The maintenance work is expected to take about two months. PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Residents in the Philadelphia area are about to see a rare site – a battleship floating down the Delaware River. Watch live on 6abc.com or wherever you stream The USS New Jersey is scheduled to move from its dock in Camden on Thursday, when it will head to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for extensive maintenance work. Officials say the trip is a year in the making, and they are ready to go. “Navy regulations say that museum ships like ours should be dry-docked every 20 years. We’re now on year 34. So we’re a little bit overdue. Luckily here in the Delaware, we’re in fresh water so we’re in fairly good shape,” said Battleship New Jersey CEO Marshall Spevak. 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. Harbor docking pilot Joseph Benton will be at the helm on Thursday, making sure the ship makes its journey safely. “We use the tug boats in place of the ship’s propulsion system. So one tug will be made faster on the side of the ship to act as the engines and then the other tugs will in place of the rudder to help lift the ship off the dock, turn her around and steer her down river,” said Benton, of McAllister Towing of Philadelphia. The maintenance work is expected to take about two months to complete, so officials hope to have the ship back in Camden for tours by early June. 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. After a ceremony on Thursday morning, departure is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. The ship will pass under the Walt Whitman Bridge around 1:30 p.m., and the bridge will be closed to traffic during that time. The ship will arrive in Paulsboro around 4:00 p.m. There, it will receive final preparations for dry-docking at the navy yard. Public viewing areas include the Camden waterfront, Red Bank Battlefield in National Park and Riverwinds complex in West Deptford. Action News pulled archive video from the last time it moved, showing people lined up along the Delaware River to see it! The battleship, which was built in the 1940s in Philadelphia, served for about 50 years before its retirement in February 1991. It has been a floating museum since 2001. 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 Associated Press contributed to this report.
