Warship museum stuck in mud

Warship museum stuck in mud
The retired WWII naval aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid, remained stuck in the mud at a pier on the West Side of Manhattan and could not be moved inspite of a team of powerful tugboats trying to pull the ship.

The US aircraft carrier is docked on Pier 86 on the West Side of Manhattan across the Hudson river for more than two decades and houses a military museum. The 27,000-ton ship was to be towed to a temporary dock in Bayonne, N.J., for refurbishment.

But after more than an hour of straining, a team of six powerful tugboats with a total of nearly 30,000 horsepower could not move the 920-foot-long ship. The ship remained completely stuck to the wedge of mud underneath it and inspite of the highest tide of the year, the aircraft carrier could not be moved more than 15 feet. It was determined that the carrier's four giant propellers on its stern were anchored too deep in the silt and were unable to move the ship.

After 90 minutes of tugging by the flotilla of tugboats , the officials finally gave up. More than six months of planning and $250,000 had been spent by the Air Space museum officials to plan the move of the behemoth boat to Bayonne for a multi million-dollar overhaul and fresh paint job.

The Museum president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum expressed his disappointment and said that he had called the Navy and the Pentagon for help. The museum officials were immediately sent back to drawing board to rethink their strategy.