S.S. United States Nominated for Endangered Historic Places List

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has included the storied ocean liner United States (SSUS) among its 2006 nominees for its prestigious "America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places" list. The nearly 1000-foot ship still holds the North Atlantic speed record it took on its maiden voyage in 1952 and is considered by historians as among the most important engineering feats of the Twentieth Century. "This is a great honor for our great national flagship," said Robert Hudson Westover, whose organization, the S.S. United States Foundation, filed the nomination application with the National Trust. "The last time the SSUS created this much excitement was when the Foundation successfully petitioned to have the ship placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999." Although the SSUS is currently owned by Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), Westover's organization would like to see the ship converted into maritime museum celebrating American's history at sea. This vision, however, seems to be at odds with NCL's stated plans of returning the United States back to sea as a modern-day cruise ship. NCL has owned the vessel since April, 2003. "The Foundation can see no possible scenario where putting the ship back to sea won't result in destroying the few historic elements which remain after nearly 30 years of auctioning off items, environmental deterioration and just plain neglect by her previous owners," said Westover. "The only historic elements that remain are her two impressive ten-deck-high engine rooms and her overall streamlined outside architecture which is unique among ocean liners." According to Westover's organization, these important historic elements would have to be removed or greatly altered because of the economic necessities of competing in the modern cruise ship market. The Foundation hopes that if the National Trust selects the S.S. United States for the "11 Most Endangered" list it will help their efforts in Congress to bring about legislation to protect the ship from any further damage to its historic integrity.