USS New Jersey (BB-62) ('Big J' or 'Black Dragon') is an Iowa-class battleship and was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the US state of New Jersey. The film ends with footage of the New Jersey heading out into the Atlantic Ocean. The ship slowly motors out of the Philadelphia harbor and down the river. The New Jersey is recommissioned for action in Vietnam (23:46) people gather to celebrate the rebirth of the Dreadnought. The film shows the bridge with the vessel’s commander the New Jersey then goes out to sea for trial runs. The ship is moved out of the drydock (23:22). A new crew arrive and board the New Jersey. Men use a firehose to clean off the hull of the ship. Naval shipyard workers walk around the massive ship in the drydock. The New Jersey is not idle for long: the ship is moved into a dry dock for repairs and to prepare for a new mission (18:00). The film then shows the exterior of the ship as it sits unused at a remote pier in the naval yard. There is additional aerial footage of the Dreadnought (14:55), which is followed by footage of the ship firing its guns off the coast of the Korean peninsula (15:20).

During the invasion of Okinawa, the New Jersey fires its guns. Fleet Admiral William Frederick Halsey Jr., aka “Bull” Halsey, walks on the deck of the New Jersey in 1945, and then Halsey appears to play deck tennis. Footage shows the battleship firing its guns and of a naval battle at night (12:00). The film then takes viewers on a tour inside the ship, including the vessel’s war room and the captain’s room. There is an aerial view of the ship, and then the film shows the New Jersey during a battle in the Pacific against Japanese forces. Next, the film shows the New Jersey at sea, where it moves its guns. This is followed by the commission of the New Jersey in 1943 (06:20). Footage shows the battleships sailing at sea (04:41), then the film gives viewers a glimpse inside one of these dreadnoughts (05:37). The three ships are the Iowa, Wisconsin, and New Jersey. The film then cuts to 1966 and shows viewers retired battleships sitting idle at a remote pier in the Philadelphia Navy yard.

The film opens by taking viewers to the spring of 1921 where planes sink battleships as part of the agreement to cease battleship production following World War I. Navy, the late-1960s film The American Dreadnought gives viewers a brief history of the American battleship USS New Jersey and a solid background of this class of ship.

Written by historian Richard Hough and presented by the U.S.

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