Intrepid to Be Renovated

Here's a website with a live camera aboard the Essex-class carrier USS Intrepid, which is being towed from her berth today.

http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/intrepid/



And a link to an AP story.

http://apnews.myway.com//article/20061106/D8L7KQTG0.html


JT

 

It's stuck, and the tide's going out, so the move has been cancelled for now.

:sign_help:

JT

 

Every time I've been to New York, I always say I'm going visit the Intrepid! But I never get round to it! I keep finding new bars to visit instead!!:m2: :Hallutinations: :gimmebeer:

 

Good article jacobtowne.

 

Here's the latest update.

Navy to Help Pull Intrepid Out of Mud



Nov 11, 10:41 AM (ET)

(AP) Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch attends a send-off for the USS Intrepid (CV-11) before its...
Full Image NEW YORK (AP) - The Navy will help move the historic aircraft carrier USS Intrepid from its muddy berth in the Hudson River to New Jersey for repairs, officials said Saturday.
The agreement comes after the floating carrier museum refused to budge Monday despite tugboats' attempts to pull it from the mud at its Manhattan pier. The ship has rested in the spot for 24 years.
Under the agreement - hammered out after four days of talks between officials of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and the Pentagon - the Navy will give salvage support to try to free the vessel. That support will fall within guidelines of the Army Corps of Engineers permit issued to the museum for dredging.
Still unknown is when the operation will be finished and the carrier towed to Bayonne, N.J.
"The Intrepid Museum is thankful to the Navy and to the Army Corps of Engineers for the great help they are providing to this effort," Arnold Fisher, the museum chairman, said in a statement.
The Intrepid was at the center of World War II in the Pacific after it was deployed in 1943.
It now serves as a memorial to the armed services, a tourist attraction that draws hundreds of thousands of people a year. It is also equipped to become an emergency operation center for city and federal authorities. The FBI used it as an operation center after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The carrier's refurbishment is to include the opening of more interior spaces to the public, upgrading of exhibits and a bow-to-stern paint job. The pier is also to be rebuilt in the Intrepid's absence.



JT

 

I wish that more of the mothball fleet could be preserved. It is a shame that the government is not very willing to preserve the battleships of the past. The reserved Iowa Class battleships will all soon be scraped and whats left of the era of the battleships will be limited to the few ships that have been made museums.


USS Iowa and Winconsin

 

The reserved Iowa Class battleships will all soon be scraped and whats left of the era of the battleships will be limited to the few ships that have been made museums.


Even Missouri at Ford Island?

JT

 

Missouri is a museum ship, so perhaps it will be saved. Here's a link.

http://www.ussmissouri.com/

Unfortunately, the fate of Iowa is uncertain, after she was refused a berth in San Francisco.

JT

 

The Wisconsin is also museum ship. Being the lead ship of the class, I think its necessary keep the Iowa. I searched online and am happy to say that chances are Iowa is going to become a museum ship in Stockton California.

http://www.ussiowa.org/mbrship/stockton.htm

 

sorry, double post

 

The Wisconsin is also museum ship. Being the lead ship of the class, I think its necessary keep the Iowa. I searched online and am happy to say that chances are Iowa is going to become a museum ship in Stockton California.


Good news, and I hope the plan succeeds.

JT

 

UPDATE

Crews Hope to Free Intrepid Tuesday

Dec 5, 8:55 AM (ET)

By RICHARD PYLE

NEW YORK (AP) - Crews checked rope lines and revved tugboat engines Tuesday morning as they readied the USS Intrepid for the second attempt to pull it free of its Hudson River anchorage, where it has sat for nearly a quarter of a century, and tow it to a dry-dock for an extensive overhaul.

The effort, scheduled for high tide, came almost exactly a month after the first try failed to dislodge the historic aircraft carrier. Thick mud, accumulated over time, proved too strong for even six "tractor tugs" exerting some 30,000 horsepower.

They had until around 10 a.m. to move the aircraft carrier away from the dock, before the high tide window would shut down, said Jeff McAllister, the docking pilot of the tug boat company.

"It's a world of a difference this time. They removed 53 barges full of material from under her stern" during a three-week dredging operation, he said.

One former crew member, 84-year-old Joe Kobert stood on the flight deck early Tuesday in the bitter cold, waiting to see if the tugboats could pull the carrier out of the mud.

"If she doesn't move, we are going to jump in and push her," he said. "This is our gal. When she returns she's going to be just as gorgeous as ever."

Kobert was among several guests who were on the ship's flight deck in the pre-dawn hours, watching as workers readied the carrier by attaching chains dangling from the ship to cables on to the tugboats.

The smaller boats were to pull the ship stern first into the center of the Hudson River. They were then expected to nudge the ship's bow into place before towing the ship, still backwards, down the river toward New York Harbor.

Another former crewman, 81-year-old Felix Novelli, said he was confident the morning's move would go smoothly.

"The whole empire of Japan couldn't stop her. What makes you think a little mud will stand in her way?" Novelli said.

Three weeks of dredging removed nearly 40,000 cubic yards of muck from under the ship and around its four giant screws. Based on an assessment by military engineers and tugboat operators, officials said they expected a smooth departure for the 64-year-old World War II hero ship.

Once again, at least six tugboats were to attach cables and hawsers to the carrier, ease it away from Pier 86, then pull it stern-first into the river for the five-mile trip down the harbor to a shipyard in Bayonne, N.J.

Officials said the tides gave them a two-hour window of opportunity, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Published tidal tables predicted a crest of 5.5 feet at 8:06 a.m.

In the first attempt on Nov. 6, the 36,000-ton carrier budged only a few feet before the propellers dug into the bottom, the tide dropped, and the mission was scrubbed.

Plans for a second effort seemed almost like a stealth version of the first, without the ceremonial trappings.

"I don't know how moving an aircraft carrier around in New York could ever be low-key, but we had the celebratory event the first time and we are not having that again," Intrepid president Bill White said.

The Intrepid survived five Japanese kamikaze suicide plane attacks and lost 270 crew members in the last two years of the Pacific war. It later served off Korea and Vietnam and as a recovery ship for NASA astronauts.

Decommissioned in the late 1970s, it was destined for the salvage yard when rescued by New York developer Zachary Fisher and transformed into a floating military and space museum that opened in 1982, recently drawing upward of 700,000 visitors a year.

Intrepid officials said the $60 million overhaul, lasting up to two years, would include stem-to-stern "refurbishment and renovation" to repair deterioration and open up long-closed areas to the public. The ship's exhibits were put in storage and most of its 20-plus vintage warplanes were shrink-wrapped for protection during the hiatus.

JT

 

It's free and floating.

JT

 

I've looked around the Intrepid with great excitement. Loved every minute a great experience for sure, would recommend it to anyone.

 

I've visited several times and to my memory there is no plaque commemorating this burial at sea. I remember that elevator very clearly. It is in the down position now and one of the pier side entry ways opens onto it.

 

Those little ramps sticking out catch the catapult shuttles. The newer versions of the catapults don't need them.

 

I had the opportunity a few years ago to spend 3 hours exploring aboard the USS Yorktown (Essex-class) docked at Charleston, SC. I didn't fully realize the enormity of those ships until that day. Fascinating.