SS Constitution
 SS Constitution In Hawaii | |
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: |
1951—1974: Constitution 1974—1982: Oceanic Constitution 1982—1997: Constitution |
| Owner: |
1951—1974: American Export Lines 1974—1979: Atlantic Far East Lines 1982—1997: American Hawaii Cruises |
| Builder: | Bethlehem Steel Corporation, Quincy, Massachusetts, USA |
| Yard number: | 1619[1] |
| Laid down: | 1950 |
| Launched: | September 16, 1950[1] |
| Completed: | 1951 |
| Maiden voyage: | June 25 1951[1] |
| Fate: | lost while under tow to shipbreakers |
| Status: | sunk |
| General characteristics (as built)[1] | |
| Type: | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage: |
23,719 gross register tons (GRT) 7,250 metric tons deadweight (DWT) |
| Length: | 208.01 m (682.45 ft) |
| Beam: | 27.18 m (89.17 ft) |
| Draft: | 9.20 m (30.18 ft) |
| Installed power: | 2 × Bethlehem Steel Corporation steam turbines; 40456 kW |
| Speed: | 23 knots (43 km/h) |
| Capacity: | 1000 passengers |
| General characteristics (after 1959 refit)[1] | |
| Type: | Cruise ship |
| Tonnage: | 23,754 GRT |
| Capacity: | 395 passengers |
| General characteristics (after 1974 refit)[1] | |
| Capacity: | 950 passengers |
| General characteristics (after 1980 refit)[1] | |
| Tonnage: | 20,221 GRT |
| Capacity: | 1073 passengers |
The SS Constitution was an ocean liner owned by American Export Lines. She was commissioned in 1951. She sailed on the New York-Genoa-Naples and Gibraltar route to Europe. Constitution was a sister ship to the SS Independence.
It was featured in several episodes of the television situation comedy I Love Lucy starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, starting with episode 140, "Bon Voyage," which first aired 1 December 1955. Lucy Ricardo missed the sailing of the ship and had to be ferried by air to the ship by the then-novel means of a helicopter.
Grace Kelly sailed aboard the SS Constitution from New York to Monaco for her wedding to Prince Rainier in 1956.
It was then featured in the 1957 film, An Affair to Remember starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. The ship was also featured prominently in the Magnum, P.I. television series, in the episode titled "All Thieves on Deck," which aired 30 January 1986.
Following service on American Export's "Sunlane" cruise to Europe in the '50s and '60s, the two ships sailed for American Hawaii Cruises for many years in the '80s and '90s; because they were U.S. ships with U.S. crews, they met the criteria of the Jones Act and were able to cruise the Islands without sailing to a foreign port.
SS Constitution was retired in 1995 and, while under tow to be scrapped on 17 November 1997, sank 700 nautical miles north of the Hawaiian Islands.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Micke Asklander. "T/S Constitution (1951)" (in in Swedish). Fakta om Fartyg. http://www.faktaomfartyg.se/constitution_1951.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-24.
External links
- History and photos of Constitution and Independence
- A story of a voyage on the Constitution
- Photo page for Magnum, P.I. episode All Thieves on Deck
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