I've had the distinct privilege of visiting all four of the Iowa-class battleships with the USS New Jersey being the last one I had the chance to go to. Battleships have always fascinated me since I was a kid and ironically the "Big J" was my favorite one of all but I visited the Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin before I could make my way to Camden for the New Jersey. Now that I've been able to see her for real she remains my favorite battleship but now she's also my favorite museum ship - even among her sisters.

First reason for that is the sheer amount of the ship they let you tour freely. While the other three pretty much have similar areas open to regular tours - mainly the bridge areas, main deck, crew berths and mess - many areas remained closed off with you only being able to peek into some of the most fascinating areas like the admiral's and captain's staterooms, the turret interiors, and the CIC (assuming you could look in at all). On the New Jersey you could climb up directly inside Turret 2 right from the start of the tour (for comparison, you can pop your head into the Turret 2 hatch on Wisconsin but you can't climb inside). You could even fiddle with the periscope inside! Later on you can wander through the Admiral's, Captain's, and XO's staterooms - areas on the other Iowas that were pretty much closed off to tours (IIRC on the Missouri you could only peek into the Admiral's quarters though a closed porthole). The CIC and ops rooms also had working displays instead of being dormant. Want to go in a 5-inch gun? Go ahead on the New Jersey! Can't do that on the Iowa or the other sisters! If you're willing to do the walking you can also peek in the engine room, the anchor windlass compartment, and even relieve yourself on board in one of the ship's heads! How's that for being friendly to visitors?

Second reason are the wonderful exhibits on board. USS Wisconsin has the advantage of having the excellent Nauticus museum beside it to provide exhibit space but the New Jersey, Iowa, and Missouri pretty much stand alone. Big J does have a small office building before you enter the ship but it just has a cafe, ticket office, and restrooms - not the massive three-story edifice Nauticus has. To make up for that a large portion of the interior spaces on the ship itself have been converted to fascinating exhibit areas focusing on battleship history and design, Admiral William Halsey's career, the New Jersey's own history as well as that of her namesakes, and so many other interesting topics. I particularly loved the battleship history area where they went into detail about important factors in design and compared the Iowas to other nation's ultimate battlewagons. And yes, they mention the IJN Yamato and objectively point out her strengths and weaknesses versus the Iowas without seemingly playing favorites.

Past the exhibits the museum also thoughtfully included a special play area for kids, something I definitely do not recall the other ships having.

Overall, the museum was so engrossing I spent a lot more time than I expected there and could have stayed for even longer if I didn't have a train to catch back to New York that same evening.

If there are any cons I could point out it would be 1) posted info on the more modern armament like the CIWS, TLAM modules, and Harpoon launchers was lacking versus the other ships, 2) although almost all of the main deck is open the very stern of the ship is closed off so you can't get to the tail of the ship where the old gun tubs are (that's one thing the other Iowas let you do that the NJ doesn't, 3) the gift shop could have had more stuff, 4) food options seem very limited on the Camden waterfront area, and speaking of the Camden waterfront, 5) other than the New Jersey there's not a whole lot else there. There is an aquarium but if you're a naval buff you're going to want to hop a ferry or drive back across the river to Philly and check out the USS Olympia and the other ships at the Independence Seaport Museum if the "Black Dragon" didn't quite fill your need for naval history.