By Lauren Wanko
Correspondent
The Battleship New Jersey is getting a paint job.
“Like putting the wax on the Liberty Bell or re-varnishing the Statue of Liberty, this is a national landmark so having her look good is important,” said Battleship New Jersey Executive Director Phil Rowan.
The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 711 is repainting the historic ship’s hull. It’s not costing Battleship New Jersey anything. Instead, the union is paying the painters to do the job. Supplies and paint were donated.
When asked what color the ship will be, union member Vincent Lane said, “We like to call it battleship gray. They call it haze.”
The Battleship New Jersey Historical Museum Society donated $100,000 to the Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial. Now they can use those funds for other painting projects. There’s a whole lot of steel to cover.
“Battleship New Jersey is the largest, longest battleship every built. She’s 887 feet, 7 inches. She has 16-inch guns. She’s the largest guns the Navy ever fired,” Rowan said.
The Battleship was built in the Philadelphia Navy Yard in the 1940s. Fifty-five thousand sailors and marines served on the ship through the 1980s. She was decommissioned three times and finally came back home to the Camden waterfront in 2001.
“This side of the ship was painted about six years ago. The other side of the ship, which faces Pennsylvania, has not been painted since 2000, so she’s due for a paint job,” said Rowan.
The painters are working from the dock, in a mechanical lift. Battleship staffers are in the process of trying to secure a barge because it’s easier for painters to access parts of the ship.
Six painters are expected to work for about six weeks on the job.
“We do represent all the union painters in New Jersey so, you know, to me it was like a no-brainer,” said Lane. He added that it’s a way for him to give back.
“The professionalism shown by the painters and what they are doing here is unmatched by anyone else, the skill tradesmen that they are and step forward. This isn’t like painting a little house or car. Look at the size of this ship,” said Sen. Donald Norcross.
Two other “painters-in-training” will join the team after they complete the Union Organization for Social Services pre-apprenticeship program. Safety is a major component of the course.
“Guys come in to building projects and they come in with 10 fingers and 10 toes and two arms and two legs and we want them to go home with that,” said Bob Schiavinato.
“Once they do that, they come into our apprentice program and we’ll train them,” said Lane.
This paint job is especially important to Battleship New Jersey staffers because there’s still so much work ahead. Next up? Replacing the entire teak decking.