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USS Intrepid (CV/CVA/CVS-11), also known as The Fighting "I", is one of 24 Essex-class aircraft carriers built during World War II for the United States Navy. She is the fourth US Navy ship to bear the name. Commissioned in August 1943, Intrepid participated in several campaigns in the Pacific Theater of Operations, most notably the Battle of Leyte Gulf. Decommissioned shortly after the end of the war, she was modernized and recommissioned in the early 1950s as an attack carrier (CVA), and then eventually became an antisubmarine carrier (CVS). In her second career, she served mainly in the Atlantic, but also participated in the Vietnam War. Her notable achievements include being the recovery ship for a Mercury and a Gemini space mission. Because of her prominent role in battle, she was nicknamed "the Fighting I", while her frequent bad luck and time spent in dry dock for repairs earned her the nicknames "Decrepit" and "the Dry I". Decommissioned in 1974, in 1982 Intrepid became the foundation of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York City.
Intrepid was commissioned on 26 April 1943 by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Virginia, the fifth Essex-class aircraft carrier to be launched. She was sponsored by the wife of Vice Admiral John H. Hoover. On 16 August 1943, she was commissioned with Captain Thomas L. Sprague in command before heading to the Caribbean for shakedown and training. Intrepid 's motto upon setting sail was "In Mare In Caelo", which means "On the sea, in the sky", or "In the sea in Heaven".
Intrepid has one of the most distinguished service records of any Navy ship, seeing active service in the Pacific Theater including the Marshall Islands, Truk, Leyte Gulf, and Okinawa. At war's end, she was in Enewetak and soon supported occupation forces providing air support and supply services before heading back to California.
This was the final Fleet Rehabilitation and Modernization job performed by the New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn, New York, which was scheduled to close. In September 1965, Intrepid, with her work approximately 75% completed, eased down the East River to moor at the Naval Supply Depot at Bayonne, New Jersey, for the completion of her multimillion-dollar overhaul. After builder's sea trials and fitting out at Norfolk she sailed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on a shakedown cruise.
From April 1966 to February 1969, Intrepid made three Vietnam deployments, with Carrier Air Wing 10 embarked.[4] Mid-1966 found Intrepid with the Pacific Fleet off Vietnam. Nine A-4 Skyhawks and six A-1 Skyraiders, loaded with bombs and rockets, were catapulted in seven minutes, with only a 28-second interval between launches. A few days later planes were launched at 26-second intervals. After seven months of service with the United States Seventh Fleet off Vietnam, Intrepid returned to Norfolk having earned her Commanding Officer, Captain John W. Fair, the Legion of Merit for combat operations in Southeast Asia.
On 9 October 1966 Lieutenant, junior grade William T. Patton of VA-176 from Intrepid, flying a propeller driven A-1H Skyraider, shot down one MiG-17. For the action, Lieutenant (jg) Patton was awarded the Silver Star.
In June 1967, Intrepid returned to the Western Pacific by way of the Suez Canal just prior to its closing during the Israeli-Arab crisis. There she began another tour with the Seventh Fleet.
In 1968, Intrepid won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award for the Atlantic Fleet. For Carrier Air Wing 10's final cruise aboard Intrepid from 4 June 1968 to 8 February 1969 off Southeast Asia, the wing consisted of VF-111 Detachment 11 (F-8C), VA-106 with the A-4E, VA-66 Waldos (A-4C), VFP-63 Detachment 11 (RF-8G), VA-36 'Roadrunners' (A-4C), VAQ-33 Detachment 11 (EA-1F), VAW-121 Detachment 11 (E-1B), and HC-2 Detachment 11.[4]
In 1969, Intrepid was home ported at Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, relieving Yorktown as the flagship for Commander Carrier Division 16. In the fall, the ship was run aground by Captain Horus E. Moore, but was freed within two hours. From April–October 1971, Intrepid took part in NATO exercises, and made calls in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean ports of Lisbon, Plymouth, Kiel, Naples, Cannes, Barcelona, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Greenock, Rosyth, Portsmouth, and Bergen. During this cruise, submarine detection operations were conducted in the Baltic and at the edge of the Barents Sea above the Arctic Circle, under close scrutiny of Soviet air and naval forces. She subsequently returned to her homeport to be refitted.
Beginning in July 1972, Intrepid participated once again in NATO exercises, visiting Copenhagen, Rotterdam, Bergen, Brussels, Portsmouth and Gourock. Intrepid found herself in the Barents and made round the clock flight operations as she was above the Arctic Circle. She cut her North Atlantic cruise short, returned to Quonset point for a mini-overhaul. She made her final cruise in the Mediterranean, stopping twice in Barcelona and Malaga Spain; Lisbon, Portugal; Nice, France; Naples, Italy; Palma, Majorca; and Piraeus, Greece once. Due to fuel limitations Intrepid spent as much time in port as she did underway.
On 15 March 1974, Intrepid was decommissioned for the final time.
In 1976, Intrepid was moored at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard in Philadelphia and hosted exhibits as part of the United States Bicentennial celebrations.
Plans originally called for Intrepid to be scrapped after decommissioning, but a campaign led by real estate developers Zachary and Larry Fisher and the Intrepid Museum Foundation saved the carrier, and established it as a museum ship. In August 1982, the ship opened in New York City as the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum. Four years later, Intrepid was officially designated as a National Historic Landmark.[6][7]
Over the years, Intrepid has hosted many special events including wrestling events, press conferences, parties and the FBI operations center after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.[8]
Throughout the last several years, the Intrepid museum has operated a fund for the restoration, raising over $60 million to refit Intrepid, to improve its exhibits for visitors, and improve Pier 86.
In early July 2006, it was announced that Intrepid would undergo renovations and repairs, along with Pier 86 itself. It closed on 1 October 2006, in preparation for its towing to Bayonne, New Jersey for repairs, and later Staten Island, New York for renovation and temporary docking.[9][10]
On 6 November 2006, an attempt to remove the aircraft carrier from the pier for restoration was temporarily put on hold by the Coast Guard. Despite the use of several tugs with a combined 30,000 hp (22,000 kW), officials said the ship was stuck in 24 years worth of accumulated silt and would not move.
On 11 November 2006, the United States Navy announced that it would spend $3 million to dredge the mud and silt from under Intrepid. The effort was led by the United States Navy Supervisor of Salvage and Diving with assistance from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, United States Coast Guard, and contractors. The teams operated for three weeks to clear the site of mud and silt.
On 5 December 2006, after the removal of 39,000 cu yd (30,000 m3) of muck from under the ship and around its four giant screws, Intrepid was successfully removed from its pier and was towed to Bayonne.[11]
Intrepid made a D-Day "landing" on Staten Island, 6 June 2007, after being towed from a slip at Bayonne Dry Dock & Repair Corp.
While in Staten Island, Intrepid underwent the next phase of her refurbishment, and received an $8 million interior renovation. Never-before-seen areas of the ship including the forecastle (fo'c'sle, commonly known as the anchor chain room), general berthing quarters and the ship's machine shop were opened to the public for the first time. The hangar deck features a new layout and design including new interactive exhibits. Total cost of the renovation was $120 million — $55 million for the ship and $65 million for Pier 86.[12]
The carrier was towed back into place on the Hudson River on 2 October 2008 and reopened to the public on 8 November.[12]
On 12 December 2011, ownership of the Space Shuttle Verrazano-Narrows Bridges, and several other landmarks in the city; in an approximately 45-minute "final tour". At 11:23 am Eastern Daylight Time Enterprise touched down at JFK International Airport.[17]
The mobile Mate-Demate Device and cranes were transported from Dulles to the ramp at JFK and the shuttle was removed from the SCA overnight on 12 May 2012, placed on a specially designed flat bed trailer and returned to Hangar 12.[18] On 3 June a Weeks Marine barge took Enterprise to Jersey City. The Shuttle sustained cosmetic damage to a wingtip when a gust of wind blew the barge towards a piling.[19] It was hoisted 6 June onto the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan.[20]
The Enterprise went on public display on 19 July 2012, at the Intrepid Museum's new Space Shuttle Pavilion.[21]
On July 4, 1993 The Intrepid was used by WWE for a body slam contest when Lex Luger defeated Yokozuna.
The story of the Intrepid 's move was featured on the History Channel's Mega Movers program. The episode was titled "Intrepid: On the Move" and premiered 5 July 2007.
The ship has been featured in blockbuster films, including Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, the 2004 film National Treasure and the 2007 film I Am Legend,[22][23] as well as Bordello: House of the Rising Sun. The main characters ride their scooter along the Hudson shore, and past it, in the 2005 film Little Manhattan.
The ship can be seen briefly in a shot of New York in the last few seconds of the series finale of The Suite Life on Deck, next to the SS Tipton being dismantled.
On 13 through 16 August 2012, The Colbert Report was broadcast from the Intrepid.
On 2 May 2014, the world premiere of 24: Live Another Day was held on the Intrepid.
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Fore River Shipyard, Newport News Shipbuilding, USS Oriskany (CV-34), USS Intrepid (CV-11), United States Navy
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