USS Intrepid closing

[Donal]

Don't want to seem like a newbie overstepping his bounds, but I figured a few of you might want to know about this and I haven't found another thread about it.

The USS Intrepid is a retired USN Aircraft carrier with a long, poud history of service. Since her retirement, she has been in New York harbor and retrofitted (is that the right word?) to be a museum. She has a fine collection of displays and artifacts from aviation, military history and space exploration(the three seemed to be tied together).

Among her centerpieces were the SR-71 Blackbird, the USS Edson and the USS Growler nuclear submarine. Recently, a retired
Concord was added.

Anyway, starting next week, she will be closed down and shipped out for some repairs and upgrading. While she won't be away forever, I'm hearing it will be atleast 3 years.

Anybody in the City who wants to check it out, or anyone who needs an excuse to come here, I highly recommend it. Whenever I have cousins visiting from Ireland, I make time to bring them here.

I'm trying to be there Saturday for the fireworks show.

[Esperdome]

They did the same with The Battleship Texas a few years back. She was becoming a danger to herself and the environment. But she returned in much better shape, (and no bunker oil left sitting in the tanks, or asbestos on the pipes).

[SkepticScott]

I was there last year. Your title gave me a scare; I'm glad to hear that it's only for repairs.
http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_165451872f3e2bbf.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1614)
It was raining but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to touch a Blackbird!

[Brown]

Love the Intrepid. I especially enjoyed the tour of the Growler. (I actually toured three submarines one summer: the Growler in NYC, the Requin in Pittsburgh and the U-505 in Chicago. In the Requin tour, I was by far the tallest person in the tour group, but I slipped through the hatches with more grace and ease than anyone else in the group!) I was unimpressed by the space aspect of the display on the Intrepid, but nearly all the rest was well worth it.

[Zombified]

Never been over to see that one, but I did get to see the Midway in San Diego this summer, which has quite a few naval aircraft on display, from Korea on (pretty much a selection of whatever flew off the carrier).

There's an SR-71 at the Boeing Museum of Flight in Seattle for anyone that can't get enough Blackbird. ;)

[Donal]

Do they give test drives?