“UNITED STATES” S.O.S. FOR A NEW GENERATION

By:  Kevin Trainor/Managing Editor, NVN.

She was ordered in 1949.  Construction began on Hull 488 in the Newport News, VA, shipyard in 1950.  Christened, and launched on June 23, 1951. The S.S. United States at 990 ft., 101.5 ft. at beam, 180 ft. keel to funnel, 31 ft .in draft, at 53,290 tons.  The largest liner built in America. The flagship of the U.S. Merchant Marine fleet made her first transatlantic voyage from New York on July 3, 1952.  3 days, 10 hours, and 49 minutes later she past Bishop Rock, off Cornwall, U.K., and smashed the Blue Riband crossing record by 10 hours.  

The Blue Riband was a big deal.  Since the 1890’s the award was given to the fastest liners afloat.  All vied for it, ships were built for it, a matter of national prestige, and worldwide honor to be sought.  To this day no other liner has broken the record of the S.S. United States.  She topped out on that maiden voyage at 35 knots, roughly 40 mph. Her real top speed a classified military secret.  Not surprisingly, she was built for this.  In a future wartime she could sail with 15,000 troops, and be transitioned to a hospital ship.  Built to U.S. Navy specifications the U.S. Government funded $50 million for her construction, the United States Lines the other $28 million.  All told $750 million in 2018 cash.  Like the ship in song “Columbia, Gem Of The Ocean,” she flew the flag, and riband, as a symbol of American technology, and prowess.  Designed by William Francis Gibbs, of the firm Gibbs & Cox, she came of good stock.  Gibbs, having designed much of the U.S. Navy’s fleet of the Second World War.  The French liner, S.S. Normandie, served as an example.  Acquired by the U.S. Government in New York Harbor, as France fell, she would later catch fire and capsize mainly as the weight of the water being pumped in caused her instability.  This was a lesson.  No wood!  The only wood aboard the “United States” was a cutting board in the kitchen.  Even that was inflammable.

She sailed the seas in impressive fashion, and opulence, for her 1,928 passengers catered to by 900 crewman.  All American.  She was all high speed, low drag.  Her passenger list was tantalizing.  Nobody could mistake her sleek lines as the ship drew closer to shore.  She did the Atlantic crossing for 17 years, and other itineraries intermittently.  The inevitable came by air.  The Pan American Clippers, jets, would fly Americans to Europe starting in 1958.  It was a long goodbye for passenger liners.  

Driving down the West Side Highway in 1969 you could see the last berthing’s, in a row, from the west side piers of Manhattan.  Maritime history about to be retired; “Queen Elizabeth,” “Queen Mary,” along with the “France,” “Leonardo Da Vinci,” “Empress of Canada,” and the impressive flagship S.S. United States.  On a scheduled overhaul in Newport News, in 1969, the United States Line pulled the plug.  No longer profitable to operate she was retired.  Since then she has persevered.  Owners changing hands, plans conceived, and dropped.  She was once towed to Turkey, later Sevastopol Shipyard in the Ukraine, to have asbestos removed.  Over the years her furnishings have gone, interior stripped, one of her massive props removed.  Now she lays very silently at Philadelphia’s Pier 82.  Waiting.

The United States Conservancy purchased her in 2011.  They succeeded in having the ship designated as a landmark.  The fundraising continues as she requires $60,000 a month for upkeep.  More needs to be done.  She can be saved.  What is needed is a dedicated core.  Smart, motivated volunteers, staff, who make it their job to save her, primary job.  The S.S. United States was a public/private project at the start.  That commitment can be developed again.  In partnership with a cruise line, or municipality, she can sail once more, or be a self-paying attraction like the “Queen Mary,” in Long Beach, CA.

The effort to save her is not divisive in these divisive times.  Americans of all stripes can rally this gem to sailing shape again.  Outfitters, laborers, craftsmen, apprentices, will be employed.  Forgotten skills revived, or relearned.  Her restoration must capture the imagination.  Her next life dignified, and profitable.  Kids today looking on in awe, and inspiration.  A catalyst for a new era of American progress, and prowess, exemplified in a vessel of superior design and ambition.  We committed to landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to the Earth in 8 years.  We can get together and do great things again.

Right now she floats, and waits, in faded glory at Pier 82 in Philadelphia, to inspire her country again.

www.ssusc.org.