I just found a website for the Lenfest Foundation, which sounds like it could be it.

Anyone else hear this?

-Russ

[ 07-01-2010: Message edited by: linerguy ]

The Conservancy bought the ship from NCL with this donor giving money to cover a few years of the maintenance while the Conservancy hunts for someone to do a project to save the ship.

Passenger cabins are identifiable only by marks on the floor where walls used to be.

quote:

---

Originally posted by dmwnc1:
This quote from the WSJ article:

Passenger cabins are identifiable only by marks on the floor where walls used to be.

Just how gutted is this ship? What exactly is left in the lower decks where accomodations once were?

---

Completely gutted

quote:

---

Originally posted by dmwnc1:

Just how gutted is this ship? What exactly is left in the lower decks where accomodations once were?

---

I'm a bit sceptical too about the chances of success of this plan, but hey it's a chance!

[ 09-13-2010: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

The ship is afloat. She is beautiful and unique looking. A fresh coat of paint and I would be willing to bet that a lot of people who never noticed her sitting at her pier or those who thought she was an eye sore would have another opinion of her. I think there would be a spike in interest in her also.

Having grown up fortunate enough to see the QM all the time I can tell you that most people think of a liner as looking like her or the Titanic. Actually they can't tell them apart. They just see hull and smokestacks. But for someone who has never seen the SSUS they will probably stand up and take notice because she looks so different.

Seeing QM all these years and knowing that she is ACTUALLY still here is amazing to me every time I look at her. My love for liners started when I saw her arrive in Long Beach and I know others have been affected the same way. We need to make people aware of this part of maritime history so that others become interested.

I mean what good is an addiction if you can't get others hooked?

I wish the new owners nothing but good wishes and success. And if they have an extra brush I would be glad to help out with the painting!

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rex:
Great....now it can sit here and be an eyesore for ANOTHER fourteen years. I seriously doubt anything will come out of this. I'll believe it when I see it.

---

Commentary
Progress can build on the past
By Dan McSweeney

The tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is one clear sign that we're due for a significant reassessment of national priorities and policies. But that doesn't mean we should completely discard the past. Some of our history is too important to be lost in our inevitable evolution.

Since 2004, I've been involved in what many of my friends and relatives would describe as a quixotic effort to preserve a largely forgotten 20th-century artifact. I have been part of a committed group working to keep America's national flagship, the legendary SS United States, from being destroyed by scrappers. We've given so much of our time and energy to the effort because we view this ocean liner as an important symbol of our country, and, frankly, America could use something to rally around right about now.

By turns inspiring and frustrating, this experience has shed light on how Americans deal with the past, both symbolically and practically. Today we're on the cusp of saving our ship, but it very easily could have turned out differently. Fortunately, at the eleventh hour, we received an unexpected grant from philanthropist H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest allowing us to purchase and maintain the vessel while we establish a public-private partnership to repurpose it.

We envision this 990-foot piece of American history living a patriotic and practical new life as a stationary attraction on a metropolitan waterfront. As such, it would create thousands of trade, preservation, and hospitality jobs, while attracting people from across the country and world to see America's only remaining transatlantic liner.

Fastest ever
"The Big U," as the ship was known, was christened by Mrs. Tom Connolly in Newport News, Va., in 1952, in a ceremony that was a major media event. During the 17 years of flawless service that followed, the ship transported four American presidents and countless other heads of state; celebrities; military, business, and diplomatic leaders; and ordinary Americans. The ship also brought thousands of immigrants to our shores.

The ship's greatness was such that on her maiden voyage, from New York to England, it effortlessly broke the standing speed record in both directions - a record it still holds and likely always will. The SS United States was also a secret weapon in the Cold War, able to transport an infantry division over 10,000 miles without refueling or replenishment. (During a recent walk-through, I noticed an interesting pair of 20th-century relics deep inside an engine room: a 1960s-vintage can of Maxwell House coffee next to a box of Russian matches.)

The forgotten years
Unfortunately, the ship went on to be largely forgotten. In 1969, as the jet age eclipsed the era of ocean liner crossings, the SS United States was decommissioned and laid up, after which it went through a series of owners and unsuccessful refurbishment schemes.

Saving the ship from destruction required us to engage in complex, multilateral negotiations with its current owner (Norwegian Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong Ltd.), those looking to purchase it for scrap, and federal officials, who are justifiably concerned about residual hazardous materials aboard the vessel. (The vast majority of the hazardous materials were removed in the Ukraine in 1994.)

I can't consider all the obstacles we've overcome without thinking that many Americans need to learn more about the importance of preservation. It shouldn't be this hard.

The past several years have been an excellent lesson in repurposing, recycling, and regulating, all of which are part of the continuing effort to redefine America. In the information age, we can assign new roles to the artifacts of our past. The SS United States offers an opportunity to do so.

The alternative is an unsustainable culture of disposability, currently symbolized by the oil spilling from a hole in the bottom of the sea.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Her interiors could be rebuilt in a really luxurious mid-century modern style and the passenger cabins could be hotel-sized rooms. She could be re-built much in the same manner as a historic building is rebuilt-retaining the original exterior architecture and re-creating a fanatstic new interior. If done properly she could be a popular attraction, hotel (a real luxury hotel) and convention center.

quote:

---

Originally posted by desirod7:

I disagree here. She is no more an eyesore than the Acropolis of Greece or the ancient ruins of Egypt. Her beauty, grace and power shine right through the weathered paint job. Consider her a modern ruin.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Rex:

Just what Philly needs....another modern-day ruin.

---

The last time I was in Philly, I went out of my way to head down Columbus Blvd. to view the quai de l'oubli. Another couple had already pulled over to go to the fence and admire the ship, and one guy honked at me in a way to suggest he was another SSUS fan.

quote:

---

Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
What could be better than the fabulous ssUS, a '58 Cadillac (ok, a '57 Caddy would be a little better) and a '55 Cadillac limousine??

---

If the ship were NORMANDIE!

quote:

---

Originally posted by eroller:

If the ship were NORMANDIE!

Ernie

---

Normandie a big yes! As for the cars, I prefer the cars of the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s.

[ 08-04-2010: Message edited by: lasuvidaboy ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:

Normandie a big yes! As for the cars, I prefer the cars of the mid-1950s to the mid-1960s.

---