The sections of the World War II-era aircraft carrier USS Intrepid open to the public are painstakingly restored and lovingly maintained.

But restoration is expensive, and vast portions of the ship remain just as they were when the ship left naval service in 1974.

During a recent tour of the ship, we visited parts of the vessel that have been untouched for nearly 40 years.

Exploring this part of the ship we saw the Intrepid as it was in the spring of '74, when Nixon was neck-deep in the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam war still waged, and the Intrepid was finally decommissioned in Rhode Island.

Well maybe not just as it was, after all, four decades have taken their toll on the 69-year-old carrier, but there were enough old personal items around to make us feel like the crew had just left.

*UPDATE: Unfortunately the Intrepid folks called and asked that we remove all photos of the ship that aren't included in the public tour. Our apologies, as they were fantastic photos and we would have loved for you to see them.