Man your battlestations!

Magnet #582 - USS Intrepid

Ok. I Tweeted it, so no one tell me you didn't know. It's one of the happiest days of the year!

No, not because a college friend of mine just got married and looked blissfully happy all evening long.

Well, ok, that.

But, also, because it was Museum Day! A day where select museums are FREE. What a grand idea! For ya'll in DC, every day is Museum Day, since the Smithsonians are free. But here in NYC, the museum entry fees are out of sight. (Don't get me wrong, I totally think the price of admission for most of them are worth it, but I just like the idea of everyone getting to go to something for free today.)

My friend and I went to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. If ya'll have read any of my museum posts, you'll know there's rarely a museum I don't like, but truly - this is one of my favorite museums in the entire world. It's on the USS Intrepid. An aircraft carrier! I know! It's the coolest thing ever!

The Intrepid was commissioned during WWII and saw duty in the Pacific, then Korea, became the recovery ship for the Gemini 3 carrying Gus Grissom and John Young, then back on duty for Vietnam and the Cold War. She even served as HQ for 750 federal agents just after September 11th.

After being decommissioned in '74 she was given a new mission: To pay tribute to all who sailed aboard her and those still out there fighting the fight (thank you), and to help educate folks on her illustrious history.

The Intrepid is still a fantastic ship - now outfitted with a well-designed interactive museum. You can still explore the rest of the levels - adults and kids alike can run all over the boat from the Fo'c'sle to the Fleet Deck, trying to remember what Gibbs and DiNozzo taught Kate about the positioning designations to get around the ship on NCIS.

Wait. No. That was probably just me.

Still, they did a great job with the new museum. She'd been sent her to Jersey for dry dock restoration a couple of years ago. I still remember all the pomp and circumstance celebrating the first time she'd been set to sail in years.

The problem was, when they started her engines, and tried to make for Jersey, the poor thing got stuck in the mud! She'd been there so long, that all the mud had built up around her, and refused to let her go. It seriously took a couple of tries to loose her. It was funny.

But. So. Upsetting.

Why?

I've had this theory for several years now. At the risk of sounding like Mel Gibson in Conspiracy Theory...

Ya'll never found it suspicious that there's a naval aircraft carrier randomly moored off the west side of Manhattan? Please, that's not for show.

I'm thoroughly convinced that if anything dire happens, and we need a hero like the Intrepid again, the boys will totally have her battle-ready in an hour. Tops.

What?

You know it's totally true.