Posted on 11/06/2006 8:57:44 AM PST by SmoothTalker
"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."
" After 24 years at the same pier on Manhattans 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."
"The Intrepid, launched in 1943, is one of four Essex-class carriers still afloat six decades after spearheading the naval defeat of Japan in the Pacific. It survived five kamikaze suicide attacks and lost 270 crewmen in battle.
Doomed to the scrap heap, it was purchased in 1981 by real estate developer Zachary Fisher, who realized his dream of turning the ship into the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum a year later.
It became one of New Yorks major tourist attractions, drawing some 700,000 visitors a year. It also supports a Fallen Heroes Fund that has provided $14 million to aid families of service members killed and wounded in the line of duty and built a $35 million advanced training facility for disabled veterans."
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
"Heck, just pumping the bilge dry might do the trick."
The EPA probably wouldn't let them.
It is a miracle it is still afloat with those clowns in charge.
Naughty, naughty.
Bought by realestate developer.
Damn. Can you imagine buying your very own aircraft carrier ?
Good gosh, I think that may have been the book I read...it seemed pretty old and I figured it would be out of print, but...with the Internet, all is possible...:)
"Damn. Can you imagine buying your very own aircraft carrier ?"
I have several in fact. And a nuclear sub. Keep 'em at Lake Norman.
A whole bunch of 'em aren't exactly "family friendly", which might pose a problem in posting the "good ones" here. I did find a thread on this topic elsewhere. Have a peek:
Braggin aint polite you know........ ;)
That ship's "memorial" website (usscabot.com) has interesting (and sad) photos which detail the salvage process. The Texas Air Museum bought her tower superstructure, so at least a small part of the ship didn't get sliced up and trucked down to Mexico.
I was driving down the interstate(?) that connects South Padre Island and Brownsville in the late nineties with my parents and and looked off to the left, towards an inlet from the ocean.
"Hey, that looks like an aircraft carrier. What's it doing here?" I didn't know that the Cabot had been moved.
Sad they never were able to get the money together to preserve it.
I'm enjoying reading the Sea Stories.
Now this is no sh!t... We did a screw change on a tin can (USS Whitehurst) after she hit a whale off the California coast and bent one of the blades of the port prop back in '66 in San Diego. Very interesting project and no easy task.
Ahhh, memories. Just in time for Veteran's Day.
You would think someone would have thought about checking this a little sooner.
Diver Dave, eh? You had an interesting rating, no doubt...I'll bet it was a damned tough job sometimes. How the heck did you do that screw change? Did you guys have a block and tackle or something to pull it into place once it was underwater?
Yep. The late '90s is about when the Cabot was first moved to the Brownsville area; for the preceding five years or so, I watched it take on an increasing list and become overrun with rats. After the *first* preservation group bought it from Spain, it lay moored to the Esplanade Street Wharf on the Mississippi, near New Orleans' French Quarter.
Imagine the suction of perhaps 60,000 tons of steel sitting in 6 feet of mud....
First, we utilized our ship's crane (USS PIEDMONT AD-17). The new prop was attached to a balance beam (yellow I-beam in the photos). A chain fall was hooked from the end of the beam to the hook and tension applied to hold the weight and balance the beam level.
Next, after all the prep work was done, the damaged prop was attached to the other end of the beam. The we simply switched ends, guiding the new prop onto the shaft. Next came tightening the "boss nut" and the duncecap.
I've made it sound easy, but it was a 14 hour job involving 4 divers and the rigging crew on the PIEDMONT.
We had some GREAT times working out of the Diving Locker aboard PIEDMONT. btw, my primary mos was Shipfitter/Pipefitter. Second class diver was secondary MOS
USN - SFP2 (DV)63-67
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