| UPDATE
Crews Hope to Free Intrepid Tuesday
Dec 5, 8:55 AM (ET)
By RICHARD PYLE
NEW YORK (AP) - Crews checked rope lines and revved tugboat engines Tuesday morning as they readied the USS Intrepid for the second attempt to pull it free of its Hudson River anchorage, where it has sat for nearly a quarter of a century, and tow it to a dry-dock for an extensive overhaul.
The effort, scheduled for high tide, came almost exactly a month after the first try failed to dislodge the historic aircraft carrier. Thick mud, accumulated over time, proved too strong for even six "tractor tugs" exerting some 30,000 horsepower.
They had until around 10 a.m. to move the aircraft carrier away from the dock, before the high tide window would shut down, said Jeff McAllister, the docking pilot of the tug boat company.
"It's a world of a difference this time. They removed 53 barges full of material from under her stern" during a three-week dredging operation, he said.
One former crew member, 84-year-old Joe Kobert stood on the flight deck early Tuesday in the bitter cold, waiting to see if the tugboats could pull the carrier out of the mud.
"If she doesn't move, we are going to jump in and push her," he said. "This is our gal. When she returns she's going to be just as gorgeous as ever."
Kobert was among several guests who were on the ship's flight deck in the pre-dawn hours, watching as workers readied the carrier by attaching chains dangling from the ship to cables on to the tugboats.
The smaller boats were to pull the ship stern first into the center of the Hudson River. They were then expected to nudge the ship's bow into place before towing the ship, still backwards, down the river toward New York Harbor.
Another former crewman, 81-year-old Felix Novelli, said he was confident the morning's move would go smoothly.
"The whole empire of Japan couldn't stop her. What makes you think a little mud will stand in her way?" Novelli said.
Three weeks of dredging removed nearly 40,000 cubic yards of muck from under the ship and around its four giant screws. Based on an assessment by military engineers and tugboat operators, officials said they expected a smooth departure for the 64-year-old World War II hero ship.
Once again, at least six tugboats were to attach cables and hawsers to the carrier, ease it away from Pier 86, then pull it stern-first into the river for the five-mile trip down the harbor to a shipyard in Bayonne, N.J.
Officials said the tides gave them a two-hour window of opportunity, beginning at 7:30 a.m. Published tidal tables predicted a crest of 5.5 feet at 8:06 a.m.
In the first attempt on Nov. 6, the 36,000-ton carrier budged only a few feet before the propellers dug into the bottom, the tide dropped, and the mission was scrubbed.
Plans for a second effort seemed almost like a stealth version of the first, without the ceremonial trappings.
"I don't know how moving an aircraft carrier around in New York could ever be low-key, but we had the celebratory event the first time and we are not having that again," Intrepid president Bill White said.
The Intrepid survived five Japanese kamikaze suicide plane attacks and lost 270 crew members in the last two years of the Pacific war. It later served off Korea and Vietnam and as a recovery ship for NASA astronauts.
Decommissioned in the late 1970s, it was destined for the salvage yard when rescued by New York developer Zachary Fisher and transformed into a floating military and space museum that opened in 1982, recently drawing upward of 700,000 visitors a year.
Intrepid officials said the $60 million overhaul, lasting up to two years, would include stem-to-stern "refurbishment and renovation" to repair deterioration and open up long-closed areas to the public. The ship's exhibits were put in storage and most of its 20-plus vintage warplanes were shrink-wrapped for protection during the hiatus.
JT |