The Big Ship

*Update (10 January)*  
The addition of two renderings of the renovation with explanatory text.

I referenced the ss United States in an earlier post (Won't you let me take you on a sea cruise?). These photos are from a trip to Newport News, Virginia I took in 1990. It was my first experience with a 35mm camera, one or two rolls didn't develop due to my ineptitude, but I am happy with the results I did achieve. A lot of happy accidents.

The sun is just hidden by the foremost tip of the bow. I couldn't have planned it better if I tried.

This is roughly two-thirds of her 990 foot length. The stacks are so massive. All aluminum; they just need a sandblasting and they'd be as good as new. The faint splotches of green are parts of the original primer coat from 1952.
Looking aft. The streaks along the hull are a little disconcerting. However, she was built to such exacting specifications, it was recently stated the rivets in her fuel tanks look six months old (not bad for being built in 1952), and most of her hull is at 92% of its original thickness.

She starts with a fine tip at the bow, and ends with another fine point at the stern. Her original home port of New York was painted over at this point and "Seattle" put on. Below are renderings from July 1980 of the proposed renovation. I understand the futuristic leanings to bring her up to date, but egad. Most of the Promenade Deck would be "preserved" however I've seen sketches of the color schemes. Late '70s/early '80s browns. Ugh.

Just aft of the Grand Ballroom -- formerly the First Class Ballroom -- were the Restaurant on the port side and the "Navajo" Lounge on the starboard. Those spaces would have been completely reconfigured.

 

In this rendering of the aft stack, you can see the tricked out fins and a completely rebuilt Bridge Deck with the proposed running track on top.

 

A year after this trip, in 1991, she was sold on the courthouse steps for back rent. A few months after that, her new owner had her towed to Europe for asbestos removal. Then back across the Atlantic to Philadelphia where she sits today. Norwegian Cruise Line is the current owner, but she's for sale.

I do hope for her preservation. The United States is a testament to American design and engineering. Several organizations are working like mad to prevent her scrapping. While it would be a stretch (yet awesome) to see her sail again, I'd be fine with a floating museum in the lines of the aircraft carrier Intrepid in New York.

She's been gutted save for the engine spaces, so whoever does the work has a blank canvas. I'd like to see her First Class public areas rebuilt, and if the original pieces can't be bought back, remake them. Enough space for 300-400 "passengers" and perhaps some condos. A museum in the lower areas. Former cabin spaces could be used to replicate cabins from famous ships, like Titanic, Normandie, Queen Mary, although the primary focus should be more on American passenger ships such as Leviathan, Manhattan, America. So many possibilities. But her original exterior lines should not be touched.

Damn it, we were able to save the Queen Mary, why not the United States?