My mom and dad sailed on it in late 1952 after they got married. I have an original SS United States post card they sent to my grandparents.
A long trip through the Gulf of America.
It is good to see that it will be used as an artificial reef for divers. I would not have minded seeing it turned into a museum/restaurant/hotel like what was done with the Queen Mary in Long Beach (went there last year and enjoyed doing so).
She’s headed to my area. I hope her scuttling will be respectful.
My family took the SS United States from NYC to Bremerhaven Germany when my dad was transferred from Ft Ord California to Landstuhl Germany in 1964. Fun times.
No complaining from the Enviro-Weenies about sinking a ship to the bottom of their beloved ocean? You’d think they’d be screaming and hanging from the chandeliers over this.
It’s a great fundraising/grifting opportunity! ;)
What would her value be had she been built pre-atomic era?
With all of the trillions of dollars wasted by the federal government on all kinds of garbage, it’s a sin that this engineering marvel won’t be saved for posterity.
WHY AT LOW TIDE?????
WHAT IS THE DRAFT ON THE VESSEL???
Sinking this ship is almost like sinking the Statue of Liberty.
sinking her would be like an symbolic analogy of the sinking of the United states itself.
Trump could take just a fraction of the DOGE savings and order the ship to be completely sandblasted and re-painted.
Well, i can dream least...
Why not recycle the steal?
(Odd inadvertant? similarity to the movie title, only without an end.)
While the SS United States is still en route to M.A.R.S., I wanted to post this screen snippet zoom from the tracking page. That way anyone can check for himself if desired.
Ahavas Chesed [אהבת חסד] is "the love of chesed" (kindness, loving-kindness, tender loving care).
When the tracker map is zoomed into the location of the red flag, it automatically switches to the satellite view. At this point, the USNS Comfort appears on the scene, near the flag. The work on the Comfort was expected to be completed on January 3, 2025, but she's still there.
SS United States
Meanwhile, the mayor is paying attention to another ship that is slowly making its way into the city's ship channel: The disabled SS United States, the massive ship that is nearly 1,000-feet-long, was in the Gulf of Mexico Friday and en route to the Mobile-based Modern American Recycling & Repair Services Inc. (MARRS) facility. The famed ocean-liner will be cleaned and prepared for a massive sinking off the Florida Gulf Coast where it will be turned into the world's largest artificial reef.
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But the SS United States is likely to draw plenty of sightseers while it's in Mobile. Already, harbor tours are being planned with excursions near the SS United States. The first is occurring on March 27 through Historic Blakeley State Park. Tickets are $39 for adults and $29 for children.
Stimpson said he hopes to learn about its arrival date. "I want to see it come in," he said.
The USNS Comfort began life as an oil tanker named Rose City. I have been unable to find the reason for that name. I suppose it could be anything. Perhaps the shipbuilders were connected to Portland, OR. Although... Petra in Jordan is also known as "Rose City". It's an excellent pun on petroleum for an oil tanker.
Comfort's relationship to the United States:
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The USNS Comfort was built at the National Steel and Shipbuilding Co. under her original name the S.S. Rose City (MA-301). The Rose City was one of the first San Clemente Class Tankers built, many called them the "super tankers". The Rose City keel plates were laid down on May 1975, and she was ready for service in 1976. USNS Mercy was originally the SS Worth, launched in 1976.
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Initially, planners studied the possibility of acquiring and converting the luxury liner SS United States to a hospital ship, but concluded the ship would not be adequate. Then the Navy approached the US shipbuilding industry, outlined its requirements for a hospital ship, including number of beds, surgical and laboratory facilities and overall space requirements, and solicited proposals.https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/tah-19-history.htm