|
|
Ship
Statistics
Architect
|
William
Francis Gibbs
|
Shipbuilder
|
Newport
News Shipbuilding
|
| Original
Owner |
United States
Lines |
| Current
Owner |
Norwegian
Cruise Line |
| Launched |
1952 |
| Service |
1952 to
1969 No mechanical failures
|
| Accommodations |
1,972
passengers in 695 State Rooms; 1,044 crew members
|
| Features |
4 dining
salons (First, Cabin, and Tourist Classes, and a Private Salon),
26 public rooms, 3 passenger bars, 2 theaters, heated seawater
pool, 19 elevators,
over 7 miles of walkways, over 5 acres of open deck space, first fully
air conditioned passenger liner.
|
| Size |
175 feet
high (over 17 stories!); 990 feet long (about 5 city blocks
long); the third largest passenger ship in the world during
her service and the largest ship ever designed to navigate the
Panama Canal (she could make it through with only inches to
spare.) She had an enclosed space of 53,000 gross tons
(5.3 million cubic feet). |
| Safety
Record |
Safest ship
ever built, completely fireproof (the only wood used on board
was in the pianos and the cutting boards in the galleys); most
aluminum ever
used in a single structure. |
| Propulsion
System |
Four Westinghouse
geared steam turbines rotating at 5240 RPM producing 268,000HP;
four 60,000 lb. props; classified as top secret until late 1970s. |
| Top
Speed |
While
there is much debate regarding her top speed, with some published
reports putting it as high as 44.7 knots, the Speed Trial
Statistics for the SS United States as originally presented
in November of 1977 to the Society of Naval Architects and
Engineers by John R. Kane, Vice President (ret.) of Newport
News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company, put her fastest sea
trial runs at 38.32 knots. |
More Presidents and Heads of State
traveled on her than any other ship.
|
Her
engines could produce a massive amount of horsepower, significantly
more than any rival. |
SS United States |
241,000
HP |
| Queen
Mary |
178,000
HP
|
Currently
stripped and deteriorating at Pier 82 on the Delaware River
in Philadelphia and awaiting
an uncertain future. |
|
|
SS
United States Documentary Film - The Big U - The Story of
the SS United States
|
|
|
