Monday, August 18, 2025

Day 2 in NYC - Carrier Intrepid Museum

 

We only had 1 activity planned for today, visiting the Intrepid Air and Space Museum. The Intrepid was a WWII Essex class carrier that was commissioned in 1944.  It saw some action in the late WWII battles, but most of it's war experience was in supporting the air war against North Korea and in Vietnam.  It was finally decommissioned in 1974.  
It also support the Mercury and Gemini programs by being the main recovery ship for two space flights in the early 60's.  

The range of airplanes on this ship was very wide, from WWII planes (like the Hellcat on the left) up through the jets that flew in Vietnam, pictured on the right.  Feel free to click to enlarge any picture. t was all pretty neat to see.    

There were many exhibits about the role the Intrepid played over its years of service. We walked through the Vietnam one, among others.
I did climb into the ship's island and got this picture of the navigation station.  I also sat in a quad 40mm gun mount.  very cool!
But the main reason I wanted to visit the Intrepid was to see the Space Shuttle Enterprise. This one never made it to orbit, but paved the way for the others. . It was in a special environmentally controlled building on the deck.  Now I can say I've seen all 4 surviving shuttles. 

They also have one of the last Concorde. supersonic passenger jets on display. It was neat to see.  

So it was quite a day of sightseeing.  Tomorrow we head to the Island Princess to begin our cruise.  We still don't know if there will be any itinerary changes due to the hurricane. If not, I expect some rough seas on Wednesday evening as we head south along the eastern cost .

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