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1965 · réf. 85196 — New York: United States Lines S. S. United States 1965. Presumed First Edition First printing thus. Event Program/Menu. Good/No dust jacket issued. Format is approximately 8.5 inches by 11 inches. Cover has some wear and soiling. Decorative front cover has a nice picture of Mont St. Michel and states United States Lines. Four page insert inside cover. Menu for Thursday October 21 1965. Rear cover has a partial map of the Channel Island and Normandie and has a quarter page of text on Mont St. Michel. This is Presentation Number Four of a Series--An Adventurer's Romantic Odyssey. The text and imagery is copyrighted in 1960 as genuine steel engraving by Steelograph Company of New York City. United States Lines was the trade name of an organization of the United States Shipping Board USSB Emergency Fleet Corporation EFC created to operate liners seized by the United States in 1917. The ships were owned by the USSB and all finances of the line were controlled by the EFC. Among the notable ships of this period was Leviathan a contender for largest ship in the world. Eventually the line was sold and went private to continue operating as a transatlantic cargo shipping company from 1921 to 1989 and ocean liners until 1969-most famously United States. The line started with three ships from the tonnage of the failed United States Mail Steamship Company. One of the founders was Kermit Roosevelt son of US President Theodore Roosevelt. Two of the ships America and George Washington were originally German vessels that had been seized during World War I and kept as reparations. Both America and George Washington made New York-Bremen runs while Centennial State ran from New York to London. SS United States is a retired ocean liner built in 1950-51 for the United States Lines at a cost of US$79.4 million equivalent to $829 million in 2021. The ship is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic in either direction retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952 and still holds title today. She was designed by American naval architect William Francis Gibbs and could be converted into a troopship if required by the Navy in time of war. United States maintained an uninterrupted schedule of transatlantic passenger service until 1969 and was never used as a troopship. The ship has been sold several times since the 1970s with each new owner trying unsuccessfully to make the liner profitable. Eventually the ship's fittings were sold at auction and hazardous wastes including asbestos panels throughout the ship were removed leaving her almost completely stripped by 1994. Two years later she was towed to Pier 82 on the Delaware River in Philadelphia where she remains today. Since 2009 a preservation group called the SS United States Conservancy has been raising funds to save the ship. The group purchased her in 2011 and has drawn up several unrealized plans to restore the ship one of which included turning the ship into a multi-purpose waterfront complex. In 2015 as its funds dwindled the group began accepting bids to scrap the ship; however sufficient donations came in via extended fundraising. Large donations have kept the ship berthed at her Philadelphia dock while the group continues to further investigate restoration plans. United States Lines, S. S. United States unknown