Portrays a day's activities aboard a U.S. battleship (USS New Jersey) off the coast of Korea. Shows living conditions, habits of officers and crew, and bombardment of enemy positions along the shore.
For all who are interested; I am a Philadelphia resident. The USS New Jersey for several years now, has been permanently docked on the Delaware River in CAMDEN, New Jersey. She is one lovely lady!!!
10th Legion : Spent the night on board with my son's Boy Scout Troop . Impressive ! Looked across and checked out the Battleship Olympia Dew's flag ship !
This was made two years before I came aboard the New Jersey in 1954, It sure brings back a lot of memories. I was in the machine shop where we produced all the machined parts for the ship.
Ben Hubby Amazing. I can imagine you at a bench making the metal replacement Arts that the U.S.S. New Jersey needed at the moment... Nowadays, most people can not even make up their minds! Thank you for your post, story and service.
Yes. But being a sailor on board that ton of steel is not easy. Plenty of hard work. But when you have a captain is sooo cool to his personnel he'll really throw a party for us.
Sometimes I missed being a sailor in that battleship. Everybody is treated like one big family. You'll have some asshole petty officers and commission officers in there. But overall, the navy will watch your back.
I had an "indirect" relationship with the New Jersey in Vietnam. 1968 in I Corps, NW of Hue. One of those Volkswagen sized shells could dig a new municipal swimming pool for a village. They made a huge crater in that soft ground and most of the time the water table was so close to the surface that the crater would fill up with water by the time we swept the area.
I was born two years after this film was made, but it's interesting how I can relate to everything as if I had lived it. My dad instilled us with this world, and I also experienced it at summer camps. At summer camp they use a lot of the same lingo - barracks, mess hall, canteen, roll call, mail call. We rose to revilie, bedded down to taps. We just didn't have the big guns. Only archery. The narration alternates between being hard nosed, compassionate, and at times even humorous. There's this fine line you walk where it's important to stress that the military builds men who are tough, but at the same time acknowledges that they have needs that go beyond the battlefield. If the commanders also reflect this, then the men are in good hands.
Like many hereabouts, I love battleships - have done since the time this film was made; how times have changed; despite the violence of the broadsides and the air attacks, the film seems almost innocent. I think that the Iowa class ships were amongst the most beautiful of all, and it is heartening to see that they have been preserved.
I served on the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) from 86 to 90 and got aboard when she was still a PCU (Pre-Commission Unit) and proud to be a Plankowner. And the constant through the years is the quality of Navy chow. Think about serving 6,000 men 18,000 meals a day. It's insanity, but it happens every day. We had fresh baked bread and pastries at every meal. Three egg omelets with hashbrowns and toast. Halibut steaks and asparagus. Midrats (mid watch rations) was just an open loaf of bread and cold cuts with potato chips, but when you're hungry as hell because you were on watch during chow time, it seems like a gourmet meal. And "at sea" smokes were $5 a carton. It was hard work, but I enjoyed being at sea. Makes coming back ashore all the more special.
@@benn454 They were all worn out. Teak is a very strong, durable wood but cleaning it every day like that isn't actually good for it. Rplacing the teak is one of the most expensive things for the museum ships.
I like the discipline in the turrets. Everyone works as a team with clear commands and direction. I visited the USS Iowa in San Carlos. The turrets weren't open to the public at that time. Nevertheless, it was worth every minute seeing her first hand. You really don't know what the term, built like a battleship, means until you've been on a battleship. I will return to see her again.
Served with her battlegroup back in 85-90, and we were moored several piers away when in Norfolk. Glad they saw service again during the gulf war. Glad they were never scrapped. Or sunk, like my 2nd home was back in 2012, off the coast of Oahu as a sinkex. RIP USS Concord AFS5 😪
@falconpunchm14 Sorry, but they are just too expensive to operate them! That is why the US Navy decommissioned them. I served on the Big J, as an electrician's mate, during the Vietnam War. She was good ship, kept very clean and in good material condition.
When the New Jersey was reactivated to go to Nam, she made a stop (on the way) at the Norfolk Naval Base in April of 1968. She was tied up on a pier I worked on (I was in the Port Services Division) and I got to take a good look at her and take lots of pictures.
I served aboard the USS KITTY HAWK CVA63 from '71 to '73 and while on station in the gulf of Tonkin in'72 I read a story from the Navy Times that one of the Destroyers guarding the harbor at DaNang got a blip on its radar and promptly radioed to identify. No immediate response. The Captain of the Destroyer again messaged to the vessel in question to identify themselves or they will be forced to open fire. The response was "We are the USS New Jersey BB62.....fire when ready!" I believe the two Captains knew each other.
@Big Bill O'Reilly Yeah, however the lower quality of the steel in her armor and the poorer quality of her shells meant that the Iowas would have been more (but not by much) combat effective. And the kicker is that all four of the Iowas are still afloat.
@Big Bill O'Reilly Ever heard of MIdway, the Battle of Lette Gulf, Operation Ten-Go, and the Essex swarm. Also, most of the ships hit at Pearl Harbor were repaired and put back into service. American damage control was also vastly superior to Japanese damage control leading to American ships taking damage that would have been fatal several times over their Japanese contemporaries (look up the damage USS Franklin took). My final point is that even though Yamato and Musashi *might* have been better ships than the Iowas, the US Navy could always bury the IJN with mass amounts of high quality American destroyers, cruisers, carrier and land based aircraft, submarines, and if worse came to worse have a Japanese fleet replicate crossroads baker. Oh, and the Iowas had superior radar, fire control, damage control, better quality shells, better quality armor, better AA, more escorts, better escorts (both cortesey of the Fletcher, Gearing, Sommer swarm), air cover from the Essex swarm. And the only reason that Yamato and Musashi survived till that late in the war was because the Japanese didn't have enough fuel to do any thing useful. When they did sortie, well... Musashi was sunk by American carrier aircraft and Yamato was forced to flee by Taffy 3 (which I will admit would have been a hard fight for even the H45). Any way for Yamato to fight earlier in the war is pure what if so if you insist on this continuing I will happily bring an allied fleet conisting of the G3 "battlecruisers" (they had bigger guns, more armor, were faster, and larger than Yamato) with support from the Essex swarm and DD swarm. Don't take this the wrong way, I love Yamato. It's just the unfortunate truth is that they were not as good of ships as people make them out to be.
*BRAM! BRAM!* Startled Marine: (On a Battleship for the first time!) *"What The HELL, was THAT?"* Seasoned 'Gunny', replies: "Relax! *It's just the NAVY, "Clearing it's THROAT!""*
A nice look into a swab jockey’s life. I’m an Army vet! Navy always had better food! A visit to the North Carolina gave me a new appreciation of you swabies. Nice video.
Visited the USS Midway. I know a Battleship is different to a carrier, but the rooms and compartments are very similar. Watching those rooms being alive is so much different to seeing them empty. This is a great video and I'm glad it exists. Thanks for sharing.
I was on the JFK and I recently visited the USS North Carolina and it was scary how similar the technology between the two ships were. I had many nostalgic moments although the two ships were separated by 25 years.
@@ArtessnowI too have visited the USS North Carolina twice ( I also live in North Carolina and my grandfather on my moms side was one of the many school children who donated for her to become a museum ship and cause of that I feel like she’s family)
Just went to tour her- they are doing a great job with her as a museum ship, still in good general condition , nice to see her resting right where she was built-
My brother served on USS Missouri during the Gulf War. He also served on USS Midway and USS Hue City. I served on USS Semmes DDG 18, USS Cape Cod AD 43, USS Kinkaid DD 965, USS Whidbey Island LSD 41, and USS Wasp LHD 1.
I find it such a loss for America to have lost the loyalty to one's country as we see evident today. The prayer over the loud speaker reminded me of my youth. Though not the same, I remember reciting the pledge of allegiance every day before school starts, sometimes with Principal or someone speaking over the p.a. system. There was no desire to ask why, you just felt like it was right and respectful, given the fact so much freedom took so much life, it could all be a completely different world. There is not much respect today, not sure it means the same to kids today. You sure see a lot of disrespect though, no appreciation for what it took for them to have that cell phone.
Same here. We started the school day with someone reading over the loud speaker a bible verse and prayer. Now days on a ship the commie leftist would be suing to stop prayer, or you'd have to have some offering a prayer to Satan also. It's no accident that our country is being destroyed, it being done by design, and we should be pissed.
Maybe so, but what other type of platform can "soften up" a hostile beach, AND stick around to support the landing troops? Aircraft can drop bombs; however, they usually have to leave the area immediately after dropping their load, so they can't stick around to support said landing troops.
Observed the USS NEW JERSEY at her last west coast Anchorage in Long Beach harbor before shipping out to the east coast final mission. ( floating museum) Huge ,powerful, and her Guns to not fire in anger. Again.
Monty Python had the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, so when the preacher began his little spiel I figured he would start with "Oh Lord take this thy Pious Projectile of Plumsted, and guide it unfailingly to its target, who being the enemy, and naughty in thy sight, shall snuff it. And the time of flight shall be forty seconds, and forty seconds it shall be......." and so on.
My father served on the USS Laffey. His friend from home was on the New Jersey. He went over to see him when they were in port. My father said there was a big difference from being on a tin can than a battleship.
Watching that old film it's true that battleship has the gift shop, barber, their own maintenance crew to make and replace the ship parts, library, mini church too. Movie night. Where after working hours(called knockoff ) we use to watch film reels. Not dvd back then. There wasn't any internet or cellphone. Just reading and writing letters. Reading books and magazines. We have many big tube t.v. hanging above the ceiling to watch regular t.v. with VHS attached.
Back during the Vietnam war they were asking for volunteers to the NJ we had a seaman name Jerry 1st division on a Destroyer Tender he went We had heard about the holy stoning how time flies
ColKorn1965 was just at the North Carolina recently, beautiful ship. However I noticed some holes in the hull while walking around on the boardwalk, can’t imagine that’s good for the ship
The Iowa class battleship were built well into ww2 and upgrade during the gulf war still made them some of the modern warships in the world still they are the largest and most powerful surface warship in the world the uss new jersey packs more gun firepower than entire carrier battle groups surface warships they weight more than 20 modern destroyer and there armor is invincible to even modern ant ship missile these are the best warships in the world it be cool to see them once more in action
I think the Iowas have been a little overused, going into service and out of it again, in and out, in and out. Besides they are a little old, I'm not knocking their sheer awesomeness here, I'm just knocking the efficiency of their 3/4 century old boilers, turbines, and inaccurate guns. But (being the massive fan of battleships that I am) I have an idea to bring back the old battlewagons from the days of old: Build a new ship under 25k tons, with a hull more efficient than modern ships, a WWI era armoring system (by that I some thing that can protect the whole ship to some degree instead of the Iowa's "all or nothing" armor), around 4x 12"/65-75 caliber main cannons (Iowa has 9x 16"/50 caliber guns), super-critical or ultra-critical coal fired boilers coupled with turbo-electric engines and battery storage systems for added efficiency, and a few CWIS mounts out of necessity. In other words, the US has to do what the brits did in the 19th century, build a ton of butt cheap pre-dreadnought battleships that can be sent anywhere without the fear of losing something as important as a super-dreadnought like Iowa. ok, rant over, I like the old pre-dreads better than anything else the battleship world has to offer.
@willl 88 You do have to think that these old Battle Ships were a pain in the fucking ass to sink. Modern day naval craft like the Arleigh Burke Class are not as tough as these bastards are as fucking oil tankers in collisions are able to fuck one of these destroyers up. And with the Gulf war upgrades on the Iowa's for Phalanx CIWs and Tomahawk Cruise Missles, think again.
@willl 88 you do have to think that these old Battle Ships were a pain in the fucking ass to sink. Modern day naval craft like the Arleigh Burke Class are not as tough as these bastards are as fucking oil tankers in collisions are able to fuck one of these destroyers up. And with the Gulf war upgrades on the Iowa's for aphalnx guns and Tomahawk Cruise Missles, think again. And as these ships were the fleet protector, there'd be no doubt of other ships and aircraft around it to zero in on the target. Dont forget the boomer sub too.
It was during this powder ramming process 2:22 when there was an explosion on the Iowa On 19 April 1989 that resulted in many deaths. There was as expected a major investigation into this accident. One item. An officer on the Iowa was experimenting with max powder charges,before the explosion. I would not easily adapt to ship life, too much time in the bathroom for me (in the morning).
You have no clue what you're talking about. Tragically it is about expense. Associated with manpower. The fact is most big systems on a BB are manpower intensive. But they can still perform many missions no other ship can. And, to this day, they are the hardest to sink ships on the planet. No US Navy large vessel is a "floating target." They fight back...
actually they did a study when the iowas were active & out of all the ships in the fleet their survivability if an all out war happened would be 2 months & the rest of the fleet measured in days
They were floating targets. Thank god for US carriers and air power... or they’d be at the bottom of the ocean just like the Yamato and Musashi... or the Arizona for that matter.
No smokeless powder as the main propellant,a small charge of black powder was in the red base pad of the powder bags to ignite the smokeless as it is difficult to initiate .Black powder would have no where near the energy required .
TNT does not use nitroglycerin like dynamite or nitrocellulose either as would be used in gelatin dynamite with nitroglycerin.It is Trinitrotoluene ,TNT for short,in simple terms is nitrated toluene,and is more powerful than dynamite.
If they designed a new BB, made from modern armor and materials with modern ship defenses. You would have a ship that would be even harder to sink. (No ship is "unsinkable") But it would sure take ALOT to sink one. But it will never happen. Destroyers are the big guns now! Plus we have the new San Antonio class ships are the closes thing we have to a BB! It's half helicopter carrier and half transport ship, and they are HUGE!! no real big guns tho! It does have CWIS and the biggest gun it has are 2 bushmasters II 30mm guns along with defensive missle launchers. All the guns it has are for defense.
@willl 88 it won't sink a carrier. Unless nuclear, which would never be used. But it would render it combat ineffective and cause mass casualties. Any hit to modern ship would basically make it useless. As soon as the electronics are taken out they cant perform their duties.
Larry Goerke 17 is the youngest allowed to enlist, but some guys like my dad managed to get in by lying at 15, he was 18 when they "found out" and WWII was over. He was ending his TOS anyway because "the Duration" was over. He was on a Cruiser and saw action in the Philippines and several Islands including Iwo Jima and Okinawa. He said those Kamikaze's scared the hell out of him, he was 17 by then and a two year veteran of action at sea, an old salt. I met several of his shipmates and they all called him "kid" still.
You are right Mountain Fisher. Men were MEN then, even at 15. I joined the Navy in 1977 for the Nuclear Power Program, managing to hide 1 rejectably bad eye. I was in boot camp (Co.135, RTC San Diego) when finally, a very sharp Submarine Service Corpsman 1st Class busted me for it. I was afraid I'd be kicked, but he just smiled & waivered me IN. He said I was accepted for Nuclear Power, so I was a keeper. I served in USS Arkansas (CGN41), 1 of the 9 Nuclear Powered Cruisers we had back 'the Cold War. I made 1st Class & got fully Nuclear qualified before my Honorable Discharge in 1983. My guys still call me One Eye. ; )
It could have been my uncle. He lied and got away with it at 16. He shipped out for Korea at 17. My Dad enlisted at 15 during WWII, but got caught and sent home. He re-enlisted at 17, but by then, the war was over. He served 1946-1964.
So sad the BB 62 is located in such a dangerous location in NJ. It would have bee so much better in Jersey City where it would be visited by so many more. It was really a disservice to the NJ taxpayer to have located the NJ there along with the aquarium. LSP was the place for both.
@@CrossOfBayonne Time to consider thee deterioration and neglect with very little income due to location to improve and preserve a great ship with a great reputation and history. Get it up north where more of the world can enjoy it. Liberty State Park in jersey City is an ideal location. Bayoone Naval shipyard dry dock still available?
Just imagine soon when our economy finally collapses and there is no longer any money, or effort being made to take care of these museum ships. They will just sit in port rusting till they are scrapped for iron, or robbed by roving gangs of those looking to survive by any means possible.
I was an AB'E'2 (AW) (Catapults/Arresting Gear found on Aircraft Carriers only) but I sure wish I could have served on a BB. I might be old school minded, but nothing works well like a True Gun! I had a relative killed at Pearl Harbor on the Mighty USS Nevada BB-36, a GM3 George Leon Faddis. So to me when I went out for Operation Enduring Freedom (2001-2002) I felt like the torch was passed on to me, now whom to pass the torch, as I am retired now? I pray the Fighting Spirit of the US carries on, but what I witness today is very disturbing. I do not worship the state, I worship God, and His Son!! So Commies, I am still alive! BEWARE!! My Oath has NEVER Expired.
