Luxury Travel: SS United States Ship across the Atlantic

pdxleaf · Wed. 9:01pm

"The United States, built in the early 1950s, is the largest passenger ship ever built in America, more than 100 feet longer than the Titanic. The naval architect William Francis Gibbs designed it to be a luxury ocean liner in peacetime that could switch to quickly transporting 14,000 troops if needed in wartime. The vessel broke the trans-Atlantic speed record on its maiden voyage, crossing eastbound in three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes at an average of more than 35 knots" NYTimes

Sad day.

Any other military brats who traveled on this ship?

We traveled across the ocean three times, once on the SS United States. It was momentus enough that we saved artifacts from the crossing.

Official photographs of passengers. Notice what we had to wear to dinner.

The rule book:

Menus:

A map in case you get lost:

The ship has been rusting away in Philly for years and finally got evicted from its' dock. It's not a complete surprise but it's a sad day.

This has about nothing to do with watches but I felt like sharing.

Fallout Boy · Thurs. 2:29am

Is it you, Edgar? 😀😀

hen · Thurs. 4:12am

Wow, the food on the menues looks scrumptus!

I would have liked to try the Pickeled Whalnuts, Shark Fins en tasse, Pheasant a l Anglaise nerver had those things before.

Jonathan40 · Thurs. 6:33am

Very interesting read.
Noted that the price difference between 1st and standard was double. Not the multiple times random made up difference between standard, and 1st we see these days on cruise liners and airplanes.

noelekal · Thurs. 7:26am

Thank you for posting this. Engaging read with fine supporting photos! I wish there had remained a demand for this mode of trans-oseanic travel. Seems a shame to allow a fine liner to molder and then sink her.

Fallout Boy · Thurs. 9:32am

One could reactivate the two reactor blocks ........😀

Jones in LA · Thurs. 9:44am

It's hard to imagine something that big travelling at 35 knots...that's like nuclear-powered aircraft carrier speed! And it's going to make a heck of a dive site.

ghce · Thurs. 5:57pm

pdxleaf

"The United States, built in the early 1950s, is the largest passenger ship ever built in America, more than 100 feet longer than the Titanic. The naval architect William Francis Gibbs designed it to be a luxury ocean liner in peacetime that could switch to quickly transporting 14,000 troops if needed in wartime. The vessel broke the trans-Atlantic speed record on its maiden voyage, crossing eastbound in three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes at an average of more than 35 knots" NYTimes

Sad day.

Any other military brats who traveled on this ship?

We traveled across the ocean three times, once on the SS United States. It was momentus enough that we saved artifacts from the crossing.

Official photographs of passengers. Notice what we had to wear to dinner.

The rule book:

Menus:

A map in case you get lost:

The ship has been rusting away in Philly for years and finally got evicted from its' dock. It's not a complete surprise but it's a sad day.

This has about nothing to do with watches but I felt like sharing.

Wow! that is a slice of life we will never ever see again, possibly a better time than those now or ahead of us all.

This really is the epitome of rose tinted glasses but oh what a time!

Canuck · Thurs. 6:32pm

In the glory days of the S S United States.

Trev · Thurs. 6:49pm

38.32 knots max speed during sea trials.... whoa. I knew it was fast, but not that fast.

Overview from a great youtube channel called: Oceanliner Designs

pdxleaf · Thurs. 7:11pm

Trev
38.32 knots max speed during sea trials.... whoa. I knew it was fast, but not that fast.

Overview from a great youtube channel called: Oceanliner Designs

But no Omega boutique 😉

Dan S · Thurs. 7:18pm

I know that ships don't last forever, but it's still a sad day. If they do successfully sink it to an appropriate depth in the Gulf of @dsio, it can be a fantastic dive site in the future.

sheepdoll · 2025-02-21T00:38:18-0600

One of the first ship model plans I ever saw.

Did they ever break it's speed record?

There was no wood on it at all. The piano was aluminum. Their might have been a buchers block.

Shared design elements with carriers of the time. Supposidly could be converted to nuke power. Main issue was the FUD that was desinged to keep nucular obfuscated so the public would fear it.

Modern cruse ships though are much larger. Really shallow draft floating river boats with all the decks above the water line. Jules Verne wrote a book about a floating city island. (I think it had Televison and Fax machines.) The title really does not translate often called "propeller island." The litteral translation is something like island that screws.

At least they expect this to become a dive destination and build a tourist industry around it.

SpeedyPhill · 2025-02-21T09:59:44-0600

What an amazing vessel... saw this on the news... becoming an artificial reef
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_United_States

Fallout Boy · 2025-02-21T10:44:49-0600

Same same : Destriero - record-yacht (all beds with seat-belts 😁)

Destriero was scrapped in 2023

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

ahartfie · 2025-02-21T11:56:02-0600

With all that aluminum you’d think they could recycle tons and tons of it.

MRC · 2025-02-21T17:40:03-0600

hen
I would have liked to try the Pickeled Whalnuts, Shark Fins en tasse, Pheasant a l Anglaise nerver had those things before.

Pickled walnuts are on sale in most British supermarkets. If we could figure out a way to get a glass jar of un-certified vegetables from UK to you without damage or customs nonsense I'll send you a jar.

Or, really easy to make yourself

Canuck · 2025-02-21T18:24:26-0600

I just found out there are many places where we live (Calgary) where pickled walnuts are available. They are available from Amazon. Who knew?

Vinz Clortho · 2025-02-21T18:46:46-0600

Can't believe there wasn't a plan to bring her back to former glory and turn it into a floating museum. The history of SS United States was something which could of been experienced for generations because when you can touch it, it becomes real. When you sink it, it becomes a footnote in history. Definitely a shame they went with the latter.

Thanks for posting the great read and memorabilia.

ghce · 2025-02-21T18:49:09-0600

Vinz Clortho
Can't believe there wasn't a plan to bring her back to former glory and turn it into a floating museum. The history of SS United States was something which could of been experienced for generations because when you can touch it, it becomes real. When you sink it, it becomes a footnote in history. Definitely a shame they went with the latter.

Thanks for posting the great read and memorabilia.

Completely agree!