After an 18-month renovation, the U.S.S. Intrepid will return to Pier 86 on the Hudson River, where it had been moored for the past 25 years and which recently received its own $50 million makeover on Sept. 26, 2008—the birthdate of the late Zachary Fisher, who founded the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum in 1982. Last Thursday, more than 100 officials from 80 agencies met to discuss the details of its homecoming. “The Intrepid is a visual reminder of those who have served our country and all those who gave their lives for our freedom,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Which is why in celebration of the official reopening on Nov. 11, 2008, the Veterans Day Parade will be rerouted west across 42nd Street and north along 12th Avenue. But it’s not all confetti and noisemakers. The retired military carrier could once again be called to duty, should another terrorist attack occur. The makeover, which included $8 million in interior work, also equipped the Intrepid to serve as an emergency operations command post with air, sea and land capabilities, said Bill White, museum president. After 9/11, various law enforcement agencies used the vessel for more than a month, setting up a temporary command post with hundreds of federal agents and members of the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force fielding thousands of phone calls over a matter of weeks. We suppose it’s only fitting, considering the Intrepid was active in World War II and both the Korea and Vietnam Wars.