With Olympic Games security measures being so tight today, I doubt that is feasible. The only way it could be, is if all the atheletes and staff could be accommodiated upon her. That, I'm afraid, isn't possible.
Dallas and Houston lost the bidding wars for a future Olympics because the facilities were scattered out amongst the metropolitian areas.
New York won, without any mentioned of using the SSUS, mainly because most of the facilities were in one locale.

Just thought it was time to give the ole SSUS topic a bump! Just think, she is still dockside in Philly and someone is still paying a lot of money each day for her to sit there. There's just got to be a plan in the making somewhere. Gotta keep hoping anyway!

Greetings everyone:

I'm sure this was just a "fluke":

Every night, on my way home from work in Philly back to home in south NJ, I drive across the Walt Whitman bridge. As is my tradition, I glance to the left on my approach to see the faint silhouette of the SSUS funnels - gently lit by the glow of the IKEA superstore across the street from the dock.

Tonight, at 8:30 PM, I was surprised... thrilled... curious... to see the two funnels brightly flood-lit!! I suspect it must have been from the lights of a freighter docked nearby, but WOW.... I got goose-bumps. Thank goodness there was light traffic, because my eyes were certainly spending more time ogling the splendid sight than concentrating on the road in front of me.

Unfortunately, it will probably be the only time I see such a sight for quite a long time... but it will stay in my memory forever.

Marty

Must have been beautiful Marty. Too bad you had no camera. I have visited Philly 4 times and the sight of those stacks never fails to excite me.

Just curious.....is the ship's engines/boilers still able to function and if so, how much trouble would it be to fire them up?

quote:

Originally posted by tncruiseman:
Just curious.....is the ship's engines/boilers still able to function and if so, how much trouble would it be to fire them up?

The main steam engines and boliers were mothballed years ago properly. I would think it would take a month to two months to place them back into service.
The boilers, turbines and reduction gears will have to be torn down and inspected, then put back together again. Decisions will have to be made about upgrading the electrical and electronic controls, vacuum tube technology is slightly obsolete today.
Installing new digital controls shouldn't take more than a couple of months.

Two months to strip down and rebuild steam engines? I'd be very shocked if it was that quick! Rebuilding the many obsolete components that will need replacement, struggling with the lack of appropriate skills......

I know it generally takes ages to rebuild a steam locomotive and surely the powerplant on the SSUS is way more complicated?

Can't imagine those engines will ever fire again myself, unless they can figure a way of making them a tourist attraction when she's rebuilt, like the steam engines on the Waverley paddle steamer. Which would no doubt be a H&S nightmare!

quote:

Originally posted by OB1:
Two months to strip down and rebuild steam engines? I'd be very shocked if it was that quick! Rebuilding the many obsolete components that will need replacement, struggling with the lack of appropriate skills......

I know it generally takes ages to rebuild a steam locomotive and surely the powerplant on the SSUS is way more complicated?

Can't imagine those engines will ever fire again myself, unless they can figure a way of making them a tourist attraction when she's rebuilt, like the steam engines on the Waverley paddle steamer. Which would no doubt be a H&S nightmare!

Steam engines train locomotives use are triple expansion pistons, the SS US uses steam turbines. The US Navy uses steam turbines on every aircraft carrier and submarine, the electric utility industry uses steam turbines at every nuclear, coal, and almost every natural gas plant. The SS Norway was still using steam turbines for propulsion. Steam turbine technology isn't obsolete. There's plenty of workers in America shipyards with the skills to refurbish the engines and boilers.
The SS US engines and turbines were mothballed just like the Navy's battleships engines were mothballed. The battleships were able to return to service with their original engines in place.

The tear down I discussed before was to inspect the turbines, and bearings. Verify the piping valves and safeties work properly. Verify the motors and pumps are in good working order. Two months is sufficent time to perform all these inspections at power plants and US Navy ships, I don't see why it couldn't be long enough for the SS US. Even if it took twice as long as I can imagine, we're only talking about four months.

Thats good news, especially that the technology is not obsolete. Even though the ship is old, those powerplants have far less operating hours on them than many of the cruise ships in service today. And NCL, or someone, is still paying dockage, etc while she sits idle. Again, something has got to be in the works other than a torch!

If NCL/Star couldn't replace the boilers onboard the SS Norway, it is very unlikely that NCL will ever revive the SSUS. With all of the money that they are losing, the Big U will on the backburner indefinately.

I am amazed that the ship is around for this long. I can't see NCL/Star spending a dime on this ship, other than the dockage fees. Just look at NCL America. They need a better management team to make that division profitable.

I read somewhere that dockage expense for SSUS is over $1000/day. Why would anyone pay this without a game plan? I wish Carnival would buy it and put 2 whale tails on the stacks!

Two months is optimistic for completing all the inspections needed on the steam plants unless the work was being done 24/7 like we do for our refueling outages at ye olde nuclear plant. Even with proper layup, degradation of the piping and valves would be a particular concern. So would warping of the turbine shafts from being set in one position for so long without being on the turning gear every so often. We are on the verge of starting up our Unit 1 reactor after 20 years of layup. That main turbine needed lots of work which took a long time to complete.

But I do agree that there are many skilled craft out there who can do the work. Most of the industrialized world's electricity is supplied via steam turbines.

quote:

Originally posted by Dave Beers:
Two months is optimistic for completing all the inspections needed on the steam plants unless the work was being done 24/7 like we do for our refueling outages at ye olde nuclear plant. Even with proper layup, degradation of the piping and valves would be a particular concern. So would warping of the turbine shafts from being set in one position for so long without being on the turning gear every so often. We are on the verge of starting up our Unit 1 reactor after 20 years of layup. That main turbine needed lots of work which took a long time to complete.

But I do agree that there are many skilled craft out there who can do the work. Most of the industrialized world's electricity is supplied via steam turbines.

I was considering 24/7. And yes, two months is quick, but I think it can be done at a facility large enough to handle the job. The best example for cruise ships that I can think of is the refurbishment done to the SS Norway in 1979, when NCL brought the SS France back into service from mothballs. It took 10 months for 2,000 workers to renovated the ship at the cost of $100 million.
But not all that 10 months was for inspecting the main engines and returning them into service. Just about all the auxiliary engines and equipment were completely torn out and replaced with new equipment. Major changes were also made to both the public spaces and cabins.

My two months estimate was for getting everything, as it is, back into service not changing a thing.

I realize that propulsion and other design changes will have to be made. Never-the-less, a complete refurbishment should take far less time than it took the SS Norway, because the interiors spaces of the SS United States have been stripped already.
Doubling my 2 months estimation (4 months) surely can be met, and an additional month or two might be long enough for the entire refurbishment. It would be a poor shipyard if it couldn't better the time of refurbishing the SS Norway.

quote:

Originally posted by Ron Clark:
It would be a poor shipyard if it couldn't better the time of refurbishing the SS Norway.

Ron, you're comparing the addition of a few dozen cabins to an existing indoor promenade deck to creating/rebuilding all the interiors of an entire ship.

Even without considering the work needed to the engines, there is no way SSUS' interiors can be created in just a few months.

quote:

Originally posted by LisaP:

quote:

Originally posted by Ron Clark:
It would be a poor shipyard if it couldn't better the time of refurbishing the SS Norway.

Ron, you're comparing the addition of a few dozen cabins to an existing indoor promenade deck to creating/rebuilding all the interiors of an entire ship.
Even without considering the work needed to the engines, there is no way SSUS' interiors can be created in just a few months.

The original question was about getting the existing steam engines operational again, not the entire ship.

I agree, it will take much longer to refurbish the entire ship, and I believe it can be done is less time than it took to refurbish the SS Norway. Prefabrication techniques are much more advance today than they were in 1979.

Don't forget, waste handling systems, air conditioning systems, and more electric generation will probably be required to power these extra systems needed by ships sailing today.

Could be done and how long it will actually take, is two different things.

I am fortunate to know a man who worked at Newport News Shipbuilding for many years, and he has stories to tell about the SSUS. He knew others who helped build the ship...and sadly most of them are now gone.

I am so proud to have some pieces from the ship - a lifejacket and some glasses and other stuff.

On Ebay, SSUS items are going for a song!

That is where I got them, on eBay, I think it was 3 or 4 years ago.

First of all I'd be VERY suprised if NCL does anything with the Big U. Most people are under the assumption that she and the Indy were purchased as an 'insurance policy' to make sure no other company grabbed them while NCL America was starting-up and thinking that they were going to corner a new market. Secondly, if by a miracle that NCL pulls off the unthinkable and starts refurbing her I seriously doubt her original powerplant is going to be retained. After Norway's accident, no corporation is going to take a gamble on boilers that are 50+ years old. The company simply can't afford NOT to re-engine the ship. Unfortunately this is business logic behind all these things and as we all know they never go hand-in-hand with the historians, fans and the like.

I was stationed in Norfolk in the early 80's and saw the SSUS moored just south of our pier every morning. What a mess it was, just sitting there.

I'd like the ship run again, or become a static exhibit, but I am not going to go into anaphylaxis if the ship is scrapped.