The US Navy Brought Back Just One Battleship for Vietnam. USS New Jersey Fired More 16-Inch Shells There Than in World War II and Korea Combined.

The US Navy Brought Back Just One Battleship for Vietnam. USS New Jersey Fired More 16-Inch Shells There Than in World War II and Korea Combined.

By 1968, North Vietnam had grown extremely proficient at defending its airspace against American warplanes, so the Navy turned to a platform Hanoi would find far harder to destroy, and whose shells cost far less than bombs and missiles. USS New Jersey's 16-inch Mark 7 guns could hurl one-ton shells more than 20 miles, and unlike aircraft, she could stay on station and respond to fighting as it unfolded. She supported the 1st and 3rd Marine Divis…