The SS United States is a ship from another era. One of the last great ocean liners, very different from modern cruise ships, she was designed to carry passengers across oceans. On her maiden voyage in 1952, she set speed records crossing the Atlantic in both directions, earning the coveted Blue Riband.
Nevertheless, from the start, her days in liner service were numbered. Only five years after entering service, Boeing introduced the Model 707, the first widely adopted long-range commercial jetliner. The 707 ushered in the Jet Age and marked the end of the Golden age of ocean liners.
United States maintained an uninterrupted schedule of transatlantic passenger service until 1969 when she was laid up. The ship was 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 Pier 82 on the Delaware River, in Philadelphia, where she remains today.
Since 2009, a preservation group called the SS United States Conservancy has been raising funds to save the ship. In December of 2019, the group entered into an agreement with a prominent commercial real estate development firm, RXR Realty, which has been exploring options for the SS United States’ revitalization.
Here is a short video tour of the SS United States.
She was a symbol of another era that was also mine.
As she stands, she still is a symbol of the new era.
Rust. Decay.
Acute nostalgia…
I wish the SS United States Conservancy had the money to completely restore her to her former glory, including the original furnishings (even though her furnishing were sold years ago) and bring her back into transatlantic passenger service or into a floating hotel for the east coast, like the Hotel Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.
http://www.ssusc.org