Cruise Talk: President Washington (1958)

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»	Cruise Talk » Ocean Liners and Classic Cruise Ships » President Washington (1958)

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Topic: President Washington (1958)

Thad
First Class Passenger
Member # 1224

posted 03-16-2012 04:14 PM

American President Line proposed building the President Washington for the transpacific service in 1958. The designs were completed and the ship was bid, but politics eventually got in the way and the ship was obviously never built. Recently I came across the image of her from Damned by Destiny, and colorized it.

I was then shown the GA elevations of the 1958 plans, which look a little more like the US, so I created this image from another of Scott McBee's paintings. This certainly would have been a lovely ship at 956' long and 43,000 gt.

[ 03-16-2012: Message edited by: Thad ]

Posts: 1967 | From: Boston, MA | Registered: Apr 2000 | IP: Logged

lasuvidaboy
First Class Passenger
Member # 4527

posted 03-16-2012 04:25 PM

Gorgeous ship that would have been a slightly smaller near sister of the ssUS. If she had been built, she may have ended up cruising for a foreign operator by the 1980s (after 10 years of lay-up of course)

Posts: 7654 | From: Hollywood Hills/L.A. | Registered: Mar 2004 | IP: Logged

desirod7
First Class Passenger
Member # 1626

posted 03-16-2012 05:51 PM

I imagine 3 pools aft like Doria, Columbo, and FedericoC. Pacific is warmer than Atlantic.

3 class layout was antiquated by 1958 and would have hampered her cruising ability. Look at Mike and Ralph.

Posts: 5727 | From: Philadelphia, Pa [home of the SS United States] | Registered: Oct 2000 | IP: Logged

SSTRAVELER
First Class Passenger
Member # 15170

posted 03-17-2012 08:43 AM

APL never really used three classes on the Pacific. The Wilson/Cleveland had a small economy class which was really only offered for the Asian immigrants. They did not book the Americans in the economy class and then actually eliminated the economy class.

Gibbs designed the ship and clearly uses his standards. You can see the United States as well as the Santa Rosa/Santa Paula. What would be interesting would be to see if a GA had been done.

Posts: 757 | From: New York | Registered: May 2008 | IP: Logged

Linerrich
First Class Passenger
Member # 4864

posted 03-17-2012 09:16 AM

quote:
Originally posted by SSTRAVELER:

Gibbs designed the ship and clearly uses his standards. You can see the United States as well as the Santa Rosa/Santa Paula. What would be interesting would be to see if a GA had been done.

Yes indeed, I have seen huge GA plans for her, dated April, 1958 (this was discussed in other threads over the years, but now I cannot find them.)

She would have been laid out in a style very similar to the Italian liners of the '50s: First Class from a point midships and foward, Cabin Class aft of that, and Tourist Class all the way in the stern. She was to have open-air pools in each class, terraced on her after decks.

I've seen a number of interior sketches of her public rooms, which changed over the years. Decorated in stark, mid-Century Modern. According to a 1957 rendering of her First Class Lounge, it would have been two decks high. By the time of the 1958 plans, the lounge had become one level, with upper level converted into a cinema for both First & Cabin classes.

Here are a couple of images taken from an APL in-house magazine, 1957:

Rich

[ 03-17-2012: Message edited by: Linerrich ]

Posts: 4210 | From: Miami, FL | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged

lasuvidaboy
First Class Passenger
Member # 4527

posted 03-17-2012 09:43 PM

quote:
Originally posted by desirod7:
I imagine 3 pools aft like Doria, Columbo, and FedericoC. Pacific is warmer than Atlantic.
3 class layout was antiquated by 1958 and would have hampered her cruising ability. Look at Mike and Ralph.

I would bet that had this ship been built for APL, she would have been as big or bigger 'white elephant' than the Italia twins. She would have been APL's 'Q3'-the wrong ship for the wrong time

Posts: 7654 | From: Hollywood Hills/L.A. | Registered: Mar 2004 | IP: Logged

Linerrich
First Class Passenger
Member # 4864

posted 03-18-2012 05:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:

I would bet that had this ship been built for APL, she would have been as big or bigger 'white elephant' than the Italia twins. She would have been APL's 'Q3'-the wrong ship for the wrong time

I agree, as much as us shiplovers would have loved to have seen such a vessel come to fruition. President Eisenhower and Congress killed the appropriations for this project in late 1958; in hindsight, it was probably a good move.

Rich

Posts: 4210 | From: Miami, FL | Registered: Jul 2004 | IP: Logged

Indarra
First Class Passenger
Member # 6005

posted 03-22-2017 12:45 AM

I managed to dig out an old PR article published in a Japanese newspaper on this ship, that I had saved from about 1959. This was the era of the arrival of P&O's Canberra and first Oriana in trans-Pacific service, and APL clearly didn't want to fall behind. Note length now quoted as 909 feet, funnel design seems to be modified to give an appearance less similar to the SS United States.

Posts: 274 | From: Tokyo | Registered: Oct 2005 | IP: Logged

Indarra
First Class Passenger
Member # 6005

posted 03-22-2017 01:06 AM

APL seems to have had a forward-looking and active PR department. Aside from the above images of President Washington, and the famous image of their three liners sailing on a parallel course together, there was this drawing of what might be decribed as the "C3 replacements." Published in the San Francisco Examiner on March 30, 1955, with the following caption: "GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE - One of the four new combination passenger-cargo liners which will be operated by the American President Lines in shown in this artist's drawing. The sleek, streamlined ships will serve San Francisco and twenty-five other world ports. There will be accommodation for 122 passengers in the speedy 580 feet long vessels."

[ 03-22-2017: Message edited by: Indarra ]

Posts: 274 | From: Tokyo | Registered: Oct 2005 | IP: Logged

Indarra
First Class Passenger
Member # 6005

posted 03-22-2017 01:11 AM

My use of the tern "C3 replacements" comes from the layout similarity with the C-3-Ps on APL's round the-world service, as per President Garfield below. Originally six ships, but postwar only President Polk and President Monroe remaining. Mark Goldberg's definitive volume "Caviar & Cargo" mentions that postwar four passenger-cargo ships had been planned to partner the C2s Presidents Jackson, Adams and Hayes on the round-the-world service but that APL was unable to proceed on its own with the funding commitment.

[ 03-22-2017: Message edited by: Indarra ]

Posts: 274 | From: Tokyo | Registered: Oct 2005 | IP: Logged

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