US Carrier Intrepid bound for overhaul

To the sound of horns and the calling of orders, the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid will slip its moorings on its Hudson River berth on Nov. 6 and sail once again on the morning tide.

The Intrepid‘s departure will begin with pomp and ceremony, including speeches, patriotic music, a Navy flyover and a parade of "honor ships," Bill White, president of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, said Thursday. On the way to its dry dock in New Jersey, it will stop near ground zero to unfurl a huge American flag as a salute to victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

White said the patriotism-themed event was appropriate for a ship that participated in every major battle during the last two years of the war in the Pacific, surviving five Japanese kamikaze suicide attacks and losing 270 crew members. It also served in the Korean and Vietnam wars and as a recovery ship for NASA astronauts.

Some of the 23 aircraft exhibited on the ship will remain on the flight deck, shrink-wrapped in protective covering, and others will be taken elsewhere for their own refurbishing, said Eric Boehm, Intrepid‘s aircraft restoration manager. Exhibits inside the ship, including a replica statue of the Iwo Jima flag-raising, have been crated for storage.

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