Supertest: U.S. Tier X Premium Battleship New Jersey
Well, might as well start with the big one for the 15.8. The last member of the Iowa-class battleships is finally joining the game after 11 years! Ladies and Gentlemen.... The USS New Jersey.
Historical background
The USS New Jersey BB-62 is the second ship of the Iowa-class of battleships from the U.S. Navy. The ship was laid down on the 16th of September 1940, launched on the 7th of December 1942, and commissioned on the 23rd of May 1943. She was nicknamed "Big J" or "Black Dragon" due to her early career's uniform dark blue color scheme. New Jersey holds the title of being the most decorated battleship in the U.S. Navy's history with a grand total of 19 battle stars, including 9 during the Second World War, 4 during the Korean War, 3 during the Vietnam War, and finally 3 during the Lebanese Civil War and during her service in the Persian Gulf.
New Jersey joined the Pacific theater in early 1944, where she initially provided cover for aircraft carriers before becoming the flagship of Admiral Raymond A. Spruance as part of the 5th Fleet. During Operation Hailstone, she opened fire on Japanese forces and, among other things, sank the Kagero-class destroyer Maikaze. She later continued to screen for friendly carriers and was part of the famous Battle of the Philippine Sea, also known as the Great Marianas turkey shoot due to the massive aircraft losses on the Japanese side.
She became the flagship of Admiral William F. Halsey in August 1944 and joined the 3rd Fleet. She continued to provide anti-aircraft cover for the fleet, as well as fire support for land invasion, and took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
On the 18th of December 1944, she was unfortunately part of Task Force 38, which took the full force of Typhoon Cobra while refueling at sea. While New Jersey herself survived the typhoon without suffering much damage, the destroyers Hull, Monaghan, and Spence sank with very few survivors to report. Multiple other ships were also heavily damaged, and a total of 146 planes were destroyed or lost. In total, 790 men lost their lives.
During the latter months of the war, she continued to provide anti-aircraft cover and fire support for land invasion until the end of the conflict. She remained in Japanese waters until the 28th of January 1946, when she was relieved by her sister ship Iowa. Afterward, she was employed in Operation Magic Carpet to bring troops home. New Jersey was later decommissioned and placed in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet on the 30th of June 1948.
But...
This retirement was, however, not going to last long, as she was recalled to active service in November 1950 to fight in the Korean War. New Jersey spent the major part of the conflict providing artillery support and destroying ground targets. After her service in the Korean War, she took part in multiple training operations until she was decommissioned and placed in reserve on the 21st of August 1957.
Buuuuuuuuuuuut...
With the Vietnam War not going particularly well for the United States, the Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara authorized in May 1967 a study to bring New Jersey back to action. The idea was to be able to bombard enemy positions while lowering the number of aircraft losses. New Jersey, being in better condition than her sisters, was chosen for this role, and after approval in August 1967, she underwent an extensive modernization. During said modernization, the entirety of her anti-aircraft armament was removed, while she received improved electronic warfare systems and radar. During sea trials, she managed to break the world record of the fastest battleship, reaching a speed of 35.2 knots (which is why she gets that speed in-game, but it makes no sense since we have her as she was in 1945 with her truckload of 20 mm and 40 mm Bofors.) She was officially recommissioned on the 6th of April 1968.
She fired a grand total of 5 688 of her 406 mm shells and 14 891 of her 127 mm shells from September 1968 until March 1969.
After North Korea shot down a U.S. electronic surveillance plane over the Sea of Japan, New Jersey came very close to pointing her guns in that direction again. However, the crisis, fortunately, did not snowball into another full-blown conflict. New Jersey returned home to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard before being once again decommissioned on the 17th of December 1969.
Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut...
With the Ronald Reagan administration, New Jersey was selected as part of Navy Secretary John Lehman's "600-ship Navy" program. In 1982, New Jersey was recommissioned and underwent an extensive modernization. Initially, her rear main battery turret was planned to be removed to carry an additional 48 Tomahawk or Harpoon missiles or, alternatively, use the space to operate aircraft. In the end, this plan was abandoned, and she was able to keep her 3rd turret. However, she would lose four of the ten secondary twin 127 mm turrets. In return, she was equipped with four quad cells for Harpoon missiles, eight armored box launchers for Tomahawk missiles, and four 20 mm Phalanx CIWS.
She remained on active duty for the next 17 years.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, combined with the lack of threats, budget cuts, and the massive maintenance cost of a battleship, it was decided to decommission the New Jersey for the final time on the 8th of February 1991. She would, therefore, not join her sisters Missouri and Wisconsin in Operation Desert Storm. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in January 1995, but not for long, as it was decided to keep two Iowa-class ships functional in the Reserve Fleet (the second being Wisconsin) should the need for their deployment arise once more. However, in 1999, Iowa replaced New Jersey in that role.
It was decided to turn her into a museum ship, and she was opened for public visits in late 2000 and can still be visited today.
No "but..." here, for now; it's the end of her active story.
Somehow... Somehow, though, she hosted the 7th anniversary of the global release for the gacha game Azur Lane back in 2025. More than 80 years of history, and surviving through multiple wars just to be taken over by gambling horny weebs... (not judging, I am one myself.)
If you want to learn more about the USS New Jersey, here is a video from Drachinifel:
She will be available in the Holiday Convoy event for a total of 400 000 Holiday tokens. This means that if you want her, you better have a truckload of coal, steel, or Research points in reserve to exchange them for tokens. Otherwise, I guess the only way to have enough tokens would be to convert XP into Free XP and then reset lines a bunch of times to have enough Research points.
Casemate protection:
Ship's preview
Ship's permanent camouflage
As a reminder, this is a ship in testing; anything can change, so don't look at her like she would already be released.
Modules
|
Hull |
Engine |
Gun Fire Control System |
Main battery |
New Jersey |
Propulsion: 212 000 HP |
Mk10 mod. 1 |
406 mm/50 Mk.7 in a turret |
General Characteristics
| Tier | X |
| Health | 81 100 HP |
| Torpedo Damage Reduction | 25 % |
| Displacement | 59 331 tons |
| Dimensions | |
| Overall length | 262.75 m |
| Beam | 32.95 m |
| Overall height (keel to the highest point on the ship) | 35.4 m |
| Freeboard | 6.2 m |
| Main Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 23.350 km |
| 406 mm/50 Mk.7 in a turret | 3 x 3 406 mm |
| Secondary Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 7.300 km |
| 127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.32 mount | 10 x 2 127 mm |
| Maximum speed | 35.2 knots |
| Turning Circle Radius | 920 m |
| Rudder Shift Time | 17.2 s |
| Surface Detectability | 15.890 km |
| Air Detectability | 10.000 km |
| Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 15.820 km |
Consumables |
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Slot 1 |
Slot 2 |
Slot 3 |
Slot 4 |
Slot 5 |
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Damage Control Party
 Cooldown: 80 s |
Repair Party  Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 60 s HP regeneration speed: +0.66%/s Casemate damage regeneration: 50% Citadel damage regeneration: 10% |
Gun Crew Assistance (Support consumable)  Work time: 30 s
Cooldown: 180 s Preparation time: 90s Maximum range: 15.0 km
Main battery reload time: -12% If applied to your own ship, effect reduced by 50%
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Auxiliary and Torpedo Armament Assistance (Support consumable)  Number of charges: 3 Work time: 30 s Cooldown: 180 s Preparation time: 90s Maximum range: 15.0 km Torpedo tube reload time: -12% Secondary battery reload time: -15% Continuous AA damage: +15% If applied to your own ship, effect reduced by 50% |
Engineering Crew Assistance (Support consumable)  Number of charges: 2 Work time: 30 s Cooldown: 180 s Preparation time: 90s Maximum range: 15.0 km HP regeneration speed: +0.33%/s Consumable preparation and cooldown time: -15% If applied to your own ship, effect reduced by 50% |
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Spotting aircraft  Number of charges: 4 Work time: 70 s Cooldown: 100 s Main battery firing range: +20% |
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Fighters  Number of charges: 3 Work time: 60 s Cooldown: 90 s Patrol radius: 3.0 km Number of fighters: 4 |
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Combat Instructions |
(Name and icon are seemingly still a WIP) |
| Effects | |
| Main battery AP shell damage | +33% |
| Main battery maximum dispersion | -35% |
| Action time | 50.0s |
| Charging | |
| Reinforce an allied ship with a support consumable | +50.0% |
| Reinforce your ship with a support consumable | +25.0% |
| Progress loss per second | Does not lose progress |
Main Armament
| 3 x 3 406 mm/50 Mk.7 in a turret | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 23.350 km |
| Reloading Time | 25.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 45.0 s |
| Optimal firing angles at the front | 31° |
| Optimal firing angles at the rear | 40° |
| Sigma | 1.9 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 294 m (standard battleship dispersion) |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE - 406 mm HE/HC Mk13  |
| Alpha Damage | 5 700 |
| Penetration capacity | 68 mm |
| Fire chance | 36 % |
| Projectile Speed | 820 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.346 |
| Projectile Mass | 862.0 kg |
| Type of Projectile | AP - 406 mm AP Mk8  |
| Alpha Damage | 13 500 |
| Projectile Speed | 762 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.352 |
| Projectile Mass | 1225.0 kg |
| Projectile Krupp | 2 520 |
| Projectile Detonator | 0.033 s |
| Detonator threshold | 68 mm |
| Ricochet Angles | 45° - 60° |
Secondary Armament
| 10 x 2 127 mm/54 Mk.16 on a Mk.41 mount | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 7.300 km |
| Reloading Time | 6.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 3.0 s |
| Sigma | 1.0 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 446 m (standard secondary dispersion) |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE - 127 mm HE Mk32 |
| Alpha Damage | 1 800 |
| Penetration capacity | 21 mm |
| Fire chance | 5 % |
| Projectile Speed | 792 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.347 |
| Projectile Mass | 24.5 kg |
Anti-air Armament
| 10 x 2 127 mm/38 Mk.12 on a Mk.32 mount | |
| Sector firing range | 0.1 km - 5.8 km |
| Hit chance | 75 % |
| Sector's damage | 48 |
| Sector's damage frequency | 0.29 s |
| Sector's damage per second | 168 |
| Flak clouds number | 8 |
| Flak cloud damage | 1680 |
| 20 x 4 40 mm/56 Bofors on a Mk.2 mount | |
| Sector firing range | 0.1 km - 3.5 km |
| Hit chance | 75 % |
| Sector's damage | 145 |
| Sector's damage frequency | 0.29 s |
| Sector's damage per second | 508 |
| 8 x 2 20 mm Oerlikon on a Mk.20 mount 41 x 1 20 mm Oerlikon on a Mk.4 mount |
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| Sector firing range | 0.1 km - 2.0 km |
| Hit chance | 70 % |
| Sector's damage | 105 |
| Sector's damage frequency | 0.29 s |
| Sector's damage per second | 368 |
ASW Airstrike
Consolidated PB4Y-2 Privateer - Depth charge airstrike
650 lb Depth bomb |
|
| Reloading Time | 30 s |
| Number of charges | 2 |
| HP per plane | 2 000 |
| Attack range | 0.5 km - 11.0 km |
| Number of planes in the squadron | 1 |
| Number of bombs in payload | 2 |
| Damage | 4 900 |
| Detonation timer | 3.5 s - 4.5 s |
| Explosion radius | 375 m |
| Fire chances | 28% |
| Flooding chances | 300% |
The Armor
External armor protection:
Citadel armor protection:
Turret protection:
Hidden steering gears armor and main armor deck:
Personal Opinion
I'm not going to lie, I am a fair bit worried about the New Jersey. While I like the idea of consumables that are oriented towards supporting teammates, having a whole ship completely centered around them and being reinforced by their use... I can see it getting out of control quite quickly. Just imagine a division of three of these reinforcing each other constantly and the impact they could have on the match. The same goes for a coordinated environment such as clan battles.
The ship in its normal state isn't anything crazy. It is just an Iowa with a faster reload. She does have the same citadel as the Wisconsin, though. It's not impossible to hit, but still very hard with how deep it is below the waterline. However, once these consumables start being activated, it's a whole other story, and she can both become a deadly accurate beast with AP that hits as hard as a thousand suns while also reinforcing another teammate in a key situation (or herself).
We will have to see if the concept survives testing, but it is honestly walking on some very thin ice when it comes to being game-breaking or not.
Regardless...
Thank you for reading this article!
If you are a returning or new player, don't hesitate to use my Recruiting Station link available on the left of the article for free goodies.
Have a good one and see you soon!
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