Dear Editor:
I was very disturbed to read of the monetary problems affecting the U.S.S. New Jersey Battleship Museum located in Camden, NJ.
Back in January of 1977, I was part of the Hoboken Battleship New Jersey Committee, Hoboken being the first municipality in New Jersey to form such a citizen’s group. Our goal was to bring “old 62” home to serve as a “floating museum.” This being years before the Intrepid Air and Space Museum was located in New York City.
We believed that Hoboken’s proximity to NYC and with as many means of public transportation as we have, that our waterfront was the ideal place for the world’s most honored battleship to be permanently docked.
The H.B.N.J.C. did such a good job promoting our city that our Chairman Richard Bozzone was appointed to the NJ Battleship Commission by then Governor Byrne. When the state commission determined that Hoboken could not accommodate such an “enterprise of this magnitude,” our group then joined the Jersey City effort. However, the U.S. Navy had not yet released the ship. It later was reactivated by President Ronald Reagan.
Liberty State Park was finally chosen by legislative process to be the home of the New Jersey but some how the ship ended up in Camden. I and many others believed some 27 years ago, and still do, that Hudson County is the most viable area to locate the New Jersey. Maybe some day the “Big J” will be docked in the NYC metro area with a potential for millions of visitors. Hudson County being that place.
Leonard A. Luizzi
Hoboken City Historian