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MIDDLETOWN – The stage has been built. The red, white and blue bunting has been hung. Rows and rows of white chairs, meticulously aligned, have been placed at the farthest end of the Naval Weapons Station Earle pier, soon to be filled with Navy officers, elected leaders and a curious public.
The guest of honor is sitting at her berth awaiting her audience, her sail housing her periscope visible from the deck of the pier. Saturday is her big day. She will be commissioned as the USS New Jersey, a 377-foot long Virginia class nuclear-powered cruise missile fast-attack submarine. She will get a sacred ceremony from the Navy.
“It’s extremely important. It marks a major milestone that the crew has been working on for years. This entire week has been dedicated to the commissioning of the vessel, named after the state of New Jersey,” said Steven Halle, the submarine’s commanding officer. “The formal ceremony welcomes us to the fleet.”
A couple of hundred people, including Gov. Phil Murphy, are expected to attend. Due to several events happening in Middletown tomorrow, the police department is advising people to plan for traffic delays on Route 36. Guests will be shuttled to the Navy pier from the AT&T lot on Laurel Avenue. The police said the Holland Road entrance to the AT&T lot will be closed. There will also be no access to the naval base from Route 36.
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Previous New Jersey namesakes
The soon-to-be USS New Jersey will be the third naval vessel named after the state of New Jersey.
The first Navy ship named USS New Jersey was a World War I-era battleship commissioned in 1906. She was part of Theodore Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet,” a group of 16 battleships that traveled around the world between 1907 and 1909 to demonstrate America’s naval power.
She made four trans-Atlantic voyages to bring veterans home from Europe following the war. She was decommissioned in 1920. Three years later she was sunk off Cape Hatteras as a bombing target.
The second is a World War II-era battleship that became the most decorated battleship in the nation’s history. She is an Iowa-class battleship that was commissioned in 1943.
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During World War II she saw action in the Battle of Philippine Sea, the Battle of Leyte Gulf and supported the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns. She was later recommissioned and saw service in the Korean War, Vietnam War and Persian Gulf War
She was decommissioned for the last time in 1991 and currently serves as a museum ship at Camden on the Delaware River.
The most advanced submarine
The USS New Jersey is outfitted with BGM-109 Tomahawk missiles and Mk-48 torpedoes, which are capable of sinking other nuclear-powered submarines. She is propelled by a S9G reactor auxiliary diesel engine, which gives her enough power to reach a speed of 25 knots underwater — fast enough to get most places in the world in three weeks.
She can stay under for three months and submerge herself as deep as 800 feet.
Halle said her acoustic quieting and stealth, automated ship controls — among other features — make her the Navy’s most “advanced submarine.”
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She was built by Huntington Ingalls Industries in Newport News, Virginia. Her keel ceremony, which marks the start of construction, was in 2019. Bob Bolden, the construction director for Huntington Ingalls’ Virginia-class program, said 10,000 shipbuilders touched the sub during her build out.
“It’s the most complex machinery in the world. It’s made to protect our freedom and we take a lot of pride in that. If you don’t have pride in that, than you shouldn’t be working at Newport News,” Bolden said.
The sub will hold a crew of 140 people, consisting of 30 officers of varying ranks, and 110 enlisted men and women. Speaking of the crew, it will be gender-integrated and is the first sub to have some separate quarters for men and women.
Devil’s horns and Parkway signs
On May 24, 2015, then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced the sub would be named after New Jersey at a ceremony at Liberty State Park in Jersey City. As such, the sub has several details that are wholly Jersey.
The boat’s crest is designed with horns on the top and a tail at the bottom to represent the Jersey Devil, lending to the crew’s nickname “Devils of the Deep.” Inside the boat, sections are marked by New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway exit signs.
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Several of the crew are from New Jersey, including Machinist Mate Nuclear, Second Class Philip Michaels, a 2020 graduate of Shore Regional High School.
“I think the detailers over in Tennessee were feeling funny and they just put me on the submarine,” joked Michaels.
When Jersey Shore native Dan Radel is not reporting the news, you can find him in a college classroom where he is a history professor. Reach him @danielradelapp; 732-643-4072; [email protected].
Source link : https://www.app.com/story/news/local/new-jersey/2024/09/13/uss-new-jersey-submarine-ship-commissioning-dr-susan-dimarco-sponsor/75085590007/
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Publish date : 2024-09-13 10:14:00
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