ON BOARD THE BATTLESHIP NEW JERSEY
You sunk my battleship!
The Battleship New Jersey has a long history of war and battles. The battleship, located on the Camden waterfront, is currently open 7 days a week as a museum. Times vary with the seasons, but touring is now open daily at 9:30 a.m. with the last tickets being sold at 3:00 p.m. and the ship closing at 5:00 p.m. The tours are self guided with optional audio guided tour upgrade, and optional up-charge packages for time specific tours. Regular entrance fee is $21.95, with discounts for veterans and free admission for children under 4.
The Battleship NJ has been docked since 1991 after being used since 1943. Between wars the ship would be “mothballed“, which is a term I only ever use when referring to my sweater collection or my exes. Mothballing a ship entails shutting it down to keep all moisture out and prevent rusting, while keeping it as a possibility to bring back into commission. The Battleship NJ was active in “World War 2, Korea, Vietnam, as well as the 1982-1983 UN peacekeeping mission in Beirut” said Ken, one of the Battleship NJ employees, “during Vietnam she was the only active battleship in the world.”
The tour of the battleship went through two lower decks as well as the upper levels. The self-guided tour began with one of the ships turrets which had buttons and levers and switches and phones and blinky lights and doo-dabs everywhere. Ariel has nothing on the amount of thing-a-mabobs this room has. The periscope worked and looking through it you could see the great view of the stadiums across the water as well as the bridge into Philadelphia.
Once below the surface of the ship you walk along port side, call me Rihanna cause I know my way around this battleship. You see lines of tiny bunks with some you can try out and lay in. The beds were alright for what they were, but so not the Four Season. There were checkers boards painted on the table tops throughout the area. And yes they are checkers boards, not chess boards cause this is the battleship and there are no knights involved. Double jump that.
The admiral’s quarters were as decadent as it this ship got. But I do really have an issue with the HomeGoods wall decor going on. There is a seating area as well as a meeting room and a desk area. On the admiral’s desk is a section of books onthe top shelf and just phone and a picture frame. Inside the frame is a beautiful woman, and I really need to know her story is and what went down with her. In my mind she was the best damn telephone operator the Bell company ever had seen. After fighting with the long distance relationship with the admiral, she gave into her desire and took back her life and left the admiral to pursue her career and in doing so, she finally found a way to connect the telephone inside her heart. The admiral honored her with her photo beside the phone on his desk. Awaiting the day she would call once again.
While touring the ship it would be very easy to get lost if not for the red line on the floor to follow. Hallways and corridors all blend together. This section of hallway was not part of the tour but almost seems like two mirrors reflecting the same route. If you look hard enough you can almost see the twins from the shining down the hallway.
The ship really is amazing to just look at with all of the artillery and artifacts. The views from the top of the ship of the Delaware river and into Philadelphia is a reason to go let alone all of the history of the ship.
*Sidenote* Once upon a time I was a boy scout and went on a trip to the Battleship NJ when I was about 10 years old. My troop and I slept overnight on the ship. In the middle of the night I got so antsy in the uncomfortable bed (the same beds the soldiers slept in) that I got up and walked through the ship. I ended up in the mess hall and played cards with some old men and full on thought they were ghosts for years after. If thats not a Disney Channel Original Movie, then I don’t know what is.
