Battle Stations: Port Chester Scouts Spend Night on U.S.S. New Jersey

Members of Boy Scout Troop 400 in Port Chester took to the decks of historic battleship U.S.S. New Jersey over the weekend.

The scouts slept overnight on the battleship, which serves as a floating museum and memorial at the waterfront on Camden, NJ. While learning about the ship and the service of its crew members, the scouts also got a chance to get in a quick trip to nearby Philadelphia.

While so close to Philly, they definitely needed to get some cheese steak sandwiches.

Here's a quick history of Battleship New Jersey, AKA BB62

BB62 was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, and launched December 7, 1942 - just a year after the Pearl Harbor Attack brought America into WWII.

The USS NEW JERSEY (BB62) was actually the second ship to be called “NEW JERSEY”, the first being BB16, a turn of the century (19th century) battleship. The first Battleship New Jersey (BB-16) was a Virginia class pre-dreadnought that served from 1906 until she was sunk as a bombing target in 1922. She sailed with the Great White Fleet and served her country in World War I as a training vessel.

NEW JERSEY was decommissioned on February 8, 1991 in Long Beach, California and later towed to Bremerton, Washington where she resided until heading home to New Jersey. She was officially stricken from the Navy list on February 12,1995 but was then ordered reinstated by an order of congress as a mobilization asset under Bill 1024 section 1011. On January 4, 1999 NEW JERSEY was again stricken from the Navy list and IOWA replaced her as a mobilization asset. On September 12, 1999 NEW JERSEY began her Final Voyage home from Bremerton, where she had rested in mothballs for the last 8 years. On November 11th, she arrived at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Since that time, she has been restored, opened and established as an educational museum and a tribute to the brave sailors who served on her during her long and distinguished career. The Battleship New Jersey opened as a Museum and Memorial in October 2001.