Stuck in mud, USS Intrepid move is scrapped

MSNBC ^

[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 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."

"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 York’s 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."

[highball]

Hmmm. You think the MSM could get it correct or the Navy would inform them......

It's not the "USS Intrepid." The USS Intrepid was decomissioned on 15 Dec 1974.

It is now the Intrepid Sea, Air & Sapce Museum and the ship is refered to as either "The Intrepid" or the Ex-USS Intrepid"

God help the MSM

You may be right from a technical standpoint, but it's a pretty common mistake. The museum's website itself even uses the "USS" in a couple places.

Features aircraft carrier USS Intrepid, the destroyer USS Edson, submarine USS Growler and over 25 aircraft

[rlmorel]

I read somewhere that her crew referred to her as "The Evil I" for her propensity to attract Kamikazes...

[Tallguy]

Heck, just pumping the bilge dry might do the trick.

That neglects the 'suction-effect' that you get when you are mired in fine river silt. Pumping the bilge dry might gain you some more bouyancy, but the gain might not be enough to overcome the 'suck'. Speaking of that, I heard Hillary was there...

[razorback-bert]

[finnman69]

they did dredge, apparently not enough

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/06/ussintrepid.ap/index.html

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.

[reagandemo]

"Heck, just pumping the bilge dry might do the trick."

Yes you are probably right. The Yorktown in Charleston is a two hulled ship and they filled the void with freshwater to make sure that the ship did not move when strong winds like hurricanes come in.

[jpsb]

Another trick is listing the boat, has the effect of lifting the keel relative to the muddy bottom. Kight be hard to do with a ship of this size.

[hc87]

I had heard "The Dry I" for he propensity to be in drydock getting repaired.

[Robert A Cook PE]

This photo of a sister ship (Hancock) as the drydock fills in the Phillipines shows how far above the bottom of the hull the props (and rudders!) are.

http://img.clubphoto.com/jerboa/49632995/556/null/image.jpg

At this time, when the water is just covering the bottom half of the props, the hull is already 5-7 feet under at centerline.

[hc87]

They pumped out her bilge in preparation for this move and did some dredging behind her. Apparently not enough.

[jpsb]

"pull the 27,000-ton ship out of the slip where it has rested in up to 17 feet of mud. "

Forget everything I've said, the only thing that will move her is horse power lots and lots of horse power.

[T.Smith]

Is she submerged up to the deck? That's what it looks like in that picture.

[HAL9000]

" “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. "

Actually, the mud stands for everything the Clintons believe in.

[CaptRon]

Nobody has a tide chart? Heck, it's in all the papers!

[Robert A Cook PE]

It was amazing to see the tugs with engines on full churning up tons of dark smelly silt laden water, but the ship was not going anywhere. I really could smell it standing by the water. The lead tug was porpoising out of the water it was pulling so hard. I saw it move a couple of feet tops.

Dammn!

If it moved that much (several feet) then that means the ull is jammed tight, not just "resting" on the mud. Now, that same amount (or more!) is going to have to be used to get the hull free so it can be dredged under the hull. Like getting your car stuck in the mud, it's hard to dig under the body if the body is stuck.

But, the tugs can't "pull" from the shore side.

[nutmeg]

ping especially for NYC-area FReepers...

Please FReepmail me if you want on or off my ‘miscellaneous’ ping list.

[nutmeg]

NYC ping...

[Tallguy]

Thanks for the pic of the USS Hancock. Incidentally, what's with the aircraft on the flight deck? Usually the air wing flies off before the ship comes into port, much less drydock. Hasty repairs perhaps? Perhaps the Navy got a good deal from the Filipinos on a hull scraping? Hangar queens?

[reagandemo]

I wonder if they took into account the amount of tonnage that they brought on to the ship after they docked it? All the aircraft and equipment that they have added since they first brought it there must have drastically effected the depth of the keel.

[evaporation-plus]

I read somewhere that her crew referred to her as "The Evil I" for her propensity to attract Kamikazes...

On a recent visit I watched a very moving presentation about the Kamikazes and the firefighters that put out the fires. At one point, they say that you are sitting right where one of the Kamikazes hit.........The firefighters unfortunately were also at the same spot!!