They are no longer what they were. The former ocean liner docks in Manhattan on the Hudson have been converted into parks, museums, heliports or boarding points for tourist tours. Only three, between 47th and 54th streets, continue to receive large ships, although now they are cruise ships.
Pier 76 is currently home to the Classic Club Manhattan, a private club for lovers of classic and sports cars. Vehicles and partners share a warehouse that until a few years ago was used as a stable for the hundred or so horses of the city police mounted unit. Previously it was also a warehouse for vehicles removed by the dreaded tow truck. Despite its change in smells and uses, the building has always displayed the same sign on its façade: United States Lines.
Not in vain, the place where very expensive Lamborghinis, Pontiacs and Lotus are now kept was the terminal of the American shipping company that regularly linked Europe with New York. Its first liners were ships seized from Germany during the First World War, as was the former Hamburg America Line terminal: overnight its facilities became American property.
Under the password of this shipping company, 89 ships operated. Some did it for decades and others were chartered for short periods of time. Of all of them, the most famous was the SS United States, launched in 1950, baptized in 1951 and entered service a year later. Today she is one of the few survivors of the golden age of liners or regular line liners. She is completely rusted, and there she is still… waiting to shine again.
The SS United States was the largest ocean liner built in the United States. Unlike other naval projects, the Virginia shipyard in Newport News carried out the work with great discretion on a special slipway, something unusual for a passenger ship. The key to all this was that the new passenger ship was civil… although with nuances. The last North American liner was actually a child of the Cold War: that long political, social, military, ideological, economic and propaganda confrontation between American capitalism and Soviet communism.
During the first half of the 20th century, the large shipping companies that linked New York and Europe with regular services were British, French, Dutch or Italian. Cunard, Compagnie Générale Transatlantique, Holland America Line and Italia di Navigazione competed in punctuality, prestige and performance. Good services were also offered from the other side of the ocean, although the great leap forward in performance, luxury and, above all, speed came with the SS United States on July 3, 1952. On its first crossing it covered the area in three days and ten hours. distance from the New York Harbor Lighthouse to Bishop Rock in Cornwall, calculation points for those transatlantic voyages. She developed an average speed of 35.5 knots, almost 66 kilometers per hour, pulverizing the marks of the Cunard’s Queen Mary.
The very high speed of the United States in its travels earned it prestige, fame and became a source of pride for New Yorkers. Her boat was the best. They were not wrong. In a way it was theirs, since the US government financed 75% of its construction, and when necessary it also covered its operating deficit. The reality behind that speed and prestige was Washington’s military interests. If necessary, the ship could be immediately converted into a US Navy unit, although in this case instead of carrying 1,900 passengers it could transport up to 14,000 troops 10,000 miles away without having to refuel. A surprise weapon.
Although it was never necessary to militarize it, the ship was always prepared for it. That was a clear instruction received by Dorothy Marckwald, in charge of the interior design of the SS United States. Under the orders of naval architect William Francis Gibbs, the designer had to extreme her ingenuity and work with unusual materials at the time without losing the glamor expected of such an ocean liner. The reason was that the boat had to be as fireproof as possible and the materials had to withstand speeds never developed in transoceanic voyages. The only wood was that of a Steinway grand piano
Aluminum, dynel, a new synthetic fiber and fiberglass were the materials used in the ship’s 674 cabins, 26 lounges and 20 suites. The success in materials, design and colors made it a reference liner and it won the favor of dozens of celebrities who mythologized it even more: John F. Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Walt Disney, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Elizabeth Taylor were regular travelers. . Salvador Dalí, Marilyn Monroe, Sean Connery, Coco Chanel and Cary Grant also traveled frequently on this ship.
Even though it was the favorite means of travel for so many celebrities, aristocrats, millionaires and statesmen, perhaps the most important name in the ship’s history was Lisa Gherardini. In 1963 her portrait made a well-protected and escorted round trip: La Gioconda was exhibited for seven weeks between the National Gallery in Washington and the Metropolitan in New York. From there she returned to the Louvre, where she only left once more to be exhibited in Moscow and Tokyo in 1974.
When the Mona Lisa sailed between France and North America, the Douglas DC-8 and Boeing 707 jets were already flying over the Atlantic, cutting travel times, and what were previously days (few, in the case of this ship) became just hours. , thanks to speeds that were previously unthinkable. The large liners stopped sailing due to lack of profitability, even though they were often subsidized by the governments of the countries for image and national pride.
On November 7, 1969, the SS United States arrived in New York for the last time on its last voyage, the 400th. The ship was transferred to the Virginia shipyards and, pending an offer, became the property of the maritime administration of the United States. Since then there have been several attempts to reactivate it, whether as a cruise ship, hospital, floating hotel or casino. Nothing came out. Only at an auction in the early nineties was the ship awarded to a shipowner who towed it to Sevastopol, in the Black Sea, where all the asbestos was removed and the interior was left practically clear. Nothing more was done and the boat was towed back to the US, leaving it moored in a Philadelphia dock where she has been since 1996.
Since then, the only substantiated plan to recover it was that of the shipping company NCL, which was going to restore it and put it into service for its cruise division in Hawaii. The 2008 crisis torpedoed the idea, and since then the ship belongs to the SS United States Conservancy thanks to the transfer of a Philadelphia philanthropist who bought the rusty ship by weight and gave it to the organization chaired by Susan L. Gibbs, granddaughter of the ship designer.
These last five years, Gibbs has been working hand in hand with the real estate company RXR to give the boat one last chance. That company is behind the redevelopment of Rockefeller Center and the conversion of the former TWA terminal at JFK Airport into an interesting hotel that is a destination in itself.
The plan for the ship is to take it back to New York, turn it into a museum with different cultural spaces open to the city and different hotel and restaurant services. All this next to Pier 76, where, as a monument, one of the ship’s propellers commemorates him. If all goes well, ship and propeller will share space again. Everything will have to be decided in the coming weeks, because after 28 years of stay in Philadelphia, the United States has to leave the dock in a few days.
