USS Intrepid on the move again

New York's floating museum, the USS Intrepid, has been dislodged from the muddy depths of the Hudson River and taken to New Jersey to be restored.

But it was a close call yesterday morning as tugboats almost failed to wrench the aircraft carrier from the river's base for a second time.

Despite strenuous efforts a month ago, tugboat operators could not move the ship from its home by west Manhattan pier, because its propellers were stuck in mud.

However, after some diligent dredging by the US Navy, the 900-foot vessel was finally on the move, but not without a fight.

Jeffrey K McAllister, senior docking pilot for McAllister Towing, told the New York Times: "Just when I was ready to say this isn't going anywhere again and I was formulating my defeat speech, she moved.

"If we had one less horsepower with us today, we'd still be sitting back there scratching our heads."

The USS Intrepid was decommissioned after fighting in both World War II and Vietnam and acted as a recovery ship for astronauts landing in the ocean as part of Nasa early ventures into space.

In 1974, Zachary Fisher saved the ship from the scrap yard and turned it into a museum that preserves the life and times of those who worked inside it for future generations.