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USS New Jersey (BB-62)

USS New Jersey (BB-62) is an Iowa-class battleship, and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the U.S. state of New Jersey. She was often referred to fondly as "Big J". New Jersey earned more battle stars for combat actions than the other three completed Iowa-class battleships, and was the only US battleship used to provide 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. During the Korean War, she was involved in raids along the North Korean coast, after which she was decommissioned into the United States Navy reserve fleets, better known as the "mothball fleet". She was briefly reactivated in 1968 and sent to Vietnam to support US troops before returning to the mothball fleet in 1969. Reactivated once more in the 1980s as part of the 600-ship Navy program, New Jersey was modernized to carry missiles and recommissioned for service. In 1983, she participated in US operations during the Lebanese Civil War.

New Jersey was decommissioned for the last time in 1991 after having served a total of 21 years in the active fleet. During her career she earned a Navy Unit Commendation for service in Vietnam, and 19 battle and campaign stars for combat operations during World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Lebanese Civil War, and service in the Persian Gulf. After a brief retention in the mothball fleet, she was donated to the Home Port Alliance in Camden, New Jersey, and has served as a museum ship there since 15 October 2001.

Construction
New Jersey was one of the Iowa-class battleship "fast battleship" designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair. She was launched on 7 December 1942 (the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor) and commissioned on 23 May 1943. She was the second of the Iowa class to be commissioned by the U.S. Navy. She was christened at her launching by Carolyn Edison, wife of Governor Charles Edison of New Jersey, himself a former Secretary of the Navy; and commissioned at Philadelphia 23 May 1943, Captain Carl F. Holden in command.

New Jersey's main battery consisted of nine 16"/50 caliber Mark 7 guns in three three-gun turrets, which could fire 2700 lb armor-piercing shells some 23 miles (42.6 km). Her secondary battery consisted of twenty 5"/38 caliber guns mounted in twin-gun dual purpose (DP) turrets, which could hit targets up to 9 miles (16.7 km) away. With the advent of air power and the need to gain and maintain air superiority came a need to protect the growing fleet of allied aircraft carriers, so New Jersey was fitted with an array of Oerlikon 20 mm and Bofors 40 mm anti-aircraft guns. When reactivated in 1968, New Jersey had her 20 mm and 40 mm AA guns removed and was tailored for use as a heavy bombardment ship. When reactivated in 1982, New Jersey had four twin 5"/38 caliber DP mounts removed. She was outfitted with four Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) mounts for protection against missiles and aircraft, and eight Armored Box Launchers and four Quad Cell Launchers designed to fire Tomahawk missiles and Harpoon missiles, respectively.

The main deck was 53,000 square feet of teak. Unlike the other Iowa-class battleships, New Jersey was named by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to repay a political debt, to then-New Jersey Governor Charles Edison. During his time in the Navy department, Edison pushed to build the Iowas, and to build one at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, which secured votes for Roosevelt in Pennsylvania and New Jersey in the 1940 presidential election.

Shakedown and service with the 5th Fleet, Admiral Spruance

New Jersey completed fitting out and trained her initial crew in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean Sea. On 7 January 1944 she passed through the Panama Canal war-bound for Funafuti, Ellice Islands. She reported there 22 January for duty with the United States Fifth Fleet, and three days later rendezvoused with Task Group 58.2 for the assault on the Marshall Islands. New Jersey screened the aircraft carriers from Japanese attack as planes from Task Group 58.2 flew strikes against Kwajalein and Eniwetok 29 January – 2 February, softening up the latter for its invasion and supporting the troops who landed on 31 January.

New Jersey began her career as a flagship 4 February in Majuro Lagoon when Admiral Raymond A. Spruance, commanding the 5th Fleet, broke his flag from her main. Her first action as a flagship was in Operation Hailstone, a two-day surface and air strike by her task force against the major Japanese fleet base on Truk in the Carolines. This attack was coordinated with the assault on Kwajalein, and effectively interdicted the Japanese naval retaliation to the conquest of the Marshalls. On 17 and 18 February, the task force accounted for two Japanese light cruisers, four destroyers, three auxiliary cruisers, two submarine tenders, two submarine chasers, an armed trawler, a plane ferry, and 23 other auxiliaries, not including small craft. New Jersey destroyed a trawler and, with other ships, sank the destroyer JAPANESE DESTROYER Maikaze. New Jersey also fired on an enemy aircraft that attacked her formation. The task force returned to the Marshalls 19 February.

Between 17 March and 10 April, New Jersey first sailed with Rear Admiral Marc A. Mitscher's flagship USS Lexington (CV-16) for an air and surface bombardment of Mille, then rejoined Task Group 58.2 for a strike against shipping in the Palaus, and bombarded Woleai. Upon his return to Majuro, Admiral Spruance transferred his flag to USS Indianapolis (CA-35). New Jersey's next war cruise, 13 April – 4 May 1944, began and ended at Majuro. She screened the carrier striking force which gave air support to the invasion of Aitape, Tanahmerah Bay and Humboldt Bay, New Guinea, 22 April, then shelled shipping and shore installations at Truk 29–30 April. New Jersey and her formation shot down two enemy torpedo bombers at Truk. Her 16-inch salvos pounded Ponape on 1 May, destroying fuel tanks, badly damaging the airfield, and demolishing a headquarters building.

After rehearsing in the Marshalls for the invasion of the Marianas, New Jersey put to sea 6 June in the screening and bombardment group of Admiral Mitscher's Task Force. On the second day of preinvasion air strikes, 12 June, New Jersey shot down an enemy torpedo bomber, and during the next two days her heavy guns battered Saipan and Tinian, in advance of the marine landings on 15 June. The Japanese response to the Marianas operation was an order to its main surface fleet to destroy the American invasion force. Shadowing American submarines tracked the Japanese fleet into the Philippine Sea as Admiral Spruance joined his task force with Admiral Mitscher's to meet the enemy. New Jersey took station in the protective screen around the carriers on 19 June 1944 as American and Japanese pilots dueled in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. That day and the next would cripple Japanese naval aviation; in what would become known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot", the Japanese lost some 400 planes for less than two dozen American aircraft in return. This loss of trained pilots and aircraft was equaled in disaster by the sinking of the Japanese aircraft carriers JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Taihō and JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Shōkaku by the submarines USS Albacore (SS-218) and USS Cavalla (SS-244), respectively, and the loss of JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CARRIER Hiyō to aircraft launched from the light aircraft carrier USS Belleau Wood (CVL-24). In addition to these losses, Allied forces succeeded in damaging two Japanese carriers and a battleship. The anti-aircraft fire of New Jersey and the other screening ships proved virtually impenetrable; two American ships were slightly damaged during the battle. Only 17 American planes were lost in combat.

Service with the 3rd Fleet, Admiral Halsey

New Jersey's final contribution to the conquest of the Marianas was in strikes on Guam and the Palaus from which she sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving 9 August. Here she broke the flag of Admiral William F. Halsey Jr., 24 August, becoming flagship of the United States Third Fleet. On 30 August New Jersey set sail from Pearl Harbor, and for the next eight months was based at Ulithi to lend support to Allied forces operating in the Philippines. In this span of the Pacific War, fast carrier task forces ranged the waters off the Philippines, Okinawa, and Formosa, making repeated strikes at airfields, shipping, shore bases, and invasion beaches.

In September the targets were in the Visayas and the southern Philippines, then Manila and Cavite, Panay, Negros, Leyte, and Cebu. Early in October raids to destroy enemy air power based on Okinawa and Formosa were begun in preparation for the Leyte landings of 20 October 1944. This invasion brought on the last great sortie of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Its plan for the Battle of Leyte Gulf included a feint by a northern force of planeless heavy attack carriers to draw away the battleships, cruisers and fast carriers with which Admiral Halsey was protecting the landings. This was to allow the Japanese Center Force to enter the gulf through the San Bernardino Strait. At the opening of the battle, planes from the carriers guarded by New Jersey struck hard at both the Japanese Southern and Center Forces, sinking a battleship on 23 October. The next day, Halsey shaped his course north after the decoy force had been spotted. Planes from his carriers sank four of the Japanese carriers, as well as a destroyer and a cruiser, while New Jersey steamed south at flank speed to meet the newly developed threat of the Center force. It had been turned back in defeat by the time she arrived.

New Jersey rejoined her fast carriers near San Bernardino 27 October 1944 for strikes on central and southern Luzon. Two days later, the force came under kamikaze attack. New Jersey shot down a plane whose pilot maneuvered it into the port gun galleries of USS Intrepid (CV-11), while machine gun fire from Intrepid wounded three of New Jersey's men. During a similar action on 25 November, three Japanese planes were shot down by the combined fire of the force, part of one flaming onto the flight deck of USS Hancock (CV-19). Intrepid was again attacked; she shot down one would-be kamikaze aircraft, but was hit by another despite hits scored on the attacker by New Jersey gunners. New Jersey shot down a plane diving on USS Cabot (CVL-28) and hit another plane which smashed into Cabot's port bow.

On 18 December 1944, the ships of Task Force 38 encountered Typhoon Cobra during their attempt to refuel at sea. At the time the ships were operating about 300 mi east of Luzon in the Philippine Sea. The carriers had just completed three days of heavy raids against Japanese airfields, suppressing enemy aircraft during the American amphibious operations against Mindoro in the Philippines. The task force rendezvoused with Captain Jasper T. Acuff and his fueling group on 17 December with the intention of refueling all ships in the task force and replacing lost aircraft.

Although the sea had been growing rougher all day, the nearby cyclonic disturbance gave relatively little warning of its approach. Each of the carriers in the Third Fleet had a weatherman aboard, and as the fleet flagship New Jersey had a highly experienced weatherman: Commander G. F. Kosco, a graduate of the aerology course at Massachusetts Institute of Technology who had also studied hurricanes in the West Indies; despite this, none of these individuals or staffs were able to give Third Fleet due warning of the impending typhoon. On 18 December, the typhoon overtook the Task Force while many of the ships were attempting to refuel. Many of the ships were caught near the center of the storm and buffeted by extreme seas and hurricane-force winds. Three destroyers—USS Hull (DD-350), USS Monaghan (DD-354) and USS Spence (DD-512)—capsized and sank with nearly all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage. Approximately 790 officers and men were lost or killed, with another 80 injured. Fires occurred in three carriers when planes broke loose in their hangars, and some 146 planes on various ships were lost or damaged beyond economical repair by fires, impact damage, or by being swept overboard. New Jersey survived the storm largely unscathed. She returned to Ulithi on Christmas Eve to be met by Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz.

Service with Battleship Division Seven, Admiral Badger
From 30 December 1944 to 25 January 1945, New Jersey conducted her last cruise as Admiral Halsey's flagship. She guarded the carriers in their strikes on Formosa, Okinawa, and Luzon, on the coast of Indo-China, Hong Kong, Shantou and Amoy, and again on Formosa and Okinawa. At Ulithi on 27 January, Admiral Halsey lowered his flag in New Jersey, but it was replaced two days later by that of Rear Admiral Oscar C. Badger II commanding Battleship Division 7. In support of the assault on Iwo Jima, New Jersey screened the USS Essex (CV-9) group in air attacks on the island 19–21 February, and gave the same service for the first major carrier raid on Tokyo on 25 February, a raid aimed specifically at aircraft production. During the next two days, Okinawa was attacked from the air by the same striking force.

New Jersey was directly engaged in the invasion of Okinawa from 14 March until 16 April. As the carriers prepared for the invasion with strikes there and on Honshū, New Jersey fought off air raids, used her seaplanes to rescue downed pilots, defended the carriers from kamikazes, shooting down at least three and assisting in the destruction of others. On 24 March 1945 she again carried out the role of heavy bombardment, preparing the invasion beaches for the assault a week later. During the final months of the war, New Jersey was overhauled at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, from which she sailed 4 July for San Pedro, Pearl Harbor, and Eniwetok bound for Guam. Here on 14 August she once again became flagship of the 5th Fleet under Admiral Spruance. Brief stays at Manila and Okinawa preceded her arrival in Tokyo Bay 17 September, where she served as flagship for the successive commanders of Naval Forces in Japanese waters until relieved 28 January 1946 by USS Iowa (BB-61) (BB-61). As part of the ongoing Operation Magic Carpet New Jersey took aboard nearly a thousand homeward-bound troops, with whom she arrived at San Francisco 10 February.

Post World War II (1946–1950)
After west coast operations and a normal overhaul at Puget Sound, New Jersey came home to Bayonne, New Jersey, for a fourth birthday party on 23 May 1947. Present were Governor Alfred E. Driscoll, former Governor Walter E. Edge and other dignitaries. Between 7 June and 26 August, New Jersey formed part of the first training squadron to cruise Northern European waters since the beginning of World War II. Over two thousand United States Naval Academy and NROTC midshipmen received seagoing experience under the command of Admiral Richard L. Connolly, Commander Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean, who broke his flag in New Jersey at Rosyth, Scotland 23 June. She was the scene of official receptions at Oslo, where King Haakon VII of Norway inspected the crew 2 July, and at Portsmouth, England. The training fleet was westward bound 18 July for exercises in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic.

After serving at New York as flagship for Rear Admiral Heber H. McLean, Commander, Battleship Division 1, 12 September – 18 October, New Jersey was inactivated at the New York Naval Shipyard. She was decommissioned at Bayonne 30 June 1948 and assigned to the New York Group, Atlantic Reserve Fleet.

The Korean War (1950–1953)
In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea, prompting the United States to intervene in the name of the United Nations. President Harry S. Truman was caught off guard when the invasion struck, but quickly ordered U.S. Forces stationed in Japan into South Korea. Truman also sent U.S. based troops, tanks, fighter and bomber aircraft, and a strong naval force to Korea to support the Republic of Korea. As part of the naval mobilization New Jersey was recalled from the mothball fleet to provide seaborne artillery support for U.N. and South Korean troops. New Jersey was recommissioned at Bayonne on 21 November 1950, Captain David M. Tyree in command, and proceeded to the Caribbean. She sailed from Norfolk, Virginia 16 April 1951 and arrived from Japan off the east coast of Korea 17 May. Vice Admiral Harold M. Martin, commanding the United States Seventh Fleet, placed his flag in New Jersey for the next six months.

New Jersey's guns opened the first shore bombardment of her Korean career at Wonsan 20 May. During her two tours of duty in Korean waters, she was repeatedly called upon for seaborne mobile artillery. In direct support to United Nations troops; or in preparation for ground actions, in interdicting Communist supply and communication routes, or in destroying supplies and troop positions, New Jersey used her 16-inch guns to fire far beyond the capacity of land artillery, moved rapidly and free from major attack from one target to another, and at the same time could be immediately available to guard aircraft carriers should they require her protection. It was on this first such mission at Wonsan that she received her only combat casualties of the Korean War. One of her men was killed and two severely wounded when she took a hit from a shore battery on her number one turret and received a near miss aft to port.

Between 23 and 27 May and again 30 May 1951, New Jersey pounded targets near Yangyang and Kansong, dispersing troop concentrations, dropping a bridge span, and destroying three large ammunition dumps. Air spotters reported Yangyang abandoned at the end of this action, while railroad facilities and vehicles were smashed at Kansong. On 24 May, she lost one of her helicopters after the crew pushed their chopper to the limit of its fuel searching for a downed aviator. The helicopter crew was able to reach friendly territory and were later returned to their ship.

With Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Commander in Chief Pacific Fleet, and Vice Admiral C. Turner Joy, Commander Naval Forces Far East aboard, New Jersey bombarded targets at Wonsan 4 June. At Kansong two days later she fired her main battery at an artillery regiment and truck encampment, with 7th Fleet aircraft spotting targets and reporting successes. On 28 July off Wonsan the battleship was again taken under fire by shore batteries. Several near misses splashed to port, but New Jersey's precision fire silenced the enemy and destroyed several gun emplacements. Between 4 and 12 July, New Jersey supported a United Nations push in the Kansong area, firing at enemy buildup and reorganization positions. As the Republic of Korea's First Division hurled itself on the enemy, shore fire control observers saw New Jersey's salvos hit directly on enemy mortar emplacements, supply and ammunition dumps, and personnel concentrations. New Jersey returned to Wonsan 18 July, where she destroyed five gun emplacements with five direct hits.

New Jersey sailed to the aid of troops of the Republic of Korea once more on 17 August, returning to the Kansong area where for four days she provided harassing fire by night, and broke up counterattacks by day, inflicting a heavy toll on enemy troops. She returned to this general area yet again 29 August, when she fired in an amphibious demonstration staged behind enemy lines to ease pressure on the Republic of Korea's troops. The next day she started a three-day saturation of the Changjon area, with one of her own helicopters spotting the results: four buildings destroyed, road junctions smashed, railroad marshaling yards afire, tracks cut and uprooted, coal stocks scattered, and many buildings and warehouses set on fire.

Aside from a brief break in firing 23 September to take aboard wounded from the KOREAN FRIGATE Apnok, damaged by gunfire, New Jersey was heavily engaged in bombarding the Kansong area, supporting the movement of the U.S. X Corps. The pattern again was harassing fire by night, destruction of known targets by day. Enemy movement was restricted by the fire of her big guns. A bridge, a dam, several gun emplacements, mortar positions, pillboxes, bunkers, and two ammunition dumps were demolished. On 1 October 1951, General Omar Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and General Matthew B. Ridgeway, Commander in Chief Far East, came on board to confer with Admiral Martin.

Between 1 and 6 October New Jersey was in action daily at Kansong, Hamhung, Hungnam, Tanchon, and Songjin. Enemy bunkers and supply concentrations provided the majority of the targets at Kansong; at the others New Jersey fired on railroads, tunnels, bridges, an oil refinery, trains, and shore batteries. She also engaged an enemy gun emplacement with her five-inch (127 mm) gun mounts, which New Jersey successfully destroyed. The Kojo area was her target 16 October as she sailed in company with HMS Belfast (C35), pilots from HMAS Sydney (1944) spotting. The operation was well-planned and coordinated, and excellent results were obtained. Another highly satisfactory day was 16 October, when the spotter over the Kansong area reported "beautiful shooting every shot on target-most beautiful shooting I have seen in five years." This five-hour bombardment leveled ten artillery positions, and in smashing trenches and bunkers inflicted some 500 enemy casualties.

New Jersey dashed up the North Korean coast raiding transportation facilities from 1 to 6 November. She struck at bridges, road, and rail installations at Wonsan, Hungnam, Tanchon, Iowon, Songjin, and Chongjin, leaving four bridges destroyed, others badly damaged, two marshaling yards badly torn up, and many feet of track destroyed. With renewed attacks on Kansong and near the Chang-San-Got Peninsula 11 and 13 November, New Jersey completed her first tour of duty in Korea. Relieved as flagship by USS Wisconsin (BB-64), New Jersey cleared Yokosuka for Hawaii, Long Beach and the Panama Canal, and returned to Norfolk 20 December for a six-month overhaul. Between 19 July 1952 and 5 September, she sailed as flagship for Rear Admiral Harry R. Thurber, who commanded the NROTC midshipman training cruise to Cherbourg, Lisbon, and the Caribbean. Now New Jersey prepared and trained for her second Korean tour, for which she sailed from Norfolk 5 March 1953.

Shaping her course via the Panama Canal, Long Beach, and Hawaii, New Jersey reached Yokosuka 5 April, and next day relieved USS Missouri (BB-63) as flagship of Vice Admiral Joseph H. Clark, Commander 7th Fleet. On 12 April New Jersey returned to action by shelling Chongjin; in seven minutes she scored seven direct hits, blowing away half the main communications building there. At Pusan two days later, New Jersey manned her rails to welcome the President of the Republic of Korea and Madame Rhee, and American Ambassador Ellis O. Briggs. New Jersey fired on coastal batteries and buildings at Kojo 16 April; on railway track and tunnels near Hungnam 18 April; and on gun emplacements around Wonsan Harbor 20 April, silencing them in five areas after she had herself taken several near misses. Songjin provided targets 23 April. Here New Jersey scored six direct 16 inch (406 mm) hits on a railroad tunnel and knocked out two rail bridges.

New Jersey provided artillery support for a major air and surface strike on Wonsan 1 May, as 7th Fleet planes both attacked the enemy and spotted for the battleship. She knocked out eleven Communist shore guns that day, and four days later destroyed the key observation post on the island of Hodo Pando, commanding the harbor. Two days later Kalmagak at Wonsan was her target. New Jersey's tenth birthday, 23 May 1953, was celebrated at Incheon with President and Madame Rhee, Lieutenant General Maxwell D. Taylor, and other dignitaries on board. Two days later New Jersey returned to action along the west coast at Chinampo to knock out harbor defense positions.

The battleship was under fire at Wonsan 27–29 May, but her five-inch (127 mm) guns silenced the counter-fire, and her 16-inch shells destroyed five gun emplacements and four gun caves. She also hit a target that flamed spectacularly: either a fuel storage area or an ammunition dump. New Jersey returned to the key task of direct support to troops at Kosong 7 June. On her first mission, she completely destroyed two gun positions, an observation post, and their supporting trenches, then stood by on call for further aid. She then sailed back to Wonsan for a day-long bombardment 24 June, aimed at guns placed in caves. The results were excellent, with eight direct hits on three caves, one cave demolished, and four others closed. Next day she returned to troop support at Kosong, her assignment until 10 July, aside from necessary withdrawal for replenishment.

At Wonsan 11–12 July, New Jersey fired one of the most concentrated bombardments of her Korean duty. For nine hours the first day, and for seven the second, her guns opened fire on gun positions and bunkers on Hodo Pando and the mainland with telling effect. At least ten enemy guns were destroyed, many damaged, and a number of caves and tunnels sealed. New Jersey smashed radar control positions and bridges at Kojo 13 July, and was once more on the east coast bombline 22–24 July to support South Korean troops near Kosong. These days found her gunners at their most accurate: A large cave, housing an important enemy observation post was closed, the end of a month-long United Nations effort, and a great many bunkers, artillery areas, observation posts, trenches, tanks and other weapons were destroyed.

At sunrise on 25 July 1953 New Jersey was off the key port, rail and communications center of Hungnam, pounding coastal guns, bridges, a factory area, and oil storage tanks. She sailed north that afternoon, firing at rail lines and railroad tunnels as she made for Tanchon, where she launched a whaleboat in an attempt to spot a train known to run nightly along the coast. Her big guns were trained on two tunnels between which she hoped to catch the train, but in the darkness she could not see the results of her six-gun salvo.

Post Korean War (1953–1967)
New Jersey's mission at Wonsan, the next day, was her last. Here she destroyed large-caliber guns, bunkers, caves and trenches. Two days later, she learned of the truce. Her crew celebrated during a seven-day visit at Hong Kong, where she anchored on 20 August. Operations around Japan and off Formosa were carried out for the remainder of her tour, which was highlighted by a visit to Pusan. Here president Rhee came aboard on 16 September to present the Korean Presidential Unit Citation to the 7th Fleet.

Relieved as flagship at Yokosuka by Wisconsin 14 October, New Jersey was homeward bound the next day, reaching Norfolk on 14 November. During the next two summers she crossed the Atlantic with midshipmen on board for training, and during the rest of the year sharpened her skills with exercises and training maneuvers along the Atlantic coast and in the Caribbean. New Jersey stood out of Norfolk 7 September 1955 for her first tour of duty with the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. Her ports of call included Gibraltar, Valencia, Cannes, Istanbul, Souda Bay; and Barcelona. She returned to Norfolk 7 January 1956 for the spring program of training operations. That summer she again carried midshipmen to Northern Europe for training, bringing them home to Annapolis 31 July. New Jersey sailed for Europe once more 27 August as flagship of Vice Admiral Charles Wellborn Jr., Commander United States Second Fleet. She called at Lisbon, participated in NATO exercises off Scotland, and paid an official visit to Norway where Crown Prince Olav was a guest. She returned to Norfolk 15 October, and 14 December arrived at New York Naval Shipyard for inactivation. She was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Bayonne 21 August 1957.

The Vietnam War (1967–1969)
Due to heavy loss rates of U.S. aircraft (commencing with Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965), studies were conducted on ways of alleviating those air losses while at the same time delivering the ordnance payloads required by the escalation of the war. On 31 May 1967 the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara authorized a study aimed at determining what would be required to get New Jersey reactivated in her present condition, and when the results of the submitted study proved favorable toward the reactivation he took action. In August 1967 the Secretary of Defense made the decision to recommission a battleship "for employment in the Pacific Fleet to augment the naval gunfire support force in Southeast Asia". New Jersey was selected for this task because she was in better material condition than her sisters, having received an extensive overhaul prior to decommissioning. Upon her reactivation she underwent a period of modernization during which the 20 mm and 40 mm anti-aircraft guns on the battleship were removed, and she received improved electronic warfare systems and improvements to her radar. Armed as such New Jersey was formally recommissioned 6 April 1968 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, Captain J. Edward Snyder in command. During sea trials following her modernization, New Jersey set the battleship world speed record by achieving a speed of 35.2 knots (65.2 km/h; 40.5 mph), maintaining this speed for six hours.

New Jersey, then the world's only active battleship, departed Philadelphia 16 May, calling at Norfolk and transiting the Panama Canal 4 June before arriving at her new home port of Long Beach, California, 11 June. Further training off Southern California followed. On 24 July New Jersey received 16 inch shells and powder tanks from USS Mount Katmai (AE-16) by conventional highline transfer and by helicopter lift, the first time heavy battleship ammunition had been transferred by helicopter at sea (now known as vertical replenishment).

Departing Long Beach on 2 September, New Jersey touched at Pearl Harbor and Subic Bay before sailing 25 September for her first tour on the gun line along the Vietnamese coast. Near the 17th parallel on 30 September, the battleship fired her first shots in battle in over sixteen years, expending a total of 29 sixteen inch rounds against People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) targets in and near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) at the 17th parallel. New Jersey took up station off Tiger Island on 1 October and fired at targets north of the DMZ before moving south that afternoon to engage Viet Cong targets. She accounted for six bunkers, a supply truck and an anti-aircraft site that day; additionally, she helped rescue the crew of a Marine spotting plane forced down at sea by anti-aircraft fire. On 3 October New Jersey fired on targets south of Tiger Island, and on 4 October the battleship fired on a Communist troop concentration and destroyed several bunkers. On the evening of 7 October New Jersey received reports that a number of waterborne logistics craft were moving south near the mouth of the Song Giang River. New Jersey responded by closing on the formation, and succeeded in sinking eleven of the craft before they could beach.

On 11 October New Jersey engaged a coastal installation with her guns; however, she shifted her fire when a recon plane spotting for the battleship reported an enemy truck concentration north of Nha Ky. New Jersey gunners quickly retrained the battleship's big guns and managed to inflict heavy damage on six of the vehicles. Early on the morning of 12 October New Jersey trained her guns in anticipation of shelling the heavily fortified and well protected Vinh caves. For the next three days New Jersey pounded the area with her 16 in shells in an effort to eliminate the Viet Cong presence in the region. Aided by spotter aircraft from the aircraft carrier USS America (CV-66), New Jersey engaged enemy targets, setting several enemy positions on fire and sealing one cave. On 14 October New Jersey shifted her gunfire to the coastal artillery sites on Hon Matt Island, destroying one battery on the island.

On 16 October New Jersey took up station in support of the U.S. 3rd Marine Division. Using both the 16 in and 5 in guns New Jersey engaged and destroyed 13 structures and an artillery site, in the process halting an enemy platoon moving through the DMZ. New Jersey continued to lend firepower support on the 17th until departing to lend her gunfire to the First Field Force. Foul weather prevented spotter aircraft from flying until 20 October; however, New Jersey quickly made up for lost time on the gun line by destroying a Viet Cong command post and nine bunkers in support of the 173rd Airborne Brigade, who were operating about 50 mi north of Nha Trang. The next day New Jersey maneuvered into the waters of the Baie de Van Fong to fire at Viet Cong command posts, but poor visibility of the target area prevented any damage estimates.

On the night of 23 October New Jersey steamed north to rearm before taking up position in support of the 3rd Marine Division 25 October. That day she shelled enemy troops located by a spotter plane. The next day New Jersey engaged targets of opportunity, destroying 11 structures, seven bunkers, a concrete observation tower, and an enemy trench line. She also received hostile fire when North Vietnamese gunners attempted to strike at New Jersey with artillery positioned near Cap Lay. Some ten to twelve rounds were launched at New Jersey; however, the rounds fired landed well short of the battleship. Aerial spotters were called in to look at the suspected gun position; they reported no artillery present but fresh tire tracks leading to a concealed area, suggesting that there had been artillery there earlier. Armed with this information New Jersey fired five 16 inch shells at the site, but in the darkness spotters were unable to confirm any hits.

On 28 October New Jersey steamed south to engage Communist targets. During the shelling aircraft spotting for the battleship reported taking heavy anti-aircraft fire to the extreme north of the target zone; subsequently, New Jersey altered her fire to silence the site with her big guns. The next day New Jersey leveled 30 structures, destroyed three underground bunkers, and shelled a Viet Cong trench line. That afternoon an aerial observer located an enemy artillery position on a hilltop southwest of Cap Lay. New Jersey responded by firing six 16 inch rounds at the site, destroying it. Follow up assaults on 30 October destroyed a Communist resupply area and an anti-aircraft site. The official PAVN history claims that on 28 October their 25th Battery, 21st Artillery Battalion using 130mm guns hit the New Jersey setting it ablaze.

Upon completion of this mission New Jersey steamed south, taking a position off Da Nang and Point DeDe to lend naval gunfire support to the U.S. 1st Marine Division operating in the area. On 2 November New Jersey commenced firing operations against nine positions, but the heavy foliage in the area prevented spotters from seeing the results of the shelling. On 4 November New Jersey received orders to reinforce southern II Corps near Phan Thiết; she arrived on station later that night. The next day she answered eight call for fire support missions from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, in the process destroying eight Viet Cong bunkers and five structures. On 11 November New Jersey departed Vietnamese waters to replenish; she returned to the gunline 23 November and relieved USS Galveston (CLG-3), taking up position in support of the U.S. Army's Americal Division. That afternoon New Jersey's 5 inch guns shelled enemy buildings, destroying 15 structures and inflicted heavy damage on 29 others.

On 25 November New Jersey launched the most destructive shore bombardment of her Vietnam tour. For the next two days the battleship concentrated her fire at Viet Cong storage areas near Quảng Ngãi, destroying 182 structures and 54 bunkers, inflicting heavy damage to 93 structures, and demolishing several tunnel complexes before departing for Point Betsy near Hue 27 November to support the 101st Airborne Division. Between 2 and 8 December New Jersey returned to aid the 3rd Marine Division, shelling Viet Cong bunker complexes for the Marines operating around the Da Nang area before departing for Singapore 9 December. On 26 December New Jersey returned to the gunline, taking up station off Tuy Hòa in support of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam 47th Regiment. For the next three days New Jersey fired her guns to support the II Corps, in the process destroying Viet Cong bunkers and supply depots and neutralizing enemy cave posts. New Jersey would remain in the waters of the DMZ until after New Years, shelling Communist bunkers for ground troops until leaving to support the 1st Marine Division 3 January 1969.

Throughout January and into February New Jersey operated in support of the Marines. On 10 February the battleship left to reinforce the Korean 2nd Marine Brigade operating near Da Nang. The battleship's target was a suspected subterranean staging area for a Viet Cong regiment. New Jersey's big guns went to work on the complex, firing 16 inch shells into tunnels and bunkers to aid the ground troops. On 14 February the battleship steamed south of the DMZ to provide support for the 3rd Marine Division, in the process destroying an anti-aircraft site with her big guns. The next day New Jersey fired on an enemy rocket site northeast of Con Thien, destroying the facility, then trained her guns on known Communist positions to harass PAVN forces. On 22 February New Jersey responded to an urgent request for fire support from the besieged Oceanview observation post near the DMZ. For the next six hours New Jersey fired her guns, ultimately repelling the attacking force.

For the remainder of February and into March New Jersey shelled targets along the DMZ. On 13 March the battleship departed the gunline bound for Subic Bay. She returned to action on 20 March, operating near Cam Ranh Bay in support of the Korean 9th Infantry Division. For the next week New Jersey patrolled the waters between Phan Thiet and Tuy Hoa, shelling targets of opportunity along the coast. On 28 March New Jersey took up station south of the DMZ to aid the 3rd Marine Division, remaining there until 1 April, whereupon New Jersey departed for Japan. During the battleship's tour of duty along the gunline in Vietnam, New Jersey had fired 5,688 rounds of 16 inch shells, and 14,891 rounds of 5-inch shells.

Post Vietnam War (1969–1982)
Her first Vietnam combat tour completed, New Jersey departed Subic Bay 3 April 1969 for Japan. She arrived at Yokosuka for a two-day visit, sailing for the United States 9 April. Her homecoming, however, was to be delayed. On the 15th, while New Jersey was still at sea, North Korean jet fighters shot down an unarmed EC-121 Constellation electronic surveillance plane over the Sea of Japan, killing its entire crew. A carrier task force was formed and sent to the Sea of Japan, while New Jersey was ordered to come about and steam toward Japan. On the 22nd she arrived once more at Yokosuka, and immediately put to sea in readiness for what might befall.

As the crisis eased, New Jersey was released to continue her interrupted voyage. She anchored at Long Beach 5 May 1969, her first visit to her home port in eight months. Through the summer months, New Jersey's crew toiled to make her ready for another deployment, and deficiencies discovered on the gun line were remedied. According to official reports, though, reasons of economy were to dictate otherwise: on 22 August 1969 the United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird released a list of names of ships to be inactivated; at the top of the list was New Jersey. Five days later, Captain Snyder was relieved of command by Captain Robert C. Peniston.

Assuming command of a ship already earmarked for the "mothball fleet", Captain Peniston and his crew prepared for their task. New Jersey got underway on the voyage 6 September, departing Long Beach for Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. She arrived on the 8th, and began preinactivation overhaul to ready herself for decommissioning. On 17 December 1969 New Jersey's colors were hauled down and she entered the inactive fleet, following the words of her last commanding officer: "Rest well, yet sleep lightly; and hear the call, if again sounded, to provide fire power for freedom."

Reactivation (1982)

As part of president Ronald Reagan's and Navy Secretary John Lehman's effort to create a 600-ship Navy, New Jersey was selected for reactivation in the spring of 1981, and she was towed from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard to Long Beach Naval Shipyard at the end of July 1981 for modernization/reactivation.

At the time of the reactivation the Navy envisioned using New Jersey and her sister ship Iowa to meet sustained global requirements and relieve the strain on the Navy created by an increase in U.S. commitments to the Indian Ocean and Caribbean Sea regions. During this time the Navy developed several proposals to update their battleships to carry cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles, as well as point defense system mounts. Preliminary modernizations schemes included the removal of four of the ten 5 inch gun mounts on New Jersey to make room for the armored box launchers that would be required to carry and launch the BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles. At one point the NATO Sea Sparrow was to be installed on the reactivated battleships; however, it was determined that the system could not withstand the overpressure effects when firing the main battery.

On 28 December 1982 New Jersey was formally recommissioned at Long Beach, California, her new homeport. The recommissioning of New Jersey marked a return of the world's last battleships after a 13-year absence from the world's oceans. New Jersey, decommissioned in 1969, then was the first to be recommissioned under the 600-ship Navy program.

New Jersey's modernization was unique in that she was to be the only reactivated Iowa-class battleship to lose a gun turret. At the time the Navy made the announcement plans were underway to remove New Jersey's No. 3 16 in gun turret (located aft of the superstructure). In its place the Navy planned to install one of two systems: a vertical launching missile magazine which would have enabled New Jersey to carry an additional 48 Tomahawk or Harpoon missiles, or using the space generated by a removed gun turret for aircraft related updates centering on VTOL or V/STOL type aircraft. These ideas were ultimately dropped, and New Jersey retained her No. 3 gun turret during her 1980s career.

Over the next several months the ship was upgraded with the most advanced weaponry available; among the new weapons systems installed were four MK 141 quad cell launchers for 16 RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles, eight Armored Box Launcher (ABL) mounts for 32 BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles, and a quartet of the United States Navy's Phalanx Close in Weapon System (CIWS) Gatling guns for defense against enemy anti-ship missiles and enemy aircraft. New Jersey also received eight RQ-2 Pioneer Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, which are remotely controlled drones that replaced the helicopters previously used to spot for her nine 16"/50 Mark 7 guns. Also included in her modernization were upgrades to radar and fire control systems for her guns and missiles, and improved electronic warfare capabilities.

Because New Jersey had been recalled for service in the Vietnam War her modernization differed from her sisters for a number of reasons. When reactivated in 1967 New Jersey had her 20 mm Oerlikon and 40 mm Bofors anti-aircraft guns removed, and received improved electronic warfare capabilities. This alteration helped reduce the time it took to get New Jersey recommissioned: since she was not in her World War II format, the only major physical alteration to New Jersey involved the removal of four of her ten 5 inch gun mounts to make room for the Armored Box Launchers. In addition to saving time, this also made New Jersey cheaper to reactivate since the cost needed to modernize the battleship only included the addition of missile and gun system mounts, electronic warfare suites, and improved radar and gun spotter technology.

Since the Tomahawk missile system had not yet been adopted for use during New Jersey's original update, the Navy announced plans to divert assets from two of their Spruance-class destroyers to install the necessary Tomahawk launchers. Similarly, assets were diverted from two Farragut-class destroyer (1958) guided missile destroyers to allow for the installation of Harpoon launchers on New Jersey.

Lebanese Civil War (1983–1984)
In 1983, a bloody civil war was raging in Lebanon. In an effort to stop the violence in the region a Multinational Force of peacekeepers composed largely of U.S., Italian and French armed service members was created and sent to the region to attempt a restoration of order. As part of the multinational force the United States mobilized an expeditionary force composed of members of the United States Marine Corps and elements of the United States Sixth Fleet which operated out of the Mediterranean Sea.

On 18 April 1983 a van, carrying a 2,000 pound load of explosives, slammed into the U.S. embassy in West Beirut, killing 63. In August 1983, Israel withdrew its Defense Forces from the Chouf District (southeast of Beirut), thus removing the buffer between the Druze and the Christian militias, triggering another round of brutal fighting. In August 1983 militiamen began to bombard United States Marines positions near Beirut International Airport with mortar and rocket fire as the Lebanese Army fought Druze and Shia forces in the southern suburbs of Beirut. On 29 August 1983, two Marines were killed and fourteen wounded; in the ensuing months the Marines came under almost daily attack from artillery, mortar, rocket and small-arms fire. After this attack the Marines began returning fire. The Reagan Administration decided to dispatch New Jersey, a decision the Marines cheered.

On 16 September 1983 Druze forces massed on the threshold of Suk El Gharb, a village defended by the Lebanese Army. Suk El Gharb was a village with strategic importance: the militias coming up from the south had to traverse Suk El Gharb to get to the Beirut–Aley road. Moreover, Suk El Gharb controlled a ridge that overlooked Baabda, Yarze, which was the location of the Ministry of Defence and East Beirut. From that ridge, the Militia gunners could shoot directly downhill at those locations with artillery. United States Navy warships shelled Druze positions and helped the Lebanese Army hold the town of Suk El Gharb until a cease-fire was declared on 25 September, on which day the battleship New Jersey arrived on the scene. The arrival of New Jersey was one of several factors contributing to a reduction in the number of attacks on the Marines.

On 28 November—after 23 October 1983 Beirut barracks bombing—the U.S. government announced that New Jersey would remain off Beirut although her crew would be rotated. On 14 December, New Jersey fired 11 projectiles from her 16-inch (406 mm) guns at hostile positions inland of Beirut. These were the first 16-inch (406 mm) shells fired for effect anywhere in the world since New Jersey ended her time on the gunline in Vietnam in 1969.

This shelling was in response to attacks on U.S. reconnaissance planes by Syrian/Druze antiaircraft batteries.

Carrying on a tradition he had begun in World War II of spending Christmas with U.S. forces overseas, Bob Hope and his troupe of entertainers gave a show aboard the New Jersey on 24 December 1983. Four hundred Marines stationed in Beirut attended the show. On 8 February 1984, New Jersey fired almost 300 shells at Druze and Shi'ite positions in the hills overlooking Beirut. Some 30 of these massive projectiles rained down on a Syrian command post in the Bekaa Valley east of Beirut, killing the general commanding Syrian forces in Lebanon and several other senior officers. This was the heaviest shore bombardment since the Korean War.

Although New Jersey performed her job expertly during the intervention in Lebanon some have criticized the decision to have New Jersey shell Druze and Syrian forces. Members of this camp allege that this action forced a shift in the previously neutral U.S. forces by convincing local Lebanese Muslims that the United States had taken the Christian side; New Jersey's shells had killed hundreds of people, mostly Shiites and Druze. In his memoir, General Colin Powell (at the time an assistant to Caspar Weinberger) noted that "When the shells started falling on the Shiites, they assumed the American 'referee' had taken sides."

The accuracy of New Jersey's guns was also called into question. An investigation into New Jersey's gunfire effectiveness in Lebanon, led by Marine Colonel Don Price, found that many of the ship's shells had missed their targets by as much as 10000 yd and therefore may have inadvertently killed civilians. Tim McNulty, a correspondent for the Chicago Tribune based in Lebanon said, "Everybody loved the New Jersey until she fired her guns. Once she fired, it was obvious she couldn't hit anything." The inaccuracy is believed to have resulted because the ship's main gunpowder had been remixed by the Navy, under the direction of Captain Joseph Dominick Miceli at the Naval Weapons Support Center, and rebagged. Powder lots (an individual production of powder) burn at different rates. Therefore, remixing the powder lots could cause the guns to fire inconsistently. The problem was apparently resolved after the Navy was able to locate additional powder supplies which had not been remixed.

Post-Lebanese deployment (1984–1990)
In 1986 New Jersey began her next deployment, this time operating as part of the Pacific Fleet and as the centerpiece of her own battle group. Designated Battle Group Romeo, her escorts included the cruiser USS Long Beach (CGN-9), destroyer USS Merrill (DD-976), frigates USS Copeland (FFG-25) and USS Thach (FFG-43), and replenishment oiler USS Wabash (AOR-5). This was first time that New Jersey had operational control of her own group of escorts since the Korean War, and she cruised from Hawaii to Thailand in 1986, freeing up U.S. aircraft carriers for other missions and in the process becoming the only major U.S. naval presence in the region from May to October. Although in command of her own Battleship Battlegroup New Jersey did sail with the aircraft carriers USS Ranger (CV-61) and USS Constellation (CV-64) and USS Thach (FFG-43) while deployed in 1986.

According to a declassified command history for the nuclear-armed battleship New Jersey, during her transit through the Sea of Okhotsk on 27–28 September 1986, "close passes" were made by Soviet Bear and Badger bombers, a Hormone helicopter, and a May maritime patrol airplane. A Kara-class cruiser and two Grisha III frigates also shadowed the U.S. ships. The maneuver, according to the command history, "marked the first time a U.S. battleship had operated in the Soviet Navy's backyard." Following an overhaul at Long Beach which lasted into 1988 New Jersey returned to the Pacific Ocean, this time operating as part of a surface action group. The battleship operated near the coast of Korea prior to the opening of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, then departed for Australia to participate in the Australian bicentennial celebrations.

In April 1989, as New Jersey was preparing for her last operational cruise, sister ship Iowa suffered a catastrophic explosion in her No. 2 gun turret. Fallout from the incident led U.S. Naval officials to freeze live fire exercises with the guns until the investigation into the explosion was concluded. Eventually, the ban was lifted and New Jersey was allowed to use her big guns again. New Jersey's final cruise began in 1989 as part of Pacific Exercise '89. Upon completion of the exercise, New Jersey sailed through the Indian Ocean and into the Persian Gulf, in the process becoming the centerpiece for various battle groups and surface action groups. New Jersey remained in the Persian Gulf for the rest of the year, returning to the United States in February 1990.

Reserve fleet and museum ship (1991–present)
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s and the lack of a perceived threat against the United States came drastic cuts to the defense budget, and the high cost of maintaining battleships as part of the active fleet became uneconomical; as a result, New Jersey was decommissioned for the final time at Naval Station Long Beach, California, on 8 February 1991, with the ship serving a total of 21 years (the most of the four Iowas) in active service. The decision to decommission New Jersey robbed the battleship of the chance to participate in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, a military campaign to forcibly remove Iraqi troops from Kuwait. Hostilities had commenced on or about 15 January 1991 and sister ships Missouri and Wisconsin were engaging Iraqi targets with Tomahawk missiles at the time of New Jersey's decommissioning. Following her decommissioning New Jersey was towed to Bremerton, Washington, where she remained in reserve until struck from the Naval Vessel Register in January 1995.

Section 1011 of the National Defense Authorization Act of 1996 required the United States Navy to reinstate to the Naval Vessel Register two of the Iowa-class battleships that had been struck by the Navy in 1995; these ships were to be maintained in the United States Navy reserve fleets (or "mothball fleet"). The Navy was to ensure that both of the reinstated battleships were in good condition and could be reactivated for use in the Marine Corps' amphibious operations. Due to Iowas damaged Turret 2 the Navy selected New Jersey for placement into the mothball fleet, even though it was claimed that the training mechanisms on New Jerseys 16-in guns had been welded down (when in fact it was only the turret locking pins). The cost to fix New Jersey was considered less than the cost to fix Iowa; as a result, New Jersey and Wisconsin were reinstated to the Naval Vessel Register and placed back in the reserve fleet.

New Jersey remained in mothball fleet until the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act of 1999 passed through the United States Congress 18 October 1998. Section 1011 required the United States Secretary of the Navy to list and maintain Iowa and Wisconsin on the Naval Vessel Register, while Section 1012 required the Secretary of the Navy to strike New Jersey from the Naval Vessel Register and transfer the battleship to a not-for-profit entity in accordance with section 7306 of Title 10, United States Code. Section 1012 also required the transferee to locate the battleship in New Jersey. The Navy made the switch in January 1999, and on 12 September, New Jersey was towed by the tug Sea Victory from Bremerton, Washington to Philadelphia, for restoration work in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in advance of her planned donation for use as a museum.

Two competing requests for the battleships were filed, one by the USS New Jersey Battleship Commission of Bayonne, New Jersey, and one by the Home Port Alliance of Camden, New Jersey. Both teams submitted plans to operate and maintain the battleship as a museum. After a review of both plans, the Navy selected the Home Port Alliance as the battleship's final resting place. Secretary of the Navy Richard Danzig made the announcement on 20 January 2000, and on 15 October of that year New Jersey arrived at her final resting place on the Camden Waterfront.

Opened to the public
Shortly after her arrival New Jersey was opened to the public, officially beginning her new career as a museum ship with the name Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial. Self-guided tours, guided group tours, and overnight encampments are offered on the floating museum. Overnight encampments, typically for the benefit of Scouting organizations, offer the opportunity to sleep and eat in the original berths and mess decks.

New Jersey has been placed on several historic registers. In 1997, while the ship was still in the mothball fleet, the New Jersey State Review Board for Historic Sites recommended that it "be listed in the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, contingent upon the transfer of the battleship to New Jersey waters." In 2004, the State of New Jersey officially designated the battleship as an historical place. This cleared New Jersey for placement on the National Register of Historic Places, a list to which New Jersey was officially added in 2004.

In 2012 there was another nonprofit - the USS New Jersey Battleship Foundation, Inc. - which advocated that New Jersey should be moved to Liberty State Park. Ultimately, nothing came from that effort and the ship remains in Camden. One of USS New Jersey's original gun barrels from 1943 to 1954 now sits on the northwest corner of the Marine Parade Grounds alongside Broad Street and Intrepid Avenue in Philadelphia. Another original gun barrel is located in Camden, next to USS New Jersey, and a third is on display in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. A propeller is on display in front of Naval Weapons Station Earle, in Colts Neck, New Jersey. The museum also operates a YouTube channel where curators educate viewers on various historical details, facts, and the service history of the ship.

In the spring of 2024 New Jersey underwent dry-docking at Drydock no. 3 at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. The purpose of the dry-docking, with its estimated cost of $10 million, was to conduct crucial preservation work as New Jersey had not gone into dry dock since her decommissioning. While dry-docked from 27th of March to 14th of June, the underwater portion of the hull was pressure washed down to the bare steel and repainted with several coats, leaks were repaired, seams in the hull's riveted steel plates were caulked, anodes for cathodic protection were replaced, sections of the hull which had rusted thin were reinforced with extra steel, and some hull openings, such as where the propeller shafts pass thru, were closed off.

Awards
New Jersey earned nine battle stars for her World War II service, four for the Korean War, three for the Vietnam War, and three for action in Lebanon and the Persian Gulf region. Among other awards, she received the Navy Unit Commendation for Vietnam service, the Presidential Unit Citation from the Republic of the Philippines, and the Presidential Unit Citation from the Republic of Korea. Based on these New Jersey is the most decorated battleship in US history.

title: USS New Jersey (BB-62)


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Ångermanland

Ångermanland ( or ) is a historical province (landskap) in the northern part of Sweden. It is bordered (clockwise from the north) by Swedish Lapland, Västerbotten, the Gulf of Bothnia, Medelpad and Jämtland.

The name is derived from the Old Norse anger, which means "deep fjord" and is a reference to the deep mouth of the Ångerman River (Ångermanälven). In earlier times the province was known, in medieval Latin, as Angermannia.

Administration
The traditional provinces of Sweden, while remaining culturally and historically important, no longer serve as administrative or political entities. The heartlands of Ångermanland lie in today's Västernorrland County, with the remainder of the traditional province now forming part of Västerbotten and Jämtland Counties.

Heraldry
The heraldic description of the arms of Ångermanland is: Azure three Salmons naiant Argent finned Gules, the middle one counternaiant, which heraldic meaning is that the rivers have spawning grounds for salmon, i.e. two fish to the sea for each one up the river. The burgh of Peebles in Scotland also has a very similar coat of arms, with similar heraldic context but with a red background. The Ångermanland arms differ from those of Laholm in Halland County and of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in England, where salmon fishing and processing have been historically important, each of which have their three salmon naiant.

Geography
Ångermanland is the sixth largest of Sweden's provinces with an area of some 19,800 km2, of which around 1,000 km2 is water.

The nature of the western part of Ångermanland is greatly influenced by the presence of the Ångerman River. Although the province's soils are in general too barren for cultivation, there is arable farming in the areas adjoining the rivers – the Ångerman River in particular.

The coast of Ångermanland is mountainous and features an extensive archipelago with many steep islands, deep bays and fjords – among them the mouth of the Ångerman River. The landscape is generally accounted picturesque, particularly in the thickly wooded Ådalen region around the Ångerman River. The landscape is varied, with valleys, rocks, and bogs.

The largest town today is Örnsköldsvik, on the coast, with around 33,000 inhabitants. It is followed by Härnösand with 18,000.

Facts

 * Highest mountain: Bunkfjället (740 m, 2428 ft)
 * Largest lake: Tåsjön
 * National parks: Skuleskogen

The coast line on the Gulf of Bothnia, called the Höga Kusten, has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The land still rises at the rate of about one centimetre per year, as an effect of the last ice age that ended in the 7th millennium BC.

Population
The population of Ångermanland is 130 923 as of December 31, 2019. It is distributed over three counties as follows:

History
Ångermanland is mentioned the first time in Historia Norwegie as "Angariuam", in 1170. It is thought to have been christened in the 12th century, as several runestones were erected in the 11th century. The Vitalie pirate brothers sieged the Styresholm fortress in 1398, holding the whole coast of Norrland. The Styresholm fort was however demolished in 1434 by the locals during the Engelbrekt Uprising. In 1490, districts Ångermanland, Alir, Sunded, Nordanstig and Medelpad constituted Storhälsingland. Härnösand receives city status in 1585. In 1721 Härnösand was burned to the ground by the Imperial Russian Navy.

In 1931 four demonstrators and one bypassing were shot to death in the Ådalen shootings. It resulted in the forming of the state police, stripping the military of policiary work. Lower Norrland received its first university in 2005 when the Mitthögskolan transformed into the Mid Sweden University (Mittuniversitetet). The university has its courses spread over four cities; Härnösand, Sundsvall, Örnsköldsvik and Östersund.

Historical administration
Ångermanland was historically divided into chartered cities and districts.

Cities

 * Härnösand (1585)
 * Kramfors (1947)
 * Sollefteå (1917)
 * Örnsköldsvik (1893)

Sports
Football in the province is administered by Ångermanlands Fotbollförbund. Ice hockey is also popular, with Modo Hockey.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Ångermanland


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William Kempe

William Kempe (c. 1560 – c.  1603), commonly referred to as Will Kemp, was an English actor and dancer who specialised in comic roles. He was best known as one of the original stage actors in early dramas by William Shakespeare, and roles associated with his name may have included the comic creation Falstaff. His contemporaries considered him to be a successor to the great clown of the previous generation, Richard Tarlton.

Kempe's success and influence was such that in December 1598 he was one of a core of five actor-shareholders in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, alongside Shakespeare and Richard Burbage. He left the company shortly afterwards, and despite his fame as a performer and his intention to continue his career, he appears to have died unregarded and in poverty circa 1603.

Life
Kempe is usually given an approximate birth year of 1560. He first entered the historical record as a performer with Leicester's Men at Leicester House in May 1585 and continued in this service after Leicester's departure for the Low Countries to take part in the Eighty Years' War. Leicester's nephew, Philip Sidney, sent letters home by way of a man he called "Will, my Lord of Lester's jesting player" and it is now generally accepted this was Kempe. Sidney complained in a letter to Francis Walsingham that "Will" had delivered the letters to Lady Leicester rather than Sidney's wife, Frances Walsingham. After a brief return to England, Kempe accompanied two other future Lord Chamberlain's Men, George Bryan and Thomas Pope, to Elsinore where he entertained Frederick II of Denmark.

Kempe's whereabouts in the later 1580s are not known. His growing fame as a performer during this period is indicated by Thomas Nashe's An Almond for a Parrot (1590), which Nashe dedicated to Kempe, calling him "vicegerent general to the ghost of Dick Tarlton." The title-page of the quarto of A Knack to Know a Knave advertises Kempe's "merriments". Title-pages were a means to draw attention to a book, and the mention of Kempe suggests that he had become an attraction. Critics have generally viewed the scene in which Kempe performs as rather flat (Collier, 97), and it is assumed that the scene provided a framework within which Kempe could improvise. Entries in the Stationers' Register indicate that three jigs (short comic plays) possibly written by Kempe were published between 1591 and 1595. Two of these have survived.

By 1592 Kempe was one of Lord Strange's Men. He was listed in the Privy Council authorisation for that troupe to play seven miles out of London. In 1594, upon the dissolution of Strange's Men, Kempe, along with Burbage and Shakespeare, joined the Lord Chamberlain's Men and remained with them until early 1599, when events which are still unclear caused him to depart. Kemp had shared in the plans to construct the Globe Theatre but he appeared in no productions in the Globe, which was open by mid-1599. Evidence from Shakespeare's Henry V, in which there is no promised continuation of a role for Falstaff, and from Hamlet, with its complaint about improvised clowning (Act 3, Scene 2), may suggest the circumstances in which Kempe was dropped. He played his last role for Shakespeare in 1598.

In a 1615 lawsuit brought by Thomasina (née Heminges) Ostler, widow of William Ostler, against her father, John Heminges, the recently deceased actor William Kempe was referred to as a gentleman (Willelmo Kempe nuper de Londonia generoso defuncto). It has been suggested that either he was a member of the Kempe family of Olantigh, a property 1 mi north of Wye in Kent, or pretended a connection.

"Kemp's parentage is unknown, though it has been conjectured that, despite his plebeian performance persona, he was linked in some way to the Kempes of Ollantighe, near Ashford in Kent, who were a wealthy Catholic dynasty. Sir Thomas Kempe (1517–1591) did indeed have a son named William; however, the claim that this William Kempe was the actor cannot be correct, since he was buried at Wye church on 27 March 1597 (Honneyman, 125–9; Bannerman, 3; private information, A. Findlay) . Nonetheless, this putative connection might help explain the otherwise surprising story—dramatized in the play The Travailes of the Three English Brothers (1607) by Day, Rowley, and Wilkins—that when William Kemp the actor was in Italy in 1601 he had an encounter with the celebrated traveller Sir Anthony Shirley: for Sir Anthony and his two equally famous brothers were related to the Ollantighe Kempes through their mother, who was Sir Thomas Kempe's daughter. Possibly, then, the actor had some tie of kinship to Ollantighe, at an outlying point on the family tree; or perhaps in recommending himself to Shirley he was just opportunistically taking advantage of the name he shared with Shirley's mother."

Final years
After his departure from the Chamberlain's Men in early 1599, Kempe continued to pursue his career as a performer. In February and March 1600, he undertook what he would later call his "Nine Days Wonder", in which he morris danced from London to Norwich, a distance of about 110 miles or 177 km, a journey which took him nine days (spread over several weeks), often amid cheering crowds. Later that year he published a description of the event to prove to doubters that it was true. His later activities are obscure. On evidence from The Travels of the Three English Brothers, he is assumed to have made another European tour, perhaps reaching Italy, but by 1601 he was borrowing money from Philip Henslowe and had joined Worcester's Men. The last undoubted mention of him occurs in Henslowe's diary in late 1602.

Parish records record the death of "Kempe, a man" in St. Saviour, Southwark, late in 1603. While this is not necessarily the comedian, the record fits his departure from the documentary record.

Performance style
Kempe was as famous for his stage jigs as for his acting in regular drama. The jig, a kind of rustic cousin to commedia dell'arte, featured as many as five performers in a partially improvised song-and-dance routine. Jigs had plots, often bawdy, but the emphasis was on dancing and physical comedy. Two of Kempe's jigs survive in English, and two more in German. Examples of the jigs may be seen in the manuscript collection of John Dowland (now in the Cambridge University Library). A famous 17th century jig tune called Kemp's Jig was named after Will Kempe and was published in the first book of John Playford's The English Dancing Master of 1651. The tune has received a number of modern renditions, including those by Jan Akkerman and the folk band Gryphon.

As an actor, Kempe is with certainty associated with two roles: Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing and Peter in Romeo and Juliet. (In the quarto text of the latter, and in both quarto and First Folio text of the former, he is identified in speech prefixes and stage directions.) From these hints, a probable list of Kempe's parts has been deduced as follows: Costard in Love's Labours Lost, Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Lancelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice, and Cob in Ben Jonson's Every Man in His Humour. Falstaff is less certain. Although Falstaff presents some features of an Elizabethan dramatic clown, his character is higher in class and more complex than Kempe's other roles.

In period fiction

 * Kempe appears as a character in The Return from Parnassus, or The Scourge of Simony, possibly written during his lifetime or very shortly after his death. In it he praises Shakespeare for outdoing university-educated playwrights.

Film and TV

 * In the 1978 TV series Will Shakespeare Kempe is portrayed by Derek Royle as an oafish alcoholic. He is ousted from the troupe and replaced by Robert Armin when they think he has betrayed their involvement in the Essex Rebellion. In fact Armin is the informer, who has framed Kempe to replace him.
 * In the 1998 John Madden film Shakespeare in Love, he is played by Patrick Barlow.
 * In 2005's TV-film A Waste of Shame he is portrayed by John Voce.
 * In the 2007 Doctor Who episode "The Shakespeare Code", Kempe is played by David Westhead.
 * In the 2016 BBC sitcom Upstart Crow, Kempe is played by Spencer Jones as a parody of modern comedian Ricky Gervais.
 * In the 2017 television series Will, he is portrayed by William Houston.

Literature

 * Kempe is the subject of Paul Aldred's 2022 novel for young adults Will Kempe, Clown, covering his last three years with the Lord Chamberlain's Company.
 * Kempe is a key character in Kevin Sylvester's 2015 novel for young adults Neil Flambé and the Bard's Banquet, published by Simon & Schuster Books
 * Kempe appears in Ann Young's 2002 novel for young adults The Nine Days Wonder, published by East Hall Press.
 * In Neil Gaiman's 1991 graphic novel The Sandman: Dream Country, Kempe is depicted in the issue A Midsummer Night's Dream, a short story about Shakespeare's first performance of the play.
 * Kempe also appears in King of Shadows, a 1999 children's fiction book which shows Kempe as a clown dancing a Nine Days' Morris.
 * In Harry Turtledove's alternate history 2002 novel Ruled Britannia Kempe is one of the main characters. His off-stage personality is indistinguishable from the characters he plays on stage, and his antics provide much of the humour in the novel, which is set during a time of grim peril.
 * In J. B. Cheaney's 2004 novel The True Prince along with more of the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
 * Kempe's Jig is referenced in Geoffrey Hill's poem "After Reading Children of Albion (1969)" from his A Treatise of Civil Power, published in 2007.

Stage
In 1973 Chris Harris began touring in "Kemp's Jig" a one-man humorous show describing Kemp's life and the Nine Days' Wonder. The play toured globally, with its performance at the National Theatre televised for LWT's Aquarius programme. In 2019 Blue Fire Theatre Company took over the production, which continues to tour with Steve Taylor playing Kemp.

 * Kempe was the title character in Dan Roentsch's play Will Kemp.

 * William Gibson depicts Kempe as a moody tragedian in his 1968 play A Cry of Players, a significant departure from Kempe's actual performance style.

In 2008, comedian Tim FitzHigham re-enacted Kemp's Nine Day's Wonder by Morris dancing from London to Norwich, forming the basis of his play The Bard's Fool, performed at the Edinburgh Fringe.

In 2021, Tortive Theatre launched a new one-actor play about the life and death of William Kempe, written by T.G Hofman, at the Edinburgh Fringe. Shakespeare's Fool starred Robin Leetham as Kempe and was directed by Ben Humphrey. The show started touring the UK in 2022.

Concerts
During the COVID-19 Lockdowns 2020–2021, Hexachordia, a Musical trio created KEMP’S JIG - a fifty-five minute “Docu-Concert” following the exploits of the Shakespearean comic actor and available to view online.

title: William Kempe


text:
Ainbcellach mac Ferchair

Ainbcellach mac Ferchair was king of the Cenél Loairn of Dál Riata, and perhaps of all Dál Riata, from 697 until 698, when he was deposed and exiled to Ireland.

He was a son of Ferchar Fota. He is given the epithet the Good in the Duan Albanach, a praise poem from the 11th century.

It is unclear how long he remained in exile. There are reports of fighting in Dál Riata in the early 8th century which might be a conflict between Ainbcellach and his brother, Selbach mac Ferchair, or between the Cenél Loairn and the Cenél nGabráin for control of Dál Riata. Ainbcellach had certainly returned by September 719, when he was killed fighting against Selbach in "Finnglen" (perhaps near Loch Fyne).

Ainbcellach's son Muiredach was later king of the Cenél Loairn. The later Mormaers of Moray traced their descent to Ainbcellach and the Cenél Loairn through Ainbcellach's son Ruadrí.

title: Ainbcellach mac Ferchair


text:
Medelpad

Medelpad ( or ) is a historical province or landskap in the north of Sweden. It borders Hälsingland, Härjedalen, Jämtland, Ångermanland and the Gulf of Bothnia.

The province is a part of Norrland and as such considered to be Northern Sweden, although the province geographically is located in the middle of Sweden. It is a common misconception that the name Medelpad ("middle land" or "middle ground") reflects this, but the name actually refers to the fact that most of the province lies between its two rivers Ljungan and Indalsälven.

Administration
The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purposes, but are historical and cultural entities. In the case of Medelpad the province roughly comprises the southern part of the administrative county, län, Västernorrland County.

Three municipalities have their seats in Medelpad:

 * Sundsvall
 * Timrå
 * Ånge

Heraldry
The arms of Medelpad symbolises the land between the two rivers Ljungan and Indalsälven. As with other Swedish provinces, the arms can be represented showing a ducal coronet. Blazon: "Four times parted per fess wavy, Azure, Argent, Gules, Argent and Azure."

Geography
The province is situated at an average altitude of 200–300 meters above sea level. The highest mountains are no more than 500 meters high—the tallest is Myckelmyrberget with 577 meters. Of the total area, circa 500 km² is water. The largest lake is Holmsjön, located at 200 meters elevation, followed by Leringen, at a similar elevation.

There are also two major rivers that surround the province: Ljungan and Indalsälven.

History
The only town with the historical city status was Sundsvall, which was granted the privilege in 1624. Sundsvall is still the largest city of the province, with about 50,000 inhabitants. In total, the population of Medelpad is circa 120,000.

Districts

 * Indal Court District
 * Ljustorp Court District
 * Njurunda Court District
 * Selånger Court District
 * Skön Court District
 * Torp Court District
 * Tuna Court District

Notability
The coast line on the Gulf of Bothnia, called the "High Coast", has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The land still rises at the rate of about one centimetre per year, called post-glacial rebound process. This is an effect of the last ice age that, in this area, ended in the 7th millennium BC.

Culture
The mountain hare is the provincial animal, but the Skvader, a fictional animal, was popular in the 1987 unofficial referendum to select the provincial animal.

Sports
Football in the province is administered by Medelpads Fotbollförbund and currently has 40 clubs. The most successful club in Medelpad is GIF Sundsvall. GIF Sundsvall is currently playing in the second tier of Swedish football, Superettan. Both GIF Sundsvall and IFK Sundsvall has played in the highest tier of Swedish football, Allsvenskan.

Ice hockey is also popular, with Timrå IK, and basketball with the Sundsvall Dragons.

title: Medelpad


text:
Talk:Iraq crisis of 2003/archive

This article was removed because the user who sumbitted it was banned, for reasons which are on the mailing list. Given the reason for the ban, it is surprising that this user is taking an anti-war position here!

The conclusion on the mailing list was that they should be banned, and therfore they don't get to play here. Period.

If you want to restore their article, please write your own article here. The Anome 22:57 Feb 26, 2003 (UTC)

By this logic, any article with any kind of POV slant that was written by a now-defunct user, such as User:Lir or User:Isis is up for removal based only on heresay in another forum. I will restore it and prune it, because it looks for one, like its the best titled of all of the Iraq articles, and two; Its probably better organized. -&#12469&#12481&#12505&#12481&#12468

 * Isis was not banned, she left on her own. The criteria do not apply.  -- Zoe

 * Isis and Jimbo worked out some agreement privately. Since we aren't privy to that agreement, we don't know if her being banned was a part of it or not.

 * p.s. At least three users I know of are smart enought to know what anonymous IP's are and have reincarnated here with more moderated behaviour... Judge the merit, not the glitter, Anome.

Hi Stevertigo -- as I understand it, this is one of the few people ever permanently banned from Wikipedia, by Jimbo, with the consensus of the mailing list.

Please see the list for the reasons why.

If you feel that they should be allowed back, please take it to the mailing list. If the list and Jimbo unban this user, they are welcome to come back: otherwise, not. -- The Anome 23:08 Feb 26, 2003 (UTC)

The very argument you make against the article is a subjective one- which is ironically the same problem you have with its content. - Just thought I should point that out. -&#12469&#12481&#12505&#12481&#12468

There is no content in this "article", it is nothing more than a collection of links to other articles and stubs.

If you want to defend "Iraq crisis, 2003" as an article, you should at least be able to say what the crisis is. There is no definition in this page. Nor is there any guidance as to what wikipedia topics should be on this page, since it appears to be a list of every conceivable thing that any wikipedia editor can use their own POV to link to.

That the use of violence is a commonplace thing is only as aspect of the fact that youre accustomed to it. - or something like that... parahrasing... 128.193.88.104 - get a name... I dont respond to anons (accountability) - and Im busy with other things... --- &#12469&#12481&#12505&#12481&#12468

 * Cool. Since you are busy with other things I guess you won't be intefering with the work that others do on this article.  Oh, and regarding the accountability - you authored it so it really isn't anything more than an editorial of your opinions.

Well this is a new low point even for the IP Death Squad. Censoring articles that it is generally agreed have merit strictly because of who wrong them. But it reveals the fundamental faults in the logic of Wales, Sanger, and their friends - no process, no acknowledgement of their own biases, etc., etc..

This project is doomed to fail. It is going to become yet another clique hobby like so many open source code projects. Until Wales, Sanger, and those who listen to them are gone, there will be absolutely no saving the Wikipedia. Those who believe in the project should work on organizing an alternative.

Obviously, this ban is simply an excuse to remove material from meta that is causing discomfort to a clique. That's all it is, regardless of other excuses.

 * Then just leave and take all the other trolls that are already banned with you. --dan

- For what it's worth, I happened across this article by accident and it didn't strike me as deletion-worthy. It could use a better writeup (more prose, fewer bullet lists) but the current state is no worse than any half-dozen other stub-ish articles currently in Wikipedia. The Iraq crisis may be the single largest issue in international politics from mid-2002 to the present; doesn't this deserve an article? k.lee

I'll be the first to admit that the structure of this article leaves much to be desired. Others have seen this, and have expressed a willingness to work on improvements. That's as it should be!

When people start removing articles because of who wrote them rather than because of their content, that's scary. It's another form of ad hominem argument. For Anome to say in a "trust me" tone that it's all on the mailing list does nothing to build confidence; it is a McCarthyite tactic that should be resisted. If someone was banned for good reasons, so be it. If, after the fact, you want to whine about the banned person playing in your sandbox, the participants in this article deserve a more forthright explanation that risks re-opening the same ban to a whole new round debate. In the absence of the issue of who wrote the article, I'm sure that it would have found its own place without this unnecessary argument. Eclecticology 08:18 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

-

It's not about the article content, it's about enforcing the ban.

I agree, banning is an extreme measure. The user in question was banned for extraordinary reasons, after lengthy attempts at constructive engagement failed. If you want this user un-banned, please get the mailing list to agree to un-ban them.

However, if, as you propose, we allow banned users to return when they feel like it, what does "banned" mean? Does it mean "you are banned from Wikipedia, except feel free to write articles whenever you like, and we won't ever delete your content, because it's sacred"? As far as I can tell, this means that no-one -- or their content -- can ever be banned from Wikipedia.

But, in any case, it was a very poor article.

The issues I have with this article are:
 * original material by user who has been banned from Wikipedia -- under any and all names and IP addresses
 * original contribution just a link farm of bullet points and lists, with repetition and redundant links
 * poor quality text
 * POV problems

The solution: a rewrite!

The Anome 09:24 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

A little more on topic here, the next new moon isn't on 23 March, it's on 1 April. This article definitely needs some work.

 * Does someone have a good lunar calendar? The Anome

 * This one looks pretty good. On 23 March, the moon will be in the third-quarter phase, meaning it won't rise until after midnight, and it'll only be half-full, so there will be many hours of moonless nighttime.

-

This article should probably be merged with U.S. plan to invade Iraq, which currently has a much fuller treatment of the top-level issues, but lacks some of the background. The Anome 09:43 Feb 27, 2003 (UTC)

There is some disagreement about the title of the US plans to... article. Its not NPOV, I dont see it as such - It implies that the plan is the issue- its not - its America's designs versus the disagreement in other parts of the world that is the central issue at this point. Sure, the Blockheaded any-war-is-good types want to just gloss over it, and get to the US mops up Iraquis article; and the bubbleheaded anti-any-war types want to phrase it in terms that are POV in the other direction; excluding this, and mentioning that.. (uncomfortable subject). It needs to be resolved - now. Is this title NPOV or not? Isnt what we are in now a diplomatic crisis? --- &#35918&#30505

 * By definition, aren't all wars a "diplomatic crisis"?

Here is what I see as the biggest POV issue with this article - What exactly is the crisis?

 * Is the crisis the fact that Iraq hasn't disarmed?
 * Is the crisis the fact that the US is mobilizing to attack?
 * Is the crisis the fact that the US is ignoring the opinion of other countries?
 * Is the crisis the fact that other countries won't convert to the US view?
 * Is the crisis the fact that France is blocking US efforts?

The article doesn't come straight out and say what the "crisis" is, but it seems to assume some POV (that world opinion matters and the US shouldn't attack) and then it flows from there.

If this article is going to be called Iraq crisis of 2003, then it good wikipedia style it should start with...

 * The Iraq crisis of 2003 is {something specific so we know what the crisis is}.

Instead, somehow we have an article about a so-called crisis where the word "crisis" isn't used anywhere except in the title and one heading. If there is a crisis, why can't someone tell me what the crisis is and what would be considered acceptible resolutions?

 * Why dont you sign a name so that you have some kind of face to talk to. - &#35918&#30505

 * Signing a name would preclude me from being an anonymous user, as it would imply accepting an identity.

 * "Oh, and regarding the accountability - you authored it so it really isn't anything more than an editorial of your opinions."

This kind of spatter violates the rule of 'dont make a pain in the ass of yourself. The "opinion" has been around for months, and is generally accepted. I wrote in response to people like you. Anon editors are welcome. They dont comment much, they just do good work, and be on their way. It is considered rude by most Wikipedians to make talk entries unsigned. And getting a username doesnt violate the principle of remaining anonymous. A number of users will not respond to anon comments, cause they are a pain in the ass to keep track of. I am now one of them. Capice? - &#35918&#30505

 * Well, since you said yesterday you wouldn't be responding to me, I guess you have just reiterated your point today. Your assertion that your statement on accountability is anything more than your opinion is just that, your opinion.  I know some "brand-name" wikipedians would disagree that anonymous users are to be as low in the hierachy as you would have them.

 * I wanted to point out that you're only a smidgen more anonymous now then if you signed in under a fictitious username. You've edited several talk pages and you have an identity in my mind, at least, after reading your last few comments.    They show your viewpoints and ideas and modes of thinking -- not as much as the users that have been around for awhile, but they do illustrate your personality and overall paradigm. (I have no problem with you editing under an IP address, though it would be polite if you at least sign (with the numbers) so it's easier to tell which comments come from who) Tuf-Kat

 * I'm perusing your past contributions and I have come to the conclusion that you are either Canadian or USian (most likely US, probably West-Coast, if you edit primarily at peak hours, then you are about three time zones from me), you are in support of the War on Iraq but are also committed to the NPOV, you're well-educated and English is your first language and I'd guess you're white and middle-class. You use Windows (you recognized a character that I think Windows users would have seen as a question mark and not an apostrophe, and apparently clicked on edit this page solely to fix it).  Some or all of these conclusions may be false (and I only examined your contributions closely because of your claim), but I do have an identity in my mind that is only a bit less informed than my perception of Ed Poor or Stevertigo or the newly-signed in guy who I've been talking with at Talk:Ebonics. Tuf-Kat

 * Thank you for your opinion. I will confirm that your statement that "some or all of these conclusions may be false"' is correct.

title: Talk:Iraq crisis of 2003/archive


text:
Hälsingland

Hälsingland, sometimes referred to as Helsingia in English, is a historical province or landskap in central Sweden. It borders Gästrikland, Dalarna, Härjedalen, Medelpad and the Gulf of Bothnia. It is part of the land of Norrland.

Princess Madeleine is currently the duchess of Hälsingland, along with Gästrikland.

Administration
The traditional provinces of Sweden serve no administrative or political purpose, but are historical and cultural entities. In the case of Hälsingland the province constitutes the northern part of the län ('administrative county') Gävleborg County. Minor parts of the province are in Jämtland County and in Västernorrland County.

The following municipalities have their seats in Hälsingland:

 * Bollnäs
 * Hudiksvall
 * Ljusdal
 * Nordanstig
 * Ovanåker
 * Söderhamn

The six largest settlements are:

 * Bollnäs
 * Hudiksvall
 * Söderhamn
 * Ljusdal
 * Edsbyn
 * Iggesund

Heraldry

The coat of arms were granted in 1560 in the era of King Gustav Vasa. At that time, Hälsingland was known for its large scale goat breeding, and the arms depicted a standing goat facing heraldic right (blazon: Sable, a Goat rampant Or attired and hoofed Gules). This, combined with the arms of Gästrikland, forms the coat of arms for Gävleborg County.

Geography
The terrain is mostly hilly and rocky, sloping down towards the coast. The highest elevation in the northern part is 530 meters, and 671 meters in the western part. Approximately 85% of the land area is covered with forest, and the timber industry has historically been the main source of income. Apart from some areas around the river systems, notably around the River Ljusnan, the soil is barren. Large areas consist of rocks and bogs and are unsuitable for agriculture.

A notable geological feature is the Dellen lake system, created from flooded meteoric impact craters. It is the only occurrence in Sweden of the volcanic Andesite rock, to which it has given the name dellenite.

History
The earliest mention of the people of Hälsingland may be in the Old English poem Widsith, from the 9th or 10th century, where a people called the Hælsings are referred to. The first definite mention of the people is made by Adam of Bremen around 1070, in reference to the leidang shipping fleet.

In the medieval age, the "Helsings" were the Swedish speaking inhabitants of the entire coastal region north of Uppland, a rather imprecise denomination. In the early provincial law of Uppland, the border between northern Uppland and Hälsingland was the Ödmården forest.

In the 13th century a large number of people emigrated from Hälsingland to the southern coasts of Finland, then called Österland. They named places after Hälsingland, most notably the river Helsingeå and its first rapids Helsingfors. In 1550 the latter gave name to a new town founded next to it by King Gustav Vasa. This town became the city of Helsinki, and in 1812, it became capital of Finland.

The oldest city in Hälsingland is Hudiksvall, chartered in 1582. After that, Söderhamn was chartered in 1620. In 1942 Hälsingland was granted its third city, Bollnäs, which was to become the last city (in Hälsingland) as city status in Sweden was abolished in 1971.

Elections
Hälsingland is part of the Gävleborg constituency for national elections. This list covers the six municipalities that have their seats in Hälsingland, since the municipal reform before the 1973 election. Historically, the area has been dominated by the Social Democrats. This has especially been the case in the heavily industrialized Söderhamn Municipality where the area around Ljusne regularly recorded nearly 90 % of the vote left of centre. This meant that the southeast part of the province was the most left-wing in the country until Ljusne got surpassed by Fredriksberg in Ludvika Municipality, Dalarna, in the 1990s. The municipalities of Bollnäs and Hudiksvall leaned left also in the past. That trend strengthened from the 1980s onwards after the decline of the Centre Party nationwide with the Moderate Party never gaining a strong foothold in the province. With the number of residents decreasing while Sweden's population grew simultaneously, the popular vote share of Hälsingland fell from 1.8 % in 1976 to just 1.3 % in 2018. The list below excludes the small area of the province located in Jämtland County around Ytterhogdal.

Dialect
The local dialect is known as Hälsingemål or Hälsingska but has no official linguistic recognition.

Folk architecture
The magnificent Decorated Farmhouses of Hälsingland—"Hälsingegårdar"—are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Two or even three storeys high, the farmhouses are built to show wealth and independence, and much inventiveness has gone into decorating their interiors, which combine aristocratic fashions with traditional materials and techniques.

Sports
Bandy is very popular in Hälsingland; it is the only district where bandy is bigger than ice hockey.

Hälsingland currently has 4 clubs in the highest tier of Swedish Bandy, Elitserien.

 * Bollnäs GiF
 * Broberg / Söderhamn Bandy IF
 * Edsbyns IF
 * Ljusdals BK

Football in the province is administered by Hälsinglands Fotbollförbund.

Hockey teams in Hälsingland include:
 * Järvsö IK- HockeyTrean
 * Gällsta IK- HockeyTrean
 * Bollnäs IS- HockeyTrean
 * Soderhamn/Ljunse HC- HockeyTvåan
 * Hudiksvalls HC- Hockeyettan

Notable natives

 * Tomas Brolin former football player, who played in the World Cup All Star Team 1994, was born in Finflo outside the town of Hudiksvall.
 * Hans Johansson, former bandy player, several times Swedish and world champion, is originally from Edsbyn.
 * Photographer and author Hilding Mickelsson, who spent his life documenting and preserving Hälsingland's cultural, intangible and natural heritage.
 * Actress Noomi Rapace, famous through the adaptions of the Millennium series, was born in Norrbo, Hudiksvall.
 * Marie Richardson, an actress appearing in over a hundred productions on the stage, television and film, was born in the town of Ljusdal.
 * Archbishop Nathan Söderblom, Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1930, was born in Trönö, Hälsingland in 1866.

Subdivisions
Hälsingland was historically divided into districts:

 * Arbrå Court District
 * Bergsjö Court District
 * Delsbo Court District
 * Enånger Court District
 * Forsa Court District
 * Hälsingland South-Eastern Court District
 * Hälsingland South-Western Court District
 * Järvsö Court District
 * Ljusdal Court District

In popular culture

 * Midsommar, a 2019 film set in Hälsingland

title: Hälsingland


text:
Talk:Noel Jones (diplomat)

>his premature death in 1995, at the age of 44.

Untitled
This isn't a neutral point of view, old chap. Whether his death was or was not premature is purely a matter of opinion.

 * I meant "premature" in the sense of "before the onset of old age". 44 is middle-aged, so he wasn't really old. But I have no objection to the removal of the word; it was redundant, after all. -- Oliver P. 20:39 Mar 2, 2003 (UTC)

Noel Jones's family emigrated to England while he was still a young boy, and for a time lived with Frederick and Dorothy Borrett, Dorothy having been a relative of Noel's mother.

I'm removing this, because to be honest it's not easily verifiable. (It's information I got from personal correspondence with various people.) Well, I'll have to leave in something about him coming to England, because otherwise the following bit won't make sense. -- Oliver P. 19:12 4 Jun 2003 (UTC)

WikiProject class rating
This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as stub, and the rating on other projects was brought up to Stub class. BetacommandBot 07:28, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

title: Talk:Noel Jones (diplomat)


text:
Laponia (historical province)

Laponia (Lappland) was a historical Swedish province, or landscape, in the north of Sweden which evolved from Lappmarken. In 1809, Sweden ceded the eastern part, along with Finland, to the Russian Empire, which in effect created a Swedish Lapland and Finnish Lapland.

Today, the Swedish part serves no administrative purpose. On the Finnish side, there was a Province of Lapland (much larger to the south, especially by population, and where there were no Sami for many centuries) from 1938 until 2010, when Finnish provinces were discontinued, and the province was replaced by the Region of Lapland.

Lapland is considered in some nations — notably the United Kingdom, Ireland, Serbia, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Romania and France — to be the home of Father Christmas (more widely known as Santa Claus).

Population
The current population of Swedish Lapland plus the municipalities Enontekiö (Eanodat), Inari (Ánar), Utsjoki (Ohcejohka), Muonio (Muoná), Kittilä (Gihttel) and Sodankylä (Soad'egilli) in Finnish Lapland constitutes 125,151 individuals. The largest city is Kiruna (Giron) with 18,154 inhabitants.

Historical districts
Before being split, Laponia was divided into juridical districts which were:

 * Arjeplog Lapland Court District
 * Arvidsjaur Lapland Court District
 * Enonteki Lapland Court District
 * Gällivare Lapland Court District
 * Jokkmokk Lapland Court District
 * Jukkasjärvi Lapland Court District
 * Lycksele Lapland Court District
 * Norsjö and Malå Court District
 * Åsele Lapland Court District

title: Laponia (historical province)