Finally got to the USS New Jersey

[W1GUH]

Now I know what a battleship is like. Well...the parts I could see. Worthwhile trip if you want to see a Battleship.

Best pic is that new avatar -- Stained glass of Nipper listening to "His Master's Voice" in what looked like a clock tower on the old RCA plant right next to the New Jersey. It's now L3 Communication.

And...as repeated all over the country...the area where the ship is berthed is acres and acres of crumbling factories. The "park" itself is obviously "new development" of an "eyesore." Wonder what kind of great things were wiped out? What great art was gestating there? How many poor people were displaced?

[W3WN]

If that's the building I think it is, it's one of the old RCA Tube manufacturing facilities. My dad worked there as a ceramics engineer (even though he was based at another plant).

He once got a letter from David Sarnoff himself (allegedly), congratulating him for being part of the team that had developed some new technology that RCA had gotten a patent for, thanking him for his hard work and best wishes for his continued work for the company in the future.

The letter came 6 months after the process had been shipped overseas, and Dad had been laid off.

[W5GA]

I remember the day one of the battlewagons pulled in to San Diego for the first time since Vietnam, this would have been at some point in the eighties. The only time I've ever seen traffic on I-5 stopped without a traffic problem of some sort. Much more impressive visually than an aircraft carrier.

[NQ6U]

I remember the day one of the battlewagons pulled in to San Diego for the first time since Vietnam, this would have been at some point in the eighties. The only time I've ever seen traffic on I-5 stopped without a traffic problem of some sort. Much more impressive visually than an aircraft carrier.

Much more vulnerable, too. They are fascinating ships, but of a bygone era. They wouldn't last long in modern warfare where a (relatively) cheap air-launched missile could send it to the bottom in a matter of minutes.

[N8GAV]

We are likely still paying all that money spent back in the 80's to put them battle wagons back to sea and for what? Funny thing is Congress still holds one in mothball for the Navy Reserve Fleet, 'In Case It Is Needed," and I ask again for what?

[kb2vxa]

"They wouldn't last long in modern warfare where a (relatively) cheap air-launched missile could send it to the bottom in a matter of minutes."

The last refit of the New Jersey took that into account, it has two radar based computer driven fire control MK 15 Phalanx guns and this is one of them.

[W1GUH]

"They wouldn't last long in modern warfare where a (relatively) cheap air-launched missile could send it to the bottom in a matter of minutes."

The last refit of the New Jersey took that into account, it has two radar based computer driven fire control MK 15 Phalanx guns and this is one of them.

Good reply to that comment.

The docent (tour guide -- really great guy, served on a destroyer in WWII) told us that the New Jersey only ever took a minor hit...I thin the casualty count was 1. So...obsolete? Maybe, but those babies survive and has awesome fire power.

The gun turrets are armored with 17" of steel. Maybe more importantly, the guys steering the ship up on the bridge are also inside 17" of steel armor. This ship had Tomahawk misslies, too. They could hit N. Dakota from Camden.

But the day was a serendipity for another reason. Yesterday just happened to be the day they hosted a Vietnam display and presentation from viet vets. The result was learning something about the military that, while I kind of sensed it, hadn't seen explicitly.

The first indication that this was going on is the music I heard waiting for the tour. It was total 60's hippie music. The song that stands out was White Room. I commented to the docent that, "Time was, you'd NEVER hear hippie music here." He replied that, yea, usually they play either military music or songs from Victory at Sea. As it turns out, my comment was inappropriate. After seeing the Vietnam display and presentation, I (well, DUH!!) realized that the reason for the music was it was Viet Nam day, and that IS the music of Vietnam. And the implied consensus amongst everyone, including our tour guide, was what a HUGE mistake that war was. It just could be that the military is one of those places where the war is no longer being fought -- the experience has been integrated into the whole of those who actually do our fighting for us.

So... I FINALLY got to see an M-16, and AK-47, an M-60, an M-79, and two field radios from Vietnam.

[W1GUH]

If that's the building I think it is, it's one of the old RCA Tube manufacturing facilities. My dad worked there as a ceramics engineer (even though he was based at another plant).

He once got a letter from David Sarnoff himself (allegedly), congratulating him for being part of the team that had developed some new technology that RCA had gotten a patent for, thanking him for his hard work and best wishes for his continued work for the company in the future.

The letter came 6 months after the process had been shipped overseas, and Dad had been laid off.

Being in that business so long, I've seen that happen over and over and over. Before I read the last sentence I was forming the question, "Did he get any money?", probably knowing full well the answer you supplied in the last sentence.

This is one of the ways that that business can really, really suck at times.

[W1GUH]

Much more vulnerable, too. They are fascinating ships, but of a bygone era. They wouldn't last long in modern warfare where a (relatively) cheap air-launched missile could send it to the bottom in a matter of minutes.

Especially after Maggie's PMS (or attempt to screw ronnie), that is, the Falklands war, that sure would appear to be the case. We saw it happen in the S. Atlantic. But it's very possible that the defensive systems on something like the New Jersey would alter that equation. Don't really know.

[KA5PIU]

Hello.

A battleship has been pretty much obsolete since the mid 60s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precision_bombing
A precision bombing run with nothing but the barrel of a tank, no explosives, dropped from 5000 feet will go through the hull of a ship and do so much damage that it will sink in a matter of minutes as it will have breached everything.
The preferred target is the engine room but any direct hit will sink the ship.
The bunker buster was developed as an offshoot of the work Dr. Bull did.
http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/gbu-28.htm
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/03/25/ob...-arms-law.html
Chit happens when you piss of the Jews.