aluminum pianos," his granddaughrer said. "They were wood, bur only afrer Theodore Steinway doused a mahoga ny piano in gasoline and ignited it to prove to my grandfather that they were not particularly combustible." To appease Gibbs, the company did agree to a compromise-painting them silver. Among its other firsts, the ship employed the first commercial use of tempered safety glass: even tho ugh man y of th e wi ndows have broken since 1969, they don't shatter. A marketing instructor at H ofstra Universi ty, Caccavale has a personal motivation for trying to preserve rhe United States; ir was h er mother, marhematician Elaine Kaplan, who led rhe engineering group that designed rhe revolu rionary and top-secrer propellers. Kaplan , who died in 1997, was the only woman among rhe fifty top engineers designing the liner. "She had to have top milirary clearance because rhe ship was designed to be able to be insrandy convened into a milirary vessel to carry 14, 000 troops," Caccavale explained. "The whole time growing up I heard about Mr. Gibbs and rhe ship," Caccavale relared . "I felr like Mr. Gibbs was an uncle or part of rhe family. I was jealous of rhe ship because my mother said ir was her first baby because of the am ount of rime sh e put into designing it before I was born." During a recent tour onboard the liner in Philadelphia, journalists gingerly walked rhrough the cavernous interior where rhe only furnishings remaining are two al uminum bars in passenger lounges. The first stop was an emp ty deck, where all rhat is left of rhe sraterooms is rhe plugged drains in what had been barhroom floors. "The Duke and D uchess ofWindsor wirh their five pug dogs used to stay in one of the sui res," Basile said. "Every celebrity of rhe '5 0s and '60s traveled aboard the United States, along with heads of state, including four presidents. It was rheir rransportation of choice over to Europe in rhe days before jet air rravel." Bill C linton sa iled onboard on his way to study in England as a Rhodes scholar. The ship has abour 500,000 usable square feet that can be redeveloped , Basile said. Right now,
50,000 square feer of th at space is being freed up by rhe removal of obsolete mechanical equipment in the lower engineering spaces. Those pieces will be sold for scrap. One engine room is being saved for use as a fu mre museum exhibit. Gib bs said any renovation would have to be done by a developer with the conservancy remaining as a steward and partner. The first m ajo r stage of restoration wo uld require drydocking rhe ship and repainting the peeling exterior. Gibbs pointed out, however, rhar even just repainting the twin funnels red, white, and blue wo uld be a highly visible sign to rhe public thar the ship is on its way back from the dead . That small job will cost $350,000 . "The Conser-
vancy is open to a variety of options concerning ownership, which could include joint ownership, condirional sale, or lease,'' Basile said. The Conservancy wo uld operate the planned museum and educational center that wo uld n ot on ly tell the story of the ship, but also rhat of American ingenuity and innovation more broadly. Its theater will be the original ship's rhearer. "Everyrhing aboard the ship was aucrio ned off and stripped by previous owners," G ibbs said. So rhe conservancy has been making an inventory of where all of the objecrs ended up. They "have access to a considerable amount of marerials" that could be displayed in the ship afrer redevelopment. "We have some original furniture, an, and documen-
(right) SS U nired States as she looks right now. She can be seen from S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. in Philadelphia (across from the IKEA furniture store at #2206). SEA HISTORY 147, SUMMER 2014
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