19-02-2025
Pennsylvania woman who sailed on soon-to-be-sunk S.S. United States recalls sneaking with brother up to first class
HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — The S.S. United States's final voyage from Philadelphia to Florida, where (off the coast) it will become the world's largest artificial reef, was delayed again Tuesday because of high winds. And truth be told, Judy Stoltzfus of the Blain area of Perry County would just as soon wait anyway.
'It's almost like a part of us is leaving,' said Stoltzfus, who traveled with her family on the ship in 1956 from New York to Le Havre, France.
Stoltzfus, who is 80, and her brother Jim have long followed the histories of the four ships that took them back and forth — twice — to and from Europe when they were children, and Jim texted her when he learned about the ship's likely fate.
No one was texting anyone back when the two, as children, were 'sneaking up to first class,' as Stotzfus recalled. 'We were second class. We would sneak up there to watch themovies that first class had, because they were so much better than second class.'
Stoltzfus remembers that, and the xylophone-like chimes the cabin stewards would play as they walked down the halls alerting passengers that it was time to head to the dining rooms. And what she remembers most of all was the ship's speed.
The S.S. United States had been designed to be converted, if necessary, into a military vessel and was once clocked traveling 38 knots, nearly twice as fast as most cruise ships today. No large oceanliner before or after it traveled as fast, according to various reports.
Other ships 'rode the waves,' Stoltzfus recalled. 'This one almost felt like it was cutting through the waves. It was so fast.'
'The fact that it stood out as the fastest and still the record holder was very interesting to me,' said Stoltzfus's son, Jonathan, who lives in Lower Paxton Township, Dauphin County, and saw a story Monday morning on abc27 News Daybreak about how the ship would soon leave Philadelphia.
'And so that's when the thought came to me — yeah, just going to reach out to you guys and and see if I wasn't the only one that shared that sentiment,' Jonathan Stoltzfus said.
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