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Old 04-27-2012, 02:50 PM
James1978 James1978 is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2009
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Default USS Intrepid

Quote:
Originally Posted by raketenjagdpanzer View Post
Back when they did have to do some work on it in the early 2000s IRL they were worried that she wouldn't budge because of the silt, but a few gentle pulls with tugs and she slid right out.
They were right to be worried, and it took a lot more than a "few gentle pulls". The first time they tried to move her with seven tugboats, the Coast Guard shut them down after she moved only 15 feet before the propellers dug into the silt. Seems the 24 years worth of silt around the hull and propellers had locked her in pretty tight. It took removing 39,000 cubic yards of silt over three weeks of dredging to get her out, this time with five tugboats. And that was after they'd already dredged out 16,000 cubic yards prior to the first attempt to move her.

Now that was in 2006. I'm sure it wasn't so bad in the mid-90s, but I'm not sure it would be easy either.

Some sources indicate that she no longer has her engines, but this is apparently contrary to US Navy policy. Beyond brief mention in news articles, I couldn't find anything concrete either way.
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