The SS United States' top recorded speed was But -- that wasn't even at full power. Today's cruise ships and ocean liners aren't as concerned with going super fast. The Queen Mary 2, the only ocean liner in action today, has a max speed of just over 30 knots.
Photo from the Associated Press. She still holds a record. For decades the Blue Riband was the award for ocean liners. It was given to the fastest passenger ship to cross the Atlantic. It still holds the record and ribbon today, completing the journey in 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes with an average speed of It was the first American ship in nearly years to win it. Welcome to the Atlantic. Am sacking my chief engineer. The dual purpose ship.
Navy funds. That's because it was meant to serve a dual purpose. If ever needed, the SS United States was to be converted into a troop transport within 48 hours, capable of carrying 14, soldiers anywhere without needing to refuel according to Ujifusa.
Photo by Flickr user idealisms. Food priorities. When you travelled aboard the SS United States you ate well. Her ownership has changed several times since then with various plans to make use of her for other things not coming to fruition. Efforts have been compromised by the drive to make her fireproof. In doing so, she was packed with asbestos. Work to remove that asbestos combined with being several owners being forced to sell remaining fixtures and fittings to pay her mooring fees means that the interior of the ship is almost completely bare.
The most recent attempt to save her involved Crystal Cruise lines who explored the possibility of bringing her back into service as a cruise ship. However, her engines would have need to have been completely removed and replaced with modern diesels.
Furthermore, to comply with the latest safety regulations, the front of the superstructure would have had to be completely replaced, made taller and extended forwards. Removing her face. That is more than it cost to build the much larger Queen Mary 2, which is the only Ocean Liner left in service from scratch.
So, unsurprisingly. The idea was dropped. So, while the Queen Mary lives on. The only remotely viable option of preserving her is as a museum, conference centre, hotel, restaurant, and casino etc. She will never sail again. Even this will take someone with very deep pockets and a great deal of affection. These two ships are the last remains of a golden era of speed, glamour, and engineering prowess. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it. Gee, if only America had a group of people who had billions at their disposal who could band together and save the ship named for the country that made their acquisition of of such wealth possible At this stage, her restoration will be a labour of love and nothing else.
I wouldn't expect to see a profit from it for a very long time. If you Following the closure of the restaurant in , the items were donated to the Mariners' Museum and to Christopher Newport University , both in Newport News, Virginia. In a fourth propeller was put on display at the entrance of the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia. In , a new consortium of owners purchased the vessel and had her towed to Turkey and then Ukraine, where she underwent asbestos removal in The interior of the ship was almost completely stripped during this time.
No viable agreements were reached in the US for a reworking of the vessel, and in United States was towed to her current location at Pier 84 in South Philadelphia. The ship is easily visible from shore and Interstate United States herself appears in the Disney film Bon Voyage! In , Norwegian Cruise Line NCL purchased the ship from the estate of Edward Cantor when the ship was put up for auction after his death, with the stated intent of fully restoring her to a service role in their newly announced American-flagged Hawaiian passenger service called NCL America.
United States. The cruise line has over boxes of the ship's blueprints cataloged. While this documentation is not complete, NCL believed it would provide useful information for the planned refit. In February , it was reported that Star Cruises, to whom United States ' s ownership was transferred, and NCL were looking for buyers for the liner.
A group of the ship's fans keeps in touch via the Internet and meets annually in Philadelphia. The ship receives occasional press coverage, such as a feature article in USA Today and there have been various projects through the years to celebrate the ship, such as lighting it on special occasions.
In March it was reported that scrapping bids for the ship were being collected. Since , when Norwegian Cruise Line offered the ship for sale, there have been numerous plans to rescue the liner from the scrap yard. The Conservancy was given until February to buy the ship and satisfy Environmental Protection Agency concerns related to toxins on the ship.
They now have 20 months of financial support to develop a plan to clean the ship of toxins and make the ship financially self-supporting, possibly as a hotel or development. A detailed study for the site was revealed in late November , in advance of Pennsylvania's 10 December deadline for a deal aimed at Harrah's Entertainment taking over the casino project. Lenfest , the conservancy had about 18 months from March to make the ship a public attraction. By 7 February preliminary work has begun on the restoration project to prepare the ship for her eventual rebuild, although a contract has not yet been signed.
The Conservancy announced that donors to the virtual ship will be featured in an interactive "Wall of Honor" aboard the future SS United States museum.
Military Wiki Explore. Popular pages. Project maintenance. Register Don't have an account? The tourist class bar remains firmly intact and riveted to the floor, a footrest winding along its foundation and squarish holes in place where the sinks would go. The military-grade steel throughout the liner has yielded surprisingly little to years of saltwater and salt air exposure that would have eaten away a lesser ship.
She's often seen visitors to the SS United States who have connections to its past shed tears on seeing the grand old liner again, overpowered by emotion. She has endured.
Her lines, her form, her strength are all still apparent. There's a poignant sense that she's currently waiting to be illuminated again. Shroud of secrecy. Launched in , the ship was built with a secret double purpose as a troop carrier. Her maiden voyage took place in The ship's staying power and structural integrity are a tribute to the obsessive vision of its creator, William Francis Gibbs -- a Philadelphia native and Harvard dropout whose life's passion was to build the world's greatest ocean liner.
Tall, gaunt, and lean, a self-professed curmudgeon and workaholic, he demanded only the best from those that worked for him, calling subordinates from the office early on Sunday mornings. He was so adamant that the SS United States be fireproof that the only wood he allowed in its outfitting were butcher blocks in the kitchen and pianos -- and even the latter was made of a special flame-resistant mahogany, a quality which Theodore Steinway proved by pouring gasoline over one and tossing on a lit match.
Gibbs was so insistent that she avoid the fate of the Titanic that he used a double bottom extending up along the sides of her hull and included a dual engine room in case the primary one failed. The ship's architect, William Francis Gibbs, designed her to be indestructible.
Due to its hidden military objective though the SS United States was never ultimately employed for wartime purposes , the construction of the ship was shrouded in secrecy.
The ship was the first major liner to be built in a dry dock, away from prying eyes, and was unveiled to the public already in the water, ensuring its knife-like hull and propellers couldn't be studied by foreign enemies. Gibbs' affection for the ship was such that every time the ship came into New York, he rushed over in a chauffeured Cadillac to meet it. He called the SS United States nearly every day she was at sea via a ship-to-shore telephone, asking after turbine revolutions and fuel consumption.
0コメント