Distant Innocence: USSBB62

You are probably puzzled by the strange conglomeration of letters that identifies this blog, "ussbb62". Well, maybe not, but I'm going to tell you about it anyway. This set of characters has special significance to me.
USS (United States Ship) BB (Battleship) 62 (62nd battleship commissioned by the US Navy)

The USS New Jersey is one of four Iowa Class battleships that served in WWII. BB-61 Iowa, BB-62 New Jersey, BB-63 Missouri, BB-64 Wisconsin. Two other Iowa Class battleships were under construction at the close of the war (BB-65 Illinois & BB-66 Kentucky) but were not completed.

{Editor note: All of the Iowa Class battleships are open to the public. USS Iowa BB-61 is a museum on the LA waterfront. USS New Jersey is a museum and memorial on the Camden, NJ waterfront. USS Missouri BB-63 is a memorial in Honolulu. USS Wisconsin BB-64 is a museum in Norfolk, VA}

4 together

The USS New Jersey was launched on December 7, 1942 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and commissioned to service in May 1943.

Ruptured Duck

My father, Glenn Hoplin, was a member of that commissioning crew. He served as Electricians Mate aboard "Big J" in the Pacific Theater for the duration of the war, mustering out with his "ruptured duck" in October 1945. He had accumulated enough "points" to be among the first to be honorably discharged.

{Editor note: For a description of Glenn's Pacific naval career in his own words see my Prairie Salt post}

BB-62 at sea -1943

16' guns firing

BB-62 Specifications

Complement: 1921 officers and men
Length: 887' 7"
Beam: 108.2'
Draft: 28.9'
Displacement: 45000 tons (52000 fully loaded)
Speed: 33 knots (61 km/hr, 38 mph)
Fuel Capacity: 2,400,000 gal #5 diesel
Power Plant: 12 oil fired boilers firing steam turbines driving 4 screws with 200,000 shaft HP
Armament:

9 x 16" 50 cal Mark 7 guns in 3 turrets
20 x 5" 38 cal Mark 12 guns
80 x 40 mm 56 cal anti-aircraft guns
49 x 20 mm 70 cal anti-aircraft guns

Armor

Bulkheads: 11.3"
Turrets: 19.7"
Decks: 7.5"
Sides: 16"

Aircraft: 3 Vought OS2U Kingfisher float planes (2 catapults)
Cost: $100, 000,000+

BB-62 Trivia

BB-62 was the 2nd Battleship christened New Jersey. USS New Jersey BB-16 was commissioned in 1906 and ignominiously sunk as a target in 1923.
The New Jersey is not named for a Midwest state like the other Iowa class battleships, because of a FDR political debt to then Governor Charles Edison of New Jersey, who while in the Navy Department lobbied to build the battleships at Philadelphia Navy Yard. Mrs. Edison had the honor of smashing the champagne bottle against the hull at the christening ceremony.
The Jersey is 108.2' wide. The Panama Canal locks are 110' wide
The 3 x 3 16" gun turrets fired a 2700 lb shell 23 miles.
The 5" guns could hit a target 9 miles away.
While island bombardment was a WWII battleship's staple, it's function evolved to an anti-aircraft platform to protect the carriers. With the advent of air power, battleships' role changed from offense to defense - and eventual obsolescence. Ship to ship battles were rare in the Pacific, with sea battles largely featuring air to ship combat.
During WWII, the New Jersey at various times served as the flagship for both Admiral Spruance and Admiral Halsey.

"Bull" Halsey on BB-62 bridge

In December 1944, Task Force 38, consisting of 8 carriers, 7 battleships, 21 cruisers and 50 destroyers, was struck by a massive typhoon (Typhoon Cobra, nicknamed "Typhoon Halsey", which sank 3 destroyers, with major damage to 3 other destroyers, 5 carriers and a cruiser and a loss of life for 800 sailors. The stricken ships ran out of fuel and foundered as they could not be refueled due to the high seas. With their massive fuel capacity, battleships served as "tankers" for the fleet, but due to the high swells, fuel lines could not be strung between the ships.

By rights of service, the Japanese surrender should have occurred on the Iowa or the Jersey, but when Truman succeeded to the presidency at FDR's death - and HST being from Missouri, the choice became obvious.

September 2, 1945

BB-62 served in WWII , Korean War, Vietnam & Lebanon being recommissioned 3 times.
During Vietnam, with modernization, automation and refitting, the ship's complement was half of that of the WWII crew.
The USS New Jersey is the most decorated battleship in history.
And this especially for math geeks. The total mechanical energy created when a 16"/50 caliber shell is fired can be computed as follows:
Given:
          Projectile Weight: Wp = 2,700 lbs.
          Charge Weight: Wc = 650 lbs.
          Muzzle Velocity: Vo = 2,500 fps.
          Weight of Recoiling Parts: Wr = 250,000 lbs.
          g = 32.174 fps^2

Projectile Kinetic Energy = 0.5*((Wp/g)*Vo^2) = 2.622*10^8 ft-lb. (i.e. 262 million foot/pounds)

After lying in mothballs in Bremerton, WA for 8 years, the Battleship New Jersey was towed through the Panama Canal in 1999 to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and opened as a museum and memorial on the Camden, NJ waterfront in 2001. Visitor info.

BB-62 Milestones

16 Sep 1940 Keel laid at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard
6 Dec 1942 Launched
23 May 1943 Commissioned for service in WWII
30 June 1948 Decommissioned
21 Nov 1950 Recommissioned for service in Korea
21 Aug 1957 Decommissioned
1967-68 Modernized at Philadelphia Shipyard
6 Apr 1968 Recommissioned for service in Vietnam
17 Dec 1969 Decommissioned
1981-82 Modernized at Long Beach Shipyard
28 Dec 1982 Recommissioned as part of President Reagan's 600 ship Navy
8 Feb 1991 Decommissioned & mothballed in Bremerton WA
12 Sep 1999 - 11 Nov 1999 Towed to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for restoration as a museum
Oct 2001 opens as a museum on the Camden Waterfront

For a complete record of the USS New Jersey history, see newjersey.org

The Pilgrimage

In the fall of 2014, my son and I made a pilgrimage to visit BB-62 on the Camden, NJ waterfront - which turned out to be a very emotional experience for me, walking those teak decks, standing beneath the 16" gun turrets and finding the home of E Division below decks. The museum ship offers a fantastic guided tour and at the end you are free to roam through most of the areas of the ship on a tour of discovery.