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BATTLESHIP NEW JERSEY

Famed Battleship New Jersey to Close

After Labor Day, Due to Sinking Revenue

By Brianna Kudisch | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com; Updated Sep 04, 2020; Posted Sep 03, 2020

The Battleship New Jersey is pictured here during a ceremony in May 2020 marking the 77th anniversary of her commissioning into the U.S.
Navy. It is closing after Labor Day, due to financial losses sparked by the coronavirus crisis. Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

attleship New Jersey, the U.S. Navy’s most deco- “ is is a survival plan. If we didn’t take this action, we
rated battleship and current museum and memo- would be completely wiped out,” Philip Rowan, the
Brial on Camden’s waterfront, is closing after Labor memorial’s executive director and CEO, told NJ Advance
Day, due to signi cant revenue loss from the coronavirus Media. “We would have no money left.”
pandemic, the museum’s board of trustees has announced.
e shutdown marks the memorial’s rst complete clo-
Roughly 80 employees at the museum, including part- sure for an extended period of time since it opened as a
time workers, will be furloughed. e memorial’s public museum in October 2001.
tours, private events and overnight programs were all sus-
pended in March when the coronavirus outbreak hit the e memorial had its most nancially successful years the
Garden State. past two years, Rowan said, but with public tours capped
at a 25% capacity and the current elimination of events, it
e ship reopened for tours in mid-June under state health wasn’t generating enough revenue to stay open. And state
guidelines, but with the volume of visitors down, the museum funding is not guaranteed, he added.
is now closing for an undetermined amount of time. continued on page 11

10 The Mariner • 2020 SUMMER Edition • Volume 63 • Issue 2