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Battleship New Jersey is open for tours again after $10 million facelift

After a $10 million makeover, Big J is reopening for tours just in time for July 4 celebrations.

Pleasure watercraft escort the Battleship New Jersey as tugs return it home to the Camden Waterfront Thursday, June 20, 2024, after a restorative hull repainting and other maintenance work in Philadelphia.
Pleasure watercraft escort the Battleship New Jersey as tugs return it home to the Camden Waterfront Thursday, June 20, 2024, after a restorative hull repainting and other maintenance work in Philadelphia.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
    by Hannah Nguyen
    Updated 
    Published 

After a $10 million facelift, Battleship New Jersey is ready to show off its new look.

Beginning Wednesday and just in time for July 4 celebrations, tours are resuming on Big J, the Navy’s most-decorated battleship.

Self-guided tours on the battleship run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, and guided tours start at noon, according to its website. Tickets cost $5 to $40.

The ship will have the main deck and captain’s and admiral’s cabins and decks open for guests to watch fireworks on Wednesday.

The ship returned home to the Camden waterfront on June 20 following three months of repairs and maintenance in South Philadelphia. The makeover marked the first time the decorated battleship had ventured out since 2001.

The battleship left Camden for a stop in Paulsboro on March 21, then moved to Philadelphia on March 27.

Philadelphia Ship Repair workers repainted and repaired the hull, in addition to replacing anticorrosion technology. The hull project also included an inspection and sealing of about 160 through holes that drew in seawater to cool the engines when the ship was operational. Carpenters installed a new teak deck.

Gov. Phil Murphy allocated $5 million last summer for the project through the N.J. Historical Commission. Camden County also financed the project with $3.2 million in guaranteed revenue bonds, and the Home Port Alliance for the USS New Jersey Inc. raised money to pay for the work.

The ship — 887 feet long and four stories tall, and weighing 45,000 tons — was launched from dry-dock at what was then the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on Dec. 7, 1942, the first anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Production of the ship already was underway before Dec. 7, 1941.

One of four “Iowa Class” battleships produced, Big J is the most decorated vessel in Navy history. After World War II, the ship was again put into service during the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, and as part of Ronald Reagan’s defense buildup in 1981. The ship was decommissioned in 1991 and turned into a floating museum in 2001.

When Big J was built, thousands of people were employed at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Thousands also served on it during World War II.