The USS Intrepid moved 15 feet today before getting so thoroughly stuck
in Hudson River muck that 6 tugs couldn't budge her:

More from AP:

The mission was scrubbed at around 10:30 a.m. as the tide went down,
said Dan Bender, a Coast Guard spokesman.

Officials weren't sure Monday when they would try to move the Intrepid
again, or whether they might try instead to leave it in place and
refurbish it in its Manhattan berth, Intrepid President Bill White said
at a news conference.

The next unusually high tide is Dec. 6, but that will be about a foot
lower than Monday's tide, which officials had thought would help float
the carrier free of the sticky mud, he said.

After 24 years at the same pier on Manhattan's West Side, the warship
that survived five Japanese kamikaze attacks began inching backward out
of its berth, but the tugs moved it only about 15 feet before its giant
propellers jammed in the thick mud. The decommissioned war ship no
longer has engines of its own.

"We knew it was not going to come out like a cruise ship," said Matt
Woods, the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum's vice president for
operations.

Six tugboats had strained to move the giant ship.

"We were able to move her 15 feet, and then she came to a halt. We
tried to add more power with another tugboat but we couldn't wiggle her
free," said Jeffrey McAllister, the chief pilot of the tugboat
operation.

"We were missing our open window. We had to give up because the tides
were going down," he added. "She was moving, we were hopeful, she
started to creep along but then she stopped."

Monday's departure was timed to take advantage of the yearly high tide
so the tugs could pull the 27,000-ton ship out of the slip where it has
rested in up to 17 feet of mud. Removal of 600 tons of water from the
Intrepid's ballast tanks gave the ship added buoyancy, and dredges
removed 15,000 cubic yards of mud to create a channel from dockside to
deeper water.

The planned $60 million refurbishment, which is expected to take up to
2 years, will include opening up more interior spaces to the public,
upgrading its exhibits and a bow-to-stern paint job. The pier also is
to be rebuilt. The city is contributing $17 million, the state $5
million, the federal government $36 million, plus $2 million in private
funds.

Elected officials, veterans who served on the Intrepid and others had
waited on the flight deck for the beginning of the journey five miles
down the river to a dry dock in Bayonne, N.J. Helicopters flew
overhead; New York Police Department blue-and-white power boats, Fire
Department boats and a Coast Guard cutter were on hand to accompany the
aircraft carrier.

"The Intrepid stands for everything we believe in ... our freedom and
our values," Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton said at the send-off ceremony
before the tugs began their work.

The final mooring lines were cast off at the order of 80-year-old
retired Rear Adm. J. Lloyd "Doc" Abbot Jr., who served two years as
Intrepid's skipper in 1960-62 and was named honorary commander for the
day.

"It was the best job I ever had," Abbot said, standing once again on
the ship's deck. "Intrepid had a soul of her own. How can a hunk of
iron have a soul, you may ask. But I loved her. She kept me safe and at
times I kept her safe."

The Intrepid serves as a living memorial to the arms services, a
tourist attraction that draws hundreds of thousands people a year and,
if the need arises, will become as an emergency operation center for
city and federal authorities. The FBI used it as an operation center
after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.