The Battleship New Jersey, the most decorated ship in U.S. Navy history, will leave its home dock in Camden, N.J., Thursday, March 21, 2024, to be dry docked for the first time in over three decades. (Joe Warner, nj.com/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — The Battleship New Jersey, the most decorated ship in U.S. Navy history, will leave its home dock in Camden Thursday to be dry docked for the first time in over three decades.
The ship’s departure from the Camden waterfront is set to attract hundreds of spectators, along with U.S. Navy officials and Gov. Phil Murphy.
Those who want to witness the USS New Jersey’s historic trip down the Delaware River for a long-awaited maintenance project are invited to watch from the ship’s pier in Camden.
Gates will open at 10 a.m. and the program, which includes speeches from officials and music by a local high school band, will begin at 11 a.m.
At 12:10 p.m., the decommissioned Navy ship will make its much-anticipated departure. It won’t move under its own power. Instead, it will be guided by four tugboats traveling at 5 mph, according to officials.
Another prime viewing spot will be the Freedom Pier in Gloucester City. The ship will pass the area around 1:30 pm., according the officials.
More than 600 passengers will be cruising alongside the battleship on two sold-out ships as it travels down the Delaware River.
Also, after placing winning bids on limited tickets, four lucky people secured the opportunity to ride aboard the ship during its trip to Paulsboro. One bidder paid $10,000 for a pair of tickets.
The event will also be live-streamed on the Battleship’s New Jersey’s social media accounts, Youtube and Facebook, officials said.
The vessel’s first stop will be the Paulsboro Marine Terminal, which is located along the Delaware River in Gloucester County. The battleship will be ballasted, or balanced to prepare for dry docking.
The following week, the ship will depart from Paulsboro and travel to the Philadelphia Navy Yard — its final stop for the maintenance project. It should remain in Philadelphia for 60 days to complete the project, officials said.
It is the same naval shipyard where the ship was originally built in the 1940s, before it went on to serve for five decades, including in World War II and the Korean War.
The vessel will undergo several major repair projects. Workers will repaint the ship’s hull, fix the anti-corrosion system underneath the ship and inspect the through-hull openings. Workers will also replace the ship’s aluminum anodes, which are used to protect metal structures from corroding.
In 1991, the battleship was decommissioned for the final time and began serving as a living museum and memorial in Camden.
Decommissioned museum ships must undergo dry-docking for maintenance every 20 years, according to Navy regulations. However, it has been 33 years since the ship, known as “Big Jay,” underwent maintenance, officials said.
During the towing process, the battleship’s engines will not be operational because when the ship was decommissioned the Navy covered its engines with preservative grease in case they needed to be reactivated for service again, according to museum curator Ryan Szimanski.
“In fact, since the Navy can take the battleship back from us with 90 days notice, we’re not allowed to touch the engines at all or do any sort of maintenance to them,” Szimanski said.
Though the force pulling the vessel through the waterfront is enough to spin the propellers, the Navy also welded brackets in place to keep the propellers stationary and prevent any damage to the ship, officials said.
For many veterans who served on the Battleship New Jersey, this may be the last time they ever get to see it move, said Marshall Spevak, the museum’s chief executive officer.
While it’s dry-docked in Philadelphia, tickets can be purchased for walking tours underneath the ship on Saturdays and Sundays from April through May.
And once it returns to its home in Camden, ideally by Memorial Day, the vessel will be open for museum tours, Spevak added.
©2024 Advance Local Media LLC.
Visit nj.com.
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
