In the early 1980’s, a sea sprite helicopter was placed aboard New Jersey. Its functions were multi-purpose. The Sea Sprite carried sonar buoys that could be used to detect submarines. It also transported goods to and from the ship like the mail. And when New Jersey was part of a peacekeeping force in Beirut, Lebanon, the Sea Sprite gathered intelligence information. The Sea Sprite typically had a crew of 3, a cruising speed of 150 mph, and a maximum range of just over 400 miles.

An earlier helicopter on this ship was nicknamed the “Jersey Bounce.” It was a Sikorsky HO3S-1 Dragonfly that was placed onboard during the Korean War. It was used to transport passengers to and from the ship, as well as performing search and rescue missions. New Jersey was not assigned any helicopters during the Vietnam War, but numerous helicopters landed on her deck during that time.

Before there were helicopters onboard, the New Jersey carried Kingfisher and Seahawk seaplanes which were scout planes catapulted from the ship. Unlike an aircraft carrier which is designed to carry many planes, New Jersey does not have a hangar for the craft to be stored, nor enough space for planes to be able to take off on their own. They landed in the water and were craned aboard. Their primary mission was to assist the 16in gunners in spotting where their shells were landing. Both the catapults and the crane were removed from the ship when helicopters became the battleship’s primary aviation tool.

During the Vietnam War, the battleship began using drones for the first time. Called SNOOPY, these drones would be stored on board the smaller ships that traveled with New Jersey but commanded from the battleship. By the 1980s, New Jersey’s Pioneer remotely piloted vehicles could take off and land on board the battleship. Both these drones operated similarly to the earlier aircraft on board and were used to scout locations for shore bombardment and to see where shells were landing to improve the accuracy of the guns. These unmanned aircraft were a safer alternative to the manned aircraft because they did not require putting a pilot in harm’s way to do this important work.

Pardon the mess as we replace worn out teak with new material. We are in the middle of redecking the entire ship, roughly 50,000 square feet. This process will take years and cost an estimated $5million. Some of the worst rotting was here at the fantail.