Battleship on the Delaware River: USS New Jersey Traveling to Philadelphia for Repairs
Wednesday, March 20, 2024 10:53 am | 4Minute Read
The USS New Jersey in Camden, N.J. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Residents of the Philadelphia area are about to see a rare site — a battleship floating down the Delaware River.
The USS New Jersey, a retired battleship, is scheduled to move from its dock in Camden on Thursday, when it will head to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for extensive maintenance work. The vessel, guided by tugboats, will initially head to the Paulsboro Marine Terminal, where it will be balanced to prepare for dry docking, and will then go to the Navy Yard six days later.
The maintenance work is expected to take about two months to complete, officials said. Three major repair projects are planned, including repainting the ship’s hull, fixing the anti-corrosion system underneath the ship and inspecting through-hull openings.
The ship was built in the 1940s in Philadelphia and served for about 50 years before its retirement in February 1991. It has been a floating museum since 2011. The ship was built at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and was launched from there on Dec. 7, 1942, the first anniversary of the Japanese air attack on Pearl Harbor.
The ship is the most decorated battleship in Navy history, earning distinction in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and conflicts in the Middle East, according to its website. The ship steamed more miles, fought in more battles and fired more shells in combat than any other battleship.
The battleship USS New Jersey slides down the ways at the Philadelphia, Penn., Navy Yard on Dec. 7, 1942. (AP Photo)U.S. Naval officers wave from the bow of the USS New Jersey BB-62 battleship as she is launched at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia, Pa., on Dec. 7, 1942. Anchors and chains hang over the bow, which is higher than a five-story building. (AP Photo)White foam swirls across the decks of the USS New Jersey, foreground, as a navy task force moves across the Pacific to attack Japanese targets, July 20, 1945, in a Western Pacific Atoll. (AP Photo)The USS New Jersey, foreground, looks peaceful enough as it lies at anchor in a Western Pacific atoll as she waits with other warships for the signal to move out to strike the Japanese, during World War II. (AP Photo)With the Manhattan Bridge in the background, tugs tug the USS New Jersey along the East River, June 29, 1948, enroute to Bayonne, N.J., where the battleship is scheduled for retirement in reserve in the “mothball fleet.” (AP Photo/Anthony Camerano, File)The 52,000-ton Battleship USS New Jersey on Jan. 31, 1948, enroute to Gravesend Bay to unload her ammunition and then back to the Brooklyn Navy yard for stripping, after which the mighty vessel, one of the heaviest armed ships in the world, was to be berthed at Bayonne, N.J., on a deactivated basis. (AP Photo/Joe Caneva, File)Officers and crew salute during hoisting of the colors at the ceremony recommissioning the USS New Jersey, at Naval Supply Depot, Bayonne, N.J., Nov. 21, 1950. (AP Photo/John Rooney)Towed and shoved by tugs, the USS New Jersey, mothballed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard since 1962, is shifted from her moorings in the yard’s mothball fleet, June 11, 1967, to a new pier where the Navy was to do an $800,000 survey ordered by the Department of Defense. (AP Photo/Warren M. Winterbottom)Newly recommissioned battleship USS New Jersey leaves Philadelphia, Pa., for sea trials, March 26, 1968, after a decade in mothball fleet. (AP Photo/Bill Ingraham)FILE – The Battleship USS New Jersey is towed past the Delaware Memorial Bridge between New Jersey and Delaware on the Delaware River Thursday, Nov. 11, 1999. The New Jersey is returning to the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard where it was christened and launched in 1942. The USS New Jersey is scheduled to move from its dock in Camden on Thursday, March 21, 2024, when it will head to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for extensive maintenance work. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File )
