Free Republic

The SS United States is facing eviction from its mooring at Pier 82 in Philadelphia in a lawsuit filed by Penn Warehousing, the pier’s landlord. The ocean liner has been rusting away in the Delaware River since 1996 but has a storied past. In 1952, it broke the once-highly sought record for the fastest transatlantic crossing, the last passenger ship to do so. The SS United States Conservancy, a non-profit attempting to restore the ship, admits that relocation will be necessary but is still aiming to preserve the vessel. The potential eviction stems from rent increases that could be against...

"A major development today in the ongoing saga to save the SS United States from a trip the scrapyard. Los Angeles-based Crystal Cruises says it has signed a purchase option for the historic – yet weathered – transatlantic steam ship and plans to refurbish the vessel and return it to oceangoing service as a modern luxury cruise ship. The announcement was made Thursday by Crystal Cruises together with the SS United States Conservancy preservation group at a press conference at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal in New York City."

PHILADELPHIA -- Dan McSweeney has a few ideas for saving the United States. That would be the SS United States -- the fastest ocean liner in the world. Bigger than the Titanic and fast enough to water-ski behind, she's a steamship so sophisticated, her capabilities remained a Cold War secret for decades. She transported royalty and starlets. Her crew served frog legs in first class. Before the dawn of the jet age, the SS United States was the Concorde of her era. 'Big U' in Big Trouble? Admirers call her the "Big U." Today, she could be in big trouble....

America's national flagship, the SS United States, is being listed for sale after more than a decade on the Philadelphia waterfront. This means there's a good chance she'll be broken up and sold for scrap - an unacceptable fate for a vessel that served as America's Cold War ambassador-at-sea, the perfect embodiment of U.S. power and efficiency. This legendary passenger ship sailed from New York to Europe and other destinations from 1952 to 1969. Its manifests listed U.S. and foreign presidents, a multitude of A-list celebrities, and a generation of leaders in business, diplomacy, culture, and the arts. (Bill Clinton...

Efforts to save the SS United States — a storied former ocean liner that has been mothballed in South Philadelphia — have apparently fallen through. Two Washington, D.C.-based foundations that seek to preserve the ship are sounding the alarm that the historic vessel may be sold for scrap metal. Robert Westover, who heads the SS United States Foundation, said this week that plans for refurbishment by Norwegian Cruise Line appear to be dead, and that the ship may be sold to a scrap dealer. “I’m hoping this does not have a sad end, but it’s shaping up as an American...

The SS United States, once the fastest passenger liner afloat, has been saved from the scrapyard - at least for a time. The vessel was decommissioned in 1969, when jets replaced ships as the preferred way to cross the Atlantic. For seven years, it has been rusting away in South Philadelphia, owned by a real estate tycoon who dreamed of restoring it. The 990-foot-long ship has a new owner - Norwegian Cruise Lines of Miami, a unit of Star Cruises of Malaysia. The company, the world's fourth-largest cruise line, confirmed yesterday that it had purchased the vessel for an undisclosed...

PHILADELPHIA — An ocean liner that was the biggest and fastest ever built in the United States, and a symbol of national prestige until it was left to rot on the Philadelphia waterfront, may soon sail again. Norwegian Cruise Lines said Monday it has purchased the SS United States and intends to refurbish and return it to service, a half-century after the massive steamship set a speed record for a trans-Atlantic crossing. The announcement amazed preservation groups, who had been fighting what looked like a losing battle to rescue the ship from being scrapped. "I'm stunned," said Susan Gibbs, the...

Norwegian Cruise Line Acquires U.S. Flagship S/S United States Company to Build on New U.S.-flag Operation Miami, April 14 - Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) announced today it has purchased the S/S United States, one of the country's most venerable ships built in the glory days of trans-Atlantic sea travel. NCL intends to convert the vessel to a state-of-the art, modern cruise ship and to add her to NCL's planned US flagged fleet. A relaunched S/S United States will add more than 1,000 American maritime jobs and 5,000 shoreside jobs to the 3,000 maritime jobs and 17,000 shoreside jobs that NCL's...