 New Jersey was one of the Iowa @-@ class " fast battleship " designs planned in 1938 by the Preliminary Design Branch at the Bureau of Construction and Repair . She was launched on 12 December 1942 and commissioned on 23 May 1943 . The ship was the second of the Iowa class to be commissioned by the U.S. Navy . The ship was christened at her launching by Carolyn Edison , wife of Governor Charles Edison of New Jersey , himself a former Secretary of the Navy ; and commissioned at Philadelphia 23 May 1943 , Captain Carl F. Holden in command . 
