PHILADELPHIA — In its day, the SS United States was a nautical marvel, the fastest passenger liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean in a record time that has stood for more than 70 years. It was also hailed as an engineering masterpiece, designed in close cooperation with the U.S. Navy as a potential troop ship in the event of a war.
But the only race the vessel known as "America's flagship" is competing in now is a race against time to avoid the scrapyard.
After a judge last month ordered it to leave its berth at Pier 82 in Philadelphia, the SS United States Conservancy, the ship's current owner, is scrambling to raise $500,000 to help cover the cost of a potential relocation and other expenses. The ruling was the result of a lengthy rent dispute between the conservancy and the ship's current landlord, which sought to double the vessel's daily dockage fee.
"The lawsuit and subsequent court ruling gives us a very limited window to secure a new home for the ship and raise the resources for moving costs and ongoing expenses," said Conservancy President Susan Gibbs, the granddaughter of the ship's designer, William Francis Gibbs.
The SS United States shuttled presidents, royalty and movie stars between the U.S. and Europe in elegant luxury for more than 15 years until it was pulled from service in 1969, a victim of the rise of jet airline travel and an end of government subsidies.
Today, the SS United States looms over south Philadelphia, where it has been docked since 1996. At 990 feet, it is larger than the Titanic and sits across the street from an IKEA parking lot. The ship's fixtures and furniture were all removed over the years. Rust and peeling paint compete to see which does more to make the ship look every day of its 72 years.
"Our goal with this campaign is to save this great symbol of American pride and innovation," Ms. Gibbs said. "We have very little time and we face many challenges."
The SS United States was built by Newport News Shipbuilding as a joint effort between the owner, United States Lines, and the Navy. It was the largest passenger ship ever built in the U.S., according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
The ship boasted several innovative design features to increase safety and speed. The ship had four steam turbines and eight boilers, and its engines produced sufficient horsepower to a reported top speed of 42 knots — about 48 miles per hour. The SS United States had a capacity for about 2,000 passengers as an ocean liner, but could carry 14,000 military personnel with space for a 400-bed hospital if needed as a troop ship.
The money-paying passengers of the SS United States could spend the transatlantic crossing in stylish comfort, dancing in the ballroom, watching a movie in the theater, or playing shuffleboard on the sports deck. But most importantly, she was built for speed.
The SS United States was long and narrow, with a sharp bow that could slice through the waves like a samurai's sword. Unlike other ocean liners, most of its superstructure was built out of lightweight aluminum. The ship also had a low center of gravity that added to its speed and stability.
"It could go as fast in reverse as the Titanic going forward," said Warren Jones, an SS United States Conservancy Board member who traveled on the ship as a boy with his parents.
William Gibbs, the ship's designer, was obsessed with safety and studied past maritime disasters to ensure the SS United States wouldn't end up like the Titanic. It was double-hulled and had watertight compartments that extended 40 feet above the waterline. The ship also had a redundant engine room so that if one of the engines flooded, the other could still operate and generate electricity for the ship.
"If the SS United States had ever suffered comparable catastrophic damage to the Titanic, the ship would not have broken apart because her superstructure was made of aluminum, much more flexible than steel and not requiring any expansion joints," the SS United States Conservancy said.
On her maiden voyage in July 1952, the SS United States broke the eastbound transatlantic speed record that had been held for the previous 14 years by the RMS Queen Mary. The American ship made the crossing from New York to Great Britain in 3 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes — besting the British liner's fastest run by more than 10 hours.
The SS United States had a power plant similar to those used by Navy aircraft carriers of the era. That proved a security and commercial headache when United States Lines went out of business: The Pentagon was concerned that a potential adversary could purchase the ship and gain valuable intelligence about its military technology.
"The [power plant] design was confidential and that created an issue," said Mr. Jones with the SS United States Conservancy. "There were a couple of years where they probably could have done something quicker had it not been for people looking at that power plant."
After it retired in 1969, the SS United States spent years being passed around from owner to owner, with each planning to bring it back into service in some form. Crystal Cruises explored whether it could return to sea as a passenger carrier, but eventually abandoned the notion.
More recently, New York-based RXR Realty developed a plan to dock the ship near the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan and turn it into a floating hotel. But that plan also fell through.
"This would have been perfect," Mr. Jones said. "We couldn't get [New York Gov. Kathy Hochul] to get moving on that."
The New York plan for the SS United States could be readily adapted for other cities interested in having their very own maritime icon. Mr. Jones said the conservancy has been talking with other interested parties and he remains optimistic. But the immediate need continues to be finding a temporary home after the ship is evicted in September, officials said.
If that doesn't happen, Mr. Jones said, the conservancy's options are extremely limited. The most likely outcome is that the liner will have to be sold to a scrapyard or sunk as a reef.
But even with its current location at a grim industrial pier in Philadelphia, supporters say the SS United States — rust and peeling paint and all — deserves a better fate as a triumph of American engineering and design at its best.
"This has 'America' written all over it. Every single state contributed to building this ship," Mr. Jones said. "This should give Americans pride. We can come together and save this icon of America."
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