Bidding In Thousands To Ride Battleship NJ To Historic Dry-Dock

CAMDEN, NJ — Battleship New Jersey is holding online auctions for the chance to ride the historic boat when she leaves the Camden waterfront for drydocking. Bids have already reached the thousands.

USS New Jersey (BB-62), the most-decorated battleship in national history, is temporarily leaving the waterfront for the first time in decades for extensive maintenance. Two lucky winners will get to cruise aboard the battleship during the journey.

The auctions are taking place on eBay. Bidding in the first auction opened Wednesday at $2,500 and has reached $3,650 as of this writing. The first round will last through Sunday, with the second auction going from March 11 to 17.

The 61,000-ton, 887-foot ship will leave the waterfront on March 21 and make a pitstop at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal in Paulsboro, where winners will board the ship on March 27 for the remainder of the journey to the Philadelphia Naval Yard.

Built in 1939 and first launched three years later, USS New Jersey was used in conflicts including World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. The ship last entered battle from 1983-84 for U.S. operations in the Lebanese Civil War.

The ship was decommissioned for a fourth and final time in 1991, having earned 19 Battle and Campaign stars — the most of any surviving Navy ship. Eight years later, Congress allowed the ship to become a museum.

Battleship New Jersey has been one of the state's most prominent visitor attractions ever since. It's been more than 30 years since the ship last dry-docked — a process of removing a ship from the water to enable work below the waterline.

Tug boats will pull the ship to Philadelphia, as she is no longer operational.

Each auction winner can bring a guest. The trip from Paulsboro to Philadelphia will last a few hours.