Атлантический гигант: История лайнера «United States»

1951 ocean liner

SS United States is a retired ocean liner built between 1950 and 1951 for the United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title she still holds. She was designed by American naval architect William Francis Gibbs and could be converted into a troopship if required by the Navy in time of war. United States maintained an uninterrupted schedule of transatlantic passenger service until 1969 and was never used for military applications. The ship has been sold several times since the 1970s, with each new owner trying unsuccessfully to make the liner profitable. Eventually, the ship's fittings were sold at auction, and hazardous wastes, including asbestos panels throughout the ship, were removed, leaving her almost completely stripped by 1994. Two years later, she was towed to Philadelphia, where she has remained. Since 2009, the preservation group, 'SS United States Conservancy' has been raising funds to save the ship. The group purchased her in 2011 and has drawn up several unrealized plans to restore the ship, one of which included turning the ship into a multi purpose waterfront complex. In 2015, as its funds dwindled, the group began accepting bids to scrap the ship; however, sufficient donations came in via extended fundraising. Large donations have kept the ship berthed at her Philadelphia dock while the group continues to further investigate restoration plans.

Inspired by the service of the British liners and , which transported hundreds of thousands of US troops to Europe during World War II, the US government sponsored the construction of a large and fast merchant vessel that would be capable of transporting large numbers of soldiers. Designed by American naval architect and marine engineer William Francis Gibbs, the liner's construction was a joint effort by the United States Navy and United States Lines. The US government underwrote almost 70% of the $79.4 million construction cost, with the ship's prospective operators, United States Lines, contributing the remaining $28 million. In exchange, the ship was designed to be easily converted in times of war to a troopship. The ship has a capacity of 15,000 troops, and could also be converted to a hospital ship. The vessel was constructed between 1950 and 1952 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia. A large part of the construction was prefabricated. The ship's hull comprised 183,000 pieces. United States had the most powerful steam turbines of any merchant marine vessel at the time, with a total power of delivered to four 18 feet (5 m) manganese bronze propellers. The ship was capable of steaming astern at over , and could carry enough fuel and stores to steam non stop for over .

The maximum speed attained by United States is disputed, as it was once held as a military secret, and complicated by the alleged leak of a top speed of attained after the first speed trial. For example, The New York Times reported in 1968 that the ship could make at a maximum power output of Other sources, including a paper by John J. McMullen & Associates, placed the ship's highest possible sustained top speed at The liner's top speed was later revealed to be , achieved on its full power trial run on June 10, 1952.

The interiors were designed by Dorothy Marckwald & Anne Urquhart, the same designers that did the interiors for The goal was to "create a modern fresh contemporary look that emphasized simplicity over palatial, restrained elegance over glitz and glitter". An additional goal of the interiors was to replicate the smooth lines seen on the exterior and visualize the ship's speed. including Hildreth Meière, Louis Ross, Peter Ostuni, Charles Lin Tissot, William King, Charles Gilbert, Raymond Wendell, Nathaniel Choate, muralist Austin M. Purves, Jr., and sculptor Gwen Lux. Interior décor also included a children's playroom designed by Edward Meshekoff. Markwald and Urquhart were also tasked with the challenge of creating interiors that were completely fireproof. This posed an exceptional difficulty when selecting materials, such as those for usually flammable items such as drapes or carpet. William Gibbs specified that the ship incorporate the most rigid fire safety standards. To minimize the risk of fire, the designers of United States prescribed using no wood in the ship, aside from the galley's wooden butcher's block. Fittings, including all furniture and fabrics, were custom made in glass, metal, and spun glass fiber, to ensure compliance with fireproofing guidelines set by the US Navy. Asbestos laden paneling was used extensively in interior structures and many small items were made of aluminum. The ballroom's grand piano was originally designed to be aluminum, but was made from mahogany and accepted only after a demonstration in which gasoline was poured upon the wood and ignited, without the wood ever catching fire.

The liner was decorated by hundreds of unique art pieces, ranging from sculptures to relief murals and paintings. Aluminum was commonly incorporated into the artworks, allowing pieces to be light, fire proof, and match the black and silver color theme. For instance, nearly 200 aluminum sculptures were used in first class stairway, with a large eagle located on the landing of each deck joined by the bird and flower of each state. The stark and physical class separations, an idea associated with the old world, served in contrast to the overall American theme of the ocean liner as the United States was often seen as a nation removed from the old money and class distinctions of old.

First Class passengers were entitled to the best services and locations the ship had to offer, including the grand ballroom, smoking room, first class dining room, first class restaurants, observation lounge, main foyer, grand staircase, and promenades. Most of these facilities were located midship, distant from the vibrations and distractions of both the engines and outside.

Cheapest of all tickets, spaces for the tourist class were tucked away to the peripheries of the ship where rocking and noise were most pronounced. These small cabins were shared among passengers, each room containing two bunk beds and simply furnished with little detail. Bathrooms were communal, shared among all cabin class passengers in the same passage. Service from the crew was lacking compared to the others, as this class received the lowest priority. While equivalent to the steerage or third class on other vessels, these poorest conditions on the United States were noticeably better than what was offered on other vessels. and winning the coveted Blue Riband. On her return voyage United States also broke the westbound transatlantic speed record, also held by Queen Mary, by returning to America in 3 days 12 hours and 12 minutes at an average speed of In New York her owners were awarded the Hales Trophy, the tangible expression of the Blue Riband competition. During the 1950s and early 1960s the United States was popular for transatlantic travel, sailing between New York, Southampton and Le Havre, with an occasional additional call at Bremerhaven. She attracted frequent repeat celebrity passengers, such as the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, along with celebrities like Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Salvador Dalí, Duke Ellington, and Walt Disney, who featured the ship in the 1962 film Bon Voyage!. An unrecognized celebrity on the ship was Claude Jones, a trombonist who had performed with Ellington. He worked as part of the waitstaff and died on board in 1962. By the mid to late 1960s, with the advent of jet powered airliners, the market for transatlantic travel by ship had dwindled. America was sold in 1964, Queen Mary was retired in 1967, and Queen Elizabeth in 1968. United States was no longer profitable. Unbeknownst to her passengers, crew, or the public, United States completed her last voyage (Number 400) on November 7, 1969, when she arrived in New York. In late 1969, before the decision was made to retire the United States, United States Lines announced a 55 day Grand Pacific Cruise set to sail on January 21, 1970. The cruise was canceled in December 1969.

After its last voyage, the liner sailed to Newport News for her scheduled annual overhaul. While there, United States Lines announced its decision to withdraw her from service. The decision was due to the skyrocketing expenses of operating the ship and the U. S. government's discontinuation of its operating subsidies. The announcement halted all work on the ship, leaving tasks such as repainting of the funnels incomplete. The partially finished paint coating on the funnels can still be faintly seen. The ship was sealed up, with all furniture, fittings, and crew uniforms left in place. United States was briefly considered by the US Navy to be converted into a troopship or a hospital ship, to be called USS United States. This plan never materialized, being dropped in favor of converting two San Clemente class supertankers. The liner was seen as obsolete for Naval use by 1978, and was put up for sale by the U. S. Maritime Administration. In 1980, the vessel was sold for $5 million to a group headed by Seattle developer Richard H. Hadley, who hoped to revitalize the liner in a timeshare cruise ship format. In 1984, to pay creditors, the ship's fittings and furniture, which had been left in place since 1969, were sold at auction in Norfolk, Virginia. After a week long auction from October 8–14, 1984, about 3,000 bidders paid $1.65 million for objects from the ship. Some of the artwork and furniture went to museums like the Mariners' Museum of Newport News, while the largest collection was installed at the later closed Windmill Point Restaurant in Nags Head, North Carolina. On March 4, 1989, the vessel was relocated, towed across Hampton Roads to the CSX coal pier in Newport News. Richard Hadley's plan of a time share style cruise ship eventually failed financially, and the ship, which had been seized by US marshals, was put up for auction by the U. S. Maritime Administration on April 27, 1992. At auction, Marmara Marine Inc.—which was headed by Edward Cantor and Fred Mayer with Julide Sadıkoğlu, of the Turkish shipping family, as majority owner—purchased the ship for $2.6 million. The ship was towed to Turkey, departing the US on June 4, 1992, and reaching the Sea of Marmara on July 9. She was then towed to Ukraine, where, in Sevastopol Shipyard, she underwent asbestos removal which lasted from 1993 to 1994. The interior of the ship was almost completely stripped down to the bulkheads during this time. The open lifeboats which would not meet updated SOLAS requirements if the ship were to sail again were also removed and scrapped along with their davits. In the U. S., no plans could be finalized for re purposing the vessel, and in June 1996, she was towed back across the Atlantic to South Philadelphia.

In November 1997, Edward Cantor purchased the ship for $6 million. Two years later, the SS United States Foundation and the SS United States Conservancy (then known as the SS United States Preservation Society, Inc.) succeeded in having the ship placed on the National Register of Historic Places. NCL began an extensive technical review in late 2003 which determined that the ship was in sound condition. The cruise line cataloged over 100 boxes of the ship's blueprints. In August 2004, NCL commenced feasibility studies regarding a new build out of the vessel, and in May 2006, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Malaysia based Star Cruises (the owner of NCL), stated that United States would be coming back as the fourth ship for NCL after refurbishment. Meanwhile, the Windmill Point restaurant, which had contained some of the original furniture from the ship, closed in 2007. The furniture was donated to the Mariners' Museum and Christopher Newport University, both in Newport News, Virginia. When NCL America began operation in Hawaii, it operated the ships 2=Pride of America 4=2, 2=Pride of Aloha 4=2, and 2=Pride of Hawaii 4=2, rather than United States. NCL America later withdrew Pride of Aloha and Pride of Hawaii from its Hawaiian service. In February 2009, it was reported that United States would "soon be listed for sale".

The SS United States Conservancy was created in 2009 to try to save United States by raising funds to purchase her. On July 30, 2009, H. F. Lenfest, a Philadelphia media entrepreneur and philanthropist, pledged a matching grant of $300,000 to help the United States Conservancy purchase the vessel from Star Cruises. Former US president Bill Clinton also endorsed rescue efforts to save the ship, having sailed on her himself in 1968. In March 2010, it was reported that bids for the ship to be sold for scrap were being accepted. Norwegian Cruise Lines, in a press release, noted the large costs associated with keeping United States afloat in her current state—around $800,000 a year—and that because the SS United States Conservancy was unable to tender an offer for the ship, the company was actively seeking a "suitable buyer". By May 7, 2010, over $50,000 was raised by the SS United States Conservancy. In November 2010, the Conservancy announced a plan to develop a "multi purpose waterfront complex" with hotels, restaurants, and a casino along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia at the proposed location of the stalled Foxwoods Casino project. A detailed study of the site was revealed in late November 2010, in advance of Pennsylvania's December 10, 2010, deadline for a deal aimed at Harrah's Entertainment taking over the casino project. However, the Conservancy's deal collapsed when on December 16, 2010, the state Gaming Control Board voted to revoke the casino's license.

The Conservancy eventually bought United States from NCL in February 2011 for a reported $3 million with the help of money donated by philanthropist H. F. Lenfest. The group had funds to last 20 months (from July 1, 2010) that were to go to supporting a development plan to clean the ship of toxins and make the ship financially self supporting, possibly as a hotel or other development project. SS United States Conservancy executive director Dan McSweeney stated that possible locations for the ship included Philadelphia, New York City, and Miami. The SS United States Conservancy assumed ownership of United States on February 1, 2011. Talks about possibly locating the ship in Philadelphia, New York City, or Miami continued into March. In New York City, negotiations with a developer were underway for the ship to become part of Vision 2020, a waterfront redevelopment plan costing $3.3 billion. In Miami, Ocean Group, in Coral Gables, was interested in putting the ship in a slip on the north side of American Airlines Arena. With an additional $5.8 million donation from H. F. Lenfest, the conservancy had about 18 months from March 2011 to make the ship a public attraction. The Conservancy's grant specifies that the refit and restoration must be done in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for the benefit of the Philadelphia economy, regardless of her eventual mooring site. On February 7, 2012, preliminary work began on the restoration project to prepare the ship for her eventual rebuild, although a contract had not yet been signed. In April 2012, a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) was released as the start of an aggressive search for a developer for the ship. A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in May. In July 2012, the SS United States Conservancy launched a new online campaign called "Save the United States", a blend of social networking and micro fundraising that allowed donors to sponsor square inches of a virtual ship for redevelopment, while allowing them to upload photos and stories about their experience with the ship. The Conservancy announced that donors to the virtual ship would be featured in an interactive "Wall of Honor" aboard the future SS United States museum. By the end of 2012, a developer was to be chosen, who would put the ship in a selected city by summer 2013. In November 2013, it was reported that the ship was undergoing a "below the deck" makeover, which lasted into 2014, in order to make the ship more appealing to developers as a dockside attraction. The SS United States Conservancy was warned that if its plans were not realized quickly, there might be no choice but to sell the ship for scrap. In January 2014, obsolete pieces of the ship were sold to keep up with the $80,000 a month maintenance costs. Enough money was raised to keep the ship going for another six months, with the hope of finding someone committed to the project, New York City still being the likeliest location. In August 2014, the ship was still moored in Philadelphia and costs for the ship's rent amounted to $60,000 a month. It was estimated that it would take $1 billion to return United States to service on the high seas, although a 2016 estimate for restoration as a luxury cruise ship was said to be, "as much as $700 million". On September 4, 2014, a final push was made to have the ship bound for New York City. A developer interested in re purposing the ship as a major waterfront destination made an announcement regarding the move. The Conservancy had only weeks to decide if the ship needed to be sold for scrap. On December 15, 2014, preliminary agreements in support of the redevelopment of United States were announced. The agreements included providing three months of carrying costs, with a timeline and more details to be released sometime in 2015. In February 2015, another $250,000 was received by the Conservancy from an anonymous donor towards planning an onboard museum. In October 2015, the SS United States Conservancy began exploring potential bids for scrapping the ship. The group was running out of money to cover the $60,000 per month cost to dock and maintain the ship. Attempts to re purpose the ship continued. Ideas included using the ship for hotels, restaurants, or office space. One idea was to install computer servers in the lower decks and link them to software development businesses in office space on the upper decks. However, no firm plans were announced. The conservancy said that if no progress was made by October 31, 2015, they would have no choice but to sell the ship to a "responsible recycler". As the deadline passed it was announced that $100,000 had been raised in October 2015, sparing the ship from immediate danger. By November 23, 2015, it was reported that over $600,000 in donations had been received for care and upkeep, buying time well into the coming year for the SS United States Conservancy to press ahead with a plan to redevelop the vessel.

On February 4, 2016, Crystal Cruises announced that it had signed a purchase option for United States. Crystal would cover docking costs, in Philadelphia, for nine months while conducting a feasibility study on returning the ship to service as a cruise ship based in New York City. On April 9, 2016, it was announced that 600 artifacts from United States would be returned to the ship from the Mariners' Museum and other donors. On August 5, 2016, the plan was formally dropped, with Crystal Cruises citing too many technical and commercial challenges. The cruise line then made a donation of $350,000 to help with preservation through the end of the year. The SS United States Conservancy continued to receive donations, which included one for $150,000 by cruise industry executive Jim Pollin. In January 2018, the conservancy made an appeal to US president Donald Trump to take action regarding "America's Flagship". If the group runs out of money, alternative plans for the ship include sinking her as an artificial reef rather than scrapping her.

On December 10, 2018, the conservancy announced an agreement with the commercial real estate firm RXR Realty to explore options for restoring and redeveloping the ocean liner. In 2015, RXR had expressed interest in developing an out of commission ocean liner as a hotel and event venue at Pier 57 in New York. The conservancy requires that any redevelopment plan preserve the ship's profile and exterior design, and include approximately for an onboard museum. In 2023, a more detailed plan for her redevelopment was released by RXR Realty and MCR Hotels. According to this plan, the ship would serve as a 1,000 room hotel, museum, event venue, public park, and a dining location. New York City was highlighted as the best location for the ship, ideally along the Hudson River and moorned to a specially built pier. New York City was selected as the best location due to existing infrastructure and the nearby Javits Convention Center. The 2023 plan also included several rendered images of the redesigned United States. These images depict the ship docked along Manhattan's West Side at a public pier located in the Hudson River Park. In addition, aspects of the hotel were depicted. A key element of the hotel would be one of the ship's funnels, with the top removed and exposed to the sky. This would act as a skylight, illuminating the hotel and event spaces. In addition, the plan also consist of hotel rooms held in the lifeboat davits, a pool between the funnels, and an aft mix interior exterior ballroom to provide spaces for both hotel and venue operations. A trial on the matter in federal court in Philadelphia ran from January 17 to January 18, 2024, with a decision expected in March or April.

The Mariners' Museum of Newport News, Virginia, holds many objects from United States, including the ''Expressions of Freedom'' by Gwen Lux, the aluminum sculpture from the main dining room, purchased during the 1984 auction. At the National Museum of American History, “The Currents” mural by Raymond John Wendell is on display. Two works by Hildreth Meière—the murals Mississippi and Father of Waters—were also brought to the museum; however, they are not on display. The ship's bell is kept in the clock tower on the campus of Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia. It is used to celebrate special events, including being rung by incoming freshman and by outgoing graduates. One of the ship's horns stood on display for decades above the Rent A Tool building in Revere, Massachusetts, and has since been sold to a private collector in Texas for $8,000 in 2017. A large collection of dining room furniture and other memorabilia that had been purchased during the 1984 auction, and incorporated at the Windmill Point Restaurant in Nags Head, North Carolina, was donated to the Mariners' Museum and Christopher Newport University in Newport News after the restaurant shut down in 2007. The chairs from the tourist class dining room are used in the Mariners' Museum cafe.

With both the eastbound and westbound speed records, SS United States obtained the Blue Riband which marked the first time a US flagged ship had held the record since claimed the prize 100 years earlier. United States maintained a crossing speed on the North Atlantic in a service career that lasted 17 years. The ship remained unchallenged for the Blue Riband throughout her career. During this period the fast trans Atlantic passenger trade moved to air travel, and many regard the story of the Blue Riband as having ended with United States. Her east bound record has since been broken several times (first, in 1986, by Virgin Atlantic Challenger II), and her west bound record was broken in 1990 by Destriero, but these vessels were not passenger carrying ocean liners. The Hales Trophy itself was lost in 1990 to Hoverspeed Great Britain, setting a new eastbound speed record for a commercial vessel.

Inside the Abandoned S. S. United States, 2021 YouTube tour video