Today...years ago The ship left to rust in the Philadelphia Port SS United States is a retired ocean liner built in 1950–51 for the United States Lines at a cost of $79.4 million. 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. She was designed by American naval architect William Francis Gibbs and could be co