SS United States - saved at last

[FourWheelDrift]

By the looks of things the fastest Ocean Liner and true Blue Riband holder the SS United States has finally be saved from rusting away in Philadelphia by the SS United States Conservancy who took ownership at the beginning of this month.

Built 1950-1952 and powered by aircraft carrier engines the most powerful steam turbines ever fitted to an ocean liner, she hit 38knots (44mph) on sea trials and could sustain over 30knots at sea, she broke the Queen Mary's long held record transatlantic crossing time by 10hrs. It was retired in 1969 and purchased in 2003 by the Norwegian Cruise Line to go back into service but it's been laid up ever since.

http://www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/

http://www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/news/_/20...

Lot of work needs doing.

[Hard-Drive]

38 knots. That's chuffing ridiculous!

[Eric Mc]

She's gorgeous and it is great that she might be preserved.

[kiteless]

This is great news

Not the prettiest of the Liners (although it didn't stop me building a model of her), but the true holder of The Blue Riband.

[hidetheelephants]

Did the asbestos ever get removed? I know she got towed to Turkey for it, but then enviro-mentalists objected or something, so she got towed home.

[davepoth]

Hard-Drive said:

38 knots. That's chuffing ridiculous!

44mph ish. Imagine trying to play deck quoits at full chat.

[Simpo Two]

You'll find a documentary featuring it on BBC iPlayer - search for 'Timeshift'.

It seems it was more miltary than civil underneath; the Blue Riband was really incidental.

(TS not SS)

[DamienB]

hidetheelephants said:

Did the asbestos ever get removed? I know she got towed to Turkey for it, but then enviro-mentalists objected or something, so she got towed home.

Removed but then the owners couldn't pay the bill so the guys doing the work started scrapping anything of value including the lifeboats and davits, lots of the internals etc.

No boats, no davits, no internal fixtures and fittings, no internal walls, steel plates welded over many of her portholes... the poor old girl is a gutted shell really.

Some pics:

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/01/59...

If you thought keeping a Vulcan airborne was expensive, just imagine the bill for bringing this ship up to a presentable standard!

[FourWheelDrift]

A bit more on the vast steam turbines that powered her.

They generated 248,000shp, to compare the previous Blue Riband holder RMS Queen Mary could generate 160,000shp, the much older RMS Titanic 59,000shp and a 33knot 58,000 ton WWII Iowa Class Battleship only 212,000.

The were the most powerful engines ever fitted to a merchant marine vessel and could even push her at 20knots in reverse.

I'm pretty certain they have been given separate heritage status unlike with the Queen Mary at Long Beach which has had it's engines and boilers removed.

[Simpo Two]

You'll find it on Google Earth; quite fun looking up old ships.



I spent a lot of time looking for the Queen Elizabeth

[hidetheelephants]

Simpo Two said:

You'll find it on Google Earth; quite fun looking up old ships.



I spent a lot of time looking for the Queen Elizabeth

Try Boots, mens grooming aisle.

[Waynester]

There's something quite fascinating about the condition she is in now...the rat look

[aeropilot]

Simpo Two said:

I spent a lot of time looking for the Queen Elizabeth

IIRC, her boilers and the keel plate are still on the sea bed of HK harbour.

The rest of her was recycled to provide a lot of the rebar for the concrete used in building the HK metro system.

[Vipers]

davepoth said:

Hard-Drive said:

38 knots. That's chuffing ridiculous!

44mph ish. Imagine trying to play deck quoits at full chat.

Almost faster than a warship, (Fast patrol exempt, I mean Frigates, Cruisers etc), I recall the Manxman, a minelayer, used to do 40 knots so the web site says, anything faster I wonder?

http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/hmsmanxman/page_2.htm

Edited by Vipers on Monday 21st February 13:50

Edited by Vipers on Monday 21st February 13:51