Edition: US 7.2MLikeLike Follow

FRONT PAGE POLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TASTE STYLE GREEN HUFFPOST LIVE ALL SECTIONS

Pia de JongNovelist and columnist

THE BLOG

Save the United States 05/26/2016 04:40 pm ET

— Illustration by Eliane Gerrits

I drive into the port of Philadelphia and before me, towering above the other shipsin docks lined with freighters, is the elegant prow of the SS United States. This isthe unlikely home of what was once the most magnificient steamship in the worldand the ultimate symbol of traveling in grand style. The United States made 400trans-Atlantic crossings, carrying tens of thousands star-struck passengers toEurope and back. But unlike the ill-fated Titanic nobody remembers the UnitedStates except those who traveled on it. Yet it was more luxurious, better, biggerthan any other ship — so big that if you put the Chrysler building flat on its deck,you could walk around it.

The ship was launched in 1952 in the middle of the Cold War. It was capable ofsuch great speeds that they were kept top-secret: the ship was slipped the waterbefore it was christened so no enemy spies could take pictures of the design of itssleek hull and propellers. What no one knew was that it could be converted into awarship overnight and used to carry 1,500 troops to an enemy shore faster than

SUGGESTED FOR YOUWeekend Work Emails Are Now Illegal InFrance

Donald Trump's Top Adviser: 'This Is NotA Hard Race'

HuffPost

Travel

address@email.com Subscribe!

Get top stories and blog posts emailed to me each day.Newsletters may offer personalized content or

advertisements. Learn More.

HUFFPOST NEWSLETTERS

FOLLOW HUFFPOST

7.2MLikeLike

1.3MLikeLike

0LikeLike

Save the United States http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pia-de-jong/save-the-unit...

1 of 3 5/26/16, 5:00 PM

any ship ever had. Its top speed was more than 45 knots. On its maiden voyage,the SS United States set the record for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing that stillstands.

But now this grande dame floats unemployed in an undignified harbor, held byhuge ropes to a dock. She is exhausted, played out, a wrinkled old lady full ofglamorous memories but little else.

My guide is Ray, a friendly man of about thirty who is the ship’s devoted caretaker.I am allowed to board only after I sign a stack of releases that in which I take allresponsibility for possible exposure to asbestos, PCBs and, for all I know, nuclearwaste. It requires the utmost of my empathy to see the grandeur of the past in thisstripped-out, rusting hulk. The first-class staterooms are stripped of their walls.The bar is totally dismembered, as is the rust-eaten theater, which was convertedon weekends into a synagogue. The ballroom where Grace Kelly once danced isnow just a bare steel floor.

What was once the proudest symbol of the achievements of postwar America ofthe 1950s is rotting here all but forgotten. Ray loves the ship and brings it alivewith his rich stories. He monitors its mooring lines and every day climbs to the topof one of its twin smokestacks to eat his lunch, alone with his sandwich and hisimagination. The organization that pays him, the SS United States Conservancy(www.ssusc.org) has a primaty goal: that SS United States will be rehabilitated inall its glory. But how? The Conservancy successfully raised money to purchase theship five years ago to save it from being scrapped. But what now? All that rust willneed to be eliminated, the decks rebuilt, the ship freshly painted. And where is thefurniture, the auctioned art? Everything has been taken away. The chairs are inrestaurants across the country, spoons from the dining room sold on Ebay. Overall,the organization needs perhaps a billion dollars to keep the ship afloat andrestored. That is an amount with nine zeros. And in a city like Philadelphia wherewith historic bridges with names like Whitman and Franklin that also need to berebuilt.

Ray identifies himself totally with this ship, which for him remains the icing on acake long since eaten.

“Will it ever happen?” I ask him.

“It will be difficult, but we can make America great again,” he says immediately.

I know Donald Trump promises the same thing without rebuilding a ship. But whattime and what place does he mean when America was great? The time where aguy like Ray belonged to a proud middle class that worked hard to have a betterfuture? A time when America ruled the oceans? With a ship that was faster thanthe Queen Mary, more luxurious than the Titanic?

Or it is an idea that itself has outlived its time? Is it, as the poet C.K. Williamswrites in his memorable poem about the ship, ready to be torched to pieces on abeach in Bangladesh?

I go to the rusty prow and take a quick selfie of myself as Kate Winslet in the

Congresswoman Shuts DownTransphobic Woman: 'You're A Bigot,Lady'

Stray Kitten Finds Forever Home AfterHeartwarming Chance Encounter

Yes, You Want To Hear Emilia ClarkeSing 'MMMBop' In Dothraki

Elizabeth Warren Lays Waste to DonaldTrump With This Epic Takedown (VIDEO)

Trump Goes Into Robot Mode AnsweringQuestion About Trans Rights

Save the United States http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pia-de-jong/save-the-unit...

2 of 3 5/26/16, 5:00 PM

Advertise User Agreement Privacy Comment Policy About Us About Our Ads Contact Us FAQ

Copyright © 2016 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.

Part of HuffPost on HPMG News

Titanic movie, with my arms raised and my hair and scarf blowing in the wind.When I leave, I turn and look behind me. There I see a huge sign above thecaptain’s bridge. It says: SAVE THE UNITED STATES.ORG.

More:

CONVERSATIONS

These Were The Most Popular BabyNames In Each State Last Year

Johnny Depp And Amber Heard ToDivorce After 15 Months Of Marriage

Obama must apologize for his actions atHiroshima

Philadelphia Ocean Liners

GET THE NEWSLETTER address@email.com Subscribe!

FOLLOW TRAVEL

0 Comments Sort by

Facebook Comments Plugin

OldestOldest

Add a comment...

Save the United States http://www.huffingtonpost.com/pia-de-jong/save-the-unit...

3 of 3 5/26/16, 5:00 PM