The Intrepid Museum (formerly the "Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum") is a private aerospace museum built around the WWII aircraft carrier USS Intrepid. Visited 22 January 2024.
U.S.S. Intrepid
U.S.S. Intrepid (CV-11) is the fifth of twenty-four Essex-class fleet aircraft carriers were built during World War II. She remained in active service into the Cold War era, being modernized with the SCB-27C upgrade package to operate jet aircraft and the SCB-125 upgrade package to create an angled flight deck configuration. She was deployed for three combat tours in the Vietnam War and also served as the recovery ship for two NASA manned spaceflight missions, Mercury-Atlas 7 and Gemini 3.
Intrepid was decomissioned in 1974 and opened as a museum ship in New York City in 1982.
Specifications
Armament
The Essex-class carriers were originally built with with twelve 5"⁄38 dual-purpose naval guns in four twin and four single mountings, thirty-two Bofors 40mm autocannons in eight quadruple mountings, and forty-six Oerlikon 20mm autocannons in single mountings. The number of tertiary AA guns increased dramatically over the course of WWII, with a typical late war configuration being seventeen quadruple Bofors mounts (eighteen in "long hull" variant Essexes) and seventy-six Oerlikons.
The four twin 5" mountings were located in superfiring pairs fore and aft of the island superstructure on the starboard side of the ship's flight deck, controlled by two Mark 37 directors. The four single 5" mountings were located two each in forward and aft gun sponsons on the port side of the gallery deck.
The original eight quad 40mm mountings were located two on the island superstructure (forward on 05 Level and aft on 03 Level), one on a gun tower aft of the island (superfiring over the aft 5" mounts), one each in the forward and aft sponsons on the port gallery deck level, one at the bow, and two at the stern. The extended bow of the "long hull" Essexes enabled two side-by-side forward 40mm mounts. The late war configuration added one more 40mm position cantilevered off the front of the island superstructure on 02 Level, five in sponsons added to the starboard hangar deck, and three in sponsons added to the port hangar deck.
Hull
Flight Deck
Intrepid's angled flight deck features two C-11 steam catapults at the bow, replacing the H-4 hydraulic catapults which were used during World War II. The C-11s are license-built copies of British steam catapults, and are the key difference between the "A" and "C" versions of the SCB-27 refit package: the earlier "A" refits had the interim H-8 hydraulic catapult, while the "C" refits had the newly adopted C-11s. USS Oriskany, the first Essex to recieve the SCB-27 refit and the last to recieve the SCB-125 second refit, was the only "A" refit to subsequently be re-refitted with steam catapults and the only Essex with the improved C-11-1 model.
The majority of Intrepid's historic aircraft collection is displayed on the flight deck:
- Lockheed A-12 Oxcart
- Grumman F-14A Tomcat
- Grumman E-1B Tracer
- Bell UH-1A Iroquois "Huey"
- Mikoyan MiG-21PFM
Island
Flag Bridge
Navigation Bridge
Gallery Deck
Fo’c’sle
The fo'c'sle (a longstanding nautical abbreviation of "forecastle") is the forward section of the ship's uppermost enclosed deck. It includes the anchor chain room, quarters for the ship's officers, and berths for the ship's Marine complement.
Gun Tub
The Intrepid's forward portside sponson originally held two 5"⁄38 dual-purpose cannons in open single mountings, one quadruple 40mm Bofors mount, and three single 20mm Oerlikons.
Combat Information Center
Hangar Deck
Exploreum Hall
Third Deck
Galley
Enlisted Mess
Enlisted Berthing
U.S.S. Growler
U.S.S. Growler (SSG-577) is the second of two Greyback-class submarines (Project SCB 161) built during the early Cold War. Originally laid down as the second and third Darter-class fleet submarines (Project SCB 116), the Greybacks were heavily modified during construction into guided missile submarines armed with two nuclear-tipped SSM-N-9 Regulus II cruise missiles each. After the Regulus II missiles were cancelled in favor of UGM-27 Polaris sea-launched ballistic missiles, the submarines were retrofitted to instead carry four of the older SSM-N-8 Regulus.
These were the first U.S. Navy submarines to make strategic deterrent patrols, spending up to two months at sea in order to keep their nuclear missiles ready to fire at pre-selected targets in the Soviet Union. It is now known that the primary target for Regulus subs was the Bechevinka naval base at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which was one of the primary submarine bases for the Soviet Pacific Fleet.
British Airways Concorde
The Concorde normally on display at the Intrepid Museum is G-BOAD (serial number 210), the fourth of seven production Concordes for British Airways. She holds the world speed record for an Atlantic crossing and also the record for the greatest flight hours (23,397 hours) of any Concorde. Alpha Delta was temporarily taken off exhibit in August 2023 so that she could be shipped to the Brooklyn Naval Yard for a comprehensive repainting, and returned in April 2024.
Space Shuttle Pavilion
The Space Shuttle Enterprise (OV-101) is the first orbiter of the Space Transportation System. She was built as a full size testbed for ground and atmospheric glide validation of the orbiter design, and therefore lacked main engines, maneuvering thrusters, a protective heat shield, and many of the internal systems found on actual spacegoing Shuttles. NASA initially intended to upgrade Enterprise into the second full-fledged Shuttle after testing was complete, but found that due to the numerous final refinements made in the production orbiter design, it would be easier and less expensive to instead upgrade a mid-construction Structural Test Article into Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099).
Enterprise was utilized for an international publicity tour in 1983-1984, stored at the Smithsonian Institution's hangar at Dulles Airport from 1985 to 2003, and finally became the centerpiece exhibit of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center from 2003 until 2012. She was then "handed down" to the Intrepid Museum, which has displayed her ever since.