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FLIGHT DECK
Visit the ship’s bridges and view the aircraft collection, including Space Shuttle Enterprise. Arrangement of aircraft on deck may change.
- 605Lockheed A-12
- 620Flag Bridge
- 625Navigation Bridge
- 640Space Shuttle Enterprise
The Lockheed A-12 is the fastest, highest flying jet in the Museum’s collection. In fact, the A-12 along with the similarly designed YF-12A and SR-71 Blackbird, still hold speed and altitude records almost 6 decades after the prototype first flew.
Click here for more information.The admiral’s bridge is located in the island, just below the navigation bridge. There was not always an admiral on Intrepid. But when there was, Intrepid became a flagship, the lead ship in a group of vessels. Ships traditionally fly a flag designating that an admiral is on board, hence the term “flagship.” When the admiral and staff were on board, they worked in this level of the island.
Click here for more information.The captain’s bridge is located in the ship’s island. It’s the highest level of the ship that is open to visitors. From here the commanding officer of the ship could oversee all of the ship’s activities.
Click here for more information.Space Shuttle Enterprise, known to NASA as OV-101, was completed in 1976. Space Shuttle Enterprise was a prototype, the first of its kind and conducted critical tests within Earth’s atmosphere in 1977. These pioneering tests paved the way for the orbital flights of later shuttles, beginning with the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia in 1981.
Click here for more information.GALLERY DECK
See where crew members slept, worked and carried out missions.
- 505Officer Berthing
- 510Anchor Chain Room
- 520Marine Berthing
- 530Combat Information Center
- 535Ready Room
The fo’c’sle contained quarters for some of Intrepid’s officers. This area was nicknamed officers’ country. Typically lieutenants and higher-ranked officers had staterooms, with two officers to a room. You can look into two of these staterooms. Each room had a set of bunk beds, plus a clothes closet, dresser and desk for each officer. The furniture is built of metal and painted gray. Each piece is attached to the deck so that it doesn’t shift in rough seas.
Click here for more information.Intrepid had two massive anchors at the bow of the ship. Each one weighed 30,000 pounds (13.6 metric tons), about the equivalent of ten automobiles. The anchors were raised and lowered on huge chains, and this is where the chains entered the ship. There are two anchor chains lying on the floor down the center of the room. They lie roughly parallel to each other and stretch from the bow end of the ship into the room. You can see about 50 feet (15.2 meters) of chain on the deck for each anchor. The shorter chain is about 900 feet (274.3 meters) long. Short lengths of chain called stoppers hold the anchor chains to the deck.
Click here for more information.A detachment of around 50–60 Marines served on board Intrepid. That’s Marine, as in U.S. Marine Corps. Marines serving on Navy warships was a practice dating back to the American Revolution. Aboard Intrepid they guarded the brig or prison, and guarded the ship’s nuclear weapons. And they served as anti-aircraft gunners.
Click here for more information.The combat information center, known as the CIC, was the brain of the carrier. In CIC, crewmembers tracked the movement of all nearby aircraft and ships, friend or foe. The equipment they used is still here on display, behind glass walls or seen through the glass windows in doors. The section of CIC you walk through is like a narrow hallway. If you reach your hands out you can touch both glass walls at the same time.
Click here for more information.This is the ready room, where pilots went over the details of their missions before they took off and were debriefed when they returned. Intrepid had four to six of these rooms at any one time. The ready room open to visitors is a long, narrow room about 20 feet (6.1 meters) wide and 30 feet (9.1 meters) long..
Click here for more information.HANGAR DECK
View exhibits about the ship's history.
- 410TBM Avenger
- 430Douglas A-4 Skyhawk
- 440On the Line Exhibition
You’re standing near an Avenger torpedo bomber, one type of aircraft that flew off Intrepid during World War II. The Avenger has one large, three-bladed propeller on the nose, each blade is black with a yellow tip. The Avenger is 40 feet (12.2 m) long from nose to tail. Its body and the top of its wings are dark blue, its sides are light blue, and its belly and the underside of the wings are white.
Click here for more information.In 1966 Intrepid was back at war, this time in Vietnam. Aircraft like this Douglas A-4 Skyhawk flew off Intrepid on many combat missions. This plane was part of Attack Squadron ninety-five. You can tell because the squadrons mascot, a long green lizard, is painted high up on the fuselage on both sides. The jet is pale gray, almost white, with red decorative accents at various spots on the body.
Click here for more information.With roughly 3,000 crew members serving on board, Intrepid was like a city at sea. Each crew member had a task related to the war effort and to maintaining the ship and its crew. Serving aboard an aircraft carrier meant that these young men, some still teenagers, were removed from the fiercest fighting of the ground war, but they faced danger in the air and at sea. This exhibit highlights the experiences of Intrepid’s crew at a time of war during one of the most divisive periods in American history.
Click here for more information.THIRD DECK
See where crew members prepared meals and dined.
- 215Enlisted Mess
- 225Enlisted Berthing
You are on the third deck of Intrepid, also known as the mess deck. Mess is the Navy word for dining. This deck is where Intrepid’s enlisted sailors ate their meals—breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every day, the cooks who worked on this deck prepared an average of 7,500 meals.
Click here for more information.Sleeping arrangements on board Intrepid varied depending on your rank. Officers had private quarters or a few roommates. Enlisted sailors slept in berthing compartments located throughout the ship. Typically, sailors bunked with members of their division—other crew members with the same job.
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Growler Submarine and the British Airways Concorde exhibits are temporarily closed
- 100Aircraft Carrier Intrepid
- 105Submarine Growler
- 110British Aerospace/Aérospatiale Concorde
Welcome aboard the former Aircraft Carrier Intrepid, an aircraft carrier that served in the United States Navy from 1943 until 1974. We say “former” because Intrepid isn’t in commission anymore. Intrepid served a floating military airfield that carried U.S. Navy aircraft all over the world.
Click here for more information.The former USS Growler is one of the Navy’s early guided missile submarines. It was in service from 1958 to 1964. Growler is moored to the north side of the pier, just across from Intrepid. Its bow faces Manhattan and its stern is toward New Jersey. It’s 317 feet (96.6 meters) long, about the length of an American football field. But it’s only 27 feet (8.2 meters) wide so accommodations down below are very tight.
Click here for more information.The Concorde was the fastest commercial airliner in service. It could travel twice the speed of sound. It was also the most luxurious, and we think the most beautiful. The Concorde was a collaboration between the English and the French. It was first introduced in 1976 and retired 27 years later, in 2003. We have one parked near the end of Pier 86.
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