All Aboard!

Recently, my son's Cub Scout Pack had a sleepover on the U.S.S. New Jersey, a battleship that is now permanently docked in Camden, N.J.  It was held from Friday night until Saturday morning, and included a tour of the various parts of the ship, and the chance to eat and sleep where the sailors did.

It was snowing when we arrived, so our Friday activities were restricted to the inside portions of the tour.  The highlight was the room where the missiles were launched.  Obviously, all of the computers and other devices are no longer operational, but the kids were able to sit there and pretend to shoot.  Needless to say, they enjoyed this quite a bit.  We also saw where the captain slept, the mess hall, the infirmary, and a lot of machinery.

Friday dinner and Saturday breakfast were held in the mess hall where the sailors ate.  The food was surprisingly good.  Dinner was chicken and macaroni and cheese.  As an added bonus, since it was a Friday during Lent, many people didn't want to eat the chicken, so us Protestants got to eat more.

Sleeping was on actual bunks.  They were triple bunks, so it was a bit claustrophobic.  The distance from my face to the bottom of the bunk above me was only about eight inches.  It made tossing and turning a bit difficult.  That, combined with a rather firm mattress, limited me to about two hours sleep.  Fortunately, my son had no such issues and slept all through the night with no problem.

On Saturday morning, the weather was clear (but cold), so we got to tour the decks of the ship.  As an added bonus, one of our Pack leaders served in the Navy for four years, and he was able to give us a lot more information about life onboard a Navy ship.

Overall, it was a very interesting and enlightening experience.  I'm very glad that we took advantage of the opportunity to do it.