Racing the Clock to Bring Back the Intrepid

NY Times ^ | May 21, 2008 | PATRICK McGEEHAN

[neverdem]

Getting stuck in the mud on its first attempt to leave Manhattan was not the last or the least of the troubles that the aircraft carrier Intrepid has encountered in the past 18 months.

The military museum the ship houses was at risk of going out of business last year, as the costs of overhauling the carrier and rebuilding its home pier spiraled past $100 million, almost double the original estimate, said Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. To keep the work going and to stay on schedule to reopen this fall, the museum’s directors borrowed against the museum’s $15 million endowment, a move they had promised never to make, Mr. White said.

“This museum and this whole project was in danger of shutting down,” Mr. White said. “If we hadn’t taken this drastic measure to use the endowment, which I consider sacred, for this purpose, there would be no more Intrepid — unless someone was willing to write a check for 15, 20 million bucks.”

Now, with an electronic timer on a pier on the West Side counting down the days to the Intrepid’s return, museum officials are still pleading for additional public and private financing to complete the renovations on time. On the schedule that the museum set, the ship is due to be towed back from Staten Island on Oct. 2 — 134 days from Tuesday — and to have its official reopening on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.

For most of the past year, the 900-foot-long carrier has been the only warship moored at the Homeport on the north shore of Staten Island. But this week, it will have company when some active military ships sail in for Fleet Week, an event that revolved around the Intrepid until last year...

[neverdem]

Slide Show A High-Priced Voyage Home

[skeeter]

Funny - the carrier was nicknamed ‘USS Decrepid’ during the war because it always seemed problem-plagued.

[buccaneer81]

Funny - the carrier was nicknamed ‘USS Decrepid’ during the war because it always seemed problem-plagued.

Yeah, but she sure could take a beating. Hit numerous times by kamikazes. She lost 800 men in one day.

[buccaneer81]

I toured her back in 1987. Pretty impressive, even back then.

[neodad]

ping

[Bender2]

Intrepid bump!

[colorado tanker]

I hope they pull this off. I've toured both Intrepid and now Midway in San Diego. Carriers are darn impressive ships.

[neverdem]

Yeah, but she sure could take a beating. Hit numerous times by kamikazes. She lost 800 men in one day.

The Intrepid survived five Japanese kamikaze suicide plane attacks and lost 270 crew members in the last two years of the Pacific war.

That's from the Associated Press. I know it's not the best source.

[Think free or die]

We took the kids up to New York a couple of years ago, and toured Intrepid shortly before the renovations began. It was a great experience.

[buccaneer81]

The Intrepid survived five Japanese kamikaze suicide plane attacks and lost 270 crew members in the last two years of the Pacific war. That's from the Associated Press. I know it's not the best source.

You may be right. My number seems to be from the entire Task Force 38. 30 + ships.

Looks like Intrepid lost 65 men on 11-25-1944 during that engagement.

[GitmoSailor]

I toured on the Kitty Hawk’s maiden voyage around the Horn and was paid $88.00 a month. Room and board was free!!!!!

[neverdem]

270 KIA out of 800 total casualties is not unreasonable either. I was wondering if you had a source better than the AP, which I don’t regard too highly.

[buccaneer81]

I was wondering if you had a source better than the AP, which I don’t regard too highly.

No, I looked all over. But, if the AP is quoting from its archives, they may be right. AP and UPI were highly regarded during the war. They knew when to be silent and they seemed to be on the level as far as political persuasion (well, at least more so than today.)

[magslinger]

SONOBUOY PING!

Click on pic for past Navair pings.

Post or FReepmail me if you wish to be enlisted in or discharged from the Navair Pinglist.
This is a medium to low volume pinglist.

[mavfin]

Yeah, but she sure could take a beating. Hit numerous times by kamikazes. She lost 800 men in one day.

Actually, the 800 in one day I believe was the Franklin

[buccaneer81]

Actually, the 800 in one day I believe was the Franklin

Thanks.

[buccaneer81]

USS Franklin is correct. Thanks again, mavfin, for pointing me in the right direction.

Franklin lay dead in the water, took a 13° starboard list, lost all radio communications, and broiled under the heat from enveloping fires. Many of the crew were blown overboard, driven off by fire, killed or wounded, but the hundreds of officers and enlisted who voluntarily remained saved their ship through sheer valor and tenacity. The casualties totaled 724 killed and 265 wounded, and would have far exceeded this number except for the heroic work of many survivors.

From Wikipedia.

[buccaneer81]

By the way, welcome to Free Republic. You will enjoy it. I’ve made many FRiends here.

[Professional Engineer]

I hope they pull this off. I've toured both Intrepid and now Midway in San Diego. Carriers are darn impressive ships.

Indeed they are. So are a few others.

Going aboard - USS Lexingston

Hood ornaments - USS Texas

Fire one (volkswagen) - USS Wisconsin

I don't have pictures, but I have been aboard her...

[neverdem]

Thank you.

[cva66snipe]

I toured on the Kitty Hawk’s maiden voyage around the Horn and was paid $88.00 a month. Room and board was free!!!!!

I'd like to just even go out for an all night turnaround on a KH class now. My prefered carrier of the class to do such on however would be quite impossible to do that now though. The Kitty Hawk Class IF maintained correctly were tough carriers thats for sure. That was not a referal to her problems but rather the Navy not letting the last KH and the JFK class carrier go through S.L.E.P.

I hope the Intrepid can raise the needed funds to keep the ship alive.

[raybbr]

Why has the price doubled for repairs? Unions working their magic at the shipyard?

[SwinneySwitch]

Landed on her, off NAS Jacksonville, in ‘64.

[Right Winged American]

270 KIA out of 800 total casualties is not unreasonable either. I was wondering if you had a source better than the AP, which I don’t regard too highly.

Here's the straight skinny from the Intrepid Association site: www.wa3key.com/voyage.html

USS Intrepid History

CV/CVA/CVS-11

The Intrepid's Gallant Voyage, 1943 - 1982

---

  *  December 1, 1941: Intrepid's keel laid at Newport News, Virginia.
  *  December 7, 1941: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor.
  *  April 26, 1943: Launched.
  *  August 16, 1943: Commissioned CV-11.
  *  December 3, 1943: Sailed for Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal
         and San Francisco.
  *  January-February, 1944: Participated in the Marshall Islands   
         invasion.
  *  February 1944: Participated in raid on Truk.
  *  February 17, 1944: Damaged by Japanese aerial torpedo.
  *  September-October 1944: Participated in attacks on invasion of
         the Palaus.
  *  Strikes against the Philippines, Formosa, and Okinawa.
  *  Operated out of Utilic fleet anchorage in the Carolinas as unit
         of Task Force 38.
  *  October 24, 25, 26, 1944: Participated in Battle of Leyte Gulf.
         Helped sink the super-battleship Musashi.
  *  October 30, 1944: Hit by kamikaze--slight damage.
  *  November 25, 1944: Hit by two kamikazes--heavily damaged.
  *  March 1945: Strikes against Tokyo and Okinawa. Near miss by a  
         Japanese heavy bomber kamikaze.
  *  April 6, 1945: Helped sink the Japanese super-battleship Yamato.
  *  April 16, 1945: Damaged during invasion by kamikaze attack off
         Okinawa.
  *  August 1945: Reported back to the Fast Carrier Force. 
         War ended.
  *  August-December 1945: Policed the coasts of China and Korea,   
         aiding in repatriation of Allied POW.
  *  December 1945: Arrived back in the United States after Japan   
         occupation duty.
  *  1946: Put in reserve at San Francisco.
  *  October 1954: Completed modernization at the same yard at      
         which she was built.
  *  1955-1962: Operated in the Mediterranean with the Sixth Fleet.
  *  1956: Refitted at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Angled deck added.
  *  May 24, 1962: Served as Recovery Ship for Mercury VII space
         capsule (astronaut Scott Carpenter) .
  *  March 23, 1965: Acts as Recovery Ship for Gemini III space
         capsule (astronauts Gus Grissom and John Young).
  *  May 1966-1968: Served with the Pacific Fleet off Vietnam in    
         three combat cruises.
  *  1974: Decommissioned at Quonset Point R.I. Towed to
         Philadelphia for bicentennial celebration.
  *  July 1982: Opens as the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New   
         York City.

—ExIntrepid

Last War Cruise - Vietnam '68-'69 - Intrepid ran Alpha-Strikes of Yankee station with Scooters (A-4's).

Last EastLant-Med '71-'72 - Left Q-Point just before Decommissioning - Glad I missed it...

[neverdem]

Thanks for the text & link.

[colorado tanker]

Where is the Lexington docked?

[Professional Engineer]

She is in Corpus Christi, TX

[colorado tanker]

I'll have to combine a trip to Padre with a visit to the Lex.

Howva been, P.E.? Find any good spankentruppen recruits lately?

[Professional Engineer]

I hadn’t had much chance to recruit lately.

I’m always on the lookout though.