 The keel for New Jersey was laid down at the Fore River Shipyard on 3 May 1902 . She was launched on 10 November 1904 ; the daughter of Franklin Murphy , then the Governor of New Jersey , christened the ship . She was commissioned into the US fleet on 12 May 1906 , Captain William Kimball in command . New Jersey began her initial training in the Atlantic and Caribbean , which was interrupted by a naval review for President Theodore Roosevelt in Oyster Bay in September . On 21 September , the ship was deployed to Cuba to take part in the Second Occupation of Cuba ; she remained there until 13 October . New Jersey participated in the Jamestown Exposition from 15 April to 14 May 1907 , which commemorated the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown colony . An international fleet that included British , French , German , Japanese , and Austro @-@ Hungarian warships joined the US Navy at the event . 
