By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff

MOUNT HOLLY -- New Jersey Network will air a documentary on the battleship USS New Jersey this month after a premiere Monday for a group of 150 invited guests at the State House.

The program, Twentieth Century Warrior: The Return of the USS New Jersey, chronicles the ship's nearly 6,000-mile voyage this fall from Bremerton, Wash., to Philadelphia.

Viewers will see the ship leave Puget Sound in September, tightly navigate the Panama Canal under tow and arrive Nov. 11 at the former Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, where it was built, and launched, in 1942. The program also features interviews with military veterans.

"The moving conversations that our news team had with New Jersey's veterans as they reminisced about their days of service to our country laid the groundwork for this special documentary," said Elizabeth Christopherson, NJN executive director.

She said one segment of the program also will be presented in high definition television on Monday to veterans and state legislators.

The documentary will be broadcast Jan. 16 at 9 p.m. and again Jan. 21 at 10 p.m. It also will be available for sale as a video. Orders can be made through NJN's video services, at (609) 777-5093.

One of the largest battleships ever built and the most decorated in U.S. history, the New Jersey is awaiting a decision by the Navy this month for placement as a floating museum in either Camden or Bayonne.

The Charles Edison Fund provided the funding for the program.