U.S. Navy returns silver service to Battleship NJ

CAMDEN - Part of the elaborate Tiffany & Co. presentation silver once used for formal occasions aboard the historic Battleship New Jersey is back on the ship, now moored as a floating museum on the city waterfront.

Plates, goblets, a punch bowl and other assorted pieces of the 105-piece silverware set — some more than 100 years old — returned to the ship last week from the governor’s mansion at Drumthwacket after a 15-year effort to secure its return.

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The U.S. Navy still owns the complete set, part of which dates to 1906, but it has been on loan to the Drumthwacket Foundation since 1991, when the ship was decommissioned for the last time.

Battleship New Jersey Museum and Memorial staff and volunteers immediately unboxed the silver using white cotton gloves and placed all 45 pieces on public display in a silver cabinet in the air conditioned captain’s cabin, where it traditionally was kept and used for special dinners, teas and other formal occasions.

"It’s great to have it come home. It's priceless and this is where it belongs,” said ship museum curator Jason Hall.

Anyone on a tour of the ship will be able to see the silver in the case. The Navy required the museum to carry separate insurance for it and to install a special security system for its protection.

The gleaming silver is in mint condition and was well cared for by the Drumthwacket Foundation. Elaborately sculpted on the silver are garland and designs featuring many symbols of the state, the U.S. and the Navy, including eagles, anchors and historic scenes from around the state.

Museum CEO Philip Rowan drove to the mansion in Princeton to retrieve the silver. “We’re excited to have these pieces back, but we eventually would like to have all of the silver returned,” he said.

Museum and Navy officials signed an agreement earlier this month for a 10-year loan of the 45 pieces. However, there is a stipulation that one punch bowl will be loaned to the ship museum only seasonally from May through September.

"This is a great opportunity for us to share USS New Jersey's presentation silver. We hope visitors enjoy seeing these beautiful pieces and learning more about the Navy's rich history and heritage," said Debbie Dortch, public affairs specialist for the Naval Supply Systems Command in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.

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The Drumthwacket Foundation, which has a separate loan agreement with the Navy, did not provide comment. Rowan said the foundation and not the Navy ultimately decided which pieces to give the battleship after negotiations between the two nonprofit groups.

After 15 years of attempts to secure the silver, it was a letter to the Navy from Rep. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, in February that bolstered efforts for the return.

Norcross also is an original trustee of the battleship group that won the ship as a museum for Camden.

The state paid $10,000 to Tiffany &Co,. in 1906 to have 55 pieces crafted as a gift for the first Navy Battleship New Jersey, BB-16. After its silver was transferred to the second and larger battleship of the same name, BB-62, the state commissioned more silver service to add to the collection, bringing it to at least 105 pieces.

The New Jersey, the Navy’s most decorated battleship with 19 campaign stars that included three major wars and the Beirut conflict, was built at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, launched on Dec. 7, 1942, and commissioned in 1943 for service in World War II.

BB-16, part of the Great White Fleet, was sunk by the military in 1923 to become an ocean bottom reef in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

The negotiation, however, did not result in the ship museum receiving the most stunning pieces of the silver, including large trays, the candelabra and the largest punch bowl.

Gracing the bowl's base are the figures of Liberty and Plenty from New Jersey's seal. The Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield is one of two state historic sites embossed and engraved on the bowl. The other is Gen. George Washington's military headquarters at Morristown.

A few pieces of the silver were displayed on the ship temporarily in 2013 for the 70th anniversary of its commissioning on May 23 that year.

Retired Rear Adm. Thomas Seigenthaler, formerly of Haddonfield, wrote the first letters attempting to retrieve the silver as the first executive director of the ship museum even before it opened in 2001.

His wife, Angela Seigenthaler, accompanied Rowan and other museum staffers to Princeton and later helped the museum staff arrange the silver on shelves with volunteer Jacob Foster, Rowan's assistant, Jennifer Lon, and others.

“They took took very tender care of something they were entrusted with for years and we appreciate all their efforts," Seigenthaler said of the Drumthwacket Foundation.

The battleship group wrapped the silver in anti-tarnish silver cloth and then bubble wrap, crated it in wooden boxes and hauled it to the ship by trailer to meet the Navy requirements for transport.

Seigenthaler said he kept writing letters and contacting people about getting the silver back over the years despite discouraging responses and praised Rowan's commitment and persistence.

"I don't know how they made it happen, but we're thrilled and it's really great to have it back on the ship," he said.

Carol Comegno: (856) 486-2473; ccomegno@gannettnj.com