So he and his wife, Joy, didn't mind braving a little rain Friday morning to be among the first to arrive to greet the USS New Jersey Battleship Commission as it docked aboard a paddleboat at the New Jersey State Aquarium.

About 300 people from South Jersey, and some from as far away as Florida, would later join the Levys, of Haddonfield, to send the commission a clear message to make Camden's Waterfront the site for a battleship museum.

''My ship was given to Italy, and they later scrapped it, so you can never have that again,'' Levy said. ''For sentimental reasons, the New Jersey should come here. It was built here, and it can certainly be an attraction here.''

Like the Levys, others lined the Aquarium's promenade to show support for turning the ship - now mothballed in Washington state - into a museum on the Delaware River.

Over the past few months, people signing petitions to lure the battleship to New Jersey were encouraged to show up for the visit by the commission. Although thousands signed petitions, the weekday timing of the event and the rain that ironically gave way to sunshine just as the paddleboat docked, kept the welcoming committee's numbers lower than expected.

Some tried inventive ways to gain the commission's attention. Russ Homan of Cherry Hill brought his speedboat up the river with a sign reading: ''Camden and USS New Jersey, Perfect Together.'' Aquarium management unfurled a huge American flag from the building's roof, augmented by a banner urging the ship's return.

''I spent time on the ship in the Naval Reserves in the 1950s, and when the thought came about to bring it to Camden, I was interested,'' said Homan, whose 24-foot speedboat with banner caught the eye of many onlookers. ''I just got a crazy idea and said, 'I'll put a sign on the boat and take a ride down there.''