The SS United States has been acquired to be turned into a reef off Destin-Fort Walton beach FL.
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A dignified burial with a meaningful afterlife. The best anyone can hope for.
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I agree, in her current condition, this is better than scrapping and about the best that could be reasonably hoped for.
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The conservatory is getting dragged hard on their FB page.
I wish the United States could have ended up like the Queen Mary in San Diego but her fate was sealed when the insides were gutted.
Reefing is better than going to Brownsville at least.
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Woohoo!
Get rid of it. Finally. Enough of these pipe dreams of restoring it.
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I agree. Far worse to watch her sit and rot away.
The America suffered a sad ending, the United States has been begging to be put out of its misery for some time now. No need to go 2 for 2.
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A good end.
Nobody is going to shed a tear over the passing of the modern monstrosities, cluttering up the skyline.
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Hear Hear! They are already scrapping the vulgar things as fast as they build them and, no surprise, there has not been any outcry to save any of them.
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along with the ship goes a chunk of our maritime history. Not the ship as much as an active maritime. I suppose a reef is maybe better than scrap?
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Not the ending she should have recieved but at least better than the cutters and then sent over the border to be melted down in the nearest arc furnace mill.
I know Gibbs & Cox have stepped in a few times to keep the old mans dream alive but I still say its a goddamn shame that an outfit that bears his name and recieves no shortage of pork barrel govt money did not float the funds to get her into a better state for preservation.
Godspeed SS United States, you deserved better.
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Preserved for what purpose?
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Same as any museum ship I suppose. She is a technologial marvel and while lacking the appeal of big guns and WW2 service of the big musem ships she is and will forever be a pinnacle of US engineering might.
Sad part is your average visitor these days could care less. I know the Gibbs family has fought the good fight for her for years, but its still a sad end
Is it really the best though? Wouldn’t it be better to beach it on some shoal preferably around the Va Capes close to its birthplace. Maybe a LCS’s worth of piles to secure it good. Build one less cruise missile and use the money to surround it with rip rap. Maybe take a small percentage of Iowa’s farm subsidies and use that money to plant some native grasses and plants. Let the shore birds and waterfowl take it over. Let it remain a wild life refuge and a fitting reminder as to what’s become of the United States maritime industry.
How could it be more fitting than to gaze upon the rotting, rusting hulk smeared in bird guano and not think about how we failed because, deregulation, because cut backs, because too big to fail, blah, blah, blah.
Maybe the apprentices at Newport News could burn out the letters and weld them to the hull facing the shore for the words to Shelly’s poem Ozymandias.
Maybe they could charge tourists to walk down a boardwalk to a viewing platform with telescopes so they could stare at it and shake their heads at what was and what has been lost. Maybe some enterprising person will cobble together an investment to take tourists out to the Big U rotting hulk island for photo ops. Would that be better than a reef - being relegated to out of sight out of mind status?
Aw fuck it, who needs another reminder of how far we have fallen. What good is a reminder if there is no will to take actions? Bon voyage Big U.
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Perhaps you should have a lie down now?
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“She was the symbol of prosperity with possibilities and implications of such extending well beyond seafaring alone.
Reminding me of mid-century shipping line posters where hulls loomed large over busy waterfronts of cities and countries all over a world that felt so much larger than the one we live in today, one where yard and stay booms hung over wharves and featureless faces on colorful ads let you imagine for yourself who you were going to meet and what exotic things you’d encounter far from your front door.
To watch her sulk and rust along the waterfront in plain sight of the world that once marveled at her abilities is too much. Cut her up or lay her to rest — just get it over with already.”
One man’s take on the matter on Instagram. Apparently a SUNY graduate.
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Yes to reefing. But boo to you celebrating.
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When I was about six years old, I was given one of those “Golden Books” and the book told the story told of two children who crossed the Atlantic on the United States. I even remember a drawing comparing the ship to the Chrysler building in length. Yes, to reefing. A “burial at sea” is far better than a cutting torch.
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It’s about 30 years overdue.
30 years ago, there should have been an effort to save her. But when people refuse to “take their thumb out” and do something, then a burial at sea is the next best choice. But I also believe “you can’t save everything”. Have a blessed day.
“The Conservancy began as an initiative of the SS United States Preservation Society, a nonprofit organization founded in 1992.”
These people have been begging, borrowing, and conning people out of money with great idea after great idea since then.