The ocean liner S.S. United States, by court order, is supposed to vacate its berth on the Philadelphia waterfront by September 12th. It has been docked in Philadelphia since 1996.
Time is running out for the ship. One certainly hopes that the group which has owned the ship since 2011, the S.S. United States Conservancy, will be able to find a new home for the ship--either permanent, or temporary--before September 12th. Yet it is appearing more likely that the legendary ocean liner, in the end, will be sunk, perhaps off the Florida coast, to create an artificial reef.
https://www.facebook.com/SSUSC
Here is a photograph, taken the week before the ship made its inaugural voyage from New York Harbor to Southampton, England.
The voyage began on July 3, 1952.
On June 28th, five days before the maiden trip--as I've noted, in previous posts--NBC-TV broadcast the last episode of the 1951-1952 season of its weekly musical program Your Hit Parade, from throughout the new ocean liner.
The picture below was photographed outside of the ship's wheelhouse, during the week of rehearsals in 1952. During the telecast, my mother, Sue Bennett, sang the hit song "I'm Yours" from the wheelhouse.
Seen in the photo, below, from left to right: a New York City police officer, and singers Russell Arms, Sue Bennett, and Snooky Lanson.
