Remember a cruise ship that split in half?

It was suggested ( by floridaboyz ) that I post this question here. There was a "off brand" cruise line that split in half off the coast of South Afarica (or so I heard ) about 10 years ago. My dh and his ex, took a cruise on this ship to Mexico about a year before it sank. It turns out the ship had been welded together from 2 ships. Dh doesn't remember anything about the cruise other than that he got sick the whole time and reading in the paper that it split in half about a year later. :eek: Does anyone know anything about this?

I belive that ship was the SS america. There is a site under that name.

The former AMERICA did split in half in 1994 but had not been used in active service since the 1970s.

Are we talking about the America in Philadelphia,PA? What are the plans for that ship anyway, its been sitting there.

No...the ship in Philadelphia is the United States, which has been on several dozen 'to-do' lists but always seems to fall short. It was going to be refurbed and resailed, then it was going to be bought by a private owner to make it the largest private yacht in the world, then it was going to be a hotel, etc etc. It seems the fate of the United States, once the title-holder of the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing, is to sit and rust!

Thanks for the info. Hopefully they will do something with it.

The SS America was the predecessor to the "SS United States." She was also designed by the same man, William Francis Gibbs. The "SS America" was launched just prior to WWII. She was converted to a troop ship for the duration of the war. During that time she was named the "USS West Point." I only recently found out that my father was one of the soldiers that took the "USS West Point" to the war (he served as a marine in the South Pacific). After the war she returned to passenger service as the "SS America" and continued this service for the "United States Lines" until she was sold to the "Chandris Lines." (note the "Chandris Lines" had 2 separate operations, one a modest operation that had older ships and one that featured more upscale cruising - that is currently Celebrity Cruise Lines). Chandris renamed her the "Australis" and sailed her from 1964 to 1972 when she was sold again and renamed "America" for the "Venture Cruise Lines." She basically sat for 20 years until the early 1990's when she was being towed to be used as a floating hotel when she ran into a storm and was pushed again rocks off of S. Africa. She broke in half, with one part sinking and the other half, as far as I know, was still sitting against the rocks. In July I spent time in NJ and took a ride to Philadelphia. The SS United States sits just north of the Walt Whitman Bridge. Although rusted and in disrepair, she still looks striking. She still holds the record set in 1952 during her maiden voyage for crossing the Atlantic. She was pulled from service in 1969 (remember, jet planes had become the mode of transportation to Europe, making the old ocean liners obsolete. From my understanding she has been towed to several places since then, but has not been in operation. Norweigan Cruise Lines currently owns the "SS United States" and is doing a feasability study to see if she can be run profitably. I've read that the biggest obstacle to this is bringing her up to current maritime safety standards.