The Sinking of The United States
SS United States – Maiden Voyage at NYC – July 3, 1952
I just came back from Mobile AL to get a last glimpse of what is possibly the most amazing engineering triumph in American maritime history – The SS United States Ocean Liner. She may be close to one of our greatest engineering feats of all time, and maybe the greatest ship to ever float: 1
The United States Ocean Liner was designed by Naval Architect and Engineer William Francis Gibb to go beyond the existing Navy specifications of the day – which no passenger liner from any country ever met.
The ship’s keel was laid on February 8th, 1950 at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company that made our Liberty Boats in WW2.
The Superstructure above the waterline was made from lightweight aluminum which allowed the ship to weigh in at just over 52000 Gross Tons, nearly 40% less weight than its competitors Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary.
She is the largest ocean liner to be entirely constructed in the United States at 990 feet in Length and a Beam of 101 feet.
She was designed for speed and efficiency like no other vessel then or since. As a result of this design, she was the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction, 36 knots or 41 mph average speed (44 mph top speed) 2. She could go as fast backwards (20 kts) as the Titanic could go forward.
She won the Blue Riband for setting the trans Atlantic speed record for Ocean Liners on her maiden voyage in 1952, a record that has never been broken. The award was the first for the United States in a hundred years.
She developed an amazing 247,785 horsepower via 4 1000 PSI steam turbines driven by 8 boilers. The ship was pushed through the water by 4 turbine driven propellers with each turbine located independently inside (4) watertight compartments located inside (2) main engine room cutoffs for redundancy.3
Few publicly available models or photos were ever made of the ship below the waterline. The radical design was not knife edged like typical V Hulls. It has a rounded surface area to reduce drag. This unique design characteristic, and it’s top speed, was classified for years.
The U.S. government helped pay for the ship with $50M out of a total cost of $72M. During the peak of the Cold War the US Govt was planning for war and wanted a ship built to Navy Specs (much better than the two Queens during WW2) that could be quickly converted to a troopship that could carry up tp 14,000 soldiers 10,000 miles without refueling.
Safety. The USS United States had numerous watertight compartments with main bulkheads from keel to top deck. Sophisticated automatic fire detection, suppression and sprinkler systems. She was very likely the safest ship afloat ever made, passenger or otherwise.
The United States (USS) ship sat untouched for than 28 years of being moored at Pier 82 on the Delaware River in South Philadelphia.
Earlier this year, the great ship was towed down the east coast, around the tip of Florida and up the Gulf to Mobile AL. Where she will be purposely sunk in the sea.
Heading to the Gulf near Fort Lauderdale on February 26, 2025
Why?
The Jet age had taken a toll on all the great liners of the day including the Queen Elizabeth, Queen Mary and QE2 (which this author took passage across the Atlantic on “standby” in 1979 because College Kids have no money). Human beings like fast and even though the United States cut the transatlantic crossing to 3 1/2 days it couldn’t come close to the big travel rivals that came on the scene.
The Boeing 707 and Douglas DC 8, both launched in 1958, had done in The United States like all the rest. Her last voyage was in 1969 when the huge Boeing 747 was about to arrive and was given a pink slip surprise after a 17 year run. But unlike the Queens that found life in other ways as hotels or in active cruise service (QE2), this glorious and beautiful ocean liner will be turned into an artificial undersea reef in the Gulf of Mexico.
Queen Mary Long Beach Museum and Hotel July 1967
Finding a physical location for a 1000’ long ship came to be insurmountable. Even though the ship remains amazingly sound structurally, conversion to a floating hotel or museum would require more funds that are available from the USS Conservancy, run by Susan Gibb,the Granddaughter of the ships designer William Francis Gibb.
The ship now sits in a work harbor at the Modern American Recycling center. as it undergoes hull modifications before it will be sunk on the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico for somebody’s undersea playground.
Metaphor for America
As I was driving back home, I realized that I had seen not only the greatest cruise ship ever created 3 but had been witness to another disaster. The fate of this great ship is also our fate: The sinking of a once great Nation.
What I have witnessed personally in just the last 5 years seems to prove that we have been sinking for a long time and are about to be placed in the ash heap of World History.
I wont go into the many examples why a once unsinkable Constitution is barely treading water trying to stay afloat. Suffice to say that it all comes down to what John Adams said about a Nation built on freedom and how that requires faith from “a moral and religious” people that helps inform right from wrong.
Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
-President John Adams, to the Officers of the First Brigade of the Third Division of the Militia of Massachusetts, 1798
When faith in a supreme being disappears, you get all the ever growing nonsense that culminates in an election of a President by people that traded their faith, to the extent they had real faith, for an earthly savior that appears more from the Uniparty Underworld.
The Central Bank (Fed) in America creates economies of their choosing, not ours (free markets). They do this by printing money that finds its way into member banks and then into stock and bond markets to support business and the Governments that created them. Apparently, preserving our history that made us great is secondary to the new spending priorities in a massive Big New Budget.
No longer is there a moral hazard for choosing industries to succeed (like AI Government Surveillance), and others to lose. This can happen because morality has been replaced by greed and lust for power by Governments and the people that run them. Hence, we have (3) ruling factions that drive everything: The MI complex, Big Health/Pharma and (especially) Big AI that has taken over our economy and our lives.
With the 2024 election, Conservatism didn’t die but it no longer has a place in Government.
Out went Conservative and altruistic motives for reducing debt for future generations and in went an all encompassing narcissistic desire for the stuff that all that debt pays for. This attitude permeates America today and leaves us looking back to the “Good Old Days” in 1950 when we were blossoming into a great Nation that knew no bounds.
And yet, our “MAGA Patriot” that was allowed to occupy the White House can find billions lying around to make payments to our already insanely rich AI moguls but can’t find enough money to keep one of our greatest engineering achievements afloat so that more than the .001% of our population that can dive 250 feet can marvel at what a once great America could do when we put our minds to it.
This begs the question: Does that America exist anymore? Or, are we a ghost ship of something long past it’s prime?
The United States government spent $50M on this ship back in 1950 when GDP was $300B. That’s nearly $670M in today’s dollars in a $30T economy. All we would need to save the ship from a deep sea graveyard few will witness is 10% of that amount.
Mr. Trump, are you MAGA enough to divert your attention to preserving the American history you presume to love and want to go back to?
If people are as mad about all this as I am and want to do something beyond contacting your local Uniparty, consider signing a petition to save the Ship that was purchased by a Florida County from the Conservancy for $10M.
Make no mistake. Governments are not for the People. They hope to make much more back from this “investment” in tourism spending. When asked about the petitition to save the ship, a County representative had this to say:
An Okaloosa official told FOX10 News that they are aware of the petition but have no intention of changing their plans.
In a nod to the County, and considering that the ship was rapidly running out of options, they at least prevented the ship from being recycled into appliances and wiring. Still, their attitude seems a bit selfish and, frankly, I consider nearly all government actions today to be largely for their own interests and against the people they serve.
Art of the Deal
What if Trump gave Okaloosa County back $11M for their efforts through an Executive Order which Congress would very likely approve along with, oh, maybe just the Federal Governments initial investment in 1950 dollars? I would say $67 million would be a good start in paying back bills and some basic remodeling for a floating museum – maybe in Mobile (I doubt Okaloosa has a deepwater port large enough). Everybody wins. Heck, we spend that much in 15 minutes.
And, Mr. Trump would help burnish his image as someone who knows that the SS United States is exactly the kind of example – maybe one of the best – of what America could do with hard work, some money and a lot of know how. It was part of what made America great back when we were great.
What about it Mr. Trump? Are you MAGA enough to make a difference and save her? You might even get a few of your supporters back.
So, here we are. In an amazing bit of voluntary suicide only surpassed by the idiocy of people believing the legacy MSM that told us to jab with unknown experimental ingredients for a 99% survivable disease, we now spend Billions on an AI infrastructure that will give us permanent unemployment with not a relative dime towards preserving the greatest Maritime achievement in history. From America to the World.
It won’t be Utopia.
And, all the while the SS United States is being prepared to sink permanently into the sea in and into our collective memories as a place that once was. In a fit of unneeded euthanasia.
That’s what happens when you poke too many holes in a beautiful ship. 4
Or, the US Constitution.
1 There is debate as to the definition of the “greatest ocean liner”. Some may say that for sheer grace and opulence, nothing can beat the French Ship Normandie (which died ingloriously in a fire in a NY Harbor). But, for shear engineering chutzpah and brilliance that is in a class all it’s own, how can you beat the USS United States?
2 Actual top speed has been classified and the Blue Riband record was made when she was not running at full capacity.
3 On her record setting maiden voyage, she reached top speed running on only 2/3 of her gross available HP (158,000 SHP vs 248,000 SHP). This lead to numerous speculations as to her true maximum speed with some sources indicating nearly 49 MPH.
4 The recycling center will be doing just that in order to make the great ship sink upright and lay vertically on its keel when it reaches the bottom of the Gulf.
Sources:
S.S. United States: The Story of America’s Greatest Ocean Liner Hardcover – January 1, 1991 – by William H. Miller
SS United States: An Operational Guide to America’s Flagship – June 28, 2023 by James K. Rindfleisch (Author), F. Samuel Bauer (Author), Stanton R. Daywalt (Author)
The Big Ship: The Story of the S.S. United States – July 5, 2011 – by Frank O. Braynard
SS: Red, White, and Blue Riband, Forever – October 27, 2014 – by John Maxtone-Graham
SS United States (Classic Liners) Paperback – July 15, 2012 – by Andrew Britton
Sic Semper Tyrannis
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