text: DID YOU KNOW? 
   
   The SS United States is 990 feet long – about five city blocks! If you stood her on end, she’d rise nearly as high as New York’s Chrysler Building or Philadelphia’s Comcast Center. 
   
   You think the Titanic was huge? The SS United States is over 100 feet longer. 
   
   More aluminum was used in the SS United States than for any previous construction project in history. Why? To reduce her weight and make her the fastest ocean liner of all time. 
   
   The SS United States was designed to be just wide enough (101 feet) so it could pass through the locks of the Panama Canal with two feet of clearance on either side. ||||| PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A historic ocean liner moored in Philadelphia has been spared from the scrap heap, at least temporarily. 
   
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   FILE - in this Nov. 22, 2013 file photo, the SS United States sits moored in Philadelphia. The historic ocean liner has been spared from the scrap heap, at least temporarily. The SS United States Conservancy... (Associated Press) 
   
   The SS United States Conservancy announced Monday that it raised more than $100,000 from supporters around the world. The board will meet this week to discuss the ship's future. 
   
   The SS United States was once the world's fastest ocean liner. It launched in 1952 after a secret Cold War project to build the world's fastest ship. 
   
   The conservancy had planned to repurpose it as a museum and mixed-use destination. 
   
   The nonprofit had sent a virtual SOS to supporters last month saying expenses had become unsustainable. It even retained a broker to explore selling the ship to a metals recycler. 
   
   The conservancy needs more than $60,000 per month to keep the rehabilitation project afloat. ||||| The SS United States is a true American champion, and I’m proud to support the Conservancy’s efforts on this historic and patriotic project. 
   
   Jim Nantz, CBS Sports Broadcaster 
   
   I won my Olympic medal 66 years ago, four years before the SS United States won her own prize for breaking the transatlantic speed record. There are many great Olympic champions, but there is only one great American ocean liner still with us: the SS United States. We must save her! 
   
   Herb Douglas, Olympian and Philanthropist, Philadelphia PA 
   
   The SS United States is… a symbol of our country’s industry and accomplishment… the destruction of the United States would be tantamount to destroying other national monuments like the Liberty Bell or the Statue of Liberty… we must maintain what is good and constant in our past if we are to imagine a better future. 
   
   President William Jefferson Clinton, March 2010 letter provided by the SS United States Trust 
   
   For me, the United States is hallowed ground. She is the crowning achievement of American maritime ingenuity and resolve. She has sat idle for over 40 years against all odds, and it would be a crime on many levels to see her disposed of. She wears her rust and peeling paint like scars from an ongoing battle against the elements, one that she has thus far endured. 
   
   
   
   Peter Knego, Moorpark, CA 
   
   You can’t set her on fire, you can’t sink her, and you can’t catch her. 
   
   William Francis Gibbs, Designer of the SS United States (1886-1967) 
   
   The SS United States is a tribute to the wonderful days of ocean liners. Some of us were fortunate to have lived them. Those who were not so lucky deserve a place to experience what it was like. 
   
   Fay Smith, Aberdeen, WA 
   
   As a teenager, the closest I’ve ever been able to come to living the golden era of the passenger ships is reading about them in library books Saving the United States must be accomplished at whatever the cost. If this great flagship of flagships were to be lost, then so too would we lose part of the pride of the name it carried. 
   
   Hendrick Stoops, Mansfield, OH 
   
   This is a crime against shipbuilding – a crime against history … [to] let such a ship die such a miserable death. 
   
   Walter Cronkite, Former CBS News Anchor, (1916-2009) 
   
   William Francis Gibbs is known as one of our greatest American geniuses. The SS United States was his greatest work. To save her is to save a great piece of American character. 
   
   Richard Leach, Queensbury, NY 
   
   The SS United States represents the ultimate of modern trans-Atlantic liners and an important part of US history and the history of the great era of Atlantic crossings by ship. She represents America at its best – leading the world in technology and ingenuity. I pray we Americans can rise to the occasion to save her for a new life and the beautiful icon/trophy that she is. 
   
   Richard Steininger, Indianapolis, IN 
   
   After the loud and fantastic claims made in advance for the liner United States, it comes as something of a disappointment to find them all true. 
   
   Punch Magazine, (UK, 1952) 
   
   The ship can be saved if we all do our part. Every little donation counts and will help bring long term jobs to whichever port she claims as home. Join, Donate, Help! As a US Citizen she is my ship. I am a patriot! 
   
   Russell Parmerter, Savannah, GA 
   
   I have only seen the SS United States in photographs, and videos, but to lose her would be our Nation’s greatest crime. As someone who can only give a little to save our ship, I shall do everything I can. Our nation needs to rediscover its’ pride. Saving this ship will help reclaim that pride. 
   
   Robert Beckwith, Dover, MA 
   
   The best marine engineering of the 20th century was built into the Big U. With determined action and commitment, she can and will be brought back to life as a viable expression of our national pride, inventiveness, and will of purpose. 
   
   D Kurt Pelkey, Old Orchard Beach, ME 
   
   Attempting to save her has been a long, uphill battle for a lot of people over the years. With her legacy and her position in the National Registry of Historic Places, the SS United States should be preserved at all costs. 
   
   Jim Palmer, Greenfield, WI 
   
   She was built at a time when ‘made in America’ really meant something and that is a legacy that cannot be lost. 
   
   H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest, Inaugural Chair, SS United States Conservancy Blue Riband Council 
   
   It’s about time for this country to honor our maritime past, and preserving the United States would send a strong message that we can! 
   
   Erik Johnson, Lombard, IL 
   
   The Big U must be saved. Not only she is an engineering marvel, she also represents a piece of US history and an achievement unsurpassed to this date. 
   
   Leopold Brandenburg, Sr., Baltimore, MD 
   
   The SS United States is such a beautiful ship and truly an American original. Let’s save this “Speed Queen of the Seas.” 
   
   Kristin Stockslager, Camp Hill, PA 
   
   This ship reflects the best of America while its decay represents the worst. Let’s hope the conservation efforts succeed and allows our country to shine. 
   
   Bruce Linick, Havre de Grace, MD 
   
   This ship represents the can do spirit and other qualities that helped build the great nation whose name she bears on her hull. The SS United States is the embodiment of this country and must be preserved. 
   
   Christopher Argeson, Wayne, NJ 
   
   Truly one of the greatest ships in the world. One day she will yet again plow the waves of the seven seas. 
   
   Svein Georg Rygg, Norway (On behalf of Norwegian Ships Historical Society) 
   
   It is important that a great ship like this… should not be lost to the scrapyard – a fate suffered by so many great ocean liners that are now forever lost. We must conserve our history for future generations. I wish her luck! 
   
   Daniel Steel, Glasgow, UK 
   
   The story of the SS United States is inseparable from the story of America. This great ship is a marvel of American engineering and capacity. It needs to be saved… 
   
   David Dubczak, Indianola, IA 
   
   The effort to save the SS United States will help preserve some of the history of this great country for future generations and I am proud to do what I can to help. 
   
   James Mitchell, Mystic, CT 
   
   I am honored to be able to help save our Nation’s Flagship. We will continue to fight to save her, no matter what it takes! 
   
   Dawn Hegeman, Claymont, DE 
   
   I will do whatever I can to help make sure that she is restored and preserved as a major symbol of the pride and determination of those who designed her and served on her. She ranks amongst the very greatest technical achievements of the men and women who embodied the ideals of United States of America. She will continue her role as a shining reminder of what can be done when creativity and need come together in one great endeavor. 
   
   Robert Nixon, Oshkosh, WI 
   
   Wrought in steel and aluminum, the SS United States is the product of many hands and many hopes. The magnificent ship is more than a superlative achievement of American engineering. She stands for dreaming big (literally!) and perseverance and for the human ability to accomplish. 
   
   Margaret Stack, Philadelphia, PA
target: – If you've recently spotted the hashtag #savetheunitedstates, it's not an offshoot of Donald Trump's "Make America Great Again" campaign: It's a last-ditch effort to keep the SS United States—once the fastest ocean liner on Earth—afloat instead of becoming scrap metal, the AP reports. And it looks like the Cold War-era ship is indeed getting a temporary stay, with the nonprofit conservancy that oversees it announcing Monday it's raised $100,000 from supporters around the world determined to keep the ship, currently moored in Philly, out of the hands of a metal recycler. Even this new cash influx, though, can't maintain the ship forever; the conservancy's board will be meeting later this week to talk about what comes next. "The destruction of the United States would be tantamount to destroying other national monuments like the Liberty Bell or the Statue of Liberty … we must maintain what is good and constant in our past if we are to imagine a better future," says one writer on the ship's testimonials page. That writer's name: President William Jefferson Clinton.