Down too long in the midnight sea…

Bell of the USS NEW JERSEY (BB-16)

On a recent trip to MA to do some winter wreck diving aboard the GAUNTLET, we (myself and Blaquaman) went on a scavenger hunt on the way home to find the bell of the USS NEW JERSEY (BB-16).  This once mighty ship served as a proud symbol of American Naval might in Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet which was put on display to the world.  The USS NJ would later be put to rest in another display of a new American military capability that would change the course of warfare in the 20th century when she was sunk on September 5, 1923 by bombs dropped from a Martin bomber in testing conducted off the coast of Cape Hatteras, NC by Brigadier General Billy Mitchell.