Battleship New Jersey Ship Tour – 4K Video
For over a month, The Battleship New Jersey has been going through a massive renovation, below the water line.
Back on March 21st the USS New Jersey was pulled via tug boats down the Delaware River to find her way to the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
Since then, crews at the North Atlantic Ship Repair have been working seven days a week to get her under-side looking brand new again.
This two-month project involves a few different tasks and one additional add-on.
The primary goals of this dry-docking are to restore the ship’s bottom by removing all paint, inspecting all 165 underwater through-hull openings, applying new antifouling paint, and replacing the 1,200 zinc anodes with 600 aluminum ones.
At the time of recording they look to be more than halfway done with the project.
The port side of the ship not only has a new coat of paint but also has had some of the aluminum anodes installed.
The starboard side of the ship is currently in the process of power washing to prepare for the many layers of paint.
“When it comes to painting, the USS New Jersey will look a bit different, at least below the waterline.
Prior to this project, the bottom half of the New Jersey was painted all black this time around though, she is getting a red bottom with a black boot.
The “boot” of a ship refers to the bottom part of the hull, particularly the portion below the waterline.
Battleship New Jersey Dry Dock Tour – 4K Video
The main reason for its red color is twofold. Historically, the ship’s bottom was red in the 1980s, but when it was mothballed, it was painted entirely black. Returning it to red aligns with the original theme. (plus it helps to keep the growth off the ship)
Additionally, the chosen paint allowed for the option of red. If not for this choice, it would have remained black.
Three coats of paint will be sprayed below the boot and the boot itself will get five layers.
Since the area below the boot, known as the Wind Water Line, sees the most corrosion, this section of the ship receives the most paint layers.
One thing to keep in mind is that in a few weeks, the ship will need a ‘bump.’
The ship is sitting on 302 blocks, which are 4 feet wide, during the entire renovation process. To make sure the entire ship gets painted, they need to move the ship 4 feet forward. This movement is called a bump.
They bump the ship by flooding the dry dock, towing it back 4 feet, and then pumping out the water from the dry dock.
There is one project we featured in our video that is an additional project and that is boxing in the propeller shaft. We get into more detail on that in the video below.
Before you watch our video please subscribe to our Youtube channel as we try to hit 100,000 subscribers.
A BIG thank you to the team at The Battleship New Jersey for allowing us to stop by and film some videos.
In a few weeks, we will be releasing a 360 video tour of the Battleship New Jersey which you can view in all directions. (so be sure to subscribe).
If you would like to donate to the Battleship New Jersey or like to book a dry dock tour CLICK HERE.