😲 Historic SS United States is ordered out of its berth in Philadelphia.

[MikeinPhilly]

This will be interesting. What will they do, tow it t an impound lot?

evict it from the pier into the river and let the owner deal with it, kinda like what they do with people's stuff during a house eviction when they refuse to leave

[Excommunicated]

My Great-Grandfather (Opa) in the 1960's on the S.S. United States for a visit back to his German homeland next to a pic of roughly where he was walking as the ship looks today...

[Delkal]

So what is so special about this ship? It was just a commercial ocean liner and not a famous military ship used in an important battle.

Sounds like the conservancy had been milking their donors for a stripped hull since 2011. Notice how they even sold all of the light fixtures?

Following a financial collapse of United States Lines, she was withdrawn from service in a surprise announcement. The ship has been sold several times since the 1970s, with each new owner trying unsuccessfully to make the liner profitable. Eventually, the ship's fittings were sold at auction, leaving her stripped by 1994. Two years later, she was towed to Philadelphia, where she has remained.

Since 2009, the 'SS United States Conservancy' has been raising funds to save the ship. The group purchased her in 2011 and has drawn up several unrealized plans to restore the ship, one of which included turning the ship into a multi-purpose waterfront complex. In 2015, as its funds dwindled, the group began accepting bids to scrap the ship; however, sufficient donations came in via extended fundraising. Donations have kept the ship berthed at her Philadelphia dock while the group continues to further investigate restoration plans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States

[free]

They should have converted it into apartments. Even at $700K/year to keep it docked....

If you got 20 apartments per deck...with ten decks (making it up, I dunno I how many it has), that's 200 apartments. At an average of $2000/month each, that's $24K * 200, or almost $5M/year. Deduct the $700K for docking, leaving $4.3M year for profits and expenses.....meh...seems like there is money to be made there.

[GOYABEAN]

They should have converted it into apartments. Even at $700K/year to keep it docked....

If you got 20 apartments per deck...with ten decks (making it up, I dunno I how many it has), that's 200 apartments. At an average of $2000/month each, that's $24K * 200, or almost $5M/year. Deduct the $700K for docking, leaving $4.3M year for profits and expenses.....meh...seems like there is money to be made there.

Imagine the asbestos removable cost on that ��

[imashooter2]

Walk away. It*s a proud Philadelphia tradition.

[SgtRecon]

Imagine the asbestos removable cost on that ��

The ship was towed to Turkey, departing the US on June 4, 1992, and reaching the Sea of Marmara on July 9. She was then towed to Ukraine, where, in Sevastopol Shipyard, she underwent asbestos removal which lasted from 1993 to 1994.

"So what is so special about this ship? It was just a commercial ocean liner and not a famous military ship used in an important battle."

Military Application
During the Second World War, many ocean liners, including Normandie and Queen Mary, were seized and used to transport soldiers between various fronts. Since United States was first developed, the US Navy sponsored her construction so that the fast, large, and American-flagged ship could be used to support a war in a similar way.

Troop Transport
The most promising use of the liner in war would have been as a troop transport. If mobilized, onboard furnishings could have been easily removed to make room for a 14,400-man US Army division. Her size and speed meant that she could rapidly deploy a division anywhere in the world without the need to refuel.

At the end of the Second World War, the Navy's transport capabilities was drastically reduced. Following the Inchon Landings during the Korean War, the Department of Defense realized it lacked troop transport capacity and seized the 1/3rd complete United States to quickly and cheaply fill part of the deficit. Under Navy control, stateroom bathrooms were to be stripped and large spaces divided to make room for gun mounts, wardrooms, more lifeboats, and equipment required to support the enlarged passenger count.

The powerplant of the ship was developed with unusual cooperation with the Navy, leading to a militarized design. The ship never used US Navy equipment, instead opting for civilian variants of various military models. The engine room arrangement was similar to large warships such as the Forrestal-class aircraft carriers, with engineering spaces isolated and various redundancies and backups in onboard systems. This was to make the transition to military service easier since the Navy had personnel trained to operate the propulsion systems

[Aggies Coach]

They should have converted it into apartments. Even at $700K/year to keep it docked....

If you got 20 apartments per deck...with ten decks (making it up, I dunno I how many it has), that's 200 apartments. At an average of $2000/month each, that's $24K * 200, or almost $5M/year. Deduct the $700K for docking, leaving $4.3M year for profits and expenses.....meh...seems like there is money to be made there.

For a while there was a plan to turn it into a floating hotel.

[JenniferG]

It sat down in Norfolk for the entire time I was stationed down there in the 1970's. It's value is in it's steel hull. The steel used in it's hull has a high percentage of ore steel rather than recycled steel which is a commodity in itself given the rarity of ore mining and facilities that actually smelt steel from ore. I hear recycled steel plate being made by whatever name they're called today which is the former Lukens steel plant a couple of times a week and I live five miles from the plant. They towed my ship and it's sister the Canisteo all the way to Teeside UK in 2003 from Norfolk just to get that high percentage ore steel they were made with.







SS United States was built by Newport News Shipbuilding in 1949. The conservancy is wasting their time and money and other people's money because it will eventually be bought and scrapped for the hull steel. It's just the way things go. People have pictures, film and memories and that's the way ships which have a life expectancy goes. The Queen Mary in Long beach requires quite a bit of maintenance and the Queen Elizabeth the largest cruise ship for 50+ years caught fire in Hong Kong and capsized and was scrapped. Cruise ships get scrapped every day in The UK, Turkey, Bangladesh, China, India and even the US has a ship breaking yard which is amazing in itself given they need employees that get really dirty doing work.

[bigandy1966]

Turn it to a reef, divers would salivate at the thought.