USS New Jersey (BB-62) 1968-69 Cruise Sweatshirt

USS New Jersey (BB-62) was recommissioned on April 6, 1968, becoming the only battleship in active service in the world. Sent to Vietnam to provide naval gunfire support, she arrived off the coast in September 1968 and operated in the gunline for seven months. Her 16-inch guns, capable of hurling 2,700-pound armor-piercing shells nearly 24 miles, were called upon repeatedly to neutralize enemy bunkers, supply routes, and troop concentrations that aircraft and smaller ships could not destroy. She fired over 5,000 16-inch rounds and more than 14,000 5-inch rounds before departing the Vietnam coast in March 1969. This sweatshirt commemorates New Jersey's historic 1968-69 Vietnam deployment, the last time a battleship fired her guns in wartime.