Posted on 02/16/2017 7:36:47 AM PST by NRx
The former American luxury liner was supposed to be docked In Philadelphia for 21 days; it’s been almost 21 years.
Is time running out for the famous ocean liner?
The SS United States is a luxury passenger liner built in 1952 for United States Lines. It was designed by American naval architect William Francis Gibbs to capture the trans-Atlantic speed record. Built at a cost of $79.4 million ($733 million in today’s dollars) the ship is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the US and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction. Even in her retirement, she retains the Blue Riband, the accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the highest speed. Her construction was subsidized by the US government since she was designed to allow conversion to a troopship should the need arise. Thes SS United States operated uninterrupted in transatlantic passenger service until 1969. Since 1996 she has been docked at Pier 82 on the Delaware River in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania Congressman Bob Brady needed to vote soon, but he hung back in his Washington, D.C. office for a few minutes longer to talk on the phone because the subject is South Philly — precisely the hulking monster of an old passenger ship planted in the Delaware River across from IKEA and Longhorn Steakhouse.
“What the hell’s going on with that thing?” Brady asked.
It’s the perfect question: What the hell is going on with the SS United States?
If you don’t know the SS United States by name, you know it by sight. The ship is so tall it has its own skyline. The ship is so dilapidated it has its own overused, albeit cool, word to describe the situation. The ship is mothballing. Or the ship is mothballed.
Media have been all over the SS United States for years (we included). The Washington Post gave the ship #longform attention in 2014. The New York Times has written about it four times in the last three years. These articles and the dozens to hundreds of others bring up the ship’s plight and allude to some grand future, where the ship becomes an entertainment center, likely in New York, relieving Philly of its “giant ocean liner rusting in a harbor near a bunch of strip clubs” duties.
But will that ever happen? The SS United States was initially supposed to be in Philadelphia for 21 days, according to media reports from 1996. Days. We are now in the 21st year it has been docked on the Delaware, and there’s seemingly no end in sight. Probably because there is no end in sight, according to developers who can’t imagine any use that would bring a return on investment for something so large, so old and so expensive.
(Read the rest at the linked site.)
The steel scrap market is in the dumps. Should have scrapped it back in 2007 when China was buying up all scrap steel they could find.
There is no use for it. While it sits there, its hull is rotting
Perhaps it can be used to ferry illegal immigrants back home. Just a thought.
Probably needed all that steel to help strengthen the foundations of that fake island of theirs.
Saw a documentary on it years ago, they were so scared of fire they packed the ship with asbestos and the only wood allowed on board was the piano and butcher block
Interesting article.
crossing the ocean is faster one way than the other ?
could the governor declare it an environmental hazard ?
It looks like the New Illegal Alien Detention Center
A friend of mine actually rode it across the pond, I don’t remember the exact dates.
With the current vs. Against the current.
doh ! thanx...
Tow it out to sea and give it a decent burial. Better a watery grave than the ignominy of the scrapyard.
Mention of that ship brought back several memories. My fourth grade school teacher, who bore more than a modest resemblance to Margaret Hamilton, once spent half a day showing the class slides of her latest summer trip to Europe and back with her daughter aboard the SS United States. Travel used to be an adventure and going by steamer was less expensive than trans-Atlantic airfares. As a side note, her presentation about the trip and Europe probably helped plant a seed that led to a career in international business. Meanest teacher I ever had but one who made one of the deepest impressions.
Built at a cost of $79.4 million ($733 million in today’s dollars)
When I see the difference in cost because of inflation I realize that Wall Street and the politicians are ripping us off.
Yup! Same as when you fly to Europe given the gulfstream winds.
Have welfare RECIPIENT’S start scraping and painting the hull. Make it look nice.
Look up the Normandie, that was a liner that was being refitted for a troopship (WWII), but a welding spark got into the woodwork before it had all been stripped out. She capsized at the dock from all the water that was shot in trying to put out the fires. Don't nobody want to see a repeat of that performance.
Bit of a metaphor, ain’t it?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.