NEW YORK - 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.
ADVERTISEMENT
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 Manhattan's West Side, the Intrepid began inching backward out of its berth, but the tugs moved it only a few feet before its giant propellers jammed in the thick accumulation of 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.
Elected officials, veterans who served on the Intrepid and others had waited on the flight deck for the beginning of the journey 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, Fire Department 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.
Hillary Rodham Clinton said at the sendoff ceremony before the tugs began their work.
When the ship undergoes its overhaul, which is expected to take 18 to 24 months, the pier also will be renovated. The city is contributing $17 million, the state $5 million, the federal government $36 million, plus $2 million in private funds.
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.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks