Aircraft carrier turned museum gets stuck

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NEW YORK, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The USS Intrepid, docked in New York as a floating museum for 24 years, was found to be stuck in the mud Monday during an attempt to move it.

The aircraft carrier was to be escorted down the Hudson River to the Military Ocean Terminal in Bayonne, N.J., for an overhaul. Two former New York mayors, Edward Koch and David Dinkins, cast off the 920-foot vessel at 9:30 a.m., The New York Times reported.

Six tugboats moved the Intrepid about 10 feet before it stopped and refused to budge. An hour later, Susan Marenoff, executive director of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum, announced the vessel would stay put for the moment.

Officials say the huge propellers, which are fixed to the bottom of the boat, are stuck in the mud. Divers will investigate the underside to determine how to free them.

In preparation for the move, 600 tons of water ballast had been pumped out and thousands of cubic feet of mud dredged to make a channel for the Intrepid. But it turns out those steps were not enough, the Times said.