Here's your first glimpse of the interior as it appears today. If you're one of the thousands of shipbuilders that helped construct the SS United States nearly 50 years ago, you'll instantly recognize the yellow paint.
It is everywhere.
You're looking at the Pilot House (Wheel House) of the SS United States. From this point, it is 30 feet across to the starboard side door. Crew could enter from either side via the outside deck or from four other doors connecting the Pilot House with Damage Control, Chart Room, Log Room and a nearby spiral stair coming up from the Sports Deck below. On the floor above you see mounts for the long gone ship controls. If it wasn't removed at "the auction" it was certainly removed by the folks in the Ukraine or Turkey.
If you were part of the construction maybe you left this last minute instruction near the Executive Officer's quarters on the Sports Deck...
Through out the ship, construction notations, part numbers and stenciled frame numbers and deck indicators can be seen everywhere. It is like taking a walk through time.
These notations also give testament to the incredible effort of so many ship builders who came to the Newport News yard to build The Big U. These human made markers are almost like petroglyphs. As you walk the empty hallways and open decks it becomes almost comforting in the absence of everything else to feel the lasting presence of those Americans who toiled and truly built America's greatest ocean liner.
These man made markers return a great deal of human warmth to a ship whose boilers have been cold all too long.
Something else amazing happens as you walk the SS United States. You begin to see it not as a ship stripped of her interiors - but as a construction job calling out to be finished.
The question becomes, "is the glass half empty or half full?"
Knowledge Builder: The United States was equipped with 19 elevators. 10 for passengers, six for food service, luggage or freight and three exclusively for engineering and deck officers.