Signal Flag
Fundraising Campaign Success
Rich Thrash, Brass Team Volunteer
In the last issue of The
Jerseyman, which came out June 1st, we featured an article about a
fundraising effort to try and raise the money to purchase two complete
sets of new signal flags (68 flags per set). That fundraising effort was
a huge success, raising enough money to purchase the two sets of flags
and still have money left over (more about this in another article later
in this issue). I want to personally thank everyone who made a donation
towards this effort, it was much appreciated. The flags we bought are
made in the USA by a women-owned small business in Florida called US
Flag. They gave us a great deal on the flags and they delivered them on
schedule.
The fund raising effort to
Dress the Ship for Freedom Week (the week leading up to July 4th) was
led by a group of our Saturday volunteers. The same group who worked on
raising the funds was also going to be the group to actually raise the
flags, and that was something none of us had done on the ship before.
Our goal was to get all of the flags up on Saturday June 21st, and have
them stay up for three weeks, coming down on Saturday, July 12th.
Luckily the flags came early enough to give us an opportunity to do a
test hoist on the forward wire on Saturday, June 14th. That day we
encountered numerous problems, and learned a few very valuable lessons,
that made the actual hoist on June 21st go much smoother. Thanks to
everyone who came out to help us hoist the flags too, I was quite
pleased that we were able to get all 130 flags hoisted in one day.
Once we got them up on the
21st they stayed up the entire time and there were no problems. When we
took them down on July 12th we noticed that a number of the pointy
pennants had frayed at the ends. I took photos of some of the damaged
pennants and sent them to our representative at US Flag and they were
very apologetic and offered to repair and reinforce those flags. So we
boxed them up and sent them back where they were repaired and returned
to us in about a week, great customer service! I would highly recommend
them to anyone looking for flags of any kind.
The flag sets are now
stored in separate compartments one forward and one aft, close to the
hoisting points, to facilitate easy handling. Each set is clipped
together and hanging up in their proper hoisting order, which by the way
is not random, but is in fact prescribed in the Naval Telecommunications
Procedures for Flags Pennants & Customs, NTP 13 (B). The manual calls
this flag arrangement "Rainbow Colors", so the flags are arranged for a
colorful presentation but don't "say" anything. All flags and pennants
in the allied flag bag are used to dress ship except Screen,
Subdivision, and Group.
The new sets of signal
flags are a great addition to the ship and they will allow us to dress
ship throughout the year for special occasions like Armed Forces Day,
Commissioning Day, Memorial Day, July 4th, Birthdays of the Navy and
Marine Corps, Veterans Day, and other occasions as appropriate. Thanks
again for your support in making our dream to dress the ship a reality,
we couldn't have done it without you!
Below is a series of photos
taken on June 21st and 28th showing the hoisting of the signal flags and
the installation of yards and yards of Red, White and Blue Bunting
for Freedom Week. |
Battleship
New Jersey Camden Resident Student Scholarship
Awards Dinner
Rich Thrash, Brass Team Volunteer
The
Battleship New Jersey Camden Resident Student Scholarship Awards
Dinner was held onboard the ship on Friday,
June 20, 2014. The Battleship is proud to
award each of the following students with a $1,000 scholarship.
Kelly Pham, Camden Catholic High School
●
Jasmine Burg, Leap Academy
●
Shania Dunlap, Brimm Medical Arts
●
Katherine Hernandez, Camden Academy Charter
●
Melvin Coe Jr., Camden County College
●
Jasmine Jones, Met East High School
●
Tyree Lewis, Creative Arts Morgan Village Academy
●
Nambaramey Dy, Rutgers Camden
●
Angeliz Valcarel, Woodrow Wilson High School
●
Briana Dean, Camden High
School |