The sad final fate of the fastest passenger ship ever built
The years following the end of World War II were the last golden age of the ocean liner, when some of the most magnificent cruise ships ever built regularly crossed the North Atlantic. A cavalcade of ostentatious ships offered suites of once-unthinkable speeds along with luxurious rooms and sumptuous dining rooms.
However, one ship surpassed the others. On her maiden voyage from New York to Le Havre in July 1952, SS United States set a trans-Atlantic speed record of three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes, averaging 35.59 knots (66 km/h).
The highly coveted “Blue Ribbon” is an award given to the fastest way to cross this vast ocean on a commercial cruise ship. SS United States earned this title more than 70 years ago and set a record that remains unbeatable. The high price of marine fuel now prohibits such bold, gas-guzzling efforts. Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 for comparison It takes seven days to travel from Southampton to New York at a maximum speed of 30 knots (48 km/h).
A top secret building
The express ship was certainly the most technologically advanced cruise ship to sail the Stars and Stripes. Painted red, white and blue, with its 20-meter-high two-fin funnel, 300-meter-long low hull and beam calibrated to navigate the Panama Canal, this ostentatious state ship broke the mold.
The design of the “Big U,” as the ship was affectionately named, was so innovative that the details of its construction were kept top secret. Built at the Newport News Shipyard in Virginia, the ship was a joint effort between its owners, United States Lines, and the United States Navy. Two-thirds of the US$78 million ($117 million) construction costs were subsidized by the Pentagon so that the ship could be taken over by the military and easily converted into a hospital ship or transport ship capable of carrying an army division of 14,400 soldiers for 16,000 kilometers without refueling. Although the ship was briefly on standby for mobilization during the Cuban Crisis of 1962, the conversion was never needed.
The ship’s maximum speed of 38.32 knots (71 km/h), achieved during the 1952 speed trials, was not disclosed because it was considered a military secret. Its eight boilers and four massive steam turbines were the most powerful turbines ever installed on a merchant ship. Another feature that remained a Cold War state secret was the new combination of four-blade and five-blade propellers. To reduce weight, this streamlined Atlantic hound was the first to use an innovative process combining an all-aluminum superstructure with a battleship-quality, five-inch-thick steel hull. Famous designer William Francis Gibbs wanted his ship to be fireproof, so he insisted that no wood be used in the construction or rigging.
sailing with the stars
Travelers soon embraced “America’s flagship,” which had just the right mix of 1950s glamor to attract the rich and famous. Passengers who boarded the ship in the 50s and early 60s included Marlon Brando, Coco Chanel, Sean Connery, Gary Cooper, Salvador Dali, Walt Disney, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne and John F. Kennedy.
Capacity was 1972 passengers in a tiered system of first class, cabin class and tourist class. Some found this contrary to such a classless democracy. With its mid-century modern decor, the ship defined America on the high seas in atmosphere, food and experience. service. With its imposing two- and three-storey-high saloons fashioned from 56 of the world’s rarest woods, it was less stuffy than its European counterparts, such as the venerable Cunard “Queens”.
Some passengers hated the SS United States, but he complained that the black and silver palette of black linoleum floors and oyster-white walls looked too much like a battleship. One caustic reviewer called it a “boring early Sheraton.” The innovation of being the first fully air-conditioned ship, as well as the first to use microwave ovens, did not make enough of an impact for some members of the traveling elite who sought elegance over speed.
America’s largest ocean liner operated a trans-Atlantic service for 17 years at a very high operational speed of 30 to 32 knots (48 to 51 km/h), allowing the ship to maintain a schedule of five-night sailings from New York to Le Havre, Southampton, and occasionally Bremerhaven. There were also winter cruises to South America, Africa and Europe. In September 1958, the ship sailed its millionth mile, but there were dark clouds on the horizon. introduction Boeing 707 that year changed the paradigm of global travel. Carrying more than 180 passengers at speeds of up to 960 km per hour, jets brought trans-Atlantic flights to the masses.
unwanted surprise
Following United States Lines’ financial collapse in 1969, Big U was founded in its Virginia hometown. Trip 400 would be his last. In 1978, the US Navy decided that the ship was no longer suitable for its needs and it was put up for sale. This rusting ship passed from owner to owner, each with daring plans for a secure future.
One such attempt saw the ship being towed to Türkiye and then Ukraine in 1992 for removal of hazardous materials. The asbestos-free ship returned to Philadelphia’s Delaware River four years later. Another buyer, Norwegian Cruise Line, announced plans for an exotic service around the Hawaiian Islands in 2003. This attempt, like the others, failed.
In 2009, the SS United States Conservancy launched a “Save Our Ship” campaign to provide public support for the ship, prevent its sale for scrap, and raise funds for its purchase and restoration. In July 2010, a philanthropist donated US$5.8 million, enabling the ship to be purchased by loyal keepers. This supported several plans to restore the ship, not all of which were carried out. The abandoned ship was evacuated from its dock in 2024 due to a lease dispute after being docked in Philadelphia for decades.
The cost burden and difficulty of finding a suitable location as a tourist attraction or hotel has become insurmountable. When all other options were exhausted, Florida’s Okaloosa County purchased the ship for US$10.1 million for the sole purpose of using it as an artificial reef. This initiative is a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars that will be spent to fully restore the ship.
Few could have imagined the ignominious final resting place of this beacon of American ingenuity. Over the next few months, the SS United States, lacking its funnels, He will make his last journey. The former pride of America’s merchant shipping will be transformed into the world’s largest artificial reef by being sunk in the Gulf of Mexico 37 kilometers south of the Florida Panhandle.
Underwater footage will capture this harrowing sight, showing the ship’s lively sinking and final placement on the ocean bed. The purpose of the immersion is to create a marine ecosystem and dive site, with the ship’s artifacts preserved in a museum on land. The fastest trans-Atlantic ocean liner in history will be reduced to a barnacle-covered carcass.
The fate of five other major ocean liners
Queen Elizabeth 2
The famous QE2, which crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, was sold to Dubai World in 2007. The longest-serving ship in Cunard history was rescued from an acetylene torch and resurrected as a floating hotel in 2018. Rising above Port Rashid, the sympathetically renovated ship features 447 original cabins, nine bars and restaurants, retail outlets and a swimming pool.
SS Rotterdam
Another European flagship was saved from an ignominious death in the masters’ yard. Holland America Line’s fifth SS Rotterdam was launched in 1958 at a shipyard in its home port. After 13 years crossing the North Atlantic, the ship took on a new role, circumnavigating the world. This sun-kissed bright day was followed by a series of tenures, each ending in bankruptcies. Finally, in April 2013, WestCorp Hotels took over the operation of SS Rotterdam., It is currently permanently docked at Maashaven. Featuring 1950s design, 254 hotel rooms and restaurants offer plenty of nostalgia.
SS Normandy
It was certainly the most extravagantly decorated trans-Atlantic ocean liner of her time, perhaps of all time. Unfortunately, the French Line’s flagship sailed for less than five years before being docked in New York in August 1939 when war broke out in Europe. While being converted into a troopship for Allied service in 1942, she caught fire at New York’s Pier 88 on West 49th Street and later capsized. The charred body of Blue Riband’s previous owner in 1935 and 1937 made a bleak sight. The wrecked ship was finally scrapped in 1946.
RMS Queen Elizabeth
In 1970, Hong Kong shipping magnate CY Tung purchased Cunard’s decommissioned RMS Queen Elizabeth to convert it into a floating campus called Seawise University. The world’s largest ocean liner at the time arrived in Hong Kong in July 1971 for extensive repairs. On January 9, 1972, several mysterious fires broke out on the Leviathan and it capsized in shallow waters in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour.
RMS Queen Mary
Her former sister ship is enjoying a more dignified retirement in the sun. splendid RMS Queen Mary, Housing the Blue Riband in 1936 and 1938, it was sold to the City of Long Beach, California, in 1967. The permanently moored old Cunarder is a popular tourist attraction, with a museum and a hotel where guests can sleep in an art deco dreamscape of original first-class suites and cabins.
Telegraph, London
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