Posted on 03/11/2009 1:45:45 PM PDT by americanophile
I think this ship should be saved, its nearly in the same class as the USS Constitution.
The Germans were nearly the least of their worries:
In December 1942, the Queen Mary was carrying exactly 16,082 American troops from New York to Great Britain, a standing record for the most passengers ever transported on one vessel.[7] While 700 miles from Scotland during a gale, she was suddenly hit broadside by a rogue wave that may have reached a height of 28 metres (92 ft). An account of this crossing can be found in Walter Ford Carter's book, No Greater Sacrifice, No Greater Love. Carter's father, Dr. Norval Carter, part of the 110th Station Hospital on board at the time, wrote that at one point the Queen Mary "damned near capsized... One moment the top deck was at its usual height and then, swoom! Down, over, and forward she would pitch." It was calculated later that the ship would have capsized had she rolled another 20cm.
I think the reporter was totally confused.
‘zactly.
Interesting site: http://www.ss-united-states.com/
If we need troopships that can work as superliners between wars we would be better off building new ones with up to date electrical systems, high efficiency diesel engines, and better maneuverability inshore. Also pools on the upper decks can be drained and covered over with a thin structure to form landing pads as was done with Canberra and QE1 in the Falklands. SS United States had her pool deep inside and her deck is too cluttered to quickly add a helicopter port. Not a big issue in the early 50’s, a deal breaker now.
Note that you can see it on Street View, too.
And to add to what you were saying about the port, note how there are places for ships all down the Delaware River—they don’t have to just go into a single port location anymore.
My thoughts exactly.
Correction to my post above should be QE2 not QE1.
About 19 years ago I toured the Carl Vinson with a comapany group. One of the spaces we toured was the bow anchor room. It was immaculate and in perfect order with murals painted on the wall everything in Navy shape down to the door knobs. I complimented the Master Chief in charge regarding how ship shape his space was. He said thank you sir and started telling me that they had just returned from sea where a storm in the Pacific put several blue water waves over the bow. Fully loaded a Nimitz Class carrier is about 90 feet water line to flight deck. He told me the Chief on duty on the brigde told him that he was worried she was not coming back up. Anyway the waves came in the anchor chain openings and tore the anchor room up. They had just finihed getting her back in shape. Scary stuff.
Poppa took me on a tour of that ship right after you were born in 1952, before it was delivered. I thought it was the most beautiful ship I'd ever seen. Wish it could be saved.
A fast, fast ship....44 knot top speed and could do 20 knots in reverse, as shown below on its sea trials.
Wow. Imagine the rest of the carrier group that was sailing with them. Would have been beyond terrifying on a guided missile destroyer.
Those refurbishing costs are terribly expensive.
We went to France in November 1964 on this ship. It averaged 32 Knots. They made the speed at night. It was rough sleeping, even for me. The screws were out of the water about half the time. Three and a half days NYC to Le Havre.
Ships have to earn their keep, otherwise, it is off to the scrapyard. Thus it has always been.
I see CVN 67 (JFK) there.
Let’s see a show of hands:
How many Navy Vets here attended Fire Fighting School in Norfolk Va under the shadow of the SS United States?? How many times??
I’ve lost count myself...
We sailed to the UK in 1969 on the United States. Back in the day, active duty military and DOD civilians could travel on these ships. On our sailing, there were several Army families aboard. The had been on board MATS aircraft ready to leave for Rhein-Main when they were taken off the plane at McGuire and taken by bus to the ternmnal in NYC. Some of them weren’t very happy. Lower ranking folks couldn’t travel in the summer as that’s when all the brass traveled. Earlier that year, we sailed from Yokohama on the SS President Wilson. Travel was not charged to annual leave; members received per diem and funds were provided for tips. The only thing we had to pay for was the booze.
I’ll be honest. I didn’t know any of this.
Still I don’t see it. Not in the condition that we are in financially.
And a nautical mile is equal to one minute of latitude.
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