Surviving liner United States to be sunk

Not exactly news, but I didn't know where it fits.

https://www.phillyvoice.com/ss-united-states-sunk-artificial-reef-okaloosa-county-florida/

The ship United States, a survivor from the last years of transatlantic ocean-liner travel, is moored in Philadelphia - thirty years now, with a non-profit struggling to try to find a use that would preserve it. There have been plans for floating hotels, universities-at-sea, an office-ship, permanently moored, but none have come to fruition.

A Federal judge ordered the ship out of its berth by September 12, after legal proceedings by the controllers of the pier slip. That isn't nearly enough time - the ship is not seaworthy; it was decommissioned in the 1970s, and has been stripped of asbestos, interior materials and all fuels, at various times since.

One report has a Florida county ready to buy it on short notice, to sink in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef.

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/escambia-county/2024/08/02/ss-united-states-could-be-escambia-county-florida-next-artificial-reef-with-funding/74630633007/

I'm of mixed feelings on this. The ship is, in current form, useless. It's not practically convertable into any sort of modern cruise liner. There's been little interest in it in over 30 years, and it's an eyesore on the Philadelphia waterfront.

It's also a surviving piece of history, and one reason it's survived is that it's been in a freshwater harbor for so many years.

Seems an obscenity to take this thing, with significant history tied to the Cunard liners, the struggling ocean-crossing trade as jet aircraft emerged...take this ship and just sink it...

My ex sailed on her at least twice. She preferred it to much later "Something of the Seas".

I hear ya - on both sides.

I don't suppose there's anything of enough value to make auctioning parts off worth the trouble? Sometimes, if you put a high enough price tag on something, people will glom after it. But then, I don't suppose many Leftists would be interested in preserving the United States.

Failure to recognize significance.   We've seen the same thing in cities we've grown up in.   For instance, Roanoke, Virginia.  downtown had two beautiful theatres not just useful but also used for other things such as recitials, plays, etc. and what did the Roanoke 'fathers' do?  They tore them down and put in.........parking lots.   WHAT a LOSS for that city.  SO. STUPID.    Those theatres were like walking into a fairy tale castle..the red/gold/chandeliers and mirrors and staircases.THe HISTORY!!!  A loss never to be recovered... a loss historically as well as artistically and archetecturally.     As soon as that ship is destroyed....many people will come up with ideas for its use but by then it will be too late..and the loss realized.

Calypso Jones wrote:Failure to recognize significance.   We've seen the same thing in cities we've grown up in.   For instance, Roanoke, Virginia.  downtown had two beautiful theatres not just useful but also used for other things such as recitials, plays, etc. and what did the Roanoke 'fathers' do?  They tore them down and put in.........parking lots.   WHAT a LOSS for that city.  SO. STUPID.    Those theatres were like walking into a fairy tale castle..the red/gold/chandeliers and mirrors and staircases.THe HISTORY!!!  A loss never to be recovered... a loss historically as well as artistically and archetecturally.     As soon as that ship is destroyed....many people will come up with ideas for its use but by then it will be too late..and the loss realized.

They've had over 30 years; the guy who purchased it from the scrappers, in the early 1990s, is long dead. A non-profit has had control for over 25 years; and they've been paying the mooring bill - $875 A DAY - from donor funds.

The best these brainiacs have come up with, is a floating multi-use center - hotel, offices and retail. Well, the old Cunard Queen Mary in Long Beach, has done that, as a Raddison hotel - even with the favorable weather, it's been a real struggle, and the ship came close to being scrapped at its mooring, several times.

There just doesn't seem the interest in such ships. I don't know why those butt-ugly new cruise ships, which look like iceberg hotels, are popular and converted liners, not, but that's how it went. I guess it comes down to, the cost of converting an old liner.

And the naval architecture. Cruise ships are NOT intended for heavy weather - since they're able to alter course or even change ports of call, to avoid storms. Traditional liners had a route, dedicated ports, and schedules, and were set up to make it through the worst the ocean could send at them.

I for one think that ship is beautiful, but it's obvious I'm in a minority. This isn't the first waste I've seen in the last 15 years - the Aquarama, a Liberty Ship converted to a Lake Erie day-cruising ferry, and then laid up when it quit making money...sat at the International Salt pier in Buffalo for over a decade, with no one able to come up with money and coherent plans. It was a poor ferry, set up as it was for the open ocean, but since ships can be cut in pieces to repair or upgrade - putting a stretched midships section is common in passenger and freight carriers alike - they could have done that with the Aquarama, giving it twin screws with a modern diesel drive.

But, no interest. It was towed, all the way from Buffalo to Alang, India, for scrap.

I don't know how this ship is avoiding that end, but this is no better. Probably the cost of the heavy, heavy tow, and that this ship is more gutted than the Aquarama was. It's smaller cousin-ship, the SS America, was being towed to Turkey for scrap in 1992 and broke its tow lines, went aground on the Canary Islands, and laid there. And rusted into nothing.

There doesn't appear to be any help for this. Someone wants it gone, REAL bad.

2cent wrote:I hear ya - on both sides.  

I don't suppose there's anything of enough value to make auctioning parts off worth the trouble?  Sometimes, if you put a high enough price tag on something, people will glom after it.  But then, I don't suppose many Leftists would be interested in preserving the United States.

It was completely stripped in 1982, in a Ukranian scrapyard.

From 1969, when it was abruptly pulled from service, to 1982, it just lay vacant, with only minimal maintenance done on it. Rust was becoming a structural issue, and water damage to interior furnishings - and probably, mold - was all over. So, it was towed to Ukraine, and the scrapping company did it for nominal payment and the valuable contents - artwork, some furniture, some wall panelings. A lot of the interior fixtures were aluminum with Di-Noc fake-wood bonded to it - the designers wanted to minimize fire danger.

Aluminum scrap is worth a lot, and the Ukrainians got it all as payment. For that, they also removed the asbestos behind the paneling and in overheads, engineering spaces, etc. They may have removed the steam turbines, too.

So the ship is a gutted hulk. It was ready for refitting with modern material, but that was 42 years ago. It's just sat, since then.

At one time the United States was the fastest liner on the seas.

It is amazing that people will spend gobs of money cruising on a floating hotel but not go on a liner from A to B.

As to converting liner to cruise ships, cruise ships are built differently and for a different purpose. Whereas a liner is built for transportation and speed in rough seas. Cruise ships in my opinion and I've never been on one are nothing more than self-propelled holiday barges.