The money will allow the Washington-based SS United States Conservancy to buy the ship from Norwegian Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Genting Hong Kong, and maintain the vessel in its South Philadelphia berth for up to 20 months while redevelopment and refurbishment plans are completed.
The group, which has worked for years to promote the ship and prevent its destruction, wants to turn it into a historic attraction, permanently set on the waterfront of a major city.
Dan McSweeney, executive director of the conservancy, led a tour of the SS United States in advance of Thursday's ship-lighting ceremony, timed to honor the 58th anniversary of the vessel's maiden voyage, when it set a transatlantic speed record. The funnels, bridge, radar mast, and running lights were lit.
The ship is enormous, bigger than the Titanic, rising high above its berth at Pier 82, over a parking lot busy with cargo haulers and big trucks.
From the bridge, the bow seems a mile away. Overhead, at the foot of the crow's nest, the wind rips through in gusts. The smokestacks are bigger than corn silos. From upper decks, you can see traffic moving in South Jersey.
On one deck lies the faded outline of a shuffleboard court.
The interior is dark as night. When people are aboard, they move by flashlight through a dusty maze of rooms, doors, and stairways. The inside is not a shadow of its former self-there's hardly anything left at all. Portholes are broken. The flooring is cracked and peeling. Stray bits of wire, metal, and debris are everywhere.
At first glance, renovation seems impossible.
But McSweeney says the opposite.
"It's very possible, absolutely," he said. "What does it cost to put up a new building?"
Already, he said, the conservancy has heard from developers, potential investors, and municipal officials in New York and Philadelphia.
