William Francis Gibbs is born on August 24th 1886 into an affluent
Philadelphia family. His brother and future business partner,
Frederic, is born 2 years later. By the age of 3 William is drawing
his first ship pictures.
12th, 1894 at the age of eight, Gibbs witnesses the christening
of the St. Louis, the largest American passenger liner ever
built. He is instantly enamored with ships and the direction
of his life is set. He begins dreaming of designing a 1000ft
American superliner and starts to read engineering journals.
starts his undergraduate studies at Harvard – he refuses
to follow the curriculum and takes the courses that interest
him- everything that touches on naval architecture. One of his
favorite pastimes at Harvard is re-designing British battleships.
graduating from Harvard he grudgingly goes to Columbia law school
on the advice of his father. While taking his required law classes
he continues designing blueprints of naval ships and educating
himself in marine design.
receives his bachelors of law degree while simultaneously receiving
a Masters of the Arts.
1915 Gibbs decides he is advanced enough in his designs for
a 1,000ft liner and stops practicing law to devote all of his
attention to perfecting the superliner designs.
same year Gibbs and his brother Frederic land a meeting with
Mr. Emmet. He agrees to have the company draw up the preliminary
that a ship of 1,000ft needs to break the Atlantic speed record.
and Frederic go through a whirlwind of meetings with important
such as Chief Constructor of the US Navy
- Admiral David Taylor, Secretary of the Navy - Josephus Daniels,
and head of the International Mercantile Marine – Phillip
1916 Phillip Franklin sets up a meeting for the Gibbs brothers
with J.P Morgan, controller of the
largest fleet of passenger ships in the world.
At this meeting J.P Morgan agrees to finance the final plans for the 1,000ft
1917, the US declares war on Germany and Gibbs is forced to
put his plans on the shelf and support the war effort. He is
appointed as the assistant to the Chairman of the shipping control
States seizes a German passenger liner named the Vaterland. The
Vaterland is renamed the Leviathan and converted into an American
troop ship to carry soldiers to Europe.
overhaul is assigned to the Gibbs Brothers. It is the largest
project the Gibbs brothers have ever undertaken and it sets their company
firmly on an independent course.
|1922 - 1922
Gibbs and his brother Frederic set up their own company called
Gibbs Bros Inc.
Inc. changes to Gibbs & Cox with the addition
of Daniel Cox a well-known yacht designer.
the company makes a major contribution to the U.S. Navy. William
Francis Gibbs determines that to make
a new class of navy destroyers more efficient, steam pressure
in the ships’ boilers must be raised. He is able to demonstrate
how raising steam pressure actually makes the ships more reliable
and effective. This advancement increases the efficiency of
the “New Navy” by 25%.
America is launched. It is designed and built by the Gibbs & Cox team. It is the largest liner built
in the United States up to this point and is the precursor for
the S.S. United States.
|1939 - 1944
under William Francis Gibbs’ direction,
Gibbs & Cox produces the designs or working plans for over
63 percent of all oceangoing merchant vessels built in the war
period and 74 percent of all naval vessels earning him the nickname
of “Mr. Navy.”
M. Franklin, President of the United States Lines shipping company,
officially requests Gibbs & Cox
to start design work on the superliner.
5th 1948 the very first finished model of the new superliner
was revealed in front of top officials.
Shipbuilding and Dry Dock is contracted to do the construction
of the ship.
1949 – US Lines agrees to offer 28 million dollars to the
financing of the ship to go along with the rest of the money being
subsidized by the government. The total cost coming to over 70
million dollars. Her length would be 990ft and her beam 101 ft.
8th, 1950 the keel of the S.S. United States is laid. Twenty-five
hundred men are employed at the yard on construction work. Other
companies across the country are hired to prefabricate interior
work and equipment.
14th 1952 first set of the ships sea trials are underway testing
efficiency of engines and builders economy.
1952 – the
most anticipated speed sea trials commence. This is the
only documented time that the engines are pushed to almost
capacity. It is at this time where it is deemed likely the
new superliner will take the
Atlantic speed record from the British Queen Mary. Revealed later in 1977
that on this sea trial the ship exceeded 38 knots.
1952 at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company.
The wife of well-known Senator Tom Connolly performs the traditional
ceremony for the new liner S.S. United States – the new flagship
of the American fleet.
1952 - ten thousand people attend the launch; it is the first
big ship christening to be televised. Spectators line the streets and
1952 – the S.S. United States embarks on her
maiden voyage from Pier 86 in New York Harbor to the cheers of thousands.
1952 – The “Big U” captures the
Blue Riband by crushing the Queen Mary’s record by a
whopping 12hours. The official time is 3 days 10 hours and
40 minutes at an average speed
of 35.59 knots.
|1952 - 1958
U” is the pride of the Atlantic carrying heads of state
and celebrities ranging from President Eisenhower to Rita Hayworth.
Companies like American Coffee, Westinghouse, IBM, Kodak, Newsweek,
Formica, Socony Mobil, and Esquire boot polish – all feature
her in their advertising. She is the Flagship of America’s
4th 1958 Pan America’s first transatlantic jet passenger
service flies from New York to London.
50s brings labor troubles in the maritime world. A tugmen’s
strike goes on for over a week and there are no tugs to help the
990ft 53,300-ton S.S. United States pull into the dock in New
York. Commodore Anderson docks the ship unaided by tug boats.
||The S.S. America
is removed from North Atlantic passenger service leaving the
S.S. United States as the last U.S.-flagged liner
servicing the Atlantic
|1964 - 1967
the number of passengers on the “Big
U” fluctuates and there is an unmistakable decline in
of 1967 at the age of 81, William Francis Gibbs dies, one
after the arrival of the “Big U” into New York City, completing
voyage No. 352.
Mary is retired from service and one year later her sister ship,
the Queen Elizabeth, is decommissioned as well.
Scholar class sails on the S.S. United States as a means for
the students to become acclimated to each other
and to prepare for their upcoming academic experience. One of
the students is future President Bill Clinton.
1969 the S.S. United States embarks on her 400th voyage. Unbeknownst
to the crew and passengers, it will be her last.
in New York harbor on November 7th, 1969, Commodore Leroy
rings “finished with engines.” This will be the last time the
S.S. United States will dock in New York.
United States quietly slips out of service and out of the
of the generation that once hailed her as the pride of the Atlantic and
U.S. Navy is called in by the Maritime Administration to seal
the ship and install dehumidifiers to preserve her for active
duty. When the Department of Defense determines it
has no use for the huge ship, she is offered for sale.
Richard Hadley of Seattle purchases the vessel in 1980. He intends
to restore her to active cruise service under a condominium
time-sharing scheme, but financing never materializes.
to auction the ship's interior furnishings and fittings to pay
creditors. Guernsey's of New York manages
the auction which turns out to be the largest in history.
February of 1992, U.S. Marshals seize the S.S. United States
due to unpaid mortgage and docking fees. Fred Mayer of Marmara
Marine, Inc. purchases the ship at auction for $2.6 million.
any lawsuits resulting in the ship’s abundant
use of asbestos-laden wallboard , she is towed to Istanbul,
Turkey in June of 1992, and then on to
the Ukraine to be stripped of all hazardous material.
United States Preservation Society, a national nonprofit organization
to the protection and restoration of the S.S. United
States, supports the introduction of the S.S. United States Preservation
Act of 1992,
Congressional legislation designed to protect the ship from destruction.
S.S. United States is towed back to the United States in 1996
and is moored in Philadelphia on the Delaware River. She is
sold again in November 1997, this time to real estate developer
Edward Cantor for $6 million dollars. Cantor dies in February of 2002, passing
the ship to his son Michael.
S.S. United States Foundation plays a lead role in convincing
the National Registry of Historic Places to accept the ship
into the Registry even though she is less than the threshold
of 50 years old due to her "compelling National significance."
ship changes hands a final time, amid concern the S.S. United
States may be sold for scrap, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) purchases
the ship in April, 2003.
National Trust for Historic Preservation has included the S.S.
United States among its 2006 nominees for its prestigious "America's
11 Most Endangered Historic Places" list thanks to advocacy
of the S.S. United States Foundation.
S.S. United States’ fate is still unknown. Her current
owner NCL has made no public announcements as to a final plan
for the ship. She still sits on the Delaware River in Philadelphia
awaiting her future.