The SS United States (SSUS)

The SS United States is three football fields long. She is longer than the Eiffel Tower is tall and 110 feet longer than HMS Titanic. Even in reverse the SS United States could exceed the Titanic's top forward speed. On her maiden voyage she bested the Queen Mary liner by more than 10 hours. On that July day in 1952, the SS United States became the world's fastest ocean liner.

To this day, the SS United States holds the crossing record for an ocean liner. And the record for any sea going vessel was all hers until a 72-foot speed boat, the Virgin Challenger II, financed and co-piloted by Virgin Atlantic's Richard Branson, took the Blue Riband from the Big U. The Challenger, just 1/13th the length of the SSUS, and with nearly 3,000 less people aboard, bested the Big U's time by just two hours and some 34 years later in 1986. The SS United States, at 990 feet in length, set her records and sailed into the history books - without ever exceeding two-thirds power.

Read more about our other ships, the Queen Mary ship and the Normandie, or getting pricing and product information in our Model Boat Products section. Also, Berti & Lewis is an industry leader in special model commissons if you would like a quote.