SS United States
United States docked at a Philadelphia pier in September 2009
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| History | |
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| Name: | United States |
| Operator: | United States Lines |
| Port of registry: | New York City |
| Route: | Transatlantic |
| Ordered: | 1949 |
| Builder: | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company |
| Cost: | $79.4 million ($733 million in today's dollars) |
| Yard number: | Hull 488 |
| Laid down: | February 8, 1950 |
| Launched: | June 23, 1951 |
| Christened: | June 23, 1951 |
| Maiden voyage: | July 3, 1952 |
| Out of service: | November 14, 1969 |
| Identification: |
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| Nickname(s): | "The Big U" |
| Status: | Sold 1978 |
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| Owner: | Various |
| Acquired: | 1978 |
| Fate: | Laid up in Philadelphia in 1996. |
| Notes: | The United States changed hands multiple times from 1978–1996 for a return to active sea service but no plans came through. |
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| Owner: | SS United States Conservancy |
| Acquired: | February 1, 2011 |
| Status: | Laid up in Philadelphia, bought to be preserved as of February 2011. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage: | 53,330 GT |
| Displacement: | 45,400 tons (at design draft); 47,264 tons (at maximum draft) |
| Length: | 990 ft (302 m) (overall); 940 ft (287 m) (waterline) |
| Beam: | 101.5 ft (30.9 m) maximum |
| Draft: | 31.25 ft (9.53 m) (design); 32.33 ft (9.85 m) (maximum) |
| Depth: | 75 ft (23 m) |
| Decks: | 12 |
| Installed power: | 240,000 shp (180,000 kW) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Capacity: | 1,928 passengers |
| Crew: | 900 |
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SS United States (Steamship)
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| Location | Pier 82, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 39°55′4.6″N 75°8′12.8″W / 39.917944°N 75.136889°WCoordinates: 39°55′4.6″N 75°8′12.8″W / 39.917944°N 75.136889°W |
| Architect | William Francis Gibbs |
| NRHP Reference # | 99000609 |
| Added to NRHP | June 3, 1999 |
 The Liner "United States" Passing 42nd Street, New York (c. 1952) by Andreas Feininger, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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SS United States is a luxury passenger liner built in 1952 for United States Lines. It was designed by American naval architect William Francis Gibbs to capture the trans-Atlantic speed record.
Built at a cost of $79.4 million ($733 million in today's dollars) the ship is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the US and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction. Even in her retirement, she retains the Blue Riband, the accolade given to the passenger liner crossing the Atlantic Ocean in regular service with the highest speed.
Her construction was subsidized by the US government, since she was designed to allow conversion to a troopship should the need arise.United States operated uninterrupted in transatlantic passenger service until 1969. Since 1996 she has been docked at Pier 82 on the Delaware River in Philadelphia.
Inspired by the exemplary service of the British liners RMS Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth , which transported hundreds of thousands of US troops to Europe during World War II, the US government sponsored the construction of a large and fast merchant vessel that would be capable of transporting large numbers of soldiers. Designed by renowned American naval architect and marine engineer William Francis Gibbs (1886–1967), the liner's construction was a joint effort between the United States Navy and United States Lines. The US government underwrote $50 million of the $78 million construction cost, with the ship's operators, United States Lines, contributing the remaining $28 million. In exchange, the ship was designed to be easily converted in times of war to a troopship with a capacity of 15,000 troops, or to a hospital ship .
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