Just listened to a story that Philly is pulling the plug on moorage for the ship and the SSUS Conservancy is scrambling to find a place to take her…didn’t sound like their efforts were developing any prospects. Could this finally be the bell tolling for what was painfully inevitable?
Probably, unfortunately 
It is a shame she might be finally be disposed of but the flip side of the coin is that the ship continue for how many more decades as a barely preserved corpse as she has been for what seems like forever now. That what is referred to as “America’s flagship” be seen by so many steadily deteriorating is far too much of a tragic metaphor describing the nation she is named for
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Christ I hope so. Send that thing to the razor blade maker and move on.
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I think Brownsville would be more than happy to take her.
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It came into being as a symbol of American maritime power and will depart as a symbol of American maritime impotence.
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I really do love the lines of that ship, but its time to put her out of her misery. No one is going to spend the money to restore it and barely anyone outside of this forum know or care about the history of it.
It is a fitting tribute to what once was the U.S. Merchant Marine and how far we have fallen from those heights.
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Why is Philadelphia pulling the plug?
The Philadelphia waterfront has more unused and dilapidated docks overgrown with large trees than any other city I can think of. The SS UNITED STATES is the least of Philadelphia’s problems on the waterfront.
The ship is a symbol. I’d like to see it partially restored as a permanently moored museum. I don’t care what it costs. Given how much money the government pisses away on everything else, the cost of a non navigational restoration of the UNITED STATES would be just a drop in the bucket.
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It would make a nice artificial reef somewhere for divers.
Most of the asbestos was removed in the 1990s so not a lot of toxic material on it.
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Then you fund it.
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Excellent book about the Big U
Edit: Also, always loved this picture of her on sea trials. Slashing through a gale at 38 kts! Will be sad to see her go.
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It might be a big drop but considering that since the 2010 earthquake the Department of State says we have sent more than $5.6 billion to prop up Haiti (and dropped another $100 million today), supporting a museum ship dedicated to the U.S Merchant Marine might be worth more to Philadelphia and the nation. A restored Big U would attract a lot of people who never knew that once upon a time we actually built and operated ocean liners.
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Over the past 20 years, federal agencies and programs have made “payment errors” that add up to $2.4 trillion, according to a recent report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). That’s more than the annual GDP of Brazil, a country with over 215 million people.
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So throw good money after bad money? Time for Brownsville!!
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And today come this bit of news from MarAd
When did this agency’s mandate include funding port development which I believe it is fair to say are used almost entirely by foreign flagged ships? MarAd’s neglect of fostering a healthy US flagged merchant fleet is criminal yet the decades pass as the US merchant marine becomes the same useless hollow shell of its former self just the SSUS sits today exactly the same shell of former glory…
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She was on the news the other morning with someone from the Conservancy talking about how her wharfage has doubled in recent years to nearly $1900/day. It was a live shot, just before sunrise, pretty confident that was on purpose. This gentleman was confident that there was a group interested in restoring her into a hotel if they could just raise funds to last a little longer but agree with most of you, time to let her slip away. She was a beautiful ship and i would have loved to have seen her in her heyday, not rusting along I-95. The country cares more about TikTok than the history of the US Merchant Marine. How successful is the Queen Mary out in Long Beach?
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A beautiful Liner, from the days when there were Liners not cruise ships.
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Considering it was just another foreign flag cruise ship, why should anyone care?
The Big U represents a point in American maritime history that is as significant as the old battleship across the river. Maybe even more significant since there seem to be battleships almost everywhere.
Except for the fact she has a large amount of aluminum in her that made it possible for her to be so fast.
Probably 95% of the people have on clue she even exists. Seems like a “floating hotel” scenario would be a good repurpose. Part of the problem may be no one would want a “fast” cruise ship. People want to “putt” around on the water and get to a port for a visit. Just specalatin’