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| Intrepid Sez No to Bayonne |
| 2006-11-12 |
| NEW YORK - After hearing appeals from several members of Congress, the mayor of New York City and the state governor, the U.S. Navy has agreed to spend about $3 million to rescue the USS Intrepid, the retired aircraft carrier that has been trapped in the mud off Manhattan since Monday. Hell, why not, it's 2001 again. Anyone heard word from bother Condit? A Navy salvage team will engineer a second effort to free the Intrepid from the mucky bottom of the Hudson River, Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, said Saturday. The Intrepid was bound for a dry dock in Bayonne, N.J., and the first stage of a two-year overhaul, when a team of tugboats failed to pull it more than 15 feet from its berth Monday. Threaten it with Camden, Bayonne will start looking better. Since then, White and his staff have huddled with officials of the Navy and the Army Corps of Engineers to draw up a foolproof plan to move the ship to Bayonne. After surveying the situation, the Navy determined that the Intrepid is in a "precarious" position, with its stern end sitting on a mound of mud about 2 feet higher than its bow, federal officials said Saturday. Stressy situation for the olde gal. The secretary of the Navy responded by agreeing to send a salvage team to New York to help prepare the ship for towing, the Navy Sea Systems Command in Washington said. |
| Posted by:6 |
| #2 "15 feet" > might as well say it didn't budge an inch. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-11-12 23:23 |
| #1 ..I am told by an acquaintance who has knowledge of such things, that Intrepid's hull is NOT in good shape at all, and may be seriously distorted - that's why she still wouldn't move even after they were sure the dredges had cleared enough mud. Bringing the USN in may have been the only possible option at this point, and they still don't know what they'll find when they get her to Bayonne. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-11-12 15:08 |