November 06, 2006
Intrepid stuck in mud, Dec. 8 next possible attempt
"We're gonna need a bigger boat."
 That was the refrain that rippled through the crowd this morning as yet another tugboat joined the team trying unsuccessfully to pull and push the USS Intrepid out of 24 years of Hudson River mud.
Based on high tides, December 8 is the next opportunity for a move, but that may not be the actual move date, officials said at a news conference this afternoon with the partly-moved aircraft carrier serving as a humbling backdrop.
The pier immediately to the south of the Intrepid was filled with retired Navy men, Secret Service, the NYPD marching band and other onlookers; in the sky there were at least half a dozen helicopters and the nearby waters were congested with NYFD, Coast Guard, Water Taxi and other boats.
"If you watch closely, the Intrepid has moved slightly," said a voice over the loudspeaker at 9:25 a.m.
"It's moved a little bit toward us and a little further west," she added two minutes later.
"It's moved four or five feet," a man's voice now announced at 9:36 on the PA system.
"It's moved 10 feet," he said at 9:50 a.m.
At 10 a.m., the NYPD marching band left the pier.
 Around the same time, the tugboat at the front of the ship made a good run at the Intrepid, pushing on the aircraft carrier and causing dark muddy water to churn and bubble near the Intrepid and behind the tug.
But the Intrepid was stuck.
“There’s a wedge of mud that’s holding the ship,” Capt. Jeffery McAllister, tugboat operation chief pilot said at the news conference.
A survey dive team will check under the stern and around the ship’s four propellers to assess how deep the problem goes and determine what type of soil is in the mighty powerful mud.
The first order of business, however, is to make sure the Intrepid wasn’t damaged by today’s attempt, said Bill White, the president of Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
More than 40 federal, state and local agencies worked together on today’s project, timed with the tide, moon, sun and stars. The next time things could line up would be December 8.
"That would be the next opportunity, but I don't want to speculate," White said.
Intrepid was supposed to head to Bayonne, N.J. and undergo two years of repairs while its Manhattan home, Pier 86, is rebuilt. “So far our schedule’s not effected,” White said.
The pier is in “severe disrepair,” like most of the piers along the Hudson River, White said, due to marine boreworms. Many of the old Hudson River piers were built for the Titanic-era grand cruise ships.
Earlier: Tugboats in place to tow Intrepid out of the mud
Intrepid hopes to escape mud and sail away Nov. 6
USS Intrepid stuck in mud, departure delay possible
Intrepid closed for repairs, Concorde seeks home
Homeland Security's stake in Intrepid makeover
Intrepid to close Oct. 1 for 18 months of renovations
November 6, 2006 01:39 PM in History, Kids, Midtown, Museums, Sightsology
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