"New Jersey" was ordered 4 July 1939, laid down 16 September 1940, launched 7 December 1942, and commissioned 23 May 1943. "New Jersey" completed fitting out and trained her initial crew in the Western Atlantic and Caribbean before transferring to the Pacific Theatre in advance of the planned assault on the Marshall Islands, where she screened the U.S. fleet of aircraft carriers from enemy air raids. At the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the ship protected carriers with her anti-aircraft guns. "New Jersey" then bombarded Iwo Jima and Okinawa. During the Korean War, the ship pounded targets at Wonsan, Yangyang, and Kansong. Following the , "New Jersey" conducted training and operation cruises until she was decommissioned on August 21, 1957. Recalled to duty in 1968, "New Jersey" reported to the gunline off the Vietnamese coast, and shelled North Vietnamese targets before departing the line in December 1968. She was decommissioned the following year. Reactivated in 1982 under the 600-ship Navy program, "New Jersey" was sent to Lebanon to protect U.S. interests and U.S. Marines, firing her main guns at Druze and Syrian positions in the Beqaa Valley east of Beirut. Decommissioned for the last time 8 February 1991, "New Jersey" was briefly retained on the "Naval Vessel Register" before being donated to the Home Port Alliance of Camden, New Jersey for use as a museum ship in October 2001.