[Rhodes22-list] Happens to Everyone

[Bill Effros]

Intrepid Stuck, Move Scrubbed for Now
    

 
Nov 6, 11:48 AM (ET)

By PAT MILTON
 
(AP) Tugboats work to free the USS  (CV-11) from its muddy footing at 
Pier 86 on the west side...
Full Image 
(http://apnews.excite.com/image/20061106/USS_INTREPID.sff_NYJD101_20061106105333.html?date=20061106&docid=D8L7MEO81)

NEW YORK (AP) - The legendary aircraft carrier USS Intrepid got stuck in 
the deep Hudson River mud Monday as powerful tugboats fought to pull it 
free to tow the floating museum downriver for a $60 million overhaul.

The mission was scrubbed for the day at around 10:30 a.m. as the tide 
went down, said Dan Bender, a Coast Guard spokesman. There was no 
immediate word when the effort would resume.

After 24 years at the same pier on  West Side, the World War II warship 
began inching backward out of its berth, but moved only about 15 feet 
before its giant propellers jammed in the thick mud. The decommissioned 
war ship no longer has engines of its own.

"We knew it was not going to come out like a cruise ship," said Matt 
Woods, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's vice president for operations.


 
Six tugboats had strained to move the giant ship.


"We were able to move her 15 feet, and then she came to a halt. We tried 
to add more power with another tugboat but we couldn't wiggle her free," 
said Jeffrey McAllister, the chief pilot of the tugboat operation.

"We were missing our open window. We had to give up because the tides 
were going down," he added. "She was moving, we were hopeful, she 
started to creep along but then she stopped."

"It was very disappointing," said McAllister.

Monday's departure was timed to take advantage of the yearly high tide 
so the tugs could pull the 27,000-ton ship out of the slip where it has 
rested in up to 17 feet of mud. Removal of 600 tons of water from the 
Intrepid's ballast tanks gave the ship added buoyancy, and dredges 
removed 15,000 cubic yards of mud to create a channel from dockside to 
deeper water.


 
The carrier's $60 million refurbishment, which is expected to take up to 
2 years, will include opening up more interior spaces to the public, 
upgrading its exhibits and a bow-to-stern paint job in naval haze-gray. 
The pier will also be completely rebuilt in the Intrepid's absence. The 
city is contributing $17 million, the state $5 million, the  $36 
million, plus $2 million in private funds.



Just before the ceremony, officials expressed optimism about being able 
to move the aircraft carrier.

"The people doing this have moved a thousand ships bigger than the 
Intrepid," Intrepid president Bill White said earlier. "A ship that 
survived five kamikaze attacks is going to make it five miles down river."

Elected officials,  who served on the Intrepid and others had waited on 
the flight deck for the beginning of the  five miles down the river to a 
dry dock in Bayonne, N.J. Helicopters flew overhead; New York Police 
Department blue-and-white power boats,  boats and a Coast Guard cutter 
were on hand to accompany the aircraft carrier.

"The Intrepid stands for everything we believe in ... our freedom and 
our values," Sen.  said at the sendoff ceremony before the tugs began 
their work.

Two former mayors, Edward Koch and David Dinkins, cast off the final 
mooring lines at the order of 80-year-old retired Rear Adm. J. Lloyd 
"Doc" Abbot Jr., who served two years as Intrepid's skipper in 1960-62 
and has been named honorary commander for the day.

"It was the best job I ever had," Abbot said, standing once again on the 
ship's deck. "Intrepid had a soul of her own. How can a hunk of iron 
have a soul, you may ask. But I loved her. She kept me safe and at times 
I kept her safe."

The Intrepid serves as a living memorial to the arms services, a tourist 
attraction that draws hundreds of thousands people a year and, if the 
need arises, will become as an emergency operation center for city and 
federal authorities. The FBI used it as an operation center after the 
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.