It’s a beautiful passanger ship that’s 330 yards long by 33 yards wide. That’s three football fields long. Built in 1952 and taken out of service in 1969 the SS United States has been in danger of being scrapped for the past 48 years. It’s much cheaper and much, much faster to fly to Europe.
But that doesn’t seem to make sense, does it. A ship is sitting in the water. A 550 mile per hour passenger jet has to climb up to 5 or 6 miles, which it does in a matter of minutes then four or five hours in the air puts you in Europe. The SS United States takes 3 1/2 days to do the same.
The SS United States has ‘space’for about 1,900 passengers and two passengers require one crew member, 900 total crew, to provide the service over the 3 1/2 days.
A 747 weighs about 367 tons. The SS United states weighs about 45,000 tons, 123 times as heavy as one 747.
No doubt the 747 is the better way to travel as far as speed and time but the SS United States was much kinder and gentler, a reminder of a different time.
The SS United States needs a good idea of how to make it commercially successful. A few smart people tried but so far, it’s still facing the scrap yard. Pity.
How about using it as a “home” for the homeless?
Views: 14
