PHILADELPHIA — Caretakers for the SS United States, the legendary ocean liner moored on the Delaware River since 1996, are renewing and expanding their emergency distress call for the beleaguered piece of American maritime history.Read the rest here.
In an eleventh-hour reprieve that spared the ship a date with the scrap yard, a local philanthropist's $5.8 million gift allowed the SS United States Conservancy to buy it and keep it afloat until November 2012. With that date looming, the nonprofit conservancy launched a "Save the United States" fundraising rally Wednesday to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the ship's maiden voyage on July 3, 1952.
If this country allows its maritime flagship and the last purpose built ocean liner still around to be scrapped then we just suck.
3 comments:
So I take it you are going to pony up?
Already did. Money is tight here like everywhere. But this one is worth saving. I sent them a check a couple years ago as well. There must be scores of warships preserved in this country including at least a half-dozen battleships. How come we can't find the money to save the only top of the line ocean liner this country every built?
This really is too bad. I would have thought she could be retrofitted and profitable again but maybe they left her too gutted.
There's probably just too much competition from those floating hotels (which seem to me like a top-heavy disaster waiting to happen but I'm not a sailor). Surely there's a high-end market for passage on a restored liner.
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