Battleship New Jersey Gets $1.4 Million in State Funding

Written and reported by Bryan Littel

The Battleship New Jersey, an icon on Camden’s waterfront, will get $1.4 million in state funding this year under the budget approved last week, state Sen. Donald Norcross announced.

The money will go toward funding regular operations at the ship, which serves as a museum and memorial, funding everything from maintenance and utilities to marketing efforts, officials with the battleship said.

“This is great news for the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial, and it couldn’t come at a better time,” said CEO Philip Rowan. “It helps us educate our youth, honor our veterans and preserve the history and artifacts of the world's greatest battleship.”

Docked about six miles upriver from where the ship was first laid down in Philadelphia’s Navy Yard, the Iowa-class battleship—the most decorated battleship in United States Naval history—has called Camden home for more than a decade and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

“This is a one-of-a-kind ship, built on our river and launched through the sweat of New Jersey’s workers,” Norcross said. “It’s vital that we maintain this national treasure so closely tied to our industrial past. It is our duty as the ship’s stewards to make sure that it gets the resources necessary to remain open and accessible.”