Intrepid Gets Helping Hand

The USS Intrepid, which continues to be stuck in the mud at its location in Manhattan (Pier 86) despite the efforts of several tugboats, will get help from the United States Navy.

Under the new agreement, which was hammered out after four days of talks between Intrepid officials and the Pentagon, the Navy will give salvage support to try to free the vessel. That support will fall within guidelines of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers permit issued to the museum for dredging.

But it's not yet known when the operation will be finished and the carrier towed to Bayonne, New Jersey.

"The Intrepid Museum is thankful to the Navy and to the Army Corps of Engineers for the great help they are providing to this effort," Arnold Fisher, the museum chairman, said in a statement.

The Intrepid was supposed to enter drydock last week to paint and repair the hull, and then begin a period of refurbishment that would open up additional space and areas for public usage.

Technorati: intrepid, uss intrepid, concorde, nyc, bayonne.