After joining up with the Fifth Fleet as part of the effort to reclaim the Marshall Islands, the New Jersey provided valuable fire support and aircraft carrier protection duties between Jan. 25 and Feb. 4, 1944. These actions helped lead to the capture of key Japanese bases on the Kwajalein and Eniwetok atolls in the Marshall’s, thus starting the island-hopping campaign. After this victory, Admiral Raymond A. Spruance made the New Jersey his flagship, raising his four-star flag on Feb. 4, 1944. The New Jersey would soon spearhead the admirals Operation Hailstone which was the planned attack on the Japanese Combined Fleet at Truk in the Caroline Islands on Feb. 11, 1944. After fending off Japanese planes and dodging torpedoes, the battleship personally destroyed a minesweeper and a destroyer in the battle in the victorious campaign.
The New Jersey continued to play a vital role in key campaigns and battles for the remainder of the war. These included the Palau Islands where she protected aircraft carriers and shot down a Japanese plane in a rare night attack and the Marianas invasion where the New Jersey’s gun bombarded Japanese positions. The ship was heavily involved in the battles of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf and the Philippine Islands, with Adm. William F. Halsey making the New Jersey his flagship in August 1944. The final year of the war would see the battleship through heavy action in Iwo Jima and the Ryukyus, where it would stay until after the war.
