Former Ships Of Norwegian Cruise Line That Have Never Sailed Under Its Flag
11 minutes read January 15th, 2018
Today we have a special edition.
This article is devoted to two legendary
ships of Norwegian Cruise Line
that have never taken a cruise under the company's flag.
As we already know, a legendary liner, SS Norway, had sailed under the flag of Norwegian Cruise Line for a long time. The ship had served the company for more than 20 years.
Perhaps the company's management had their heart set on the classic liners, or they wanted to revive history. Who knows?
Nevertheless, after it became clear that SS Norway could no longer operate cruises, the company unexpectedly bought two famous liners: Independence and United States. Probably providence wanted the most famous liners to get their "second wind."
It happened relatively recently, in the year 2003.
We are interested in what exactly influenced the company's plans to buy two liners constructed in the 50's with a tonnage of 20,000 and 53,000 tons respectively. It's especially interesting given the fact that by the beginning of 2003, the NCL's fleet included not only the "mid-size" liners, including those familiar to us from the past articles: Norwegian Sea, Norwegian Dream, Norwegian Wind, and Norwegian Majesty.
And the "smallest" one had the tonnage of 41,000 tons. Besides these ships, by 2003, the company had 4 modern ships in its fleet: Norwegian Sky, Norwegian Sun, Norwegian Star, and the newest 92,000-ton Norwegian Dawn.
We do not know what the company's motives were, but it does not prevent us from telling you about the fate of these ships before they joined the NCL's fleet, as well as about what happened to them afterward.
So, in 2003, NCL bought two classic liners at auction.
Let's start our story with the less known but still elegant one - from Independence.
SS Independence is the ocean liner that was built in the USA. In 1951, the ship took her first "cruise" under the flag of American Export Lines. It is worth noting that the ship was built and put into the fleet simultaneously with her sister, SS Constitution.
In 2001, the company became bankrupt. In the end, Independence was up for auction after long trials!
In early 2003, NCL bought her at that auction.
Despite the purchase and the hopes of ocean liners' fans, Independence remained in the port for several years. In 2006, it was rumored that the ship was going to be scrapped. The company renamed the ship Oceanic again to avoid speculation with such an important name as Independence.
The second legend of NCL died. (SS Norway was the first one)
Now we've got to another legendary ship. SS United States was also bought at auction in 2003.
The history of this ship is quite well-known.
By the way, we've already written about her in the historical articles. However, let's remember briefly.
The ship was built in 1951 (she took her first voyage in 1952). The government assisted in this liner's construction. SS United States became one of the most modern liners. Besides, the ship was one of the few "mega liners" that were built at the US shipyards.
By the way, the ship's cost was $79.4mln. In 2017, it would be $749 mln.
On her maiden voyage (July 1952), the ship became the owner of the Blue Riband. SS United States cracked a record of Queen Mary that had held it for 14 years!
The liner crossed the Atlantic for 3 days, 10 hours and 40 minutes. The average speed was almost 36 knots (41 mph; 66 km/h). Despite this incredible record, there was information that the ship was able to reach the speed of 43 knots (49 mph; 80 km/h).
In all fairness, we should note that this record has not been beaten until now!
But enough about the Law. Finally, we've clarified the motives. Let's go back to the history of SS United States.
Despite strong statements that the ship will be reconstructed and the original furniture will be returned on the ship, the liner remained laid up in Philadelphia.
We could finish this article on a negative note. On the fact that nobody wants this mega liner, and it has been docked for more than 40 years. And that most likely she'll have the same sad fate as other mega liners of transatlantic transportation's golden years.
And that concludes our series of articles about the former Norwegian Cruise Line ships.
However, taking into account the current development of the cruise industry, we'll see the new-old ships of this company very soon.