As you may or may not know, this past weekend (3/19-3/21) was Camden Waterfront Attraction Blogging Days, wherein 200 or so local bloggers, having applied and been accepted, were invited to visit, for free, each of the three big Camden Waterfront attractions (the Battleship NJ, Campbell's Field, and the Adventure Aquarium) and blog their fair and unbiased impressions. Phillyist was one of those bloggers, so here's part one of a three-part series covering our weekend adventures.

Although I live and work quite nearby, I had never been to see the Battleship New Jersey, mostly because I was under the impression I would find it very dull. Happily, this was a mistaken impression.

Getting to the Battleship from Philly is pretty easy. I took the PATCO highspeed line to the Broadway stop in Camden (AKA the Walter Rand Transportation Center), then got off and changed onto the RiverLine (which I had also never been on; it's a nice little train, and they never check your ticket as far as I can tell), which I rode down to the last stop (the Entertainment Center). After that, it was just a brisk walk around the Tweeter Center to where the Battleship is anchored.

As I boarded the ship, the nice old gentleman who greeted me told me to watch my step, as someone had just been carried out with a broken ankle! This was rather frightening news, but I'm glad he told it to me, as it made me extra careful on the various steep stairways and cramped passageways throughout the ship; a tour of the New Jersey is definitely not for the clumsy, the aged, or the infirm!

I arrived late in the day on Friday and chose to take a tour guided only by me, so most of the time I had the ship to myself, which was nice, although a little creepy sometimes. I know very little about battleships, so I was not the best tour guide, but luckily the ship is loaded with informational plaques, as well as various informative museum exhibits, and has an easy-to-follow red line painted on the floor to keep you from getting lost (although I did find it amusing and a little confusing that the red self-guided tour line looked exactly the same as, and often intersected with, the red DANGER AREA lines). I had allowed myself an hour to see the ship, and expected to take less time than that, but in fact I used the full 60 minutes wandering the ship, reading the interesting information provided, and examining fascinating stuff like the small bunks (the only personal space on the ship; and they used to be even smaller!), the weapons and ammo, and the stunningly complex instrumentation. There were also some great views to be had off the deck of the ship. All in all, I was quite impressed (I even considered purchasing one of the neat little models in the gift shop), and came away full to bursting with interesting information about battleships (which I later unloaded on my unsuspecting wife). I'd definitely recommend a visit if you haven't gone, although if you're going to bring kids, keep a good eye on them, as there are some treacherous bits to the ship (as I mentioned above), and various switches and dials that are still active and can't be touched.

All photos by the author