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SS United States

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NutmegCT

NutmegCT

Great Pumpkin
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Before today's floating multi-storey shopping centers and casinos, we had ... the SS United States.


https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-ss-united-states/

11621830136_27d2c0d9c4_b.jpg

sigh
 
NutmegCT said:
Before today's floating multi-storey shopping centers and casinos, we had ... the SS United States.


sigh
Click to expand...

Seeing this post, this popped into my head:

 
Saw her tied up in Philadelphia 15/20 years ago and she looked like she was ready for the bone yard. Was hard to look at such a majestic vessel turning into a pile of rust. :frown-new:
 
PAUL161 said:
Saw her tied up in Philadelphia 15/20 years ago and she looked like she was ready for the bone yard. Was hard to look at such a majestic vessel turning into a pile of rust. :frown-new:
Click to expand...

apparently she kind of is - she is essentially stripped having had her fixtures and fittings sold. Looks like a number of efforts to preserve her have come to naught. Kind of reignites the 'do we have to keep everything debate?'

(I just finished working with a church who could not make the -significant- repairs necessary to stay in their building. They sold it and having received assurances that it would stay, the new owner is tearing it down. They are not happy but I am trying to tell them that not seeing it will be so much better than seeing it as a restaurant or yoga studio or, God forbid, a strip club.)
 
From the last photos I saw, not only stripped of furnishings and fittings but non load bearing partition walls, doors and basically everything except the heavy machinery. Kind of like a gutted building with just the 4 outer walls and roof left. Sad ending for one of the final ships of the trans Atlantic period.
 
Increasing property values have a lot to do with some buildings future. It's cheaper to tear some buildings down and build new in it's place, unless the structure can be placed on the historical list, it's future could be in jeopardy and investors could care less what the building was used for. :rolleyes2:

I would assume Canada has a similar system for preserving old historical buildings.
 
PAUL161 said:
Increasing property values have a lot to do with some buildings future. It's cheaper to tear some buildings down and build new in it's place, unless the structure can be placed on the historical list, it's future could be in jeopardy and investors could care less what the building was used for. :rolleyes2:

I would assume Canada has a similar system for preserving old historical buildings.
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we do - but generally It appears that the USA has much more stringent regulations - I suspect in part because of the country being that much older. WE don't have nearly the interesting neighbourhood centres I see in places like Atlanta and Chicago and Baltimore
 
JPSmit said:
(I just finished working with a church who could not make the -significant- repairs necessary to stay in their building. They sold it and having received assurances that it would stay, the new owner is tearing it down. They are not happy but I am trying to tell them that not seeing it will be so much better than seeing it as a restaurant or yoga studio or, God forbid, a strip club.)
Click to expand...

JP I don't believe I have ever seen a strip club in an old church, but that would be a sight to behold.
 
quick google search produces:

strip club.JPG
 
As an ex-British Merchant Navy seaman, I hate to see ships like this. If they can't be properly preserved, then they should be scrapped. Every ship I sailed on has been scrapped (or wrecked). It's the fitting end.
 
Roger said:
As an ex-British Merchant Navy seaman, I hate to see ships like this. If they can't be properly preserved, then they should be scrapped. Every ship I sailed on has been scrapped (or wrecked). It's the fitting end.
Click to expand...

which is my point - as a people our appetite for nostalgia is such that we can't seem to get rid of anything any more - ever. Part of the challenge being how eye wateringly expensive it is to maintain/ restore these things. Sometimes it's better to let it go.
 
JPSmit said:
which is my point - as a people our appetite for nostalgia is such that we can't seem to get rid of anything any more - ever. Part of the challenge being how eye wateringly expensive it is to maintain/ restore these things. Sometimes it's better to let it go.
Click to expand...

Does that apply to old British cars too?

<ducks and runs>
 
JP, It looks like it is time for a road trip. I wonder if they serve wings?

Back to the topic at hand, have any of you been keeping up with the USS Texas? Currently there is an attempt to get the USS Texas seaworthy so she can be towed to a shipyard for an overhaul and then sent back to a different location in Texas where it might attract more tourist dollars.
 
Been a long time since I last saw the Texas. Read a maintenance report online at one point that didn't paint a good picture of the stern half of the ship's structure. Sounded like much of the plating ribs and other steelwork needed replacing due to years of flooding of the void spaces.
 
Worked on this replacing and restoring the teak decks on the bow section. USS New Jersey, has an extremely fine record! Now at a well deserved rest on the Delaware river in Camden New Jersey.

View attachment 60869
 
The one thing that most preservation groups don't seem to understand is the need for constant maintenance and the cost to provide it. There's a reason why so much of the crew if a warship was deck division and spent so much time chipping and painting. Lots of ships I've visited show they tried to lower this cost with poorly thought out measures. Texas once had concrete poured over the teak weather decks which they now know lead to water and rust issues. Yorktown had, the last time I was there, concrete over the flight deck. I love seeing these symbols of the past preserved, but what is worse, poorly done and decaying or scrapped?
 
Believe it or not, the New Jersey is home for a Masonic lodge, which has a lot of members. The members and volunteer crew take good care of her. The teak decks get treated when they start to show dryness and the rest of the ship look like it just came in from a cruise, she's in beautiful shape! A wonderful museum on board for all her wartime crew and battles. I would recommend anyone in the area to take the time to board her and look her over, I don't think you would be disappointed. How do I know this ship, I worked for the company that built the docks and walkways for it. We all volunteered to work on it in our spare time and a couple of us got the decks. :encouragement: PJ
 
I remember the mess the Sinkin' Sara (Saratoga) and Forrest Fire (Forrestal) were in Rhode Island when I saw them.
Group I was working with were trying to Save the Saratoga.....we were going to high-line the missing equipment over from Forrestal.....then the Navy sunk them both.

ALL the below decks (engineering) was there....full machine shops, ALCO diesel engines for massive generators, mess decks, hospital......upper areas were toast. Rust, huge chunks of peeling paint all over the decks, frozen and broken water lines......
 
The carrier Intrepid is now a floating museum anchored in the Hudson River in New York City. With airplanes on deck, it looks ready to go. A wealthy donor put up the money to create a foundation to save the ship. I've never been aboard, but it's a thing to do if you visit NYC.
 
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