S.S. Admiral
Admiral in 2006
|
|
| History | |
|---|---|
| Route: | Mississippi River |
| Launched: | 1907 |
| Acquired: | 1937 |
| In service: | 1940 |
| Out of service: | 1979 |
| Fate: | 2011 sold as scrap |
| General characteristics | |
| Length: | 374 ft (114 m) |
| Beam: | 92 ft (28 m) |
| Decks: | 5 |
| Capacity: | 4400 |
SS Admiral was an excursion steamboat operating on the Mississippi River from the Port of St. Louis, Missouri. The vessel had a 1930s streamlined, Art Deco style, similar to the MV Kalakala and in contrast to the "gingerbread" ornamentation of more traditional Mississippi passenger and pleasure steamers. At 374 feet (114 m) long and 92 feet (28 m) wide, Admiral was longer than a city block, and the first all-steel inland steamer. At the time of its construction, Admiral was the largest passenger vessel on U.S. inland waterways.
The boat was dismantled for scrap metal starting in 2011.
Throughout the 1920s, Streckfus Steamers operated the J.S. Deluxe, a palatial boat which cruised the Mississippi River from New Orleans to Saint Paul, Minnesota. It brought exquisite service and fine musical entertainment to the area, introducing jazz to St. Louis.
In 1933 Streckfus Steamers decided to construct a new flagship. The boat was designed by Maizie Krebs for Captain Joe Streckfus. The young Krebs was a fashion illustrator for the St. Louis department store Famous-Barr, and neither she nor Streckfus originally took the design seriously, but she would also design another vessel for Streckfus, SS President, in 1934. The basis of Admiral was a ship built in 1907 for the Louisiana & Mississippi Valley Transfer Co. and operated at Vicksburg, MS Albatros. She was sold to Streckfus Steamers in 1937. From 1938 to 1940 Steamers Service Company rebuilt for more than $1,000,000 a ship with five decks, two of which were air-conditioned, an unheard-of luxury. Her steel hull was divided into 74 compartments, of which up to 11 could be flooded with the ship still remaining afloat. The new steel framework was designed and fabricated by Banner Iron Works.
She had a capacity of 4400 passengers, and departed on her first excursion cruise from the St. Louis waterfront in June 1940. For decades she was a familiar sight on the river.
...
Wikipedia