SS United States Saved!

[PRR 60]

The SS United States, once the pride of the USA in the North Atlantic, has been saved from being scrapped. Norwegian Cruise Lines' Hong Kong owner has agreed to sell the ship to the SS United States Conservancy. The ship has been sitting idle and rusting at a dock in South Philadelphia for nearly 15 years. This is great news, and credit goes both the the Conservancy who pushed to get ownership, and to the Norwegian Lines who turned down a much higher bid from a scrapper to save a piece of history.

This is a crime against shipbuilding - a crime against history... [to] let such a ship die such a miserable death.

Walter Cronkite, 2007
From the SS United States Conservancy, February 1, 2011:

In a long-anticipated milestone in the effort to save and redevelop the legendary ocean liner SS United States, the SS United States Conservancy will announce that the national nonprofit organization has acquired title to the nation’s historic “ship of state.”

The full press release is HERE.

 

[dlynbid]

The SS United States, once the pride of the USA in the North Atlantic, has been saved from being scrapped. Norwegian Cruise Lines' Hong Kong owner has agreed to sell the ship to the SS United States Conservancy. The ship has been sitting idle and rusting at a dock in South Philadelphia for at nearly 15 years. This is great news, and credit goes both the the Conservancy who pushed to get ownership, and to the Norwegian Lines who turned down a much higher bid from a scrapper to save a piece of history.

This is a crime against shipbuilding - a crime against history... [to] let such a ship die such a miserable death.

Walter Cronkite, 2007
From the SS United States Conservancy, February 1, 2011:

In a long-anticipated milestone in the effort to save and redevelop the legendary ocean liner SS United States, the SS United States Conservancy will announce that the national nonprofit organization has acquired title to the nation's historic "ship of state."

The full press release is HERE.

This is wonderful, back in 1984 when my husband was stationed in Norfolk, Va - the SS United States was docked there and that is when they had a sale to liquidate the furnishing of the SS United States. Somewhere I have the silverware, and dishes that my mother and I purchased at that auction. What a great memory!

 

[PA Traveler]

That's great news. When visiting relatives in NYC one summer in the mid 60s, a friend of theirs was leaving for Europe on this ship. People were allowed at that time to go on board ship to say good bye. I was awe-struck by it. It took years until I finally got on a cruise, but more of the modern type. We did, however, sail twice on the Norway, which had been the SS France and restored to its original art deco grandeur. It also belonged to NCL. It had a fire and was scrapped a number of years ago. But I'm really happy to hear about the SS United States.

 

[Ryan]

That's awesome! Great news!

This is wonderful, back in 1984 when my husband was stationed in Norfolk, Va - the SS United States was docked there and that is when they had a sale to liquidate the furnishing of the SS United States. Somewhere I have the silverware, and dishes that my mother and I purchased at that auction. What a great memory!

That's really cool too, I'm jealous. We have a handful of dishes that my Father-in-Law obtained from the CORAL SEA when she was decommissioned. What'd your husband do? I was stationed in Norfolk/Little Creek from 2002-2005.

 

[dlynbid]

That's awesome! Great news!

This is wonderful, back in 1984 when my husband was stationed in Norfolk, Va - the SS United States was docked there and that is when they had a sale to liquidate the furnishing of the SS United States. Somewhere I have the silverware, and dishes that my mother and I purchased at that auction. What a great memory!

That's really cool too, I'm jealous. We have a handful of dishes that my Father-in-Law obtained from the CORAL SEA when she was decommissioned. What'd your husband do? I was stationed in Norfolk/Little Creek from 2002-2005.

My husband was part of a small army unit based at Norfolk & Portsmouth, he was a health/food inspector. Basically he did the onboard sanitation inspections of the food prep areas. (1983-1988)