SS United States Waterline Model

This waterline model of SS United States, the United States Lines ship put into service in 1952 as the largest and fastest American-built ocean liner, is displayed at the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia to commemorate the 1000-foot, 53,300-ton ship's construction at the nearby shipyard.  Her top speed of 35 knots let her break RMS Queen Mary's speed record and become the first American ship since the American Collins Line's SS Baltic in 1854 to win the Blue Riband.  Her career at sea was short, as the decline of the ocean liner market in the jet age put SS United States out of service in 1969, and she bounced from owner to owner, each one with a plan to rebuild or restart her.  Her furniture was auctioned off, her interiors were stripped, and her propellers were removed and put on public display in four different places.  The SS United States Conservancy bought her from the Norwegian Cruise Line in 2010 to save her from scrap, and now the ship is docked in Philadelphia, awaiting a better future either there, in New York, or in Florida.