Aft Deck

When the New Jersey entered service in 1943 the enter stern area was covered with teak planking. A helipad was added during Lyndon Johnson's War which replaced a large part of the wood. During the 1980's upgrade, most of the planking was removed. The pattern of the planking appears to have changed during this period. Later pictures show a thin strait extension of planking extending aft on the starboard side and a similar one with a zig-zag on the port side. These are not present in early pictures and are not on the ship now.

Unfortunately, the helipad is now used as a dining area and is covered with tents making it impossible to take a clear picture of this area.

This is a view of the aft edge of the helipad (toward starboard). The helipad is elevated about  above the rest of the deck and has a lip inches.

This diagram shows the relationship between the helipad, the ship's deck and hull. The 21" border with was consistent everywhere I measure while the height of the lips above the deck varied by about an inch.

The fore end of the helipad is separated from the ramp leading up to it by a shiny metal plate.

This angle give a clearer view of how much higher the helipad is than the rest of the deck. Note the lowerable barrier surrounding this part of the deck is made up of a rubber netting.

This is the area just forward of the helipad (viewing after from the port side). There is a ramp on either side of the planked area that slopes up to the helipad level. Note that this ramp is not flush with the deck at its start. There are cut outs in the ramps around the mushroom vent next to the tent at the right (semicircle) and  shorter elongated vent next to the tent in the center of the picture (half oval). These objects are not exactly centered in their respective cut-outs.

This is a close up of the small deck house that is partially visible at the right in the previous picture. This structure apparently was added before the Korean War when the catapults and much of the light anti-aircraft guns were removed. It was used to house movie projectors for crew entertainment on the fantail. The yellow structure is temporary, part of the renovation.

This is a view of the port stern 40mm tub. It was converted as a aircraft fuel storage area.

This is the starboard stern 40mm tub. During World War II there was a large crane between the two gun tubs used to haul seaplanes out of the water. The lower circular area attached to the gun tub used to house a gun director.

This is the refueling platform, only found on the starboard side.

The same viewed from the stern.

The winch at the base of the refueling platform.

One the port side, opposite there is a boat boom. Here it is not rigged. Cables ran from the beam protruding above the base of the boom and connected to the end of it.

The winch for the derrick (visible in the lower right corner of the previous picture).

The boom in perspective with the rest of the ship.