By Sheila Dassatt
Last month I wrote about the port and starboard side haul for a lobster boat and had a lot of folks mentioning how they enjoyed it. Thank you so much! I am pleased to know that people are still reading printed material and tell me that they are reading my articles. This means a lot to me because everywhere I look, people are stuck in their phones or laptops. I suppose you can read them from those devices, but after a few paragraphs, my eyes start to burn. Anyway, I hope this articles catches your interest the way it did for me.
I have been watching the progress of the S. S. United States being towed by tugboats to the Port of Mobile, which arrived today around noon. She will be there for a while to ready her for her final destination off the coast of Destin, Florida as an artificial reef.
Watching this process of her being towed, she is an awesome ship, almost overwhelming to see and her history has gotten my attention. I am fascinated with this process, partly due to my ties with tugboats and big ships. This particular ship is “larger than life” and I just don’t want her to go unnoticed in her history. This obviously was not an easy tow for the tugs that assisted this vessel. It appears to have one on the hawser towing and two tugs on each side, helping to push her in the right direction. My hat is off to these tugboat captains and their excellent job of delivery of this huge vessel.
For those that have followed the Titanic and her history, this one went a little more unnoticed probably because she didn’t sink like the Titanic did. I wanted to know more about this one too. The S. S. United States was a passenger liner that was built in the 1950’s and was 990 feet long. The Titanic was shorter by over 100 feet. The S. S. United States is the largest passenger ship that was ever built in the United States. She was designed by William Francis Gibbs and was almost completely fireproof.
- S. United States set the record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a passenger liner. She earned the Blue Riband an unofficial accolade with the term borrowed from horse racing for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title that remains uncontested. Her propulsion was 4 x Westinghouse double reduction geared steam turbines, 8 x Babcock & Wilcox Type-M Boilers at 925 psi and 975 degrees F (524 degrees C), 4 x shafts, 2 four blade props, 2-five blade. Speed: 49 mph (claimed). Her capacity was 1,972 passengers and 1,044 crew members. Quite a ship!
- S. United States was very popular with Royalty and celebrities. The ship’s famous passengers favored first class due to it prestige, priority service and spacious cabins. She had what was called the Duck Suite, which was made popular by the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and was the ship’s best known stateroom. She had a first class dining room, grand ballroom, smoking room, observation lounge, main foyer, grand staircase and promenades. As you read this, you will see that she was much like the Titanic as a luxury liner.
Tickets for the two bedroom suite started at $930 to $10,889 and was aimed at the wealthiest passengers. The rooms had different classes such as Cabin Class. The food, pool and theater were shared with the first class passengers. The Tourist Class was meant for those that did not want to invest much into a ticket. It was mostly booked by students and migrants. They were located in the roughest part of the ship, with rocking and rolling of the rough seas. Each room simply had a bunk bed and was simply furnished. Even the poorest conditions on United States was still better than what was offered on other vessels.
What happened? As time went on, the airlines drew customers away and in 1960, the passenger count became very low. They also stated that the Dept. of Commerce announced that she would no longer be used to carry military personnel or their families. It was also believed that the liners were “sitting ducks” for Soviet bombers. The air transport was a better option. They worked on a revamp to try to attract vacationers.
In 1968, the Atlantic liner routes were declining, leaving the United States, France and Queen Elizabeth conducting sailings. Longer voyages were offered to ports in Europe, Africa and South America. She was the most popular ship in the Atlantic.
On October 25, 1969, she returned from her 400th voyage and was ordered for an overhaul in Newport News, Virginia. The United States was withdrawn from service on November 11th and sealed and work suddenly halted. She had changed hands of ownership many times and the plans for her never worked out. She was planned to be a hospital ship under the name USNS United States by the US Navy. After careful planning, the Navy felt the plan was too expensive and chose to take no action on the matter.
The ship was sold to Richard H. Hadley for $7 million and hoped to have a floating condominium. After many different purchases and failed plans for the ship, Florida’s Okaloosa County announced it plan to purchase her and sink her as the world’s largest artificial reef off Destin-Fort Walton beach. She will be now be prepared for scuttling before arriving in Florida. Part of the money invested would be used to create a land based museum that consists of artifacts from the ship and re-created on board spaces.
After all of this background, we go back to the beginning of this article. She has arrived in Port of Mobile and will be prepared for her scuttling as the largest artificial reef and will continue to bring in revenue to tourists that dive and can safely go through the large vessel. The good news here is that she will be a reef and not just sold for scrap metal.
So here is my story, I did research on it and found an interesting history of the U.S. United States. Watching the progress of the tow on video, I felt a certain sadness for her heyday and felt there should at least be a descent story on her final rest at sea.
Godspeed S. S. United States.
