[Animats]

I thought the ship had been saved when the current nonprofit bought her. Apparently not.

Although the interiors were stripped long ago to remove asbestos, the power plants are in reasonably good shape.

The S.S. United States was the fastest transatlantic liner ever built - England to US in about 3 1/2 days. She was built with some Government funding with the potential to be used as a troop carrier. This included warship-like features, such as more bulkheads and watertight doors than most passenger ships, heavy fireproofing (no wood except the piano and the butcher's block), multiple engine rooms, and a warship-like hull and propulsion plant. If the US needed to get an army somewhere in a hurry, the ship was ready.

That's why conversion to a cruise ship didn't work out. Norwegian Lines considered it. But cruise ships today look like Vegas hotels built on barges, with huge interior open spaces, swimming pools, water slides, casinos, shopping malls, etc. The SS United States was built for speed and survivability, not recreation.