July
11, 1939
U.
S. to name big battleship 'New Jersey'
WASHINGTON
- One of the Navy's new 45,000-ton battleships will be named
the "New Jersey" by order of President Roosevelt. Another
will be called the "Iowa."
Louis Compton, special assistant to the Secretary
of the Navy, was informed of the President's order today by the
White House, and immediately communicated the news to Senator
William H. Smathers, of New Jersey, who for years has advocated
naming an important warship for his state.
One of the 45,000-ton warships, largest in
the world, is under construction at the Philadelphia Navy Yard
and another at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Today's order did not
specify which shall be the "New Jersey."
The President also directed that the destroyer
D4-39 be named "Thomas Edison," after the father of
the Acting Secretary of the Navy, also the D4-40 be named the
"John Ericcson" in honor of the designer of the Civil
War ship "Monitor," who also was the inventor of the
screw propellor and the turret gun. Ericcson perfected many inventions
while living in New Jersey. Another destroyer was named the "Swanson"
in honor of the late Secretary Claude A. Swanson.
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