SOUTH JERSEY

A third USS New Jersey now under construction for 2021 launch

Carol Comegno
The Courier-Post

A third USS New Jersey is under construction at a Virginia shipyard where a ceremonial keel-laying took place Monday.

This time the New Jersey will be a submarine. Its two namesake predecessors were battleships.

The first USS New Jersey, BB-16, fought in World War I and later was sunk off the North Carolina coast in a training test by U.S. bombers. The second — BB-62, the most militarily decorated battleship in U.S. Navy history with 19 campaign stars for service in four wars and other conflicts — was built during World War II, retired in 1991 and became a floating museum on the Camden waterfront 10 years later in 2001.

Congressman Donald Norcross (far left) at Newport News Shipbuilding for the engraving this week of the keel plate for the latest USS New Jersey, a fast attack Navy submarine under construction there. Also shown (from left) are the sub's commanding officer, Cmdr. Joseph Spinks, ship sponsor Dr. Susan DiMarco of Montclair and the plate welder, Jessica Batruk of Monmouth County.

The newest New Jersey, a Virginia-class, nuclear-powered, fast attack submarine that will carry Tomahawk cruise missiles and torpedoes, is designated SSN-796. It is one of more than two dozen built or planned in the Virginia class of submarines.

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“The Navy’s first submarine was designed and constructed in New Jersey and our state has always had a strong relationship with the Navy. It is only appropriate for the newest nuclear-powered submarine to be named in our state’s honor,” said U.S. Rep. Donald E. Norcross, D-N.J., who attended the ceremony as a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and chair of its Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces.

The Virginia-class attack submarine USS North Dakota (SSN 784) transits the Thames River as it pulls into its homeport at Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. A sister vessel, the submarine USS New Jersey, SSN-796, is under construction in Virginia, (U.S. Navy photo by Cmdr. Jason M.

Twenty years ago before becoming a congressman Norcross was one of the leaders of a nonprofit group that convinced the Navy to place the second USS New Jersey, BB-62,  in Camden as a museum.

 "When I’m home in Camden, I visit the Battleship New Jersey often and I think of my city’s shipbuilding roots," he said referring to the defunct New York Shipbuilding Corp.
 

The retired USS New Jersey battleship, BB-62, is a museum on the Camden, New Jersey, waterfront. A submarine now under construction will be the third USS New Jersey.

The battleship is a popular destination for tourists and former crew members. In the video above, former crew visited the ship to remake old photos of themselves while on board.

Construction of the new submarine is well under way with completion scheduled for 2021, but a keel-laying ceremony for ships is a naval tradition. The ceremony also is held for submarines even though they are built in sections and do not have a single keel as ships do.

Welder Jessica Bartuk of Monmouth County engraved the keel plate with the name of the ship's sponsor, Dr. Susan DiMarco of Montclair, who will christen the submarine when it is launched. DiMarco is a retired dentist and wife of Jeh Johnson, a former U.S secretary of Homeland Security.

Carol Comegno: @carolcomegno; 856-486-2473; ccomegno@gannettnj.com

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