Years ago when the Battleship New Jersey Amateur Radio Station was being formed as the former USS New Jersey was being towed into Camden, hams from BNJARS came to visit us at a DSRC meeting. They recruited members to come restore the half dozen antennas on the 14 story battleship, run coaxial cable to replace the “demilitarized” hardline, and, with modern radios, work the world.
The DSRC has continued to work with BNJARS on special events.
In recent years their station (NJ2BB) took over coordination of the Museum Ships Weekend, a worldwide fun event. Over 100 ships and ship-memorials from Russia to Turkey, Missouri to New Zealand will participate.
Some are Battleships, with remarkable antennas… some are submarines– with simple surface antennas. One US Civil War Ironclad Gunboat has been retrofitted with radio, and there are Icebreakers and Minesweepers and even a Hydrofoil.
To learn more, visit: https://nj2bb.org/museum/index.html