SAVING A GRAND OLD LADY

ONE OF THE FASTEST ocean liners of all time – the SS United States – today languishes as a rusting hulk in Philadelphia and may be destined for the scrapheap unless a dedicated group of campaigners can raise enough money to save her.

Launched in 1951, the 53,000-tonne ship – 100 feet longer than Titanic and 10,000 tonnes heavier – was built for luxury and speed. On her maiden voyage to England on July 3, 1952 she sliced across the Atlantic at 36 knots, arriving after a 3-day, 10-hour and 40-minute crossing. That slashed 10 hours off the previous record – set by Britain’s Queen Mary.

She again shattered Queen Mary’s record on the return trip – thereby becoming the first American ship in a century to hold the prestigious Blue Riband – awarded to the fastest trans-atlantic passenger liner. More than 60 years later her record remains intact.

The SS United States plied the trans-atlantic route for 17 years and her celebrity passengers included the likes of Marilyn Monroe, John Wayne and Elizabeth Taylor, as well as Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and even a then 22-year-old Rhodes Scholar, Bill Clinton. She also carried Da Vinci’s priceless Mona Lisa back to France after the painting’s 1963 tour of the US.

Ultimately, however, the advent of the jet age forced the liner into early retirement in 1969.

Today, she lies alongside a pier in Philadelphia, and her owner – the SS United States Conservancy – says there is no more money to keep the preservationist aims alive. Mooring fees alone are $60,000 a month.

The group bought the vessel in 2011 for $5.8 million with plans to convert the rusting hulk into a floating museum, hotel and office space, a project that could cost upwards of $300 million.

Faced with the steep monthly expenses however, it may be forced to sell the ship for scrap. For Susan Gibbs, the executive director of the Conservancy, the project has a special resonance. Her grandfather, selftaught naval architect William Francis Gibbs, designed the ship. For more information visit www.savetheunitedstates.org