The Carrier Intrepid Runs Aground In Hudson's Muddy Bottom

The USS Intrepid has survived seven bomb strikes, five kamikaze attacks, and one torpedo hit, so it may come as a surprise that the 27,100-ton aircraft carrier was foiled yesterday by a couple of feet of underwater mud.

The landmark military vessel got stuck in the sediment after six tugboats with a combined 30,000 horsepower tried to dislodge it from the slip on Manhattan's West Side that it has been docked at for more than 20 years.

Within hours a team of scuba divers were underwater inspecting the hull and engineers were meeting to brainstorm ways to get the World War II ship on its way to its temporary home in Bayonne, N.J., where it is to get a multi-million dollar makeover.

"The weather was in our favor, the winds were in our favor," the executive director of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Susan Marenoff, said. "She just didn't want to come out of the mud."

The Intrepid's voyage out of the harbor was supposed to run like clockwork after months of preparation that included dredging 15,000 cubic yards of silt from the riverbed and pumping hundreds of tons of water from the ship.

A panel of politicians, including senators Schumer and Clinton, spoke at a bon voyage ceremony for the ship early yesterday morning, and mayors Koch and Dinkins cast aside the yellow mooring lines shortly after 9 a.m. so that the tugboats could start pulling at exactly 9:15 when the high tide would help buoy the boat forward.

The crew aboard the vessel had an American flag ready to unfurl at 11 a.m., when the boat was scheduled to pass the World Trade Center site. It was supposed to pass Ellis Island at 12:30 p.m. and the Statue of Liberty a half hour later before arriving at its destination, a New Jersey drydock, a little before 5 p.m.

A spokesman for McAllister Towing and Transportation Co. Inc, Craig Rising, said the Intrepid moved between 10 and 12 feet on the initial pull, but that "the silt kind of grabbed her and held her."

The tugs were reconfigured in the water to gain more leverage, but the Intrepid's propellers got stuck in the mud and the hour of maneuvering was aborted as war veterans and bystanders looked on.

"Everyone always knew that the silt on the Hudson River could be problematic," Mr. Rising said. But, he added: "Obviously we weren't expecting this. Nobody was."

By the time the mission was aborted many of the politicians were gone, squeezing in final campaign events before today's election.

With blueprints spread out, officials from the Army Corps of Engineers and the Intrepid held an impromptu meeting near the stern of the boat yesterday afternoon. Another is scheduled for tomorrow, a spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers' New York District, Peter Shugert, said.

Ms. Marenoff, who postponed her honeymoon so she wouldn't miss the launch, said the goal is to have a revised plan by the end of the week. She said the failed attempt yesterday was not for lack of planning or expertise. "We had the best teams within their respective fields working on this 24-7 toward today," she said.

A ship design expert, Kenneth Fisher, said because the Intrepid has been in the same spot for so long that even dredging can't get right up next to the vessel.

Mr. Fisher — who is not involved in the Intrepid move, but is a maritime consultant — said one option for freeing it is using high-pressured hoses underwater to wash away the mud around the hull. But, he said, that could let loose a tremendous amount of silt into the Hudson, which could come with environmental problems.

Other options, he said, are trying a new tugboat configuration or digging channels along the sides of the ship so that water can get in lubricate the hull. Ms. Marenoff said those options were being explored, but that it is too soon to make a determination about which would be employed. Another choice is moving the ship backward to create an air pocket that would help the ship move forward.

Those on hand to see the famed ship being towed past other city icons and down the Hudson River were disappointed to have missed the historic moment. "I wanted to see it sail away," said Keith Edwards, a Brooklyn resident, whose father served in both the Army and Air Force.

In a joint statement, Messrs. Koch and Dinkins, the City Council speaker, Christine Quinn, and the president of Manhattan, Scott Stringer, said they were confident the Intrepid would soon set sail.

"The Intrepid survived a torpedo assault in the Marshall Islands, a typhoon near the Philippines, and suicide attacks at Okinawa," they said. "A ship with such tenacity and resilience will not be long deterred by a few inches of silt in the Hudson River."

Ms. Marenoff said the boat obviously loves New York: "It's clear that she didn't want to leave."