| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| A Ship's Belly, a Nation's Strength -- A look inside the U.S.S. Intrepid. |
| 2006-06-30 |
| by Brendan Miniter, Wall Street Journal Most visitors to the U.S.S. Intrepid, the vintage World War II aircraft carrier docked on the west side of Manhattan, come to hear combat stories--how the ship survived five separate kamikaze attacks--or to see some of the neat modern warplanes now parked on its flight deck. But when I got the opportunity this week to visit the carrier, I had something else in mind. I wanted to get down into the belly of the floating war machine and see what few visitors have been allowed to see during the 2 1/2 decades that it has been on public display: the machinery that propelled this giant halfway around the globe to project American power first against the Japanese Imperial Empire and then, two decades later, against the North Vietnamese. . . . . . . the ship is in pretty good shape considering that it has been sitting here for nearly 25 years. In 1976, real-estate magnate Zachary Fischer decided to rescue the Intrepid from the scrap heap and paid $25 million to have it brought to New York and set up as a museum. Today the museum spends $17 million a year on overhead and millions more on capital projects to keep the ship afloat and full of exhibits for 700,000 annual visitors. The Intrepid also raises money through its Fallen Heroes Fund to help wounded servicemembers from Iraq and Afghanistan and their families, and is building a $40 million physical rehabilitation center in San Antonio. One soldier who visited the Intrepid recently had just returned from Iraq, where he had lost his left eye, part of his right hand, most of his left arm and his right leg. He came to express his gratitude to the Intrepid family for helping him. But Mr. White doesn't think that any thanks are necessary. Maintaining the ship, supporting troops returning from combat and reminding Americans that freedom isn't easily defended, he says, "is a duty." |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #16 The "Evil I", and "Fighting I/Fighting Eye" - sigh, iff only the ORISKANY could've been saved. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-06-30 22:45 |
| #15 You could actually do a decent Navy tour up here. Charlestown Navy Yard for the Constitution (watch your head), right across the dock is the USS Cassin Young, a WWII Fletcher class destroyer that took a couple of Kamikaze hits at Okinawa. Then down to Fore River shipyard in Quincy to the USS Salem, a light cruiser. Then Battleship Cove. You could do it in a weekend. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-06-30 22:42 |
| #14 There's also the USS Hazard in Omaha NE. One of the few preserved minesweepers. It's on my 'to visit' list. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2006-06-30 21:57 |
| #13 Midway website |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-30 19:58 |
| #12 The U-505 is in a gorgeous new home at the MSI in Chicago, well worth the trip. Get tickets in advance. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-06-30 18:41 |
| #11 Up here in Fall River at Battleship Cove we've got the USS Massachusetts, USS Lionfish (a Balao class WWII sub. And AP's right. It's tight in there), USS Joseph P. Kennedy (which worked the Cuban blockade line) and the National PT Boat Museum, which has an Higgins and the last Elco PT boat in existence. Good take on a nice day. Kids eat it up. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2006-06-30 16:49 |
| #10 The Alabama is fine Bobby, Alabama state officials used it for dispesed HQ during the storms. It's a rock. I was in San Diego last month and took a tour of the USS Midway Whoa! I didn't know it was a museum ship! Okay, we got Essexs, Midways, now we need the ShityKitty for the collection. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-06-30 15:22 |
| #9 Miniter's a good writer, but am I the only one who cringed when reading the phrase "Japanese Imperial Empire"? Guess he didn't send the piece to the Department of Redundancy Department for proofreading... |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2006-06-30 12:31 |
| #8 USS Lexington is in Corpus Christi, TX, complete with lots of planes on board. Great way to spends some hours on the water. |
| Posted by: Sherry 2006-06-30 12:19 |
| #7 Bobby: It's still there. At least, before Katrina it was. I believe they had to do some repairs to her last year after Pensacola got nailed in 2004 (Hurricane Dennis, maybe?), but I think she's back in port in Mobile bay. |
| Posted by: BA 2006-06-30 12:07 |
| #6 See the U-505 at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry - if you can stand to wait in line long enough to get in. ALso, I believe the USS Alabama (battlewagon) used to be in Mobile Bay as a museum, but that was 20 years ago.... |
| Posted by: Bobby 2006-06-30 11:53 |
| #5 Then we need to talk about living space aboard WW2 submarines, heh. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-06-30 11:34 |
| #4 We've done a Cub Scout campover on the USS Little Rock, a late-war Cleveland-class light cruiser converted to a Talos guided missile ship which is up in Buffalo NY. Smallest space I've ever slept in, and that includes the bassinet I had when I was a newborn! Still, a fun time was had by all. |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-06-30 10:36 |
| #3 Mike, I've been to the Charleston, S.C. group. Very impressive. In fact, one of the guys I work with has a son in Boy Scouts (he's Chinese). Anyways, their troop got to spend the night (including dear old dad) onboard the Yorktown and see firsthand how cramped it is. Truly a story of the American dream (the dad). His parents brought them here to the U.S. (from Hong Kong) when he was younger and landed in the middle of no-where, Mississippi (talk about culture shock). They had nothing, basically only the clothes on their back and worked their way up (the entire family, including 3 kids) to own several grocery stores in that area of Mississippi. He was the first to go to college (MS. State). Now, they're all about to retire millionaires because of how frugal they were and how they ran their business. Another interesting tidbit is that his father (who's now in his 80s at least) is now living with them here in Atlanta (the other siblings and mom live in MS.), and he fought for the Chinese against the Japanese in WWII (lost an eye to the Japanese). We jokingly call him the "Chinese Redneck" because of his upbringing in Mississippi. |
| Posted by: BA 2006-06-30 09:54 |
| #2 I was in San Diego last month and took a tour of the USS Midway. Marvelous sight, and an added bonus of several restored vintage aircraft on her flight deck. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-06-30 09:26 |
| #1 ...My understanding is that Intrepid will be pulled from her berth late this year and drydocked for some time to recieve sorely needed maintenance. In the meantime, there are many other preserved warships along the east coast, including USS Massachusetts, USS North Carolina, and the Patriot's Point museum in Charleston with Intrepid's sister USS Yorktown. All are worth any drive and I have yet to see a family that wasn't awed and moved by these magnificent ships. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-06-30 07:23 |