History

History

The Engineers
Brothers William Francis and Frederic Gibbs were born into a prominent Philadelphia family in the 1880s. From their earliest years, the brothers demonstrated a profound interest in ships, which would become a lifetime passion and later, vocation. With no formal training in marine engineering, the brothers' love of ships would successfully manifest itself in the restoration or creation of many famous American merchant vessels including the SS Leviathan, SS Malolo, SS Santa Rosa, SS America, SS United States, as well as the design of approximately 70% of the wartime marine tonnage built in the United States during World War II, including the famed Liberty Ships.

The Early Years
The concept of a 1000-foot liner was initially developed by the Gibbs brothers in 1907. Designs for two express American super liners were, approved for construction by the U.S. Shipping Board by 1916, but were not built when World War I diverted national resources into the creation of new wartime tonnage. By the 1920s, the first 1000-foot ocean liner was on the drawing board, which would debut as the French Line's Normandie. Rival nation Great Britain would soon follow with the launch of the original Queen Mary. The Gibbs had gained considerable experience in liner construction and design when they were chosen to rehabilitate the former German liner Vaterland in the early 1920s, a vessel that had been seized by the U.S. during World War I and employed extensively as a troop transport. Following the war, the massive conversion of the worn military transport into the express luxury liner SS Leviathan was undertaken by the Gibbs. This ambitious project required that the brothers develop an original set of working blueprints and schematics for the ship, which were unavailable from the ship's uncooperative German builders. A highly successful conversion led to a ship that remained the largest on the seas for several years, and until the reflagging of the Pride of Aloha in June 2004, the largest passenger liner (gross tonnage) ever operated under the United States flag. The Leviathan project demonstrated to the field that the Gibbs brothers were a significant emerging force in maritime design and engineering.

Gibbs & Cox & World War II
The design and rehabilitation of numerous small liners and military vessels occupied the Gibbs brothers into the 1920s and 1930s. In the interim the Gibbs Brothers had teamed with renowned yacht designer Daniel Cox, to found the marine design firm of Gibbs & Cox, headquartered New York City. These efforts culminated in a new American merchant flagship in 1939 with the launch of the SS America, the largest passenger liner constructed in the U.S. to that time. The America's construction costs were largely underwritten by the United States government with the requirement that in time of war the ship would be converted into a troop carrier and pressed into national service. Indeed the very day that the America slid down the ways, Hitler was invading Poland, and the darkness of what would become World War II began to settle across the North Atlantic, where German U-boats carried out frequent and unprovoked attacks against international merchant shipping. The America was almost immediately converted into a troop carrier, and Gibbs & Cox would provide significant designs for large numbers of merchant marine and military vessels, including the famed Liberty Ships, to aid in the war effort. The Gibbs brothers' dream of constructing a 1000-foot liner was yet again postponed.

Postwar Resurgence
Following the war, the SS America was converted back into a highly regarded and successful American passenger liner. To be competitive in the North Atlantic passenger trade, a consort was needed to replace the aging American liner Manhattan. At the instigation of General John M. Franklin, president of the United States Lines, plans were submitted for what would ultimately become the SS United States and construction was undertaken in early 1950 with a massive subsidization of the liner's construction costs underwritten by the United States government. As with the America, the building subsidy was provided with the understanding that the liner would be requisitioned for military service when required.

The Gibbs brothers had dreamed of building the first 1000-foot express super liner in the United States since before World War I. One of the benefits in the long delay in realizing their dream was the ability to take advantage of the tremendous advancements in technology that had occurred over the past three decades. Two World Wars had served to push marine technology far beyond where it had been when the brothers first built and tested their initial hulls forms in the early 20th century. The Wars had also provided another benefit: the demonstration that ocean liners could be successfully utilized as naval auxiliaries. The largest vessels in the world, Cunard's Queens, had proved their usefulness in war by moving vast numbers of troops quickly. For the construction of the vessel the Gibbs had dreamed of, money would play a major factor. The United States had not been a major player in North Atlantic passenger shipping since the mid-19th century. By the end of World War II, it was arguably late to begin such a foray into ocean transportation, but Gibbs also knew that if he developed a ship that could serve a pivotal role in times of national crisis, he would stand a substantially higher probability of acquiring the capital needed to propel his big ship project forward.

From Drawing Board to Graving Dock
After much political wrangling over funding (which would continue for years to come over operating subsidies), the Gibbs received the green light to move forward. Work began at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company with the liner's keel laying on February 8, 1950. Over 3,100 shipyard workers labored for two years under the very watchful eye of William Francis Gibbs. Gibbs was paranoid about allowing design information to leak out to rival shipbuilders, though from the beginning, military secrecy was touted as the rationale for the limited information released concerning the liner's construction. Gibbs had determined that the only way to protect a unique hull and propeller design from prying eyes was to construct the ship directly on the floor of a graving dock. Not only would this allow the dock to be flooded, thereby protecting the ship's design secrets below the waterline at the time of launch, it also enabled the construction to race forward at an unprecedented pace, now that the shipyard was not constrained by the difficulties inherent in building a ship on an inclined set of ways.

The ship could be constructed until it was nearly completed mechanically and then floated off the dock floor and moved to a final fitting out berth where the actual passenger accommodations would be completed. So effective in saving time was this method of building on the dock floor, that when ship was floated for the first time sixteen months after construction began, the vessel was already seventy percent complete. Modular construction techniques developed to great advantage on Liberty ships by Gibbs also aided in the efficiency of the building.

Because of the dual role as ocean liner and a naval auxiliary, the ship was built to rigid U.S. Navy standards. The SS United States was highly compartmentalized to provide maximum floatation following a major collision or attack damage. Dual engine rooms provided the most power ever built into a merchant marine vessel, and a top speed that would remain classified for decades. Since the ship was built with an all-aluminum superstructure from the largest single order of aluminum yet placed, the vessel's weight was kept to a minimum compared to similarly-sized vessels such as Cunard's Queen Mary or Queen Elizabeth, each having displacements of greater than 77,000 long tons. By comparison, her aluminum superstructure reduced the SS United States' deadweight to a significantly lower 45,400 long tons, which combined with a maximum 247,785 horsepower rating (approximately 60,000 shaft horsepower greater than either of the Queens) gave the vessel a tremendous horsepower to weight ratio compared to its rivals. Dual engine rooms were built as a precaution against the ship being rendered powerless during an attack. The vessel could travel in reverse at over 20 knots and it was later revealed that the ship's top speed during sea trials was in excess of 43 knots-an extraordinary achievement for its size. An efficient hull design, incorporating a knife-like stem, tiny bulbous bow and rounded cruiser and transom stern combination, coupled with a revolutionary propeller configuration, contributed to the liner's incredible speed. Designed to be converted into a troopship within 48 hours and capable of carrying 14,000 troops over 10,000 nautical miles without refueling, the liner's accommodations were thought to be somewhat austere. All furnishings and fittings were custom-designed from glass, aluminum and other non-flammable lightweight materials and built to ensure adherence to rigid Navy fire standards. Consequently it was a well-known publicity fact that the only wood aboard appeared in the ship's pianos and butcher blocks.

The Glory Years
American passengers flocked to their new national flagship and bookings in the early years were strong. The introduction of jet aircraft in the 1950s steadily drew away passenger traffic from all the major ocean liners, when travelers could arrive in Europe now in just a matter of hours vs. five or six days at sea. Until the late 1950s, the SS United States enjoyed solid bookings, which often exceeded 90% of capacity. The America and United States continued to act as the American version of the Atlantic Ferry for more than a decade. The America had been thoroughly refurbished after the war and the two ships maintained a 5-day crossing schedule meant to reduce strain on the older and slower vessel.

As the dominance of the jet continued to erode the profits of steamship lines on the North Atlantic in the late 1950s, increased operating costs, reduced government subsidies and a decline in passenger carriage took their toll and United States Lines eventually sold the SS America to foreign interests in 1964, leaving the SS United States without a viable running mate on the North Atlantic. As subsidies continued to decline and with increasingly frequent labor unrest in the shipping industry, the fate of ocean passenger shipping was sealed. By the mid 1960s, many passenger lines were expanding cargo operations and divesting themselves of their dwindling passenger operations, most notably Cunard, which by 1968 had retired both of its famous Queens.

Passenger bookings continued to drop as the 1960s wore on, and labor unrest in the maritime industry grew dramatically. In November 1969 it was abruptly announced that the SS United States would be withdrawn from passenger service and laid up. After a successful 17-year career, the SS United States, Queen of the American Merchant Marine, vanished from public view and began her long, slow decline. The ship was laid up indefinitely at Norfolk, Virginia.

Decades of Decay
The initial lay up was well conceived. The ship was hermetically sealed by the United States Navy to ensure a minimum of degradation while laid up in the Reserve Fleet. By 1978 the military had determined that it had no use for the huge ship and MARAD offered the vessel for sale. Because of previously classified engineering features, developed in conjunction with the U.S. military, the stipulation was made that the ship could not be sold to foreign interests. The vessel was purchased by developer Richard Hadley of Seattle, who intended to restore it to active cruise service in U.S. waters under a condominium time-sharing arrangement. When financing collapsed, the ship's interiors and fittings were auctioned off in 1984 to pay creditors. The ship would change hands into a consortium owned by Fred Mayer, and several companies expressed an interest in acquiring the liner and returning it to active sea service. The United States was towed to Europe where removal of significant quantities of asbestos was undertaken.

Shipyard authorities eventually seized the ship for non-payment related to the hazardous materials removal, and Philadelphia businessman Edward Cantor stepped in and brokered a deal to resolve the ship's outstanding debt. Cantor arranged for the ship to be towed back to its home country where the faded SS United States arrived in Philadelphia in July 1996 and has remained docked. In 2003 Edward Cantor died, leaving the future of the ship in seemingly uncertain straights.

The Maiden Voyage
During the builder's trials in June 1952, which were followed by U.S. Navy trials, the SS United States exceeded all expectations. Print media reporters observing the trials from nearby ships noted in their stories that there could be no doubt that the new liner would snatch back the Blue Ribbon for the United States. On July 3, 1952, the SS United States backed away from United States Lines' Pier 86 in New York City and headed for glory. Captain Harry Manning, Commodore of the United States Lines, was noncommittal about a record-breaking run. Disappointment temporarily ensued when the SS United States encountered fog during her first day out, and Manning prudently reduced speed. When the fog lifted, Manning ordered full power and the liner leapt ahead into the North Atlantic. Despite the delay, as well as gale force winds and heavy seas approaching the coast of Europe, the SS United States reportedly handled like a thoroughbred with its neck stretched toward the finish line. The liner steamed seemingly without effort in heavy swells, for a time exceeding 36 knots with no apparent vibration in the stern. By the time the SS United States reached Bishop Rock, England, there was no doubt that the North Atlantic speed record had been smashed. The SS United States easily bested the record held for 14 years by the Queen Mary, by over 10 hours, arriving in an unprecedented 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes. Several days later, Manning pointed the ship's slender bow back toward the United States and charged into the record books once again with another crossing that again shattered all former records, arriving in New York in 3 days, 12 hours, 12 minutes. To this day, the westbound crossing record of the SS United States stands unbroken. The eastbound crossing had been achieved at an average speed of 35.59 knots and the return more difficult westbound crossing at 34.51 knots average speed.

Recent Promise
After years of speculation, including considerable talk of the vessel's sale for scrapping late in 2002, it was announced in the spring of 2003 that Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) had purchased the ship, along with the 1950s American liner Independence and two incomplete Project America hulls, to create an American-flagged cruise service. In June 2004, NCL reflagged the Pride of Aloha cruise ship as an American vessel and has stated that the SS United States, due to the extensive nature of the refit required, would be the last vessel to be rehabilitated into their cruise itinerary by 2010.

Despite a potential bright new beginning, many questions remain as to how to best recognize and preserve the significant historic, engineering and cultural importance of this former national flagship.

The Legacy
From a historic perspective, the SS United States is the crown jewel of the American merchant marine and the marine design firm of Gibbs & Cox. So significant were the accomplishments of this firm, that founder William Francis Gibbs remains the only individual ever to be awarded both the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers' gold medal for both his naval architecture and marine engineering accomplishments. Gibbs passed away in 1967, but his enormous legacy lives on in the design firm of Gibbs & Cox, which continues to supply marine engineering for government contracts, though it has long been out of the passenger ship business. Of the numerous passenger ships designed by Gibbs & Cox, only the SS United States remains extant, stripped of all interior fittings, with the exception of heavy machinery.

Interior fittings and furniture, auctioned off in 1984, have found their way into museums and private collections around the world. So significant was the interior design of the SS United States, it is still lauded over 50 years after the ship's maiden voyage. In summer 2004, Modernism Magazine celebrated the forward thinking 1950s female design firm of Smyth, Urquhart & Marckwald. The magnificent interiors and custom furniture they created are displayed in museums and still evoke a sense of the classic elegance of mid-20th century design.

The significance of the SS United States to the American Merchant Marine cannot be overstated. The ship remains the largest passenger vessel constructed in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to ever cross the North Atlantic (both eastbound and westbound). As the nation's flagship for over 17 years, the ship's service was exemplary and it was never plagued by mechanical difficulty. For over 35 years the ship has been spared from the worst humiliation a vessel can endure: the breaker's torch. It is not only unusual that a ship, out of service for well over three decades, remains intact, it is extraordinary. Various owners, despite failed revitalization attempts, have recognized the important legacy of this vessel and prevented its otherwise certain demise. In the past decade, a tremendous awareness has emerged of the liner's plight, and former builders, passengers and crew have come forward in large numbers determined to ensure that the SS United States is preserved as an amazing technological and engineering triumph, and American cultural icon. The tremendous red, white and blue funnels, while somewhat faded, still stand strong and are a testament to the ingenuity, vision, determination and pride that represent the American dream.