Blogging the Camden Waterfront, Part One: The Battleship NJ

I arrived late in the day on Friday and chose to take a tour guided only by me, so most of the time I had the ship to myself, which was nice, although a little creepy sometimes. I know very little about battleships, so I was not the best tour guide, but luckily the ship is loaded with informational plaques, as well as various informative museum exhibits, and has an easy-to-follow red line painted on the floor to keep you from getting lost (although I did find it amusing and a little confusing that the red self-guided tour line looked exactly the same as, and often intersected with, the red DANGER AREA lines). I had allowed myself an hour to see the ship, and expected to take less time than that, but in fact I used the full 60 minutes wandering the ship, reading the interesting information provided, and examining fascinating stuff like the small bunks (the only personal space on the ship; and they used to be even smaller!), the weapons and ammo, and the stunningly complex instrumentation. There were also some great views to be had off the deck of the ship. All in all, I was quite impressed (I even considered purchasing one of the neat little models in the gift shop), and came away full to bursting with interesting information about battleships (which I later unloaded on my unsuspecting wife). I'd definitely recommend a visit if you haven't gone, although if you're going to bring kids, keep a good eye on them, as there are some treacherous bits to the ship (as I mentioned above), and various switches and dials that are still active and can't be touched.

All photos by the author