I'm referring, of course, to the "S.S. United States" -- the fastest oceanliner ever built. Last week, news broke that the foreign owner of the historic steamship is taking bids from scrapyards.
But a small band of preservationists is fighting to save the luxury superliner, which is currently docked (see photos here) in Philadelphia. They're extremely passionate: Sometimes they even go on "ship-touching trips" -- hiring small boats to sail out into the Delaware River and touch the hull.
They are racing to preserve a remarkable statement of midcentury American power, prowess and exuberance. The SS United States traveled with three orchestras on board--but was also secretly designed to transform into a Cold War weapon against the Soviets. During its storied career, the ship carried the Mona Lisa, a young Bill Clinton, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Walter Cronkite, among countless other passengers famous and not-so-famous. Mr. Cronkite, himself a national treasure, called the potential loss of the SS United States a national tragedy before he passed away last year.
The era of the great, romantic oceanliners may be gone, but the SS United States is looking for a new life. And you can help.
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Abigail Pesta is an award-winning journalist who has lived and worked around the world. Currently she is the editor-at-large of Marie Claire magazine in New York. In Hong Kong, she was a news and features editor for The Wall Street Journal. In London, she ran an editing desk for Dow Jones Newswires. She has also worked at Glamour, where she launched Mariane Pearl's popular column about women who change the world. Abby writes short stories for her website, Fine Words Butter No Parsnips.
You'll be saving what's truly a national monument.
The group's goals are outlined at www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org. Short term is to prevent scrapping. Long term is to find a permanent buyer and/or build a partnership that develops the superliner into a self-supporting attraction.
As for contaminants, the SS United States was stripped of asbestos years ago. That's good news for redevelopment: It provides a clean slate to anyone looking to repurpose the ship today.
Join the good fight!
Crazy-inspired projects like this make me proud to be an American.
The SS United States is a monument to human ingenuity on the scale of Penn Station, the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower. Of course, it takes vision to see the potential. It takes creativity. It takes respect for history. It takes dedication, and the ability to understand that preservation pays dividends for generations to come.
Godspeed.
I don't have a problem with scrapping as long as it done in the United States to our standards. I figure given the age of the vessel, she will have to be scrapped here either now or when the Conservancy can no longer afford to maintain her. After all, given the age, she is sure to contain pcb's and there is an export ban on those.
You'll be saving what's truly a national monument.
The group's goals are outlined at www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org. Short term is to prevent scrapping. Long term is to find a permanent buyer and/or build a partnership that develops the superliner into a self-supporting attraction.
As for contaminants, the SS United States was stripped of asbestos years ago. That's good news for redevelopment: It provides a clean slate to anyone looking to repurpose the ship today.
Join the good fight!
Sorry, but I can't bring any sympathy to this.