Four tugboats will help move battleship out of port; how they’ll do it

CAMDEN – When the U.S.S. New Jersey came home in 1999, Capt. Joseph E. Benton III was on a tugboat that helped push the vessel up the Delaware River.

And Benton will again be part of the voyage as the ship makes its way to dry dock.

Only this time, he’ll be aboard the battleship, overseeing four tugboats that will usher the New Jersey to a temporary berth in Paulsboro.

“It’s a national treasure, so it brings us a lot of pride to do this,” said Benton, vice president and general manager for McAllister Towing of Philadelphia.

The 887-foot retired warship will dwarf the 100-foot tugboats, but Benton expects the move to be “pretty standard.”

“We routinely move cargo ships that are much longer,” he observed, noting the tugboat engines have 3,000 to 5,000 horsepower.

“But no one cares if we’re bringing a cargo ship up the river at 2 a.m.,” he added, acknowledging the move will draw big crowds along the New Jersey’s route.

Two tugboats will tie up to each end of the 45,000-ton battleship, allowing them to pull it away from Camden’s Waterfront and into the river’s shipping channel.

A sweeping left turn will point the ship downstream.

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A third tugboat — also tied to the ship — will serve as the battleship’s engine while pushing the vessel downstream.

The boats that pulled the New Jersey into the river will flank the ship to become its rudders, said Benton.

“We’ll keep it straight and run it down the center of the channel,” said Benton, noting a fourth tugboat will be available as needed.

Planning and preparation for the move has taken months.

“There’s a lot of work with the ship’s staff and with the Coast Guard,” which will prohibit small craft from entering a safety zone around the battleship.

Much of the advance effort involved readying the museum ship to return to the river, such as removing gangways and mooring lines.

“We removed sections of the mast to bring it down to 140 feet,” he said. That’s expected to leave 10 feet of clearance when the battleship passes beneath the Walt Whitman Bridge, even at high tide.

“We’ll turn it around to dock at Paulsboro,” Benton continued. “There’s a lot of room for that.”

The ship’s expected to spend a week at the terminal, where 2,000 tons of water will be added to her ballast for stability.

Tugboats are expected to escort the New Jersey once more, this time pushing it to a dry dock in Philadelphia.

The ship will get maintenance work for 60 days, then is to return to Camden in late May.

“We hope to re-open for tours in June,” said Jack Willard, a battleship spokesman.

Benton, a trustee of the battleship museum and a graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, doesn’t expect to feel much emotion as the ship makes its journey.

“It’s a lot of anticipation,” he acknowledged. “But I’ll be focused on the task. I’ll be relieved when the job is done.”

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter for the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal. Email: [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: How will the battleship New Jersey move into dry dock? We know