Touring the Intrepid

This fascinating article from Opinion Journal on a great national treasure:

In the 230 years since America's founding, mechanical know-how has helped the nation to defend liberty abroad and at home, from the fortifications George Washington used during the Revolution to drive the British out of Boston to the railroads shuffling federal troops during the Civil War and the B-17 "Flying Fortresses" that helped win World War II.

Along the way, America has also turned out some pretty nifty war machines. Chief among them has to be the U.S.S. Intrepid--the keel of which was laid just one week after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. It was launched less than two years later, on Dec. 3, 1943, and saw action in October 1944, in the largest naval engagement in history, the Battle of Leyte Gulf, helping win control of the Philippine Islands.

The Intrepid took a pounding during the war. At Leyte, two kamikaze attacks engulfed the ship's midsection in flames and smoke. Visitors today can see photos of the Intrepid taken at a point in the battle when many thought she was headed for the bottom of the sea. Twice during the war the Intrepid was so badly damaged that it had to return to port for extensive repairs. In February 1944, a torpedo smashed the ship's rudder and the crew rigged up a sail in the lower decks to steer the way back to Pearl Harbor. The price of liberty is not only eternal vigilance but also a whole lot of elbow grease.

Read the rest of this great ship's story.