This great ship participated in numerous battles in WWII and remained in service, in and out of mothballs after WWII.

In recent times the New Jersy was refitted with the latest weapons and equipment of war, including anti-missile missiles, Vulcan guns, electronics, a helicopter, and so forth.

In this image is a Vulcan, which is in fact a motorized Gatling gun (I don't know why they chose not to give Dr. Gatling his due?). Anyway, this weapon can shoot with extraordinary speed to distroy incoming missiles.

A shot looking out over the forward gun turrets.

The clocks observed were not WWII vintage, but more recent. All but one of the clocks observed were white-dialed , “U.S. Government” 12 hour Chelseas with black plastic cases. The ship’s bridge had two of these clocks, one on the port and another on the starboard sides. The clocks were mounted on wooden disks which were affixed to welded metal brackets.

Another Chelsea was located in the special armored helmsman’s room, off the bridge.

The helm Chelsea

Two more of these timepieces were mounted in the chart room. The tour guides I spoke with had not seen any chronometers on board.

Another 12 hour Chelsea was located in the officers mess.

As one can see, the clock was screwed to a metal ring welded to the ship with three metal studs.

All of the clocks but one were wound up and ticking away.

Down in the enlisted mess hall was one white dialed 24 hour Chelsea. This one had a damaged dial and bent hands. The wooden mounting ring was stoutly attached to the hull with a welded bracket.

A Navy search and rescue helicopter was located on deck. The crowded instrument panel had only a few vacant holes to suggest a possible aircraft clock. If it ever had a clock, it was missing.


The New Jersey is now a floating museum in Camden, N.J., across the river from Philadelphia, PA. Retired Navy veterans are on hand to provide tours. These good men have considerable knowledge about the history of the ship and how it was used. For this, they can be forgiven for not being as aware of the esoteric subject of military timepieces.


Best regards,


Greg

Greg,
Thanks so much for sharing all the nice clock images.

Do you know what type clocks are used today on our new Navy ships?

Robert

That's a good question. I'll see what I can find out.

The military was extremely concerned with the effects of the electro-magnetic pulse from atomic bomb blasts. These pulses ruin electronic equipment. For this reason, the modern military debated the use of battery powered watches for some time. At this time, though battery powered wrist watches are the norm... so I wonder about clocks?

Best regards,
Greg

Greg,
Thank you.

Robert

MWR RESPONSE

An update is now possible. I posted this question over on the Broadarrow forum, and a Navy Sub Vet named Jonney posted the following response:

"when I got out of the Navy in '92. I'd be interesed in knowing if some of the newer boats continue to use this model, particularly the Virginia class. On subs, it was the responsibility of the Quartermasters (navigation rate for you Army types) to wind the clocks and ensure they were set at the correct time (Zulu time underway)."

Thanks, Jonney! the Military Watch Resource (MWR) is a great forum, esp. for the more recent stuff.

Best regards,
Greg

I would like to take a moment to praise the officers and crew of the USS New Jersey for their outstanding gunnery off the coast of Vieques, Puerto Rico in the mid-80's. I was a member of the Air Naval Gunfire Liasion Company (ANGLICO) and had the privledge of calling fire missions from her....well done, I might add, to the fire control folks.

I served on a frigate in the 80's and have had the privilege of seeing 3 of the 4 Iowa Class in operation, "never saw the Wisconsin"
and had a front row seat to a full broad side from the Iowa of Diego Garcia.

If you have never experienced it, just about impossible to describe except WOW

In 1981, when I was working on a U.S. Navy contract in San Diego, I went on a below decks tour of the New Jersey, sponsored by the American Society of Naval Engineers, when she was being refitted at Terminal Island.

We went thru when the four 52,000 HP steam turbines were being removed for overhaul, that was most impressive.

One of the proudest moments of my mid-60's experience manufacturing radar systems was to help support the restoration and upgrade of the Battleship New Jersey's X, C, and S band fire control systems. As I recall we worked together with RCA Moorestown (and later Philadelphia N.S.) to test and produce more stable, accurate, higher power microwave targeting (including incoming and outgoing and projectile calculations) systems. Of course that started in 1966 which was about a year before the ship was officially set to be re-comissioned.