Intrepid partners with Navy to free ship

NEW YORK - The Navy is coming to the rescue of one of its mightiest veterans, joining the operation to free the World War II aircraft carrier USS Intrepid from deep Hudson River mud that has blocked efforts to move the ship to a dry dock for renovation, officials announced Saturday.

A fleet of civilian tug boats tried Monday to pull the 27,000-ton ship out of the berth where it has been serving as the popular Intrepid Sea Air & Space Museum, but the carrier moved only a few feet before its 16-foot propellers snagged in the 24-year accumulation of sediment.