-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadian ASR members!
- Thread starter Canuck57
- Start date
I lived in D.C. for a while. One of the GREAT things is the Smithsonian Museum (which is sort of scattered about, the buildings have different sections of interest which may (if you are lucky) be in the same building as your other interests.
If you get over to Norfolk, I find the Maritime museum interesting.
As a place to visit (but not live, in my experience) Charleston, SC has some obscure but very interesting sort of half hidden places to check out).
No wonder that I've only been in Halifax, Nova Scotia (unfortunately by ship, as a Haven from a winter storm for 8 hours) & Niagara.
But I have relatives & friends in British Columbia. I hear that the weather is not so bad there. (My wife & I do not like it when it goes below 64F & really don't like it if it's cold enough to snow. It is beautiful in the snow (and I used to snow ski) but I'll stay indoors or in a vehicle (perhaps a Subaru with tracks).
Last edited:
Been there, done that. No fun at all driving the 401.
Just a few facts here about a ship that the Norfolk Maritime Museum has a great display from.
It has things in it from the SS United States, which set the world record for the Atlantic Crossing in 1952 (My father was Chief Plumber on her when she made her maiden voyage. My mother & I made a trip on her from Le Havre, France to NY,NY when I was 6 [in1963]):
On her maiden voyage, the SS United States shattered the trans-Atlantic speed record in both directions. She was the first American ship in 100 years to capture the coveted Blue Riband (awarded to the fastest trans-Atlantic ocean liner). Amazingly, she still holds the record more than 60 years later.
You think the Titanic was huge? The SS United States is over 100 feet longer. The SS United States is 990 feet long – about five city blocks! If you stood her on end, she’d rise nearly as high as New York’s Chrysler Building or Philadelphia’s Comcast Center.
More aluminum was used in the SS United States than for any previous construction project in history. Why? To reduce her weight and make her the fastest ocean liner of all time. (It was the first ship with an aluminum Super Structure)
Thanks to her reduced weight and powerful engines, the SS United States could go almost as fast in reverse as the Titanic could go forward.
How fast was the SS United States? During her speed trials, she sliced through the waves at an astonishing 38.32 knots – 44 miles per hour! (in head on gale force winds).
Built to be converted from luxury liner to troop transport in the event of war, the SS United States was able to carry 14,000 troops 10,000 miles without refueling.
The SS United States’ designer, William Francis Gibbs, wanted his ship to be fireproof (also a first), so he insisted that no wood be used in her construction or fittings. One exception (the other exception the chef's butcher blocks): the ship’s grand pianos were made from fire-resistant mahogany. A Steinway piano was tested in advance by dousing it with gasoline and lighting a match. (It didn’t burn.)
The galleys aboard the SS United States could turn out up to 9,000 individual meals a day!
Four U.S. presidents sailed aboard the SS United States: Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. (The youthful Clinton, fresh out of Georgetown, was on his way to study at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.)
The SS United States carried an impressive roster of luminaries on nearly every voyage. Famous passengers included Marlon Brando, Coco Chanel, Sean Connery, Gary Cooper, Walter Cronkite, Salvador Dali, Walt Disney, Duke Ellington, Judy Garland, Cary Grant, Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Marilyn Monroe, Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
A famous passenger of a different sort sailed aboard the SS United States in 1963: the Mona Lisa. Leonardo Da Vinci ’s masterpiece was traveling to the U.S. for special exhibitions in Washington and New York. (She made it back to the Louvre in remarkably good shape for a 460-year-old woman.)
Of course, there is a lot more to know about her.
It was faster than that (that run was in a head on Gale plus wind).Fascinating. Those old ships hauled ass for sure. 44 mph is really fast for a passenger ship.
| History | |
|---|---|
| |
| |
| |
| General characteristics | |
.jpg) SS United States at sea in the 1950s | |
| Name | United States |
| Owner | United States Lines |
| Operator | United States Lines |
| Port of registry | New York City |
| Route |
|
| Ordered | 1949[3] |
| Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company[3] |
| Cost | $71.8 million ($676 million in 2023[5]) |
| Yard number | Hull 488[2] |
| Laid down | February 8, 1950 |
| Launched | June 23, 1951[1] |
| Christened | June 23, 1951[1] |
| Maiden voyage | July 3, 1952 |
| In service | 1952 |
| Out of service | November 14, 1969[4] |
| Identification |
|
| Nickname(s) | Big U |
| Owner | Various |
| Acquired | 1978 |
| Notes | Multiple owners since 1978[6] |
| Owner | Okaloosa County, Florida |
| Acquired | October 12, 2024 |
| Status | Laid up in South Philadelphia, awaiting scuttling |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 53,329 GRT, 29,475 NRT |
| Displacement |
|
| Length |
|
| Beam | 101.5 ft (30.9 m) maximum |
| Height | 175 ft (53 m) (keel to funnel)[7] |
| Draft |
|
| Decks | 12[8]: 16 |
| Installed power | |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed |
|
| Capacity | 1,928 passengers |
| Crew | 1,044 [8]: 16 |
| SS United States (Steamship) | |
| U.S. National Register of Historic Places | Where ever it is. |
I suspected steam turbines. That's how those WWII destroyers and such had such top speeds too from the reading that I've done. I suspect the shipyard workers where showing off their abilities and technology in laying down the keel in 1950 and completing it in 1951? That is extremely fast for shipbuilding and a extremely fast large ship.It was faster than that (that run was in a head on Gale plus wind).
History General characteristics
SS United States at sea in the 1950sName United States Owner United States Lines Operator United States Lines Port of registry New York City Route
- 1952: Transatlantic: New York – Le Havre – Southampton (also Bremerhaven)
- 1961: Cruises
Ordered 1949[3] Builder Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company[3] Cost $71.8 million ($676 million in 2023[5]) Yard number Hull 488[2] Laid down February 8, 1950 Launched June 23, 1951[1] Christened June 23, 1951[1] Maiden voyage July 3, 1952 In service 1952 Out of service November 14, 1969[4] Identification
- IMO number: 5373476
- Callsign KJEH
Nickname(s) Big U Owner Various Acquired 1978 Notes Multiple owners since 1978[6] Owner Okaloosa County, Florida Acquired October 12, 2024 Status Laid up in South Philadelphia, awaiting scuttling Type Ocean liner Tonnage 53,329 GRT, 29,475 NRT Displacement
- 45,400 tons (designed)
- 47,264 tons (maximum)
Length
- 990 ft (302 m) (overall)
- 940 ft (287 m) (waterline)
Beam 101.5 ft (30.9 m) maximum Height 175 ft (53 m) (keel to funnel)[7] Draft
- 31 ft 3 in (9.53 m) (design)
- 32 ft 4 in (9.86 m) (maximum)
Decks 12[8]: 16 Installed power Propulsion
- 4 × Westinghouse double-reduction geared steam turbines
- 8 × Babcock & Wilcox Type-M boilers at 925 psi and 975 °F (524 °C)
- 4 × shafts, 2-four blade props, 2-five blade
Speed
- 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) (service)
- 38.32 kn (70.97 km/h; 44.10 mph) (trials)
- 43 kn (80 km/h; 49 mph) (claimed)
Capacity 1,928 passengers Crew 1,044 [8]: 16 SS United States (Steamship) U.S. National Register of Historic Places Where ever it is.
Notice the POWER of the steam turbines (that would be Air Craft Carrier power back then).
The intent: being to be able to outrun and not be sunk by a U-Boat if there was ever a need for it to be a troop ship.
The US Navy helped with the SCREWS (many call them propellers) to reduce the SONAR sound signature (there was a lot that was classified about this ship).
Similar threads
