and here is another view:
Profile photo for Mike Billingsley
Mike Billingsley
·
Follow
Nov 1
I seen it in action it was awesome I was on the Point Defiance watching
the New Jersey do broadsides
Profile photo for Daniel C Swanson
Daniel C Swanson
Five years active duty in the Navy during the Vietnam WarUpdated 4y
How well did USS New Jersey perform in Vietnam?
This happened when I was stationed in the Philippines.
I was in a bar with my best friend. We were dressed in civilian clothes.
This was good because of bunch of Marines were in the bar and the Navy
and Marines didn't always get along.
After a while a bunch of Sailors came into the bar. We could see by the
patch on their uniforms that they were off the New Jersey. The Sailors
walked up to the bar and I saw one of the Marines start to walk over to
them. I thought, “Oh hell a fight is going to start.” But to my
surprise, when he got to them, he told the bartender that as long as
they were in that bar all of their drinks were on the Marines. Needless
to say, the sailors and myself were very surprised.
The Gunny said, “My men and I were trying to take a hill that Charlie
had dug tunnels into. We had called in air support but they had nothing
on hand that could drive Charlie out of his tunnels. The New Jersey had
been monitoring the channel, and they ask if we could use a bombardment.
We gave them the grid coordinates, and then they told us to pull back
down off the hill. It was just a few minutes and hell rained down on
that hill.”
He said that in all his years in the Corps he had never seen or felt
that power. He said that they hit the hill for about 15 minutes. When
the smoke and dust had died down, the top 20 feet of the hill was
GONE!!! He said, “That saved a lot of his men’s lives that day so their
drinks were on the Marines.”
Below is a picture of the Jersey when she was in Subic Bay. The others
are pictures I took inside a 16 inch gun turret, It was not open to the
public but being a old navy salt, I knew how to sneak into it.
119.8K views3.2K upvotes14 shares144 comments
10.5K views
View 60 upvotes
3 comments from
Lt. Ron
and more
another view:
Lt. Ron
· Thu
Semper Fi, U.S.S. New Jersey. I never had the occasion to witness her
fire power as I arrived in VN Feb of 1969 and I think she departed a few
months later. Regardless, it was nice to know she was out there if we
needed here. USMC Vietnam ‘69-’71.
Profile photo for Bill Berry
Bill Berry
· Thu
Saw an old friend in the center right of the top picture: that device
with all the knurled knobs. That was an analog Mark 3 computer, a device
that could be used to aim the turret (and other turrets) if both Main
Battery Plotting rooms were knocked out in battle. It was almost never
used in battle, but it was there just in case. Note that this delightful
device solved calculus problems through gearing and shafting. Very smart
for a 1930 design!
Profile photo for Joseph Kashi
Joseph Kashi
· Sat
One of my friends, a Marine fighter pilot then flying FAC (forward air
control) related a similar story about the New Jersey removing the top
of a hill. These appear to be two different incidents as the FAC pilot
stumbled upon a heavy concentration in the dark and everyone but the New
Jersey was asleep.