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SO, what is YOUR favorite? The aforementioned AMERICA, or the imposing looking BIG U? Or maybe you preferred the MANHATTAN and WASHINGTON (too ungainly looking to me). Or was it one of the PRESIDENT liners (The ROOSEVELT was a handsome ship, though as the OCEAN EXPLORER today, you'd never know it was the same ship). OR maybe you liked the romantic, white-hulled Matson liners, the smart-looking ARGENTINA or BRASIL.
Please weigh in, I am anxious to hear from everyone...
Yes the PRESIDENT COOLIDGE and PRESIDENT HOOVERS are favorites of mine (and a 1934 brochure printed for them by Dollar Line, rife with large color photographs, wonderfully evocative of the atmosphere on board is the star of my collection of 50 file drawers of paper stuff of ships) I also love the second PRESIDENT HOOVER and her two sisters ANCON and CRISTOBAL...but when the question of the BEST AMERICAN liners EVER crops up, referring to color interiors nd plans of the MARIPOSA, MONTEREY and LURLINE suggest that that trio had the most beautiful interiors of all (the postwar refits really simplified and scaled back their decor considerably, and entire promenade decks were removed and cabins put in those spaces)...
Sentimentally, the Grace Line/Panama Mail Line quartette of 1932/1933, the SANTA ROSA, SANTA PAULA, SANTA ELENA and SANTA LUCIA edge out all of the others for me...probably because I was often aboard the two surviving sisters as a kid in the 50s and they went to work for Typaldos Lines in the 60s and as a 14 year old, my first job was a summer job at that line's NY office...
Then there are the extraordinary George Sharp designed ships...passenger cargo liners, it's true...but the DEL NORTE, DEL SUD and DEL MAR were spectacularly evolved in design and with huge cabins and outstanding public rooms were amazing ships. So, too, would have been his next class, his design number V2000, American President Lines' PRESIDENT JACKSON,PRESIDENT ADAMS and PRESIDENT HAYES of 1950 which entered service as Navy transports BARRETT, GEIGER and UPSHUR...and then there is his SAVANNAH, the world's first nuclear powered merchant ship.
My answer then has to be I have several favorites...and since I don't need to have ONE, I include them ALL the ships I mentioned above as my favorite American liners...
In the group of second favorite American liners, I include the INDEPENDENCE and CONSTITUTION, REPUBLIC (ex PRESIDENT GRANT of 1908), the SCANPENN sisters, the "535"s and the four improved "502" classes as well as the SANTA ROSA and SANTA PAULA of 1938...and quite a few banana boats (see my book "Going Bananas"...and a few of the C3 combiliners (see my book "Caviar & Cargo")(some observers will note which ships I omitted...how bout that!)
The WASHINGTON and MANHATTAN did have beautiful interiors, especially their Colonial-style dining rooms, but I always thought their stacks were too small, they needed thick ones like the AMERICA had.
Well, maybe we did make impressive contributions to the maritime world after all. It's just that when you say "ocean liner" to someone, they automatically say QUEEN MARY, QE2, NORMANDIE, and the like. Only the UNITED STATES seems to be mentioned in the same breath.
They had pretty chequered careers...When about 5 years old Grace sold them the line to Prudential, a concern that didn't look after them very well. Delta got them next but when the US Government offered to pay off the remaining 10 year subsidies in 2 years, Delta took the cash and went out of business. The four ships were laid up at San Francisco and three sisters were considered candidates for conversion to cruise ship. They were single screw ships which proved to be a negative factor in the plan. Three sisters were hauled off to Taiwan for scrap and the youngest, the SANTA MERCEDS, sent to MAssachusset to become the cadet training ship PATRIOT STATE. She has latterly been retired, unable to pass her surveys.
Would it have been cost prohibitive to convert them to at least twin screw?
Also, Vulcania, what do you think should be done with the UNITED STATES?
I see no commercial future for the now 50 year old hull that is the UNITED STATES. A technological marvel, her passenger accommodations were a real disappointment as was the general arrangement of public spaces. Built specifically for conversion in rapid order to a troop transport capable of carrying 14,000 troops to Europe within 72 hours, her deck heads are low (except for the center part of the former First Class dining room. She would not provide the airy, spaciousness thought necessary for a high class cruise ship. She has now been idle for 31 years. Shipping is a business run by the engine of money, not sentiment. Always was, always will be. I expect flack and flames from her legion of fans, but I think she should be scrapped.
Thanks for your input.
I particularly liked the way Gibbs modernised her. It was sad that she wasn't more successful. Prohibition didn't help, paricularly when Gibbs gave her a wonderful cocktail bar.
Terry Donegan
I don't know what the future holds for Yankee liners - the INDEPENDENCE will be retired soon, and until the 72,000 ton "giants" get here, we'll have four riverboats, a borrowed Dutch liner and a few coastal steamers. Based on those awful sketches someone posted here a while ago, we still are not able to measure up to the Europeans, or the Asians. Oh well, we have some good sports teams, and Tara Lipinski...
Ðraikar
Fanatic
Don't get me wrong, I love Big U, her older, more masculine sib. But oh, how the smaller, older ship sang to me. (Gettin' maudlin...)
I was on the Indy in March. While she shows her age, there are some really great sightlines. The view up from the stern...up those decks of repeated curves...really a pleasure. The aft bar on the upper deck (I can't remember the name just now, and the cruise was cut short for personal reasons...)is still a magical space, even with the more recent materials.
Those are my three votes.
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