November 6, 2006
Intrepid Move Is Called Off After Hitting Mud
By PATRICK McGEEHAN and JOHN HOLUSHA
The U.S.S. Intrepid was to leave its dock on the West Side of Manhattan today for the first time in 24 years, aided by an unusually high tide and six powerful tugboats. A fire boat was on hand to fire off its water cannons as the aircraft carrier-turned-floating museum moved away, and dignitaries were assembled on the Forbes yacht Highlander waiting to accompany ship downriver. ...
The Intrepid declined to cooperate.
With two mighty tugs pulling on the stern and four smaller ones assisting alongside, the Intrepid moved about 10 feet, and refused to go any farther.
After about an hour of fruitless pulling and with the tide falling, Susan Marenoff, the executive director of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, announced that the attempt would be halted. Officials said the ship’s propellers had apparently dug into the bottom of the river and were stuck there....
The Intrepid stalled despite elaborate preparations to extricate the 27,000-ton ship from the 17 feet of mud that have supported it for decades. The ship was made more buoyant with the removal of 600 tons of water from it ballast tanks. Some 15,000 cubic yards of muck were dredged to create a channel from the dock out to deeper water in the river.
But the propellers, which are no longer powered, are at the very bottom of the hull and their broad face led the way backwards. ...
Carl
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