[Yardstick]

Very interesting — thanks. It’s too bad they had strip out the interior walls for asbestos removal. It’s mostly just the metal frame now without much of its original character. But, as the project leader for the conservancy says, that makes it kind of a blank canvas, and as such they’re looking for a visionary investor to do a total renovation. She contrasts this with the Queen Mary, another one of the handful of surviving ocean liners of the era, whose original appointments were all intact making a historical restoration the natural approach. It would be great to see them succeed in getting the SS United States reworked in grand fashion and back on the seas again.

[Dr. Franklin]

Very interesting — thanks. It’s too bad they had strip out the interior walls for asbestos removal. It’s mostly just the metal frame now without much of its original character. But, as the project leader for the conservancy says, that makes it kind of a blank canvas, and as such they’re looking for a visionary investor to do a total renovation. She contrasts this with the Queen Mary, another one of the handful of surviving ocean liners of the era, whose original appointments were all intact making a historical restoration the natural approach. It would be great to see them succeed in getting the SS United States reworked in grand fashion and back on the seas again.

The fact that they gutted the interior to remove the asbestos allows for either restoring the old look with improved plumbing and wiring from high tech devices, and sound proofing, or something completely new. I think refitting the ship as a floating hotel offers the most promise, and it could still have a restaurant, bar and ball room. The bar and ball room could be done first to pay the bills while the rooms are refitted. I do think some government money is needed to start the effort moving forward. Enough government money has been wasted through the decades that this should have been done by now.