Page 37: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2003)

ther's 'baby,1 Gibbs said. "It was the apple of his eye." she added that her grandfather had begun to formulate the idea for the vessel as far back as 1913. "He was in love with that ship," Gibbs said. "Every time it would come into the port in New York (where Gibbs & Cox was based at the time), he would rush over to see her."

Even though Gibbs sailed on the ves- sel just that one time, his wife, Vera

Kravath Gibbs, often traveled on the ship by herself, or with friends. Her granddaughter holds a piece of the ves- sel's history: Vera Gibbs' diary that depicts the atmosphere onboard the ves- sel during her many trips. "She created (through her diary) this fabulous picture of life onboard the vessel as something that was so festive and exuberant,"

Susan Gibbs said. "It was a stark con- trast to the vessel that I boarded."

Susan Gibbs experienced the ship for the first time when she became involved with the Foundation more than two years ago. What she saw was definitely not what her grandmother had experi- enced in the vessel's heyday. "At first my reaction was sadness," Gibbs said. "But I didn't feel the ship had died, even though it seemed so depleted and shut down, there was still a spark of light there."

Famous Firsts ... And Lasts "This vessel was built in 500 days — that's an engineering feat of mankind,"

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Did You Know... • More than 2,000 tons of aluminum was used in the construction of S.S. United

States. • More than 2,200 sub-assemblies and assemblies were constructed for installation aboard S.S. United States, with the largest fabricated assemblies weighing more than 200,000 lbs. — the smallest a few lbs. • The construction of just the vessel's hull involved the layout, fabrication and assembly of approximately 183,000 pieces. • The ceilings used throughout the public pas- senger spaces were acoustic. • With materials for the vessel supplied by more than 800 vendors from plants in 163 cities in 23 states, virtually every state in the Union contributed to the construction of the S.S. United States. • The vessel's trademark - its red, white and blue smokestacks — were the largest in the world. Each measured 60 ft. long and 55 ft. high, and were aluminum rivets. • The vessel was the first liner of its size to have a telephone in each stateroom - in all three cabin classes. • The galley onboard the United States had a pair of "Radarange" electronic cooking devices. Eventually, these Radarange devices came to be known simply as microwave ovens. • 92,000 gallons of paint comprising more than 100 colors were used. • It was the first passenger vessel of its size to be completely air conditioned. • Defense features on the vessel featured spe- cial structure design for safety, extra speed and the highest standards of fire resistance. • More than half-a-million sq. ft. of Marinite fireproof panels were installed. • The first fully fireproof lifeboats were built specifically for the United States.

Source: Gibbs & Cox Naval Architects