Relocation & Installation: Intrepid Propeller Display

R. Baker and Son All Industrial Services, an expert rigging, demolition, machinery moving and equipment relocation contractor, recently completed the relocation of the USS Intrepid’s propeller at the USS Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in New York. Under a previous contract, R. Baker & Son All Industrial Services (R. Baker & Son) had previously staged the propeller while a steel display frame was being fabricated. The propeller is solid brass, weighs 28,000 lbs and is 15 feet 6 inches from blade tip to blade tip. This next phase of the project required R. Baker & Son to lift the propeller from a horizontal position into a vertical position and mount the propeller onto the frame. The frame then needed to be relocated to another part of the carrier for permanent display. To accomplish this task, a 5 man expert rigging crew was mobilized to the site. In addition, a 5,000 lb Hyster forklift, two (2) scissor lifts, chain blocks and other various rigging equipment were delivered to the site. Utilized the various rigging equipment, the R. Baker & Son rigging crew lifted the 29,000 lb propeller from a horizontal position into a vertical position. Because the propeller was located in the bay of the carrier, there was very little headroom and the crews only had only about 6 inches of clearance once the propeller was stood straight up. Once in a vertical position, the propeller was held in place via chain blocks while a 3,800 pound shaft was inserted. Once the shaft was in place, the assembly was then carefully landed onto the steel display frame. The entire frame and propeller assembly then needed to be moved approximately 150 feet to its final location. In order to accomplish this, the epoxy floor first had to be protected with hardboard. Following protection of the floor, R. Baker & Son’s expert rigging crews utilized several 15 ton Teflon skates along with the 5,000 lb forklift to carefully move the assembly to its final location. The project was completed within the 1 day timeframe set by the client. The project was incident and accident free.