Figured I'd post this here since I'm a big supporter of this project and was excited to read this news.
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PHILADELPHIA—The world's fastest ocean liner is docked here and hasn't moved under its own power in years.
But in the glory days of ocean voyages in the 1950s and 1960s, the S.S. United States was a champion, setting a trans-Atlantic speed record on its 1952 maiden voyage that still stands.
A Second Act?
Cheering crowds in 1952 greeted the S.S. United States in Southampton, England, after the ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean on her maiden voyage.
Against the odds, a small band of ship preservationists has nosed out scrappers with an agreement to buy the historic ocean liner—and perhaps turn it into a stationary waterfront hotel or multi-use development. The S.S. United States Conservancy plans to announce Thursday a deal to buy the ship from its current owner, cruise operator NCL Group, for $3 million.
The scrappers are at bay for now. But the proposed sale still must satisfy Environmental Protection Agency concerns related to toxins aboard the nearly 60-year-old steamship. If the sale goes through, it would cap quite a turnaround: The group of mainly volunteers transformed themselves into a serious bidder for a Titanic-sized vessel in just a few months as scrappers began circling their prize.
Becoming the potential owner is "an eye-opening experience for us," said Dan McSweeney, the conservancy's executive director.
As part of the deal, the preservationists will be picking up the $60,000-a-month tab for upkeep of the ship in Philadelphia, where it is currently docked. The funding is provided by Gerry Lenfest, a Philadelphia philanthropist. The effort to save the mothballed super-liner was the subject of an article in The Wall Street Journal last September.
Even if the deal goes through, the ship faces a long comeback. Its luxury fittings are long gone. The interior has been gutted to the bare metal for asbestos abatement, and exploring the ship requires flashlights to maneuver pitch-black passageways. Passenger cabins are identifiable only by marks on the floor where walls used to be.
On the starboard Promenade Deck, where travelers once took the sea air, a few tall weeds have sprung up. "That's where the geese nest," said caretaker Ray Griffiths during a recent tour. The geese weren't home that day, but a duck peeked out from under some stairs.
Despite such indignities, the ship "hasn't forfeited its greatness," the conservancy's Mr. McSweeney said, standing near the bow. The group is working with architectural firms, developers and city officials on plans to convert the "Big U," as they nickname it, into a hotel or development in Philadelphia or New York. It has 600,000 or so square feet of floor space, the equivalent of a modest skyscraper.
"The ship definitely will be a successful economic engine in whatever community it finds itself in," Mr. McSweeney said. On Thursday, the conservancy plans to light the ship at dusk and screen a documentary there about the liner.
During the recent ship tour, conservancy board president Susan Gibbs, whose grandfather designed the vessel, described her grandmother's memories of being aboard. "The elegance, the champagne, the light and speed, the scotch-and-sodas at 10 a.m.," she said. "What a majestic symbol this ship was."
Joseph Rota, who served on the ship's crew as a young man, stopped in what used to be the first-class observation lounge and recalled a chat with Prince Rainier of Monaco in the mid-1950s. "Sitting right there," Mr. Rota said, pointing to the spot. The prince was traveling for a meeting with actress Grace Kelly, his future wife, Mr. Rota said.
NCL bought the S.S. United States several years ago with the idea of recapturing some of that glamour and putting the ship back in service, offering cruises around Hawaii. The ship collected barnacles instead, and then went on the block.
NCL received a larger offer of roughly $5.9 million from a scrapper, but instead has been working with the preservationists. "We are pleased with the current arrangement with the conservancy," an NCL spokeswoman said. She didn't say why NCR turned down the higher bid.
The EPA has cautioned that, before the ship can be put to a new use, it must be scrubbed of toxic PCBs that contaminate some of its components. In a cruel irony for the preservationists, one of the more cost-effective ways to resolve a PCB issue like this would be to sell the ship to a U.S.-based scrapyard that is equipped to clean it up.
The conservancy's exclusive agreement with NCL to buy expires in February. If the sale goes through, a new clock starts ticking: Under the agreement with Mr. Lenfest, the philanthropist, the group has 20 months of financial support to develop a long-term plan that would eventually make the ship financially self-supporting.
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