In the afternoon of February 21st, all the scouts going to Battleship New Jersey set off for a 4-hour drive to the Camden, New Jersey, waterfront. We arrived at around 5 PM and immediately marvelled at the size of the ship.

When we got on, we were led downstairs, past the mess hall(which looked better than any of us thought), and into our berthings(sleeping areas). The berthing consists of pods of bunk beds and “heads”(restrooms). The troop was given one area of bunk beds, and everybody picked their spot. The bunk beds, however, were very cramped, and everybody was trying to get the top bunk!

After choosing our beds and getting settled, they called us to dinner around 7:00 and had us standing in line for a solid 15 minutes! After we got our food (a chicken sandwich and a carton of iced tea), we sat down and ate it. The food wasn’t great, but it was filling. After dinner, we were called back to the berthing area, where we were told to wait for a tour guide to come pick us up. At 8:00, we were taken to the mess hall to start our tours. The tour was amazing, and we learned a lot about how the ship operates and the many services the crew used when it was in commission, such as the post office, the engineering lab, the many board game tables around the ship, and a medical section, which included a surgery table, dentist’s office, and quarantine zone.

The most exciting part of the entire tour was when the tour guide showed us how soldiers back in WW2 would have loaded missiles. He showed us the entire process, from the actual loading of the missiles to the gunpowder loading section, all the way to the actual firing room. It was a blast seeing all the cool technology preserved from the 1940s!

After the tours, at about 10:00, we all headed down to the berthing areas, got in our beds, and slept. It was a bit challenging to sleep, as some people were still chattering, but after a little while, we all got some rest.

In the morning, we quickly packed our bags, got off the ship, and made a quick 4-hour drive home.