The USS New Jersey was a Virginia-class battleship of the United States Navy and the first ship to carry her name.
USS New Jersey (14,948 ts) was launched on Nov. 10th, 1904 by Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, and commissioned on May 11th, 1906.
After her initial training in the Atlantic and Caribbean the New Jersey cruised off Cuba in Sept./Oct. 1906 to protect American citizens threatened by the Cuban Insurrection.
Together with 15 other battleships, the USS New Jersey formed the Great White Fleet and cleared Hampton Roads on Dec. 16th, 1907 to begin their famous voyage around the globe. The force visited Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro, Punta Arenas, Valparaiso, Callao, San Francisco, Hawaii, Auckland, Sydney, Tokyo, Amoy, the Philippines, Suez and several Mediterranean ports before returning to Hampton Roads on Febr. 22nd, 1909.
From 1910 until 1913 New Jersey carried out a normal pattern of midshipmen drills and training in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean. Between late 1913 and Aug. 1914 the battleship operated off Tampico and Veracruz, Mexico, and also landed Marines to protect American citizens and property during the Mexican political turmoils.
During WW 1, New Jersey trained gunners and seamen recruits in Chesapeake Bay. After the 1918 Armistice she began the first of four voyages to France, from where she brought home 5000 members of the American Expeditionary Force by June 9th, 1919. New Jersey was decommissioned at the Boston Naval Shipyard on Aug. 6th, 1920, and was sunk along with the battleship USS Virginia off Cape Hatteras on Sept. 5th, 1923 in Army bomb tests conducted by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell.
