SS United States
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| <tr><td colspan=2> | <tr><td colspan=2 style="color: white; background: navy;"> | <tr><td>Keel laid:</td><td>February 8 1950</td></tr> | <tr><td>Floated out:</td><td>June 23 1951</td></tr> | <tr><td>Sea trials:</td><td>May/June 1952</td></tr> | <tr><td>Maiden voyage:</td><td>July 3 1952</td></tr> | <tr><td>Fate:</td><td>Laid up</td></tr> | <tr><td colspan=2 style="color: white; background: navy;"> | <tr><td>Tonnage:</td><td>53,329 gross; 47,300 displacement at maximum draft</td></tr> | <tr><td>Length:</td><td>990 ft (301.8 m)</td></tr> | <tr><td>Beam:</td><td>101 ft (31 m)</td></tr> | <tr><td>Height:</td><td>175 ft (53 m)</td></tr> | <tr><td>Service speed:</td><td>35 knots (65 km/h, 40 MPH)</td></tr> | <tr><td>Engines:</td><td>Westinghouse Double-Reduction Steam Turbines (x4)</td></tr> | <tr><td>Boilers:</td><td>Foster-Wheeler 1,000 in³ (6.9 MPa) (x8)</td></tr> | <tr><td>Power:</td><td>248,000 hp (185 MW)</td></tr> | <tr><td>Passengers:</td><td>1928</td></tr> | <tr><td>Cost:</td><td>$78 million</td></tr>
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The SS United States (also known as "The Big U") is an ocean liner built in 1952 for the United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner built to date in the United States and is still the fastest liner ever built.
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[edit] Construction
Inspired by the exemplary service of the British liners Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth which transported hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops to Europe during World War II, the United States government decided to sponsor construction of a large and very fast merchant vessel capable of transporting large numbers of soldiers. Designed by renowned American naval architect and marine engineer William Francis Gibbs, the liner's construction was a joint effort between the United States Navy and United States Lines. The U.S. government underwrote $50 million of the $78 million construction cost, with the ship's operators, United States Lines, contributing the remaining $28 million. In exchange, she was designed to be easily converted into a troopship or a hospital ship in the case of war.
She was built from 1950-1952 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia. Her keel was laid and her hull was constructed in a graving dock. The United States was built to exacting Navy specifications, which required that she be heavily compartmentalized and have separate engine rooms to enable her to survive should she be damaged in war.
Mindful that during World War II U.S. aircraft carriers, with wooden flight decks, tended to catch fire more readily than steel-decked British carriers, the designers of the United States did not use a single piece of wood in her framing, accessories or decorations. There were no wood interior surfaces. Fittings, including all furniture and fabrics, were custom made in glass, metal and spun glass fiber to ensure they were in full compliance with strict fireproof guidelines set by the U.S. Navy. Even the clothes hangers in the luxury cabins were made of aluminium. The only wooden equipment used in the construction of the vessel was in the bilge keels and butcher blocks in the galleys. The grand piano in the ballroom was even made of a rare, fire-resistant species of wood.
The construction of the ship's superstructure involved the largest use of aluminum in any construction project to that time, and presented a special challenge to the builders in joining the aluminum structure to the steel decks below. The significant use of aluminum provided an extreme weight savings. At 106 ft (32 m) beam, the United States was built to Panamax capacity, ensuring that she could clear the Panama Canal locks with just 2 feet (0.6 m) to spare on either side. The United States featured the most powerful engine installation in a merchant marine vessel and the most powerful in any vessel, civilian or naval, apart from later U.S. supercarriers. She was capable of steaming astern at over 20 knots (37 km/h) and could carry enough fuel and stores to steam non-stop for over 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 km).
[edit] Service history
Embarking on her maiden voyage on July 4, 1952, the United States smashed the transatlantic speed record held by the Queen Mary for the previous 14 years by over 10 hours, making her maiden crossing from the Ambrose lightship at New York Harbor to Bishop Rock off Cornwall, UK in 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes at an average speed of 35.59 knots (65.91 km/h). The liner also broke the westbound crossing record by returning to America in 3 days 12 hours and 12 minutes at an average speed of 34.51 knots (63.91 km/h), thereby obtaining both the eastbound and westbound Blue Ribands. The United States maintained a 30 knot crossing speed on the North Atlantic in a service career that lasted 17 years. During her career her Captains were Harry Manning, John Anderson and Leroy J. Alexanderson. She was very popular and proved to be a worthy competitor to the Cunard Line's Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
The maximum speed of the United States was deliberately exaggerated, and kept obscure for many years. An impossible value of 43 knots was leaked to reporters by engineers after the first speed trial. The actual top speed -- 38.3 knots -- was not revealed until 1977.<ref>"How Fast Can It Go?</ref>
[edit] Recent history
After going out of service in 1969, the United States has been passed between several companies. In 1978 the vessel was sold to private interests who hoped to revitalize the liner in a time share cruise ship format. Financing fell through and the ship was placed up for auction by MARAD. In 1984, the ship's remaining fittings and furniture were sold at auction in Norfolk, Virginia. Soon a new consortium of owners became interested in revitalizing the ship and the vessel was towed to eastern Europe to undergo asbestos removal. No viable agreements were reached in the U.S. for a reworking of the vessel and eventually the United States was towed to her current dock in South Philadelphia, where she has been moored since 1996. She can be easily viewed from shore as the United States is located directly across Columbus Boulevard from Philadelphia's IKEA store. Image:P1010009.JPG
In 1999, the SS United States Foundation and the SS United States Conservancy (then known as the SS United States Preservation Society, Inc.) successfully worked to have the ship placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2003, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) purchased the ship with the intent of fully restoring it to a service role in their newly announced American-flagged Hawaiian passenger service. As of August 2004, NCL was conducting feasibility studies regarding a new build-out of the vessel. In May of 2006, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, chairman of Star Cruises (which owns NCL) said that the company’s next project is “the restoration of the . . . United States.” [1]
While the United States was the last superliner to hold the Blue Riband, she eventually lost the eastbound transatlantic record to an Incat-built Norwegian-owned wave-piercing catamaran ferry in 1990 (Hoverspeed Great Britain). The United States however still retains the westbound speed record.
[edit] References
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[edit] External links
- SS United States Conservancy, a non-profit 501(c)3 preservation group
- SS United States Foundation a Federal 501c3 nonprofit historic preservation site
- SS United States Yahoo Group
- SS United States Google Group!
- SS United States site
- Satellite photo, via Google Maps, of the Big U's current locationde:United States (Schiff)
