Great YOUTUBE video from www.shipgeek.com of the S.S. AMERICA: taking a final break from her trans-Atlantic service on a cruise to Bermuda in 1963. The following year one of the last American flag liners would be sold off for immigrant travel from the UK to Australia.
UNITED STATES LINES: S.S. America… Luxury Liner, Troop Carrier, Immigrant Ship, Casino, Prison Hulk
The S.S. America began life full of hope. Her career as luxury liner was interrupted by war then changing fashions saw her condemned to neglect and a watery grave.
The United States Lines’ latest, state of the art ship, S S America, was born at a bad time. Much thought had gone into her design and in spite of her size (she accommodated nearly 2,000 people including the crew), her interiors, unusually designed by women, were chic but homely. Officially named by Eleanor Roosevelt, she was intended for luxury trans-atlantic crossings but her maiden voyage on August 10 1940 headed instead for San Juan. Throughout, she stayed in neutral waters, for across the Atlantic, Europe was at war.
August 31, 1939 First Lady at Ship Launching: Eleanor Roosevelt breaks a bottle of champagne on the bow of the S.S. America at its launch.
