Posted on 06/17/2024 2:59:26 PM PDT by Dr. Franklin
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The SS United States, a historic ship that still holds the transatlantic speed record it set more than 70 years ago, must leave its berth on the Delaware River in Philadelphia by Sept. 12, a federal judge says.
The decision issued Friday by U.S. District Judge Anita Brody culminated a years-old rent dispute between the conservancy that oversees the 1,000-foot ocean liner and its landlord, Penn Warehousing. It stemmed from an August 2021 decision by Penn Warehousing to double the ship's daily dockage to $1,700, an increase the conservancy refused to accept.
When the conservancy continued to pay its previous rate, set in 2011, Penn Warehousing terminated the lease in March 2022. After much legal wrangling, Brody held a bench trial in January but also encouraged the two sides to reach a settlement instead of leaving it up to her.
The judge ultimately ruled that the conservancy’s failure to pay the new rate did not amount to a contract breach or entitle Penn Warehousing to damages. But she also ruled that under Pennsylvania contract law, the berthing agreement is terminable at will with reasonable notice, which Penn Warehousing had issued in March 2022.
“The judge’s decision gives us a very limited window to find a new home for the SS United States and raise the resources necessary to move the ship and keep her safe,” Susan Gibbs, conservancy president and granddaughter of the ship’s designer, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Besides finding a new home, the conservancy also must obtain funds for insurance, tugs, surveys and dock preparations for a move.
... said Craig Mills, an attorney for Penn Warehousing. “But after decades of decay and delay, it is time to acknowledge the unavoidable and return Pier 82 to productive commercial service.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
if a new location can’t be found and developed soon enough, open the sea valves and let Penn Warehousing deal with it ...
It should go to the scrappers. It was obsolete before its keel was laid.
It was actually being towed to Turkey in 1992. Sucks getting old.
Yep. If private funding cannot be found to turn it into a floating hotel, then to the scrapyard she goes. The SS United States is an interesting ship. But it’s not central to the history of the country. So no government funding, please.
Now, if the boat could be found that Washington used to cross the Delaware, that would be a different story.🙂
For a certainty, if it was turned into a hotel, it would immediately be “requisitioned” to house illegals.
That ship was a marvel in engineering; the US government got involved after seeing how the UK assumed control of the Cunard Lines' "Queens" during WWII and used them as troopships. Anticipating a possible future need for the same, there were redundancies built into the engine rooms as one would put on a warship.
And she was incredibly fast, with a bow designed to cut through the waves (and minimize the pitching in high seas). (Someone who sailed on her from Europe to New York described to me how he stood at the stern and saw the wake extend to the horizon.)
There's plenty of info online about her for anyone interested.
They ought to preserve it but apparently few care. I applaud Susan Gibbs for giving it her all in memory of her grandfather, the great naval architect William Francis Gibbs. My grandfather knew him.
“They are paying rent, but not a rent increase. It could be moored in the river until they find a new home.”
I’m a landlord. My taxes have gone up by a huge amount, as has insurance, costs, etc. Of my seven rentals, only two are currently at market rate. I should have increased the rent several years ago. This year we are in the red. I really don’t want to, as in probably most cases I’ll have to evict long term tenants. But reality is reality. Costs go up. Rent goes up.
The organization has been unable to raise the funds to restore it in place. It cannot afford higher rent.
The ship will be scrapped. The decay must be extensive.
The ship is not floating. Last I heard it was in several yards of mud and will be difficult to move.
It is also structurally dubious.
“It is also structurally dubious.”
I saw photos of it from a special years ago. It was junk then and ships don’t get better. They only get worse. When Covid hit the cruise business many brand-new ships were scrapped. That’s because they can’t be left unmanned. They must be taken out to sea several times per year depending on the host’s agreement. They have to have power and air conditioning running all the time. Regular maintenance must be performed. It costs millions of dollars to let a brand-new ship just sit. This ship has been junk for decades.
President Trump can refurbish it out his own pocket...
Then start using it to deport the 60,000,000 migrant invader vermin (MIVs) to the EU, Africa, and the M.E.
Although it nominally carries 1688 passengers, proper stacking would make 4,000 possible...
After all, in WWII we stuffed 3,000 into much smaller liberty ships...
Traveling across the ocean at about 45 MPH, the round trip would be about 6.5 days...
That’s 56 trips per year... 224,000 per year...
Also we have some mothballed liberty ships and could fill them and send them through the Red Sea to the east African coast...
Half mile off shore, nets over the side, and let the swim to shore begin...
Screw that “airplane” nonsense!
Unless we have hundreds of helicopters being loaded at the southern border and the MIVs being dropped into central-western Mexico... The native Indians will welcome them with open arms...
The ship was designed to carry a division of troops to Europe in 3-4 days with no escort.
It was obsolete before its keel was laid.
><><
How so?
This time it's not so 'bon' a voyage.
All ships die, including great ships. Scrap it.
if the nuclear power unit was restored then it could make some billionaire a very comfortable hideout.
My dad sailed on it when he was a teenager to Europe. I have the ashtray from that ship he gave me.
Actually my 90-year old brain confused the United States (built in 1950) with the Normandie, Queen Elizabeth, and Queen Mary...
These later two ships carried many divisions of soldiers to England...
The Normandie (renamed the Layette) sank at the pier in the Hudson river while being converted to a troop ship...
Is that the same SS United States that Joe Biden drove, singlehandedly across the Atlantic and back in a weekend?
It must be saved!
My dad was stationed at RAF Mildenhall from June 1964-1967. He was Admiral McCain plane captain for the last two years.
We came back to the States on the USS United States. For a 14 year-old, it was pretty awesome.
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