The UNITED STATES like any other liner was famous for her interior as well as her machinery plant, exterior lines, etc. In the case of the UNITED STATES the interior is gone and with it 99% of my interest in what happens to the ship. Even if it was restored it would cost tens of millions to duplicate its original interior and it would still be a duplicated interior.

Good luck but many of us have little interest in a
stripped shell of a ship. Where was the
“Foundation”, “Conservatory” etc back when it might of been possible for the ship to have been preserved, before Hadley held his famous auction? I assume that when the price of aluminum rises, the ship will be sold as scrap. Too late guys. Enjoy the QUEEN MARY.

But Mr. Westovers statements continue to confuse me. We are to DEMAND or FORCE NCL to do our bidding….But assuming they do not appreciate being treatened What is our or else?????? Will we never tak an NCL cruise??? THat should terrify them.

Since they own the ship, and will have total say in wat happenes to it, maybe beng friends is our only hope?

•Nominating the United States for the National Trust for Historic
Preservation’s “11 Most Endangered Historic Sites” list (2005).
•Initiated work for listing the Big U as a National Landmark (the next
highest designation beyond placing on the National Register of Historic Places—2005).
•Public lectures and meetings in both Philadelphia and New York attended by hundreds of supporters (04/05/06).
•A DVD multi-media presentation and new ad campaign by SmithGifford (05/06/07/08).
•Extensive national media placements (ongoing)
•Advocating in Congress (meeting with elected officials distributing SSUSF materials—ongoing.)

Yes, compared to the amazing accomplishments of the six years before this, it would seem the Foundation didn’t accomplish “anything” and perhaps in the strictest interpretation we didn’t. But in our defense,
we didn’t have the ear of NCL. We didn’t get funding from them. We did what we could and I for one am proud of what we did. It’s too bad Mr. McSweeney can’t see these accomplishments for what they were and more
importantly how the Conservancy should have supported them. Because had they, we would have been talking about saving a National Landmark right now.

Enough said. Enough read. Let’s just do this.

Robert Hudson Westover
Chairman,
SS United States Foundation
Washington, DC

Let’s pool our resources and BUY the SS United States.

Then we can work on finding a home for it, restoring it, making it into a floating hotel, restaurant, museum or tourist attraction – whatever.

If 5,000 people chipped in an average of $3,000, that’s $15 million.

You can put me down for a contribution of $10,000.

Let’s do this. We can join forces with the other groups that want to save the Big U, and we can make this happen. But not by writing letters, or appealing to Congress or the NCL.

Let’s BUY HER and SAVE HER.

Robert Gamer ‘New York to Le Harve, September, 1954′
Franklin Lakes, NJ

Robert, the Foundation has done absolutely nothing to help save the ship since the Conservancy was formed in 2004. Nothing.

I am proud beyond words to have worked with my fellow Conservancy members and supporters to help produce a major documentary on the ship, to host the first-ever ship’s crew reunion, to hold very large annual meetings and other events, to have produced effective promotional material on the ship’s history and current plight, to have developed an impressive network of supporters, to have stimulated significant media coverage, and to have been honest brokers on the situation with the ship.

If you call this “being taken”, I think you’re a victim of your own “yelling-from-the-roof-tops-no-holes-barred-advocacy approach”.

I will be a supporter of the ship to the bitter end, so I only wish your tactics had actually led to something, Robert. Anything. Regardless, I look forward to working with you as part of our emerging Coalition to Save the SS United States. Please, just let your future partners know what you’re thinking so you don’t hobble the larger effort.

It’s a pity that Mr. Rubino misquoted you. I’m not that surprised. It appears that there have been various “plays” going on with regard to this article. Lesson: You reap what you sow. I had a sense the reporter was up to something, hence I replied “testily”. (Has your readership spiked, Mr. Rubino?)

Good day, Mr. Westover. I’ll speak to you on our conference call this evening.

Dan McSweeney

Oh, and to Mr. Gritz: Cheer up, brother. We’ve just begun to fight. I wish we could count on your passion for the ship. Are you interested in helping out?

In the meantime, the ship has deteriorated past all hope of restoration. I have seen it, and I know it’s already gone. There is not enough left to save.

But I must tell you, gentlemen, that when the now inevitable and not-far-off day comes when the ship is towed to Alang, my only real emotion will be absolute and total satisfaction in the thought that I will never have to read another inane post by your conservancy groups. Either of them. All of them.

You have done nothing. Your efforts were more than useless, they were ridiculous. You allowed yourselves to be split over pointless irrelevancies and thus reduced what might have been a real and powerful lobby to a pack of squabbling sentimentalists.

There is nothing more you can do now. The economy is in recession, and this is not the time for grand dreams. Neither you nor the American people can afford them. The ship was once great, it is no longer.

Let it go.

It is my strong belief, and that of many others, that working out a deal in Congress to save the SS United States is the least NCL can do after floating the hopes of so many for so long. So please spare us all the futile fundraising letters, the bake good sales, the “events” the pennies-from-school-children-saving-the-USS-Constitution-preservation metaphors. The good people of the Conservancy need to demand that NCL do something in Congress. They have the contacts, they have the phone numbers and email addresses. DO SOMETHING and stop focusing on my or the foundation’s tactics.

Robert Hudson Westover
Chairman,
SS United States Foundation
Washington, DC

BTW: Keep your eyes and ears open. Many feel that when the lowest tide of the year approaches this is when the United States will be towed away because her height keeps her from going under the Walt Whitman Bridge during other times.

Oh, and for the record, I never called NCL “evil” that was a misquote.