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Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

NH-73781
Description

USS New Jersey (BB 16)

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USS New Jersey (Battleship # 16, BB-16), 1906-1923

USS New Jersey, a 14,948-ton Virginia class battleship, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. Commissioned in May 1906, she spent her entire career with the Atlantic Fleet. In December 1907, New Jersey participated in the "Great White Fleet's" cruise around the World. This demonstration of the contemporary battlefleet's strategic mobility lasted more than a year, ending in February 1909.


Following her World cruise, New Jersey was modernized. Now painted grey and outfitted with the new "cage" masts, she operated in the western Atlantic and the Caribbean. In 1914, she was present during the Vera Cruz intervention. During World War I, New Jersey joined the other older battleships in providing shipboard training for the huge numbers of men who joined the wartime Navy. After the War, she made four trans-Atlantic voyages to bring veterans home from Europe. USS New Jersey was decommissioned in August 1920. She was sunk off Cape Hatteras as a bombing target in September 1923.