Champagne Glass, SS <I>United States</I>
date: label: date made
content: 1952
notes: label: Description
content: This champagne glass was among the 57,000 pieces of glassware furnished to the SS <I>United States</I> before its maiden voyage in 1952. Launched in 1952, the “Big U,” as the ship was affectionately called, was 990 feet long, about the length of five city blocks. On its maiden voyage, the ship broke the speed records for crossings in both directions and captured the Blue Riband trophy, an award for the ship making the fastest round trip passage on the North Atlantic. The time set by the <I>United States</I> on the westbound leg from New York to England was 3 days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes, with an average speed of 34.51 knots, a record that remains unbroken.
label: Description
content: The SS <I>United States</I> was built in Newport News Virginia, and was the largest and fastest transatlantic passenger liner ever built in the country. The ship had 695 staterooms located on eight of the liner’s 12 decks. It could accommodate 1,972 passengers in first, cabin, or tourist class. Some 1,011 crew were required to run the ship and serve the passengers.
place: label: Associated Place
content: Atlantic Ocean
topic: label: related event
content: Postwar United States
setName: label: See more items in
content: Work and Industry: Maritime
label: See more items in
content: Food
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content: Transportation
label: See more items in
content: On the Water exhibit
label: Exhibition
content: On the Water
label: Exhibition Location
content: National Museum of American History
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: National Museum of American History. On the Water exhibition website
label: Related Web Publication
content: http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transfer from US Department of Commerce, Maritime Administration (through R. J. Blackwell)
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TR.335564.02B
label: accession number
content: 1978.2219
label: catalog number
content: 335564.2b
objectType: label: Object Name
content: glass, champagne
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 5 in x 3 3/4 in; 12.7 cm x 9.525 cm