Guest
Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit Visit our website This 1950s black and white newsreel style film produced by William Ganz is titled “Building New Superliner United States” details, as the title suggests, the process behind designing and building the Superliner United States or SS United States as it was also known. The building of the ship was sponsored by the Maritime Commission as part of their post-war program that sought to establish a new passenger liner for North Atlantic Service docking in New York, Southampton, England, and Le Havre, France. The contract for constructing the ship, which was described as being larger than “the 70-story Rockefeller Center,” was signed in 1949 and the ship was ultimately designed by naval architect William Francis Gibbs of the firm Gibbs and Cox Naval Architects. The ship was designed to be converted into a troopship in time of war, and featured many safety innovations. The ship took about a year to complete and the interior design was conscious of fire safety (including use of a lot of asbestos products) keeping in mind maritime accidents on other liners such as the SS Morro Castle and the SS Normandie. Opening credits (0:13). Members of the Maritime Commission and General John M. Franklin President of the United States Lines gather around a model of the Superliner United States ship (30:00). Signing of the contract for the building of the ship by General Franklin, Vice Chairman Grenville Mellon and JB Woodward Jr. president of Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company (1:02). Bare bones of the ship known as Hull number 488 (1:17). Scenes of workers assembling the ship (1:33-6:15). Strips of neotechs being laid on the ship to keep the work (6:19). Shot of ship near completion (6:32). Production of the beds that would be in all of the ship's sleeping quarters and lab testing of all furnishings to ensure safety requirements (7:12). Electrical engineers at work (7:45). Installation of marinite into the ceilings which is a lightweight incombustible material (8:00). Painting of the ship (8:12). Men who worked on the ship flooding out of the ship onto the dock as production nears its end (8:29). Workmen smash battering rams against supporting shores (8:54). Waters of the James River in Virginia flood in to touch the keel of the ship for the first time (9:11). Shot of the finishing ship at the dock (9:31). Big reveal of finished ship at Newport News, Virginia (10:10). Mrs. Tom Connolly, wife of senior senator from Texas, and other guests look on at the ship in awe (10:14). Large crowd gathered as the finished product is christened (10:25). Superliner United States at first trial launch (10:39). Aerial shot of the streamliner heading for Hampton Roads, the Virginia Capes, then to the open sea of the Atlantic Ocean (10:50). Commodore Harry Manning Dean on the bridge adjusting settings of the ship (11:18). Aerial view of the United States Stream Liner (11:28). American flag and maritime flags featuring the nautical alphabet wave in the wind (12:25). SS United States cost of $79.4 million and still exists today, although it is in desperate need of renovation. It remains the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952. The ship is currently docked at Pier 82 on the Delaware River, in Philadelphia. We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 -- President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.“ This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit
