Museum ship prepares to return to Manhattan pier
The former aircraft carrier Intrepid is ready to make its way back to Manhattan and resume its post as a floating museum.
Repainted, refurbished and loaded with new exhibits, the vessel was to arrive Thursday afternoon at the same Hudson River pier where it previously spent 24 years as the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
The two-hour, five-mile return voyage from Staten Island was to be the reverse of the one it took 22 months ago, again with a passing salute to the Statue of Liberty and a pause near ground zero.
And again, FDNY fireboats will deliver red, white and blue water sprays, the traditional harbor welcome for arriving ships. The vessel was even to be hauled to its pier by the same four tugboats that brought the old aircraft carrier to its shipyard overhaul.
Its home, Pier 86, was totally rebuilt during Intrepid's absence as part of the project that cost some $120 million, according to Intrepid president Bill White. This also included $20 million to dredge a new channel for Intrepid's 900-foot hull, avoiding any repeat of the 2006 fiasco in which the powerful tractor tugs were initially unable to free it from 17 feet of mud...
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Repainted, refurbished and loaded with new exhibits, the vessel was to arrive Thursday afternoon at the same Hudson River pier where it previously spent 24 years as the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.
The two-hour, five-mile return voyage from Staten Island was to be the reverse of the one it took 22 months ago, again with a passing salute to the Statue of Liberty and a pause near ground zero.
And again, FDNY fireboats will deliver red, white and blue water sprays, the traditional harbor welcome for arriving ships. The vessel was even to be hauled to its pier by the same four tugboats that brought the old aircraft carrier to its shipyard overhaul.
Its home, Pier 86, was totally rebuilt during Intrepid's absence as part of the project that cost some $120 million, according to Intrepid president Bill White. This also included $20 million to dredge a new channel for Intrepid's 900-foot hull, avoiding any repeat of the 2006 fiasco in which the powerful tractor tugs were initially unable to free it from 17 feet of mud...