Thursday was a big day for self-described naval history buffs and lovers of Big Ships.
At exactly 12:11 p.m., as the Delaware River reached a high tide exceeding six feet, four tugboats began to heave and ho the Battleship New Jersey, the famed World War II-era battleship-turned-museum.
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“Dead tow, dead tow,” rang radio dispatch ushering in the feat of strength and calculus underway.
Four tractor tugs pulled the ship from silt deposits in its Camden dock, steered it in a U-turn, and towed “Big J” under the Walt Whitman Bridge to the Paulsboro Marine Terminal, where it will remain for about a week as it is prepared for dry docking.
The clear blue day marked the first time the battleship had been moved since 2001, and in a nod to its history, the 45,000-ton vessel is to be dry-docked in the same berth where it was built beginning in 1940 and launched on Dec. 7, 1942, one year after the Pearl Harbor attack thrust the United States into World War II.
“How cool is this?” asked Jim Crumlish, 71, in awe as the ship — the length of more than two football fields — was slowly turned and appeared to stretch the width of the river.
“[The Battleship New Jersey] nearly ties the entire river up.”
FILE PHOTO: The USS New Jersey is launched at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard December 7, 1942, on the one year anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The shipyard operated from 1876 until it closed on September 26, 1996 The Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC), a nonprofit corporation controlled jointly by the city government and the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, manages & develops the current Navy Yard.Read morePhiladelphia Industrial Development Corporation (PIDC)
Nathan Vargas is working for the caterers Wednesday, Mar. 20, 2024, preparing for ceremonies as the Battleship New Jersey departs Camden for dry dock maintenance.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Jay Jones (rear), director of operations and Jack Willard, director of marketing and sales for the Battleship New Jersey prepare signage for the departure ceremonies.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The Battleship New Jersey is on the Camden Waterfront Wednesday, Mar. 20, 2024 as the crew finishes preparations for her departure the following day for historic dry dock maintenance.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
October 18, 1999. The New Jersey transits the Miraflores Locks in Panama City, Panama on Monday The retired battleship will take three days to transit the Panama Canal during its final voyage before it is permanently set to rest as a museum in the state of New Jersey.Read moreTomas van Houtryve / AP
Nov. 11, 1999. The New Jersey leaves the Delaware Memorial Bridge behind as it passes a crowd on the shoreline at Fox State Park, near Wilmington Del., Thursday For the Inq/Read moreTim Shaffer
Nov. 11, 1999: The New Jersey makes its way up the Delaware River. Restoration work was done, and the ship was moved to her permanent berth on the Camden waterfront two years later and opened to the public on September 23, 2001.Read moreSharon Gekoski-Kimmel / Staff Photographer
August 9, 2000: US Navy veteran Frank Larkin (left) of Deptford is greeted by Capt. David McGuigan. USN (retired) and security guard Steve Pribula (right) as he visits the New Jersey with his family. Larkin served in WWII as a naval aviation plane captain in the Pacific.Read moreGerald S. Williams / Staff Photographer
April 20, 2001: Maritime artist Dave Boone has painted on the Delaware River since childhood. Now he is doing volunteer restoration work on the Battleship New Jersey, touching up the detailed paintings on the ship after they were taped-over while the walls were spray-painted.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
November 5, 2001: Richard Castro, 70, of Cherry Hill leads a tour on the Battleship New Jersey, describing the power of the big guns on the rear deck of the ship. Castro is a US Navy veteran from the Korean War era, and many vets, volunteer to work on the ship as a docent.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
June 6, 2012: Kristen Kobley of Strasburg, takes a photo of her husband Tom and daughters Sarah, 14, and Ellen, 10, on the deck of the Battleship New Jersey.Read moreDavid M Warren / Staff Photographer
November 22, 2012: Volunteers who work on the Battleship New Jersey are treated to a Thanksgiving dinner below deck in the ship’s chow hall.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer
May 27, 2013: Navy Seaman Ryan Kreider helps toss a wreath from the Battleship New Jersey during a Memorial Day ceremony.Read more
August 6, 2019: National Guard and Air Force National Guard members play on the deck of the Battleship New Jersey, during the Battle of the Branches soccer tournament to celebrate Military Appreciation Week.Read moreTYGER WILLIAMS / Staff Photographer
September.27, 2019: Jadden Kane of Bristol shadow boxes as he warms-up on the deck of the Battleship New Jersey, preparing for his time in the ring durin an amateur boxing event, Battle on the Battleship, held on the ship to raise funds for a recently commissioned statute of Camden boxing legend Jersey Joe Walcott.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer
November 11, 2019: US Navy veteran Bill Lydon, 70, helps paint the Battleship New Jersey before a Veteran's Day event.Read moreDAVID MAIALETTI / Staff Photographer
January 3, 2020: The Battleship New Jersey is bathed in Eagles green before their NFL Wild Card Round playoff game. They lost, 17-9 to the Seattle Seahawks at the Linc.Read moreELIZABETH ROBERTSON / Staff Photographer
July 30, 2020: The Battleship New Jersey provides a backdrop to the Ferris Wheel (sanitized and disinfected between users) and a “green' phase” pandemic-reopening version of Summerfest on Penn's Landing.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
November 11, 2020: Jacob Oesterwind, 23, speaks during a Veterans Day ceremony on the Battleship New Jersey, His great uncle, Robert Oesterwind, was killed in action aboard the battleship during the Korean War.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
December 6, 2020: A social distancing sign, putting "6 feet" into context. on the Battleship New Jersey during the pandemic.Read moreTOM GRALISH / Staff Photographer
July 3, 2014 : Matthew Linton of Northeast Philadelphia, who was disabled in the Iraq war while serving in the US Marine Corps, fires the Battleship New Jersey's five-inch portside gun to mark the official start of the 2014 Camden Freedom Festival.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
September 29, 2014. Painters Guilherme Tavares and Lawrence Errara (right) apply Haze Gray, also know as Battleship Gray to the New Jersey.Read moreDavid Swanson / Staff Photographer
July 4, 2019: Forty people from 23 countries recite the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony on the Battleship New Jersey.Read moreTIM TAI / Staff Photographer
March, 6, 2021: Families follow the green line on tour below deck on the Battleship New Jersey.Read moreTYGER WILLIAMS / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
May 21, 2021: West Deptford High School holds its junior-senior prom on the Battleship New Jersey.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer
November 20, 2023: Sixers Danuel House (from left), Kenyon Martin Jr., Robert Covington, Jean Marie Biemer and head coach Nick Nurse serve a Thanksgiving dinner to 150 service members and their families on the Battleship New Jersey.Read moreSteven M. Falk / Staff Photographer
December 28, 2023: Carte Bruynell, 9, tries out the enlisted sailors bunks as he tours below deck on the Battleship New Jersey with his parents, Cheryl and George of Glassboro.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
June 29, 1948: A trio of tugs, front, and other tugs on either side of the Battleship USS New Jersey, aid the ship along the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge in New York, , enroute to Bayonne, N.J., where the battleship is scheduled for retirement in reserve in the "mothball fleet". The Manhattan bridge is in the background. Read moreAnthony Camerano / AP
Nov. 21, 1950: Officers and crew salute during hoisting of the colors at the ceremony recommissioning the USS New Jersey, 45,000-ton battleship, at Naval Supply Depot, Bayonne, N.J.Read moreJohn Rooney / AP
Battleship New Jersey weathering a summer thunderstorm.Read moreLiz Robertson/Staff
Crumlish was one of a handful of friends who took a small charter boat out on the windy day to get an up-close look of the move. He grew up sailing and his father was a naval officer who worked on New Jersey’s sister ship. His upbringing and love of history made him a de facto guide for his friends. He regaled them with stories of how the battleship was built in Philadelphia and mused how incredible it was that volunteers and history lovers had kept interest in the ship alive.
“Somebody in today’s generation can appreciate the architecture, the workmanship, and the complexity of something that is antique,” he said.
A piece of history slated for a facelift
The USS New Jersey entered service in 1942 and saw action during many conflicts, including World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. It served in the Navy for about 50 years before being decommissioned in February 1991. It was turned into a floating museum in 2001.
After the Paulsboro stop, the decorated battleship will head across the river to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where it will undergo routine maintenance, repairs, and repainting for the first time in 32 years. The whole project is set to cost about $10 million with restoration work set to take at least two months.
The goal is to get the battleship back to Camden for Memorial Day and summer tourism traffic.
Tim Savage, 55, captain of Penn Yacht Charters, roped Crumlish and others into joining him to watch the move.
“It’s something else to do on the water,” he said jokingly, despite being very serious about finding the perfect vantage point so his wife could capture a photo of the tugboats flanking the ship.
Like Crumlish, Savage said he is passionate about sailing. He sold his home and moved onto a boat five years ago. No one had ever been so eager to get rid of their home, joked his wife.
Crumlish and his friends weren’t the only ones eager to watch the U.S. Coast Guard, Delaware State Police, Pennsylvania State Police and other agencies guide the battleship to its temporary berth.
Dozens of people gathered on the observation deck of Spirit of Philadelphia, a charter yacht, to take selfies and videos of the move. Attendees paid more than $100 for a two-hour cruise focused on the battleship.
The Camden waterfront invited a slew of military veterans with connections to the ship to watch. Freedom Pier in Gloucester City and Red Bank Battlefield Park were also open to the public for viewing, with hundreds of veterans and families with children braving the frigid air at the latter to snap a photo.
The Walt Whitman Bridge closed to traffic around 1:30 p.m., as the battleship passed underneath. The ship’s move to Paulsboro was slated to take most of the day, wrapping at about 4 p.m.
Tyler Ward, 72, fondly known as the “marine boss” of Pier 3, but officially the owners’ representative, said taking a break from work to see the move on a charter was a no-brainer.
“There’s this epic event on the waterfront [and] I know someone with a boat,” she said, waving at another charter captain angling for a better view.
Ward and others said they plan on coming out again when the ship is moved to the Navy Yard.
