A Visual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey

A Visual Tour of Battleship
USS New Jersey (BB-62)
by John M. Miano

Reviewed by Martin J Quinn
January 2022

We've recently received a brand new book on the Battleship New Jersey: The Design of Iowa-class Battleships, Vol.1 - A Visual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey, by John Miano. This new book is a photographic journey through New Jersey, including areas of the ship not open to the general public. With almost 600 illustrations, including deck plans, this book literally is, as the title says, a visual tour of "America's most decorated battleship" (the latter claim is according to the museum's website).

The book is laid as follows: there is a preface, an introduction, then 22 "chapters" or sections, one for each "level", with additional sections for the engine rooms, fire rooms, and sixteen-inch turrets. Within in section there are plans that are keyed to the photographs. The captions then describe in detail what you are seeing in that photograph.

There are photos from some of New Jersey's sisters included as well, to illustrate certain areas of the ship (perhaps those areas of NJ were not accessible?). As mentioned, the book is loaded with photo, befitting a photographic tour, with interesting and unique views of all areas of the ship, including areas that only staff or former crew has ever seen.

This is the first in a series of planned books. In the Preface, the author states that "For the next book, I plan to delve into more of the construction of Iowa-class battleships"

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enlarge images

Conclusions:

To be perfectly honest, when first asked to review this book, I was skeptical that it would contain anything new. After all, there were recently released titles on New Jersey, from notable authors David Doyle and Steve Wiper. While those are both fine books, this book is nothing like those. This is not a history of New Jersey and her service across four wars. Instead, this book takes you on a step by step journey through every nook and cranny of New Jersey, explaining what that space is, what it was used for, and sometimes, what it was originally designed for (after all, with service spanning six decades, some changes are bound to be made). If you've ever visiting one these floating behemoths, you've probably wondered what some of the spaces you were looking at were used for. This book answers those questions.

Highly recommended, especially those interested in naval architecture or the Iowa-class battleships.

This is A Visual Tour of Battleship USS New Jersey, by John M. Miano. Published by , ISBN 978-0-9899804-3-2. The book is priced at around $80.00, and is available to order online from Amazon. Thanks to John Miano for the review sample.