A team of surveyors scanned every inch of the USS Intrepid to create a 15-terabyte digital model—aided by its closure to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United States Navy’s USS Intrepid (CV-11) is now preserved as a floating museum on the Hudson River on Manhattan’s West Side. Commissioned in August 1943, the Essex-class aircraft carrier was the fourth ship to bear the name Intrepid—but perhaps the one to earn it most.

Throughout World War II, the Intrepid was known as the ship the Japanese could not sink, surviving four separate kamikaze attacks as well as a torpedo strike during the Pacific War. After she repeatedly returned to action despite optimistic Japanese reports of her sinking, Tokyo dubbed the carrier “The Ghost Ship.”

Truly, the ship and her crew were “intrepid” in every respect. Yet her greatest foe since retiring in 1974 has been the elements. 

There was a serious risk just 20 years ago that one of the four surviving Essex-class aircraft carriers (of 24 built) would be lost to the ages. However, after a nearly two-year restoration effort from December 2006 to October 2008, costing nearly $60 million, the USS Intrepid was restored and renovated, ready to preserve the history of those who served aboard her.

Another parallel effort is underway to ensure CV-11’s legacy isn’t forgotten.

The USS Intrepid Has Been Digitally Preserved—Forever

This month, it was announced that the famed aircraft carrier had undergone a comprehensive 3D laser scan that would enable the vessel to be digitally preserved with millimeter-level accuracy. A newly created 14.7 terabyte archive features every aspect of the warship—including spaces that hadn’t been accessed in decades.

FARO Technologies worked with the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum to complete a 3D building information modeling (BIM) project for the famed aircraft carrier. The 3D scanning of the Grey Ghost began in 2020 and took place during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the warship was already closed to the public.

The pandemic turned out to be a “happy accident” for the project, which now had unfettered access to an empty vessel. It allowed the program to evolve from a simple documentation of the second deck to a scan of nearly the entire ship, including sealed compartments that would have ordinarily remained closed.

The technology used to create a digital model of USS Intrepid is far more advanced than the systems on the historic warship. It included a lidar-based laser system mounted on tripods deployed throughout the carrier. Each could capture around two million measurement points.

“It’s tripod-based,” Irene Radcliffe, senior business development manager at FARO, told Military.com. “You put the scanner in a location, it spins around and captures everything it sees—the ceiling, the walls, all of it—then you go to the next room and create an overlap.”

The overlapping scans were then “stitched together,” creating 3D recreations of each part of the ship.

The project was not without challenges. While the areas of the ship open to the public are more accessible, other parts were designed for 1940s-era sailors—with functionality a top priority and comfort a distant second.

“Carrying a tripod and $60,000 scanner up railings that aren’t normal stairs, at angles that aren’t normal—that was physically challenging,” said Radcliffe.

“This was our most complex project,” she added. “We did quite a lot of scanning projects around the world. This one was unique in its volume and challenging environment—so many tight spaces.”

Beyond preserving the ship for future generations, the project visited areas not seen in years, if not decades. The scanning crew made new discoveries on board the ship, including artwork painted by former crewmembers and long-forgotten items. Some of the compartments had been sealed for many decades, and were akin to time capsules!

The scans will provide virtual tours for those who can’t visit the ship in person and will also allow the museum to identify previously unknown structural issues and plan future restoration efforts. The 3D renderings will provide a record of modifications made by the US Navy, but they are not adequately documented. That will also allow maintenance crews to plan upgrades and repairs without compromising the warship’s historic integrity.

About the USS Intrepid

• Year Introduced: 1943
• Length: 872 ft (265.8 m)
• Beam (Width): 147 ft, 6 in
• Displacement: 27,100 long tons (27,500 t)
• Propulsion: 8 boilers, 4 Westinghouse geared steam turbines, four shafts
• Top Speed: 33 knots (flank speed)
• Range: ~20,000 nautical miles at 15 knots
• Armaments (World War II): 12 x 5-inch guns, 40mm & 20mm cannons; 90–100 aircraft
• Crew: ~2,600 officers & enlisted

The keel for the Essex-class USS Intrepid was laid on December 1, 1941, only six days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Upon the carrier’s completion two years later, she immediately headed to the Pacific, where she was greeted by a baptism of fire when she took part in the invasion of the Marshall Islands in January 1944. Heavily damaged during the fighting, the ship returned to Pearl Harbor for repairs, but quickly headed back into action. In October 1944, “The Fighting I” took part in the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the largest naval battle in history. Planes that sortied from the carrier helped sink the Japanese battleship Musashi, regarded as one of the two biggest battleships of all time.

After the war, USS Intrepid was returned to service and extensively modernized by the US Navy in 1954. This included removing the heavy guns and the centerline elevator, while a new heavy-duty starboard-side elevator was installed, along with a new flight deck, to accommodate modern combat jets. She became the primary ship for multiple space mission recoveries, including Mercury 7 and Gemini 3.

CV-11 participated in three tours in Vietnam before being decommissioned in 1974. She served as an exhibit ship at the US Navy and Marine Corps bicentennial celebrations in Philadelphia in 1975-1976, before becoming a floating museum in New York City in 1982. 

About the Author: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu has contributed over 3,200 published pieces to more than four dozen magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.

Image: Shutterstock / mirigifford.

The post The Legendary USS Intrepid Now Has a Digital Clone appeared first on The National Interest.