Beauty and safety co-existing: blueprint of the SS "United States"

Captain Francesco Schettino of the Costa Concordia fled his sinking ship like a bratty, scared teenager speeding away from a maritime hit-and-run.

“Look Schettino, perhaps you have saved yourself from the sea,” shouted an Italian coast guard captain to the sniveling Schettino over the radio,  “but I will make you look very bad. I will make you pay for this!’ In Italian: “Vada a bordo cazzo!” –  “Get back on board, you —!”

The sinking was negligence compounded by cowardice. A century ago, Captain Edward J. Smith of the Titanic at least had a modicum of shame.  The “millionaire’s captain” knew he would look “bad, very bad” indeed if he survived the sinking. So Smith went down with his ship, along with 1,523 of the 2,228 souls under his care.

The tragic grounding of the Costa Concordia off the coast of Italy last month is a sobering reminder that a century after the Titanic struck an iceberg in the middle of the Atlantic, modern passengers ships are not immune from disaster. According to one travel editor: ”It is unbelievable … that this should happen to a 21st Century ship.” Completed in 2006, Costa Concordia boasted such luxuries as a cigar and cognac bar, a 65,000 square foot gymnasium, a solarium, a three deck high theater, even Grand Prix racing simulators. She was also an engineering masterpiece: weighing over 110,000 gross tons (almost three times the Titanic’s tonnage) and stretching over three football fields long.  She had more than enough lifeboat seats for everyone onboard.

Yet at last report, 32 people are either dead or missing.  She listed so heavily that half the lifeboats were rendered useless.  All because the captain recklessly steered his ship too close to shore.

Along with the awful loss of life, the public is also transfixed by the tragicomic sight of the Costa Concordia flopped over on her side like a beached whale.  The flyovers of the stricken liner show how passenger ship design has changed drastically over the past few decades.  Cruise ships like the Costa Concordia are bulky and ungainly looking, floating pleasure domes. The reason why ships look like condo-blocks is pure economics: passengers aren’t satisfied with a window, let alone a porthole: they want balconies.  To accommodate this market demand, ships rise thirteen stories or higher above the water. The upper decks are built of aluminum to minimize weight, while the hull is of steel.  Built for the warm waters of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, they lumber along at 20 knots and do not behave well in rough seas.

This is not to say that today’s megaships are unsafe. All newbuilds must meet rigorous standards set by the 2010 Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regarding lifesaving equipment, internal subdivision, navigation equipment, stability, and fireproofing.  What sank the Costa Concordia was human error, not bad design.  Yet today’s megaships are built with the mindset of tourist dollar maximization first, safety second.  And as illustrated by the recent disaster, they might be operated with the same mindset, as well.

When big liners were means of transportation from Europe to America, they had long, low-slung profiles, and were built to withstand the brutal punishment of the North Atlantic. The Titanic, built in 1912, was such a ship.  Granted, she had such “Downton Abbey” niceties as a squash court, indoor swimming pool, Turkish baths, and a Parisian café, but she still had the classic, clean lines of a nineteenth century sailing ship. The Titanic was Strauss’s “Blue Danube waltz in steel. Yet unfortunately, serious compromises were made in safety in the name of passenger comfort, most glaringly the lack of adequate lifeboats.  The original plan called for 48 lifeboats, not the 20 that were ultimately installed.  Company rationale: they would make the decks too cluttered for promenading and shuffleboard.

The United States, built in 1952 and the last liner to capture the transatlantic speed record, was another.  She was luxurious in a sleek “Mad Men” way, and was also the epitome of the ship as a steel thoroughbred, boasting a knifelike bow, two finned stacks, and a finely sculpted hull. At full steam, the United States could make over 38 knots, or about 44 miles per hour, like Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” blasting through the Atlantic.

Most importantly, the SS United States designed with the mindset of safety first, luxury second.  Naval architect William Francis Gibbs didn’t just build his ship just to meet existing safety standards; rather he insisted that she exceed them. Approaching the design challenge with deference, Gibbs aptly described a passenger ship as the equivalent of “a large cantilever bridge covered with steel plates, containing a powerplant that could light any of our larger cities, with a first class luxury hotel on top.” Obsessed with safety, he integrated lessons from many past accidents, insisting that his ship could survive multiple torpedo hits, iceberg damage, and above all fire.  Because she was designed to turned into a troopship should another world war break out, the United States had to conform to strict Navy construction codes. It was said that the only wood onboard was in the grand pianos and the butcher’s block.  The enormous amount of aluminum in her construction was not used to maximize balconies, but to minimize weight, allow for an efficient and fine underwater hull design, and eliminate dangerous expansion joints in her superstructure.

According to SOLAS 2010, modern megaships like the Costa Concordia must stay afloat with any three watertight compartments open to the sea.  The SS United States, built sixty years ago, could stay afloat with any five compartments flooded.

Gibbs proudly declared, “You can’t set her on fire, you can’t sink her, and you can’t catch her.”  And this was no idle boast. Unlike the Titanic (or the Costa Concordia, for that matter), the United States sailed for 17 accident free years until jet planes killed off her profits.  After years of neglect, she now rests at a pier in Philadelphia, awaiting redevelopment.

The United States was also a ship any captain would be proud to command. “She’s the finest ship afloat,” her first master Commodore Harry Manning told the press after her triumphant, record-breaking maiden voyage in July 1952, “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, far more beautiful than any woman I’ve ever known.”

Imagine those words coming out of Captain Schettino’s mouth. Or a coast guard officer screaming “Vada a bordo cazzo!” at a fleeing Captain Smith or Commodore Harry Manning.

Costa Cruises, the operator of the Costa Concordia, is an Italian subsidiary of American-based giant Carnival Cruises. Carnival, like the White Star Line before it, will be hit with some pretty stiff lawsuits, even though ticket agreements limit passengers to a maximum of $71,000 in damages. There will also be nasty public inquiries into whether or not such cavalier seamanship is widespread aboard cruise ships.  But unlike the ocean greyhounds of the past, today’s cruise ships are not the only way to cross the seas. In the long run, they are probably not in danger of becoming dinosaurs.

Yet last month’s disaster is a reminder that stupidity and negligence can indeed happen today, no matter how safe the ship is.

As for the Costa Concordia: even if she were salvaged, who’d want to sail on her?

SS United States Conservancy Attracts Supporters at Philadelphia Union League
This post was written by SSUSC on April 22, 2010
Posted Under: Save Our Ship

On April 20, Conservancy Board members Susan Gibbs and Steven Ujifusa gave a presentation on the SS United States at the Union League of Philadelphia. The event was hosted by the League’s Yacht Club. Over 60 guests showed up for dinner, cocktails, and a multimedia presentation that included music, Powerpoint, and excerpts from the documentary “SS United States: Lady in Waiting.”

Steven Ujifusa provided an historical overview of William Francis Gibbs (a Philadelphia native whose father was a member of the Union League in the early twentieth century) and the ship’s construction, service career, and lay-up. Susan Gibbs then informed the audience about the Conservancy’s Save Our Ship campaign and Plank Owner program.

“We were received very well at the Union League,” said Gibbs, who encouraged the gathered members to become involved with the Conservancy’s efforts to restore the ship as a stationary waterfront attraction. “This is the kind of outreach we need to continue, in cities across the country, in order to ensure our success in preserving this irreplaceable American icon.”

Founded in 1862 to support the Northern cause and policies of President Abraham Lincoln, today the Union League of Philadelphia is one of the city’s premier business and social clubs.

“We want to offer a special thanks to the League’s Wesley McMichael and Ann Markowitz for making this event such a success,” said Ujifusa.

Stand by for further updates on the Conservancy’s efforts to Save Our Ship.

http://ssunitedstatesconservancy.org/SSUS/blog/conservancy-attracts-supporters-at-phila-union-league/

Kudos to the person who did this spectacular recreation of the “Titanic” in Crysis. One truly gets an appreciation for how perfect this ship’s external proportions were despite her enormous size.

The video below indicates a new, disturbing theory that caused the “Titanic” to split in half, not at a high angle, but at a shallow one. She split along one of her expansion joints, which allowed her rigid steel superstructure to flex slightly with the movement of the sea. For naval architects, this was a necessary evil in ocean liner construction, especially as ships grew longer than 700 feet, and these expansion joints were dangerous weak points. The “Titanic” might have actually cracked (albeit not lethally) during her first Atlantic gale, had she ever faced one. The United States Lines flagship “Leviathan,” built in 1914 as the German “Vaterland,” actually cracked along her forward expansion joint during a North Atlantic gale in late 1929 while running at full speed. William Francis Gibbs, who had overseen the renovation of “Leviathan” from 1920 to 1923, never forgot this lesson.

In the case of the “Titanic,” the new theory of the break up suggests that the ship actually split apart while she was at a relatively shallow 10-15 angle downwards. This probably means that the 1,500 people trapped onboard the ship after the lifeboats had gone were caught completely by surprise when the lights went out and the ship began to rapidly sink.

The SS “United States,” built with an aluminum superstructure, did not require these expansion joints. Aluminum, unlike steel, has greater flexibility while having a comparable level of strength. Aluminum however is very difficult to shape, and it was not until after World War II did shipyards have the ability to construct upperworks of commercial ships with large amounts of the metal. Joining the steel hull and the aluminum superstructure was an immense challenge for the shipyard. To prevent galvanic corrosion, an extremely durable insulation had to be placed between the two metals to prevent the aluminum from disintegrating where it came into contact with steel.

Not only would the “United States” have probably survived the iceberg strike which sank the “Titanic,” but also would never have split in such a catastrophic manner.

March 3, 2010

By Steven B. Ujifusa
For PlanPhilly

The owners of the SS United States are now accepting scrappers’ bids for the famous ocean liner. Norwegian Cruise Lines, which is owned by Genting Hong Kong, will allow scrap merchants to survey the ship over the next few weeks. The fastest and arguably most beautiful transatlantic liner ever built – whose faded red, white, and blue funnels have become part of the Philadelphia landscape – has been moored at Pier 82 in South Philadelphia since 1996.

Norwegian Cruise Lines purchased the United States in 2003 with the intention of restoring her as a cruise ship.  In February 2009, as a result of the souring economy, NCL announced that it was abandoning these plans and that they were putting the ship up for sale. Originally, the terms of sale stated that she could not be sold to a non-U.S. entity or for scrap. Now it appears that the non-scrapping provision has been removed, and that scrap merchants are being allowed to make bids on the ship.

NCL’s main motivation for selling the ship is to unburden itself of the berthing and maintenance fees, which run upwards of $800,000 per year. The current scrap market price of the liner is estimated to about $2 million.

In the meantime, the SS United States Conservancy is launching an all-out fundraising and awareness campaign to save the ship from the scrappers. Norwegian Cruise Line offered the Conservancy the opportunity to purchase the ship in 2009, but the nonprofit organization was not in a financial position to accept the challenge at that time.  The Conservancy has since launched a “plank owner” program in which ordinary citizens can make a donation to raise money to alleviate the docking fees and develop a viable business plan for her as a stationary, floating attraction, either in New York or Philadelphia.  The Conservancy’s eventual goal is to be part of a public-private partnership that will renovate and operate the ship.

It’s an ambitious and expensive vision. “The Conservancy’s Save Our Ship campaign shows the groundswell of public support for the SS United States we’ve seen throughout the nation,” said Conservancy Board President Susan Gibbs, whose grandfather, William Francis Gibbs, designed the vessel.  “We’re modeling this campaign on the public subscription which saved the USS Constitution back in the 1920s. The power and symbolism of this ship strikes a real chord.  The nation has faced real challenges in recent years.  Here is a patriotic project that all Americans can embrace.”

Fans of the “Big U” feel that this not just about saving a ship, but saving an irreplaceable piece of American history. “This is both a patriotic and a practical effort,” said Conservancy Executive Director Dan McSweeney, whose father emigrated from Scotland to America to serve as a crew member aboard the vessel. “We’re absolutely committed to saving one of the most important symbols of America in the 20th century, but we’re also talking about creating hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs when this ship is refurbished and becomes a stationary attraction in a large U.S. city.  We must save this irreplaceable American icon and continue the process of establishing a public-private partnership to re-purpose her.”

The ship has attracted a lot of interest recently as a possible historic attraction along a revitalized Delaware waterfront. Members of the Conservancy met with Thomas Corcoran of the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation and Alan Greenberger of the City Planning Commission last October to discuss possible uses and locations for the ship. The restoration of the ship as a waterfront attraction has been endorsed by City Council President Anna Verna. Last December,  First District Councilman Frank DiCicco sponsored a resolution that recognized the history of the SS United States and supported its preservation in Philadelphia. “A rehabilitated SS United States would be an exciting addition to the Delaware River that could be successful tourist attraction,” the resolution stated, and that “the refit would create hundreds of jobs for a number of skilled laborers.”

At the federal level, the preservation of the ship has also been endorsed by Congressman Joe Sestak, a retired admiral and Democratic senatorial candidate.

Last year, the plight of the United States made headlines in the Philadelphia Inquirer, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal. The Conservancy scored a major coup in July 2009 when it received a $300,000 matching grant from philanthropist H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest.

Thomas Watkins, a retired Pennsylvania state judge and friend of Lenfest, was instrumental in securing the grant, and is outraged at the current situation.

“The sale for scrap of an irreplaceable national icon that bears our country’s name by a Chinese-based company is a metaphor for the state our country is in right now,” said Watkins. We are already in hock to the Chinese as a nation. What’s next? The Statue of Liberty? The Alamo?  The Golden Gate Bridge?”

For its part, Norwegian Cruise Lines released a press statement on Wednesday evening.  “We have continued discussions with the SS United States Conservancy,” the release said in part, “but to date, they have not made an offer to purchase the ship.  There are significant costs, approximately $800,000 annually, associated with maintaining and berthing the vessel.  Therefore, we continue to seek alternative arrangements with the intent of selling the vessel to a suitable buyer.”

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Naturally, there has been discussion in the design and planning community about the ship as a creative solution to the casino controversy in South Philadelphia. In his January 25 article in Philadelphia Weekly, Brendan Skwire wrote that since, “it looks like the state is determined to shove casinos down our throats … I say make lemonade from lemons. Sell the ship to Foxwoods and open it as a casino!” And now Steve Wynn has entered the picture.  It is also estimated that her lower decks could accommodate 200 parking spaces.

When asked about the possibility of the ship as a casino, the Conservancy stated that it has an open mind for financially viable ways to save the ship from destruction. “We are open to the idea of the ship as a casino if it was a way to save her,” said Dan McSweeney of the Conservancy, “but it would have to be part of a larger complex that would include a museum and cultural attractions.”

Joanne Aitkin, an architect at Kieran Timberlake and chair of the Design Advocacy Group (DAG), thinks that the use of the ship partially as a casino is a good idea. “The ship as a casino seems like a perfect fit to me,” Aitken wrote in an email. “Exchanging a big box on the waterfront for a cool ship – what’s to decide?  Seems like it would be a huge draw.”

George Claflen Jr., another prominent architect and fellow member of DAG, feels that the ship could be restored incrementally, and that the actual cost of saving her in the short term is quite small.  “Steve Wynn has been talking about building a ‘cute casino,’” Claflen said in a phone interview. “The SS United States could be a landmark casino. It can be saved and developed incrementally. I can envision a casino on the upper decks, lower decks as open space for future expansion, and then the engine/boiler spaces can be stabilized as a ruin like Eastern State Penitentiary.”

“I’m very distressed about where things are with the ship,” Claflen continued. “The potential has been in Philadelphia’s face for 15 years, and just seeing that beautiful ship towering above our city should be a reminder that we do not want to lose it.  This is too dramatic an opportunity to pass up for the Delaware River revitalization.”

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Completed in 1952, the SS United States still holds the Blue Riband of the Atlantic for making the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean: 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes at an average speed of 35.59 knots, or about 40 land miles per hour. From 1952 to 1969, the “Big U” was the most famous ocean liner in the world, a favorite of the rich and famous as well as ordinary tourists and immigrants.

She counted the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Bob Hope, and Princess Grace of Monaco among her first class passengers. Yet she was also a secret weapon in the Cold War, as she could be converted within 48 hours into a 15,000 soldier troopship, and could steam 10,000 miles around the world at 30 knots without refueling.  Her hull and engine designs were classified military secrets. Most importantly, she was a symbol of the optimism and exuberance of the 1950s post-World War II era, when America was at the peak of its industrial might.

Her construction was the lifelong dream of Philadelphia native William Francis Gibbs (1886-1967), America’s preeminent naval architect who had one dream: to create the fastest, safest, most beautiful ocean liner in the world. An eccentric, driven patrician, Gibbs felt that his ship was blessed with what he called “the power of survival,” and that his design team “knew that they were trying for the greatest ship in the world,” he said, “and that they were doing it as trustees for the citizens of the United States…”

The United States was the crowning achievement of Gibbs’s career. In addition to passenger liners, his firm of Gibbs & Cox also designed 70 percent of all the naval vessels constructed during World War II—about 5,000 ships in all.  Perhaps Gibbs’s most famous contribution was the mass-produced Liberty ship. FDR’s Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal was one of many admirers who felt that Gibbs’s contributions to the war at sea were essential to final victory.

For Conservancy Board President Susan Gibbs, the fact that ship now sits forgotten in the city of her grandfather’s birth is a strange historical irony. “It is so poignant that my grandfather first dreamed of designing big ships when he was a Philadelphia boy and would watch the action at shipyards along the Delaware River.  And now his dream ship is languishing, forgotten by the nation she so proudly served.  There must be a reason why this ship is still with us, after so much neglect and after so many years.  It must be because we still have a chance to save her.”

Links:
http://www.ssusplankowner.org
http://www.ssunitedstatesconservancy.org
http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/6488948.php?contentType=4&contentId=5680912
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/news-and-opinion/Ante-Up-on-the-SS-United-States-82563577.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125417162355547323.html

Steven Ujifusa is a board member of the SS United States Conservancy, a national nonprofit dedicated to saving the great ship and preserving her historical legacy.  He is currently working on a general interest book on the SS United States and the life of her designer William Francis Gibbs. The book will be published by Twelve Books (http://www.twelvebooks.com) in early 2011.  To learn more about the book and the SS United States, visit http://www.stevenujifusa.com.

http://www.ssusplankowner.org/