While the citizens of Minnesota wear T-shirts that boast "Our governor can beat up your governor," the residents of the great state of New Jersey can respond "yeah, well our battleship can sink your battleship."

America's greatest battleship, the USS New Jersey, is headed home! The "Big J" will soon be sailing up the Delaware River en route to the Philadelphia ShipYard where she was built.

Her eventual home is still a matter of debate. Bayonne seems like the leading candidate, although the members of the SJCW are naturally root-ing for Camden. The New Jersey has successfully passed through the Panama Canal. Her progress can be tracked at the official Battleship New Jersey Web Site (www.battleship-newjersey.org/). The Big J should be in New Jersey waters by Nov. 5. You might want to plan a road trip to Fort Mott in Pennsville to see her moving up the Delaware (bring your binoculars).

The New Jersey is the most decorated US battleship (16 battle stars). Commissioned one year after Pearl Harbor, she was de-commissioned after WWII. But she was called back to service for Korea, and again for Vietnam. Military commanders couldn't resist the chance to reach out and touch the enemy...with 16" guns. President Reagan brought her back again and she was modernized with cruise missiles and other advanced weaponry before being decommissioned for the final time in 1991. "Rest well, yet sleep lightly; and hear the call, if again sounded, to provide fire power for freedom".