Intrepid Operation

The US Navy is directing a 24/7 salvage operation to help free the USS Intrepid from the Hudson River mud that has held it fast since November 6th. They are dredging around the clock and sending divers in to survey the ship's predicament.

For the past week, workers under Navy supervision have dredged 24-7, gathering silt from the river's depths and swinging it over to a barge. The muck will be purified and taken to cover a landfill on Staten Island.

"We are deep in the throes of a major military-style dredging operation," said White, whose days have been filled with situation reports, conference calls and BlackBerry messages.

It all began as a military adventure that seemed, for a change, to bode well.

The Intrepid was to make a five-mile trip across the Hudson to New Jersey for needed repairs. A crowd of 500, including Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and former mayors David N. Dinkins and Edward I. Koch, gathered on Nov. 6 to send it off.

"To our platoon of ex-mayor line handlers, I say, Mr. Mayors, cast off!" ordered retired Rear Adm. James Lloyd "Doc" Abbot Jr., 88, who commanded the ship in the Mediterranean in the early 1960s. Smoke spewed, water churned, and the tugboats pulled, eventually to reach a force of 30,000 horsepower.

But after settling for 24 years into the silt at Pier 86, the 27,000-ton, 900-foot-long ship was stuck.

"Four propellers acted as screws, and the Intrepid screwed itself into the goo," White said. With the ship resting on a bump of mud, the stern was left to sit about two feet higher than the bow, he said, placing stress on the ship that could cause damage.

Time for a tactical reevaluation. Before the attempted move, the museum had spent $1.2 million to dredge more than 15,000 cubic yards of silt from under and behind the ship to create a channel to deeper water. Hundreds of tons of water had been pumped out of ballast tanks to raise the ship two feet. And the move was scheduled during the highest tide of the year, to lift the ship several more feet above a typical high tide.

The divers have reported visibility of only a few inches, so it is more an inspection by feel than a visual one. I remember reading that there was another higher-than-normal tide expected around December 6th, I suspect that must be why they are pushing to get the mud cleared away.  Earlier posts with some interesting links here and here.