SS United States: The mighty ship that broke all the records, then was left to rust

The SS United States held — and, incredibly, still holds today — the fastest transatlantic speed record for a liner, and possessed a secret double identity. Two-thirds of its $78 million construction costs had been subsidized by the US government so that the liner could be requisitioned by the military and converted to a troop transport ship with the capacity to carry 14,000 soldiers.

With a stunning horsepower of 247,785, she was capable of exceeding 38 knots and could outrun most battleships.

Despite her lightweight frame, she was engineered to be practically indestructible. “You can’t set her on fire, you can’t sink her, and you can’t catch her,” the ship’s designer, self-taught naval architect William Francis Gibbs, was known to say.

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