Leatherneck Magazine - October 2008

Museum to Hold Grand Re-Opening

USS Intrepid (CVS- 11), home of the In- trepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, is scheduled to return to New York City”s renovated Pier 86 on the Hudson River Oct. 2. The aircraft carrier currently is berthed at Staten Island”s Homeport Pier, where her interior is being renovated and new exhibits are being installed.

With the redesign of the former aircraft carrier-turned-floating museum, the exterior and much of interior architecture of the ship will be restored to her original state. Upon the museum’s reopening on Nov. 8, visitors will have access to newly restored and previously inaccessible spaces where the crew lived and worked while Intrepid was in service. These spaces include the fo’c’sle (commonly known as the anchor

chain locker), general berthing quarters and mess quarters.

In the Pacific campaign of World War II, Intrepid suffered seven bomb attacks, five kamikaze strikes and one torpedo hit; yet the ship returned to action after repairs, earning her the reputation among the enemy as the “The Ghost Ship.”

During the 1960s, Intrepid served as a primary recovery vessel for NASA, picking up both the Mercury and Gemini ca p-sules. After three tours of duty in Vietnam andtracking Sovietsubmarinesduringthe Cold Warasanantisubmarine warfareship, Intrepid officially was retired in 1974. A campaign led by the Intrepid Museum Foundation saved the ship from the scrap yard and led to the opening of the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in August 1982.

The museum is dedicated to the exhibition and interpretation of history, science and service as related to its home aboard the national historic landmark, USS In- trepid. From the ship herself as a unique and historic artifact, to the extensive aircraft collection, to newly restored spaces in the ship, the museum presents a lens for visitors to see what life was like for crew-members as well as a connection between Intrepid history and key 20th-century globaleventsandscientificandtech nolog-icalinnovations.