Last voyage for the SS United States

Sounds like the tale of the Big U is about to come to an end in the very near future. The largest ocean liner constructed in the US and the holder of the highest average speed across the Atlantic, she's been retired since 1969. There's been a bunch of attempts to try and revive the ship, but the owners recently received an eviction notice to move her out of the dock in Philly where she's been parked since the '90s. If the ship is not relocated in time, and it looks like that's not going to happen, then Okaloosa County has has signed an agreement to purchase the SS United States and sink it as an artificial reef. 

Link

Sad end to a great ship, but probably inevitable at this point. The cost to repair and upgrade her to be a museum or floating hotel (ala Queen Mary) was just going to be too much. Honestly, I'd rather see her sunk as a reef then sent to the scrappers. At least something will be left of her.

Here she is in better days:

Tom_Spangler (Forum Supporter) said:

Sad end to a great ship, but probably inevitable at this point. The cost to repair and upgrade her to be a museum or floating hotel (ala Queen Mary) was just going to be too much. Honestly, I'd rather see her sunk as a reef then sent to the scrappers. At least something will be left of her.

Last I heard, the Queen Mary wasn't exactly doing too well either. Severe hull corrosion and at risk of sinking, among other issues.

I know the United States was never terrible profitable when operating, and passengers preferred to ride other ships because of the United States being a pretty rough ride and her mid-century modern interiors lacked the warmth of the two Queens and the later sophistication of SS France. The plans to try and get the United States back in service again always seemed a little far-fetched and a few of the owners also handled things pretty poorly, which really set it back. The interior of the United States was gutted back in 1994 and all the furnishings were sold off, so she's just an empty hull, although still retains her engines.

Yeah, this is a shame, but also inevitable.

She has lines like no other ship, but she belongs to an era that will never return.  Heck, her era was pretty much over by the time she was launched.

I agree with Tom; at least she'll be a tourist attraction of a different sort now, instead of rusting away to scrap.

There's also an obvious joke to be made about Florida sinking the United States.

That's a pretty big hole in the water to throw money into.  I can appreciate the sentiment of those who wish to preserve her, but I suspect the cost to restore, or even just to maintain, is astronomical.

Duke said:

She has lines like no other ship, but she belongs to an era that will never return.

Compared to the ugly bloated behemoths they have for cruise ships these days...

I'm sort of a mid century design fan anyway so I liked the interior spaces and staterooms:  https://dev.united-states-lines.org/ss-united-states-interior-pictures/

I used to work right down the street.  I still look for it on approach to PHL from the east.

From Wikipedia:

United StatesNameUnited StatesOwnerUnited States LinesOperatorUnited States LinesPort of registryNew York CityRoute

• 1952: Transatlantic: New York – Le Havre – Southampton (also Bremerhaven)
• 1961: Cruises

Ordered1949[3]BuilderNewport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company[3]Cost$79.4 million ($748 million in 2023[5])Yard numberHull 488[2]Laid downFebruary 8, 1950LaunchedJune 23, 1951[1]ChristenedJune 23, 1951[1]Maiden voyageJuly 3, 1952In service1952Out of serviceNovember 14, 1969[4]Identification

• IMO number: 5373476
• Callsign KJEH
• 

Nickname(s)Big UOwnerVariousAcquired1978NotesMultiple owners since 1978[6]OwnerSS United States ConservancyAcquiredFebruary 1, 2011StatusLaid up in Philadelphia awaiting possible sinking as artificial reef[7]NotesContinual fundraising since 2011 for conservation[7]General characteristicsTypeOcean linerTonnage53,329 GRT, 29,475 NRTDisplacement

• 45,400 tons (designed)
• 47,264 tons (maximum)

Length

• 990 ft (302 m) (overall)
• 940 ft (287 m) (waterline)

Beam101.5 ft (30.9 m)

maximumHeight175 ft (53 m)

(keel to funnel)[8]Draft

• 31 ft 3 in (9.53 m) (design)
• 32 ft 4 in (9.86 m) (maximum)

Decks12[9]: 16 Installed power

• 240,000 shp (180,000 kW) (rated)
• 247,785 shp (184,773 kW) (trials)

Propulsion

• 4 × Westinghouse double-reduction geared steam turbines
• 8 × Babcock & Wilcox at 925 psi and 975 °F (524 °C)
• 4 × shafts, 2-four blade props, 2-five blade

Speed

• 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) (service)
• 38.32 kn (70.97 km/h; 44.10 mph) (trials)
• 43 kn (80 km/h; 49 mph) (claimed)

Capacity1,928 passengers

Crew1,044 [9]: 16 

Interesting. I'm not a "ship guy" at all, but I have stopped to look at this vessel while on Columbus Boulevard in Philly when it caught my eye. I just spent a few minutes doing some quick online reading. I find myself compelled to go take another look before it gets hauled off. I assume it'll get towed via the C&D canal and down the Chesapeake which will have it pass by my backyard. I'm going to have to try to remember to keep an eye out for a plan/schedule. I'm sure it'll be a while. 

My dad loved traveling by ship. I crossed the Atlantic by sea as a kid a couple of times as we moved - I think the last time was in 1983 - and my parents circumnavigated the earth at least once by rail and sea. Including the trans-Siberian railway in 1968. I don't think he ever got over the demise of the passenger liner, it would still be his first choice to get to Europe or Australia.

In reply to Keith Tanner :

There is one liner left in service: Cunard's Queen Mary 2. It does the NY-Southhampton run numerous times each year, and one circumnavigation per year, I believe. I did the Transatlantic back in 2011, and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Good to know! I imagine Dad knew that as well, I'm surprised he never took advantage. Hmmm, Janel wants to go to Europe for a Significant Birthday in a few years...

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Besides Cunard, all cruise lines do trans Atlantic trips. I'm on one right now that included stops in Iceland and Greenland. 

I wonder if he would have distinguished between a cruise ship and a passenger liner? He did little or no cruising, he was more interested in an actual voyage. I know he and his parents brought their MGB home from Europe on a liner, can you do that on a cruise ship? :)

We crossed on both the Fedor Shalyapin and the Vaal back in the day. I don't recall others but I know there were more. He and I got locked in the hold of one of them once, I don't remember which :) Probably the Soviet boat.

He also enjoyed train travel, which fits.

In reply to alfadriver :

The differences are that 1) most other lines Transatlantics are repositioning cruises, not dedicated routes, so they tend to be less frequent, and 2) none of them are liners; QM2 is. There are vast differences in construction between liners and cruise ships. Having been on QM2 in a violent storm (December a few years ago, waves crashing over the bow reaching the bridge on deck 12), I have no desire to cross the North Atlantic on anything else.

In reply to 02Pilot :

I get ocean liners are supposed to be good in bad weather. But the repositioning cruises tend to avoid bad weather. Crossing the North Atlantic in August isn't that bad. All but one of the 16 nights will be really great. This is an itinerary that Cunard doesn't do- which matters. 

In reply to Keith Tanner :

I'd be surprised if any ocean liner would bring on cars anymore. 
 

As for the "romance" of travel, I very much get that. But if I were just going crossing just to cross the Atlantic, I'd fly. Cruising mostly adds some cool stops on the way- meaning speed isn't important. We are doing a 16 night crossing that the as SS US would do in less than 5. 

How will they get all the oil , grease , chemicals out a a giant ship like that before dragging it out to sea ?

I guess whatever they do compared to it being hauled to India , dragged up on the beach and cut apart  will be better , 

alfadriver said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

As for the "romance" of travel, I very much get that. But if I were just going crossing just to cross the Atlantic, I'd fly. Cruising mostly adds some cool stops on the way- meaning speed isn't important. We are doing a 16 night crossing that the as SS US would do in less than 5. 

Seven days of vacation versus JFK and Heathrow? I absolutely love being at sea - no port calls, just the open ocean. I've done several trips on QM2, and by far the Transatlantic was my favorite. Granted, I live in NY, so that makes it possible to do the whole trip without flying anywhere, but still. It's often no more expensive to do the crossing by ship, so unless you're pressed for time, I can't see why you'd want to fly unless there are significant challenges to get to your final destination.

In reply to californiamilleghia :

She took at trip to Turkey in the 80's (I think) to have all the asbestos insulation and asbestos containing materials removed, unsure on if she would still have any fuel or lubricants on board.  I'm sure whoever expects to turn her into a reef will need to verify that. The designer William Francis Gibbs wanted to have a "fireproof" ship and being the early 50's the answer for that if not metal was asbestos.  They used a lot of transite (asbestos cement board) panels in the interior areas not to mention insulation on the mechanical systems.  Reportedly the only wood he allowed on board was the ship's piano, a Steinway that used special fire treated mahogany to meet his fire resistant requirements.  The ship now is pretty much an empty hull other than the engineering spaces as Nick mentioned.

The ship's power plant is supposed to have come from a cancelled WW 2 battleship and was reported to be close to 250,000 shaft horsepower (combined total of all 4 engines / propeller shafts) and allegedly capable of just over 40 knots in an emergency and 20 knots going astern.  On one of her first trips across the Atlantic she averaged over 35 knots for the crossing and still holds the transatlantic speed record for a full sized ship.

I've seen her twice, the first time in January of 1983 when she was moored near Baltimore ( I was a cadet on a US Lines container ship) and the second time on a business trip to Philadelphia about 10 years ago.  Even in her deteriorated state she's something to see, an ocean liner built for speed and nothing like the floating resorts that current cruise ships are.  I'd have loved to have seen her engine rooms while underway at sea but she's been out of service since I was in 2nd grade.  

Here's a video tour of one of the engine rooms by the curator of the USS New Jersey Museum from about a year ago:

The previous owner of my house died in the house with no close family. I still have some of his stuff. Some of it is slides from his transatlantic trip on the SS United States. It was quite the ship!

In reply to 11GTCS :

She was owned by a Turkish company but the asbestos abatement was done in Ukraine, which is when the interior was gutted.

mad_machine said:

The previous owner of my house died in the house with no close family. I still have some of his stuff. Some of it is slides from his transatlantic trip on the SS United States. It was quite the ship!

Those slides would be worth preserving and digitizing for historical purposes. Let me know if you're interested - I have a scanner that can do it, but it would not be a quick process.

In reply to 02Pilot :

Given the choice to sail, I'll take more time and add a bunch of ports. Especially if they are places I want to visit which are really had to get to any other way. Like the 3 ports we just did in Iceland, the passage and 2 ports in Greenland. 

Otherwise, I'd rather get an extra week to spend at the destination in Europe. Let alone the issue that you need to travel to the embarkation and debarkation ports. A ship wont pick you up in Helsinki nor drop you off in your home town- so some kind of extra travel is required unless you live/visit New York and Southhampton. 

Besides, Cunard is an incredibly expensive cruise line. You sail it to pretend to be rich. And they make you wear nice clothing. The cruise I am on right now does not care I didn't bring a suit.