December 2025 – Page 15 – JC's Royal New Zealand Navy, World Navies, Military News, Lighthouses and other Marine News-

USS New Jersey (BB-62) (“Big J” or “Black Dragon”[2]) is an Iowa-class battleship, and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the US state of New Jersey.

USS New Jersey New Jersey earned more battle stars for combat actions than the other three completed Iowa-class battleships, and was the only US battleship providing gunfire support during the Vietnam War. During World War II, New Jersey shelled targets on Guam and Okinawa, and screened aircraft carriers conducting raids in the Marshall Islands. DuringContinue reading “USS New Jersey (BB-62) (“Big J” or “Black Dragon”[2]) is an Iowa-class battleship, and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the US state of New Jersey.”

Stonewall Jackson was selected in January 1862, by Capt. James E. Montgomery to be part of his River Defense Fleet at New Orleans. On 25 January Montgomery began to convert her into a cottonclad ram by placing a 4-inch (100 mm) oak sheath with 1-inch (25 mm) iron covering on her bow, and by installing double pine bulkheads fitted with compressedContinue reading “CSS Stonewall Jackson was a cottonclad sidewheel ram of the Confederate Navy during the American Civil War.”

USS South Dakota (BB-57) was the lead vessel of the four South Dakota-class fast battleships built for the United States Navy in the 1930s. The first American battleships designed after the Washington treaty system began to break down in the mid-1930s, they took advantage of an escalator clause that allowed increasing the main battery toContinue reading “Battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57) Port Quarter View, Philadelphia. Navy Yard 4 June 1942.”