S.S. United States Facing Eviction

[Moose]

The SS United States conservancy has been beating the drum for awhile that time is running out on their current moorage. Unfortunately, there is now a firm date looming.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1801740003673883010

View: https://x.com/SSUSC/status/1801740003673883010?t=jlffMgRGZNhDsukso5Gwtw&s=19

9/12/24 is entirely too close to comfort, the conservancy is going to need all the help it can get finding another home for the great ship both in the near and long terms.

 

[uk 75]

The original Queen Mary and the QE2 survive as commercial businesses in California and Dubai. The original QE met a tragic end in Hong Kong. France was scrapped after a thirty year career as a Norwegian cruise liner.
I have always been surprised that the enterprising US businesses have not found a use for the United States. Rebuilding the old US Lines pier in New York with her alongside would be a fitting fate.

 

[Moose]

Iconic Ocean Liner SS United States Ordered to Leave Berth by September

The iconic ocean liner ss United States is facing a new challenge in the more than decade-long struggle to repurpose the once fastest passenger ship...

maritime-executive.com

 

[Moose]

The original Queen Mary and the QE2 survive as commercial businesses in California and Dubai. The original QE met a tragic end in Hong Kong. France was scrapped after a thirty year career as a Norwegian cruise liner.
I have always been surprised that the enterprising US businesses have not found a use for the United States. Rebuilding the old US Lines pier in New York with her alongside would be a fitting fate.

The hotel/hospitality industry in the US is a mess right now, the golden age of American hoteliers is long over. The failsons, bean counters, and media personalities that run it now could not be arsed to take on a project like this.

 

[publiusr]

It wouldn’t do for me to be President.
I’d declare Martial Law and have anyone with a blowtorch within a mile of her shot on sight.

 

[TinWing]

The original Queen Mary and the QE2 survive as commercial businesses in California and Dubai. The original QE met a tragic end in Hong Kong. France was scrapped after a thirty year career as a Norwegian cruise liner.
I have always been surprised that the enterprising US businesses have not found a use for the United States. Rebuilding the old US Lines pier in New York with her alongside would be a fitting fate.

The SS United States had very small and cramped cabins even by the standards of the 1950s. The public spaces were unimpressive as well. It didn’t help that just about interior surface was lined with asbestos, all of which was stripped out in Turkey decades ago. Basically, even when the ship was still dehumidified and carefully mothballed, the ship was inappropriate for any sort of conversion. As far as the Queen Mary, it isn’t commercially viable and is owned by the city of Long Beach. As I recollect, it desperately needs a drydocking, which isn’t financially viable.

The SS France/Norway was a much nicer ship than the United States, with better accommodations, public rooms, etc. Its career was ended by a boiler explosion in Miami. Truth be known though, only a single digit number of original first class cabins were up to modern standards. The old tourist class cabins were unspeakable. As I recollect, the conversion did add an extra aluminum deck and a promenade deck was converted to cabins as well. There even were rather large davit launched lighters forward because the draft was too great for a number of cruise docks and lightering was necessary. None or which was possible for the SS United States even in the 1980s, as the hull was narrow, steel bulkheads precluded modifying cabins and the furnishings, asbestos aside, were spartan and unappealing.