Plan Your Visit to New York City’s Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

“The vast majority of the collection consists of items donated to us by former crew members and their families,” says Williams. “There are uniforms, pilot gear, diaries and letters. Some guys took photographs or slides or 35-millimeter films when they were onboard. Those things really help lend a personal connection to the people who served onboard this ship.”

One of the deck’s most powerful exhibits “Kamikaze: Beyond the Fire,” a dramatic multimedia experience, tells the story of Japan’s “special attack” suicide bombers known as kamikazes, the terrifying new weapon it launched in October 1944 as the Allied advantage grew in the Pacific.

“On the Line” details the role Intrepid played in the Vietnam War through artifacts, interviews and film clips, including the Triple Stix Log, a diary kept by four junior pilots who shared bunk room 111 (aka “Triple Stix”) that describes their Vietnam missions and antics while onboard the ship in 1967. “It’s one of the most comprehensive accounts of pilots’ time in Vietnam,” says Jennifer Elliot, the museum’s manager of youth leadership and alumni programs.

On the lighthearted side, “Navy Cakes: A Slice of History” celebrates the Navy’s long tradition of using cake as a morale booster. Featuring recipes, photographs and kitchen paraphernalia required to create confections that could feed thousands of sailors, the exhibit spotlights life at sea through a sweet lens. “The men onboard Intrepid were here from six months to a year at a time, so they looked for any opportunity to celebrate — and bake cakes,” says Elliot.

Courtesy of the Intrepid Museum

There’s much more to explore on the ship, including the Flight Deck, which is “the ship’s reason for being,” says curator Williams. Here is where you can see Intrepid’s 29 restored aircraft, including the newest addition: a Douglas F4D Skyray that flew from the ship in 1961. You can also see the restored galley used by Intrepid’s cooks to prepare about 7,500 meals each day, and an example of the ship’s berthing compartments — snug sleeping quarters for up to 60 men.

“Many spaces onboard still look the way they did when the ship was in service,” says Williams. “[They’re] really evocative of what the ship was like during service, and help visitors get into the mindset of the crew.”

You could easily spend several hours discovering the many nooks and crannies on Intrepid, but the museum’s appeal stretches far beyond the ship with these three additional components:

• The space shuttle Enterprise. In 2012 Intrepid became the proud home of Enterprise, one of NASA’s four remaining space shuttles. As NASA’s prototype orbiter, Enterprise paved the way for the country’s three-decade space shuttle program, performing crucial aerial and launch tests to determine the viability of sending a reusable aircraft into space. Today, see the shuttle in a custom pavilion on Intrepid’s Flight Deck. Inside, 17 dynamic displays immerse visitors in the exciting story and groundbreaking technology of the shuttle era.

• The USS Growler. This guided-missile-carrying submarine patrolled the waters off the east coast of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964. It carried the powerful Regulus 1 missile and had one mission — to deter the Soviet Union from launching a nuclear attack against the United States. “A View From the Deep: The Submarine Growler and the Cold War,” a fascinating exhibit on Pier 86’s north side, details the sub’s history. You can also board it for a firsthand look at the cramped conditions sailors endured.