which lasted into 1909.^[3] The ship spent the following five years conducting peacetime training. In April 1914, New Jersey took part in the occupation of Veracruz during the Mexican Revolution. During World War I, she was used as a training ship. After the war, she was tasked with transporting American soldiers back from Europe. New Jersey was decommissioned in 1920 and slated for destruction in bombing tests in 1923. New Jersey was sunk on 5 September 1923 off Cape Hatteras as a target ship.^[4]

References

1. James M. Morris; Patricia M. Kearns, Historical Dictionary of the United States Navy (Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011), p. 287
2. Wayne G. Miller, Fore River Shipyard (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2013), p. 32
3. Donald Cann, John Galluzzo, Boston Harbor (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2006). p. 81
4. Karl Jack Bauer, Stephen S. Roberts, Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), p. 104