SS United States One Step Closer To Salvation

The SS Unites States Conservancy has announced that their deal to acquire the SS United States from Norwegian Cruise Line has been finalized and they are to take possession of the title to the once great ocean liner.  As reported back in July, the Conservancy agreed to purchase the ship with the help of a pledge from philanthropist and maritime enthusiast H.F. Gerry Lenfest in the amount of $5.8 million.  Thankfully, NCL turned down a much higher offer from a scrapyard interested in breaking up the ship.

The main delay in the ship changing hands had to do with the EPA's concerns about the handling of potential toxic materials contained in the ship.  That matter has apparently been resolved and the Conservancy is now looking for investors to help in the transformation of the ship into a hotel, retail, and museum attraction.  The work is expected to cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars but if it can be completed several cities including New York, Philadelphia, and Miami have already expressed interest in the ship.

Here is the complete statement from the SS United States Conservancy.

Conservancy purchases SS United States through grant from Lenfest Foundation

SS United States Saved!

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the SS United States Conservancy group has reached an agreement to purchase the historic liner from Norwegian Cruise Line.  NCL has owned the ship for several years and had originally planned to move it from it's berth in Philadelphia, where it has sat rusting away since 1996, and refurbish it as part of their NCL America brand.  Unfortunately the NCL America experiment has failed and they had recently been taking offers from scrapyards.

The deal to purchase the ship for $3million includes a generous donation from Gerry Lenfest who is a local Philadelphia philanthropist.  He has pledged to donate over $5million dollars to help pay for the $60,000 monthly bill to keep the ship docked in Philadelphia.  The sale is still not finalized though as the Environmental Protection Agency must investigate the ship and determine what toxic materials are onboard and how that would be dealt with in any renovation project.  Since the ship is over 60 years old, there is probably a lot of bad stuff onboard like asbestos.

It is possible that the ship, once restored, may become a permanently docked floating hotel like the Queen Mary however the restoration will not be easy as the ship had been completely gutted and all interior fittings auctioned when she was taken out of service.

I hope this gets done.  It will be great to see this former shining symbol of American engineering and industrial might restored to her former glory.