FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 4, 1952

SUPERLINER BEGINS HER FIRST CROSSING

1,660 aboard United States on Run That May Set a New Atlantic Speed Record

by George Horne

Aboard the Liner United States, At Sea, July 3-America's entry in the competition for Atlantic speed laurels is at sea on her maiden voyage, steadily building up revolutions of her four mighty engines for what 1,660 passengers aboard expect to be an attempt on a first crossing to lower the record held by the British liner Queen Mary.

The 53,300-ton superliner, the first this country has built, passed Ambrose Light Vessel at 2:36 p.m. and passengers aboard immediately noted a build-up in speed as she headed for Le Havre on track C, which is the northern sea lane used after danger from icebergs is past.

At 5 p.m., the United States had already passed the thirty-knot mark and by nightfall was still increasing power. Unofficially, it is reported that she now has reached thirty-three knots. Officers on the bridge under Commodore Harry Manning said the plan was to move up the speed gradually. The weather forecast ahead is for fair sailing and everything points to a real assault on the Atlantic record made by the Queen Mary in 1938.

As the big liner sped away from New York harbor, she encountered and exchanged courtesies with many vessels including the liner Mauretania. Capt. Donald Sorrell, master of the Cunard liner, sent Commodore Manning and the passengers of this vessel a gracious message saying "God speed to all aboard".

Officials on the United States to Bishop Rock, England, are expected to announce the result of her first day's 23-hour run tomorrow afternoon, a full day after leaving Ambrose Light. If a new mark is set at the end of the crossing, it will be measured abeam as she passes, headed for Le Havre, her first port.

The Queen Mary's eastward record, established Aug. 10 to 14 in 1938, was three days, twenty hours and forty-two minutes at the average speed of 31.69 knots. Her first day on that crossing was 738 miles in the twenty-three-hour day at an average speed of 32.08.

LEAVES PIER AT 12:07 P.M

Liner Due at Le Havre at 4 a.m. Tuesday - Ms. Truman Sails

The superliner United States backed from her West Forty-sixth Street pier at 12:07 p.m. yesterday and pointed her streamlined bow toward the Narrows and the sun-splashed North Atlantic on a maiden voyage that may make maritime history. Aboard were 1,660 wildly-waving passengers, and the pride of a nation that remembers the shipping supremacy of the clipper-ship era and the long, bleak years that have intervened since the American flag has topped all others among the speed queens of the seas.

Throughout the 53,300-ton ship as she slipped proudly down river ran the rumor that the "first lady of the seas" would try for the mythical blue ribbon that is "conferred" on the liner making the fastest Atlantic crossing. And the rumor was based on more than the high speed runs of 34-plus knots that the United States has made on trial runs.

Significantly, it was learned that a large number of passengers accommodated in the lower cabin class rooms aft over the four great screws of the liner had been moved to other berths the day before departure.   " The noise of the propellers at high speed would be g reat," officials explained.

No aide of the United States Lines or officer on the ship would comment officially on whether the United States would try to break the speed record of the Cunarder Queen Mary.

Commodore Manning, master of the superliner, grinned broadly when pressed on whether he would try to break the record and observed: "I've been instructed to keep to schedule. After all, the main thing is a safe passage." He said that the United States was due at Le Havre at 4 a.m. Tuesday and at Southampton at 5 p.m. the same day.

Passengers began boarding the 990-foot ship four hours before she sailed and soon were swarming with relatives and friends through the gracious public rooms, cabins and companionways.

PRESIDENT'S FAMILY ABOARD

At 10:30 a.m. the nation's First Lady, Mrs. Truman, and her daughter, Margaret, arrived, accompanied by Secretary of the Treasury, John W. Snyder, his daughter, Drucie, and her husband, John Horton.

Miss Truman said that her mother and Mr. Snyder were visitors but that she and Mr. and Mrs. Horton were bound for a six-week tour of England, Scandinavia and Austria.

She explained that the trip was a vacation, and that she definitely would not sing abroad. Asked if there was "anything new in a romantic way," she replied: "Everything new and nothing new." She laughed off a request for an explanation.

Miss Truman and her party posed for photographers on the sport deck of the liner, which was alive with a jostling crowd of passengers and visitors. Secret Service men kept busy brushing aside eager amateur photographers and women eager for a look at the President's wife and daughter.

Miss Truman wore a knitted blue dress with shoes to match and a pink hat and gloves. Her ensemble was set off by a gold bracelet and pearl necklace and earrings.

United States Lines officials said that more than 8,000 visitors boarded the ship to see the passengers off. Outside the pier, according to Police Inspector Louis Goldberg of the Third Division, 5,000 persons gathered to watch the maiden departure of the superliner.

Although the United States can carry a peak compliment of 2,000 persons, her list was held to less than 1,700 because a large number of the suites and three-berth cabins were occupied by only one and two persons.   This caused much chagrin among some fifty persons, eager to sail on the first voyage of the superliner, who came down to the pier with their baggage, passports and other documents in the hope of last-minute cancellations. Company officials said there were no cancellations.

BRITONS CIRCULATE STATISTICS

LONDON, July 3-Officially, Britons are coolly aloof toward American passes at the transatlantic speed record by ship: Unofficially, they're red hot for the home team.

The newspapers treated the departure of the challenger, the United States, on her maiden crossing today as the curtain-raiser in history's biggest water derby.

The printed tables of statistics to help the man in the street gauge the merits of the 990-foot United States, the 1,019-foot Queen Mary, and the 1,031-foot Queen Elizabeth.

But a Cunard-White Star spokesman pitched his approach on this chilly plane: "We are not racing. We have schedules and keep to them. We'll certainly do nothing to cause discomfort to our passengers or endanger either their safety of that of our ships."

The Queen Elizabeth is now out at sea a day and a half from New York.  

Commodore George Cove of the Elizabeth said, "The weather's fine."   But Commodore Cove, who is slated to retire soon, was quoted yesterday as saying that it would not be a bad idea if a "memorable fast voyage" came at the end of his career.

Men who sailed aboard the Queen Elizabeth during her wartime days as a trooper said she once bettered 35 knots. The United States, maritime circles believe, has already exceed 35 knots.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, July 5, 1952

LINER UNITED STATES BREAKS SPEED RECORD FIRST DAY OUT

Averages 34.11 Knots, Bettering Mark Set by Queen Mary 14 Years Ago-Just 'Cruising Along,' Commodore Manning Declares

Aboard the Liner United States, At Sea, July4-Aworld's record for liner speed fell to the American Merchant marine today as the new superliner United States steamed eastward along the Atlantic sea lanes so long dominated by other maritime powers.

During the first 20 hours and 24 minutes the $73,000,000 "prestige" liner of the United States Lines traveled 696 nautical miles at an average speed of 34.11 knots, Commodore Harry Manning, veteran shipmaster, announced at noon. The race began yesterday afternoon at Ambrose Light.

The captain said the liner had simply been "cruising along" at a speed equivalent to 39.8 land miles an hour as the automobile goes. No merchant vessel has ever traveled so fast for a sustained period as far as records are known.

Passengers are astonished at the minimum of vibration and the absence of a sense of speed on this historic voyage. While the captain and authorities connected with the ship's design and construction, who are among the 1,660 passengers making the maiden voyage, will not say that they intend to take the full Atlantic crossing record, there now is no doubt that this is what they are trying to do. It has been 100 years since this country could claim merchant ship
supremacy on the seas.

The record now is held by the British liner Queen Mary, which crossed eastward fourteen years ago at an average speed of 31.69 knots. It took her three days, 20 hours and 42 minutes to make that run. On the first day of that voyage the Queen Mary traveled 685 miles at an average of 31.13 knots, during a twenty-three-hour day, because clocks are turned forward one hour every day on the eastward Atlantic crossing.

"Tomorrow is another day," Commodore Manning said when he was asked to estimate the full day's run from noon
to noon ending tomorrow.

William Francis Gibbs, the lanky and intense naval architect who was the chief designer of the 53,300-ton liner, also is aboard. When Commodore Manning said that the ship's performance exceeded all expectations, Mr. Gibbs was asked whether his expectations also had been exceeded. "My expectations are rather high, and the ship is running them hard," he said dryly. This was an expansive statement for the laconic Mr. Gibbs, and means that he was experiencing what for most people would be excitement and exaltation.

GOOD WEATHER FORECAST

During the 696-mile run, the liner was favored with clear weather, a mild southwest wind and slight to moderate seas. The forecast ahead still is for good weather, and if the four propellers keep turning over at the rate held thus far the liner should be abreast of Bishop's Rock, England, at the end of the official course at the Atlantic's eastern fringe, at
noon on Monday, New York time.

There will be some loafing to do before the official welcoming ceremonies begin at Le Havre early Tuesdaymorning. They are scheduled for 8 a.m. local time, according to the original schedule. The present speed should bring the ship in late Monday even if she dawdles from Bishop's Rock to the French port.

The liner is due at the Southampton terminal late Tuesday afternoon.

The passengers are observing Independence Day quietly, lolling in the sun on the bridge deck and sports deck.
Members of the 1,000-man crew still are rushing around the ship delivering what Chief Purser John Lock describes as a record volume of bon voyage gifts and messages. There were 5,000 packages and 12,000 telegrams and some 5,000 pieces of mail to be delivered.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, JULY 6, 1952

35-KNOT MARK HIT BY AMERICAN LINER

United States Raises Speed on 2 n d Day-Gain of 6 to 10 Hours Over Queen Mary is See n

By George Horne

Aboard the Line United States, At Sea, July 5-This new superliner added to her laurels again today and raced on eastward across the Atlantic in a bid for the blue ribbon.

At noon she was 1,497 miles from Ambrose Light, having set a new day's run of 801 miles at an average of 35.6 knots. She was going so fast that it was necessary to put her clocks forward ninety minutes last midnight instead of the usual sixty to allow for the difference in time on the way east.

No ship in commercial service ever traveled anywhere close to such speed for a full day. The present record
holder is the big Queen Mary, which crossed all the way in 1938 at 31.69, making for her best day 738 miles at 32.08 knots.

Slipping through a slight sea and moderate swell with the speed of a whippet, the United States has already captured the single day mark and will undoubtedly break the record for the full crossing.

PASSENGERS ASTONISHED

The weather forecast is fair and only a mishap or fog can prevent the record from coming to America for the first time in many decades.

Passengers who read the report on the day's run on the bulletin board were astonished that in forty-five hours the new "prestige" ship was already slightly more than halfway to Bishop's Rock. Ambrose Light to Bishop's Rock on the winter track is 2,942 miles.

Commodore Harry Manning said at his noon press conference that the liner was cruising leisurely. Then he added facetiously: "Of course, she is using all four propellers."

According to schedule, the liner is due at Le Havre early Tuesday for welcoming ceremonies that are supposed to last until noon. But now it is likely that the ship will be abreast of Bishop's Rock early Monday and will have nearly a whole day to idle along to the French port.

QUEEN'S RECORD THREATENED

Aboard the Liner United States, July 5-Deck-chair experts are predicting that the American liner and her 1,700 passengers will pass Bishop's Rock off the English coast before dawn Monday to shatter the Queen Mary's record by six to ten hours. Commodore Manning, who still won't say officially that he is out to break the record, got only three hours sleep in the past twenty-four. He spent all last night steering his racing streak of power at still record breaking speed
through a fog that put visibility down to [yards].

The ship's gay passengers dined and danced in Independence Day celebrations and then slept it off until late this morning.

By then the fog had lifted, but a stiff wind whipped up choppy seas. Dame Nature seemed to decide that then the United States had proved her mettle and the weather calmed. There was a slight swell and a twenty-mile-per-hour easterly headwind.

Commodore Manning said he had received a message from the skipper of the rival British liner, Captain Harry
Grattidge, saying: "Welcome to the family of big liners on the Atlantic."

There was no word, Commodore Manning said, from the Mary's sister ship, the Queen Elizabeth, which left
New York thirty-five hours ahead of the United States.

Among the group of reporters are a number of British radio and newspaper correspondents who are giving
their people a detailed account of the crossing.

Douglas Willis of the British Broadcasting Corporation said: "This ship has got it. She'll win the blue ribbon by ten hours."

MISS TRUMAN AT WHEEL

Aboard the Liner United States, July 5-Miss Margaret Truman took the wheel of the United States for a few minutes today.

Miss Truman said she was excited about the prospect of being on a record-breaking voyage but that she would not get up to witness the historic occasion, if it occurs when she is asleep.

The President's daughter met the press for the first time since the big vessel left New York Thursday.

She said she was taking a vacation from everything but politics on her European vacation.

"I never take a vacation from politics," she said smiling. "I will be reading avidly all the news about the political conventions while I am gone."

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

THE UNITED STATES SETS SPEED MARK CROSSING ATLANTIC

3 Days 10 Hours 40 Minutes New Liner’s Time, Beating Queen Mary 10 Hours

RATE ACROSS 35.59 KNOTS

Manning, Her Master, Pitches ‘No Hit Game’—Passengers Hail Landfall at Dawn

By the Associated Press

ABOARD THE LINER UNITED STATES. At Sea, Monday, July 7—The liner United States streaked past Bishop Rock at
5:16 a.m. Greenwich mean time (1:16 a.m. Monday, Eastern daylight time) today, setting a new record for a trans-Atlantic crossing.

The time of the new American sea queen for the 2,938-mile crossing was 3 days 10 hours 40 minutes.
This, as yet, was unofficial.

If the time is made official, the new liner will have broken the British Cunard liner Queen Mary’s fourteen-year-old record by 10 hours 2 minutes.

The United States’ average speed across the Atlantic was 35.59 knots, about 41 land miles an hour. The Queen Mary’s average on her record trip in 1938 was 31.69 knots.

The ship’s band struck up “The Star Spangled Banner” as the new liner won the Atlantic blue ribbon for the United States for the first time in 100 years.

GALE BLOWING AT END

A windstorm and heavy rain had driven most of the 1,700 excited passengers from the open decks.   Margaret Truman, the President’s daughter, was on the Captain’s bridge.

“I feel like a pitcher who has pitched a no-hit game,” said Commodore Harry Manning, the 55-year-old skipper.

Passengers celebrated the arrival off England with champagne at dawn. There was a mighty cheer as the record was set.

The United States wound up her record-smashing run in a full gale with winds of 60 knots. It was so strong that it blew a ping-pong table off the deck.

The last previous American ship to hold the crossing mark was the Pacific, which in 1851 made the run in 9 days 19 hours 25 minutes.

The United States should be at Le Havre, France, in plenty of time for luncheon today. She will then lay over until Tuesday before sailing for Southampton, England, to pick up passengers and cargo for the return trip to New York.

AT HER BEST ON 3D Day

By George Horne.   Special to the New York Times.

ABOARD THE LINER UNITED STATES, At Sea, July 6—For a third straight day, America’s new speed queen chalked
up a record, turning in the unprecedented performance of 814 miles in the 22 ½ hours ended this noon.

The United States covered this lap in her maiden voyage race across the Atlantic at the sensational speed of 36.17 knots, the equivalent of 41.64 land miles an hour.

United States maritime authorities on board question whether the fastest warships in the world could make
such a run; and as for commercial vessels, the United States would show her heels to the best of any seafaring nation.

Only an unexpected fog could now stand between this 53,000-ton liner and an Atlantic crossing record at Bishop Rock, off Land’s End, England, from Ambrose Light outside New York.

During her first twenty hours and twenty-four minutes at sea after her departure from Ambrose Light, the United States traveled 696 nautical miles at an average speed of 34.11 knots. During the next twenty-four-hour period she covered 801 miles at an average of 35.6 knots.

LAST HOP TO BISHOP ROCK

This noon Bishop Rock was only 631 miles away and at 6:36 p.m., an even three days from New York (allowing
for the time difference in the Atlantic zone), the liner’s target was less than 400 miles distant.

The Cunard liner Queen Mary, of 81,000 tons, holds the easterly speed honors with a crossing of 3 days 20
hours 42 minutes. The best day’s run any ship did before the United States showed her patrician forefoot
to the Atlantic was 738 miles at 32.08 knots.

The day’s weather has been nearly perfect although this morning [in moderate swells saw the] big vessel rolling—comfortably wide and slow.

Just before noon the big French liner Liberte left her New York-bound course to pay her respects closely.

There was another gracious incident recalling an adventurous hour of the past.

The unseen 7,488-ton student travel ship Arosa Kulm, somewhere beyond the horizon, sent a wireless message
signed by her Captain De Marzo, an Italian who was a crewman of the Italian ship Florida twenty-three years
ago and was rescued by Commodore Manning, then chief officer of the steamship America, reminding the
skipper of the United States of that rescue. Captain De Marzo added: “Congratulations to you and all the
United States of America.”

It was learned on board this morning that when the United States enters Southampton late Tuesday, after
her first call at Le Havre, France, she will not display the traditional sailorman’s broom from her aluminum radarmast, as originally planned, to show she had swept the seas.

This cachet of supremacy will be withheld out of courtesy to the friendly rivals, the British, who are sensitive about such a gesture.

A Dutch naval commander, Admiral Martin Harpertzoon Tromp paraded the English Channel contemptuously
centuries ago with a broom at the masthead of his flagship in defiance of English men o’war signifying his intentions to sweep them from the seas. No one has approached British waters with such an insult since Admiral Tromp’s traditional gesture in December 1652.

Even the liner Queen Mary omitted in her home waters this display so loved by victorious seaman. Officials of the United States Lines decided to forget the broom on advice of their own company and its London associates, as a matter of international courtesy.

THE QUEEN MARY SEES HER

Cunarder Dips Her Colors as Liners Cross Paths at Sea

North American Newspaper Alliance

ABOARD THE QUEEN MARY, at Sea, July 6—Passengers rushed to the starboard rails at 5 o’clock yesterday afternoon when the new liner United States passed seven miles to northward on her maiden voyage. Even the movie was emptied when the loudspeakers announced that the American vessel was sighted.

The United States was observed moving cleanly through the water at a speed estimated by this ship’s officers
at 36 knots. The churning wake seemed about one-fifth of the length of the ship.

“What a thrill!” said an excited woman. “If we couldn’t be aboard her on her first crossing, at least we passed her on the high seas.”

The Queen Mary lowered her colors in courtesy as the United States passed .

THE ELIZABETH’S SKIPPER CONTENT

Special to the New York Times

LONDON, July 6—Commodore George E. Cove, master of the 83,000-ton Cunarder, the Queen Elizabeth, said at Southampton after his ship docked there from New York tonight: “You can take it for granted that there will
be no attempt to beat the United States.”

The Queen Elizabeth, although faster than the Queen Mary, has never attempted to outdo her sister ship,
which won the Atlantic Blue Ribbon in 1938.

ALSO FROM THE JULY 7, 1952 NEW YORK TIMES:

CAREER OF COMMODORE MANNING HAS BEEN A SAGA OF THE SEA LANES

Veteran Master Has Displayed Daring in Atlantic Rescues and Plan Exploits

Commodore Harry Manning, commodore of the United States Lines fleet, has had a distinguished career in the American Merchant Marine. His seamanship and daring often have made newspaper headlines. In 1929 New York gave him a ticker tape parade welcome after her had directed the lifeboat that negotiated gale-lashed Atlantic seas to rescue the entire hirty-two man crew of the stricken Italian freighter Florida.

A licensed flier, he became navigator and radio operator for Amelia Earhart Putram in 1937 in her first attempt to fly around the world. After the plane had been in an accident in Honolulu, Commodore Manning was unable to get an extension of his leave of absence from the United States Lines and so could not accompany Miss Earhart on the second flight, which ended in her disappearance in the Pacific.

Commodore Manning, now 55 years old, began his nautical career as a seaman on a sailing ship. Born in New York, he was graduated from the New York Nautical school ship Newport in 1914. He then signed on the American sailing barque D*igio. His climb up the ranks was steady. By 1929 he had received his first command, the President Roosevelt. The following year he was first officer on the old liner America, when he first attracted nation-wide attention by his
exploit in rescuing the crew of the Florida.

Three years later he was in command of another lifeboat that went to the rescue of the trans-Atlantic flier Lou Reicher, who had been forced down in rough seas off the coast of southern Ireland.

Commodore Manning served on various ships of the United States Lines. He was successively first officer of the Washington and the Manhattan. He was master of the American Traveler in 1935 and then served with ships of the Panama Pacific Lines for a short time.

Early in his career Manning had become interested in flying, and he qualified for a private pilot’s license in 1930. He gave up flying as an avocation in 1938, however, after he had crashed at Roosevelt Field and was so badly injured that for several days he was not expected to live.

While he was master of the United States liner Washington in 1940, Commodore Manning won this country’s first argument with a German submarine in World War II when the enemy craft halted the ship with 1,000 passengers aboard and announced its intention of sinking the vessel.

While passengers were being put into lifeboats, Commodore Manning managed to talk the German commander
out of sinking the ship by sending blinker messages and the Washington was permitted to continue unharmed.

When the Washington was taken over by the Navy in 1940 as a transport, he remained aboard her as a lieutenant commander, U.S.N.R., in the post of navigator. From 1941 until his release from active duty he was superintendent of the United States Maritime Service radio training station at Hoffman Island, N.Y.

The was reappointed captain of the Washington in 1946 when the ship was released by the Navy. Later that year he was named captain of the new liner America, then the largest passenger ship, which was being made ready for re-entry into the North Atlantic passenger trade. He remained on the America as master until 1948, after which he served the United States Lines as an advisor in the building of the superliner United States at Newport News, Va.

5 TIME ZONES INVOLVED IN RECORD ATLANTIC RUNS

Any comparison between the record run of the new superliner United States and the pr e vious record run, made in 1938 by the British liner Queen Mary, must take into consideration the fact that a ship’s daily progress is measured from noon to noon.

In crossing the North Atlantic from New York to Channel ports, a vessel passes through five time zones, of one hour’s difference each; in other words, since New York time is five hours behind British and French time, clocks must be advanced whenever an eastbound ship enters a new times zone.

On the United States’ first day’s run, the timing of which began at 1:36 p.m. Eastern Standard time off Ambrose Lightship, the liner traversed one time zone completely and entered a second. Thus her progress from Thursday afternoon to noon Friday, 696 miles, was within the span of 20 hours, 24 minutes.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEW QUEEN OF SEAS STIRS ADMIRATION

Liner United States Hailed at Le Havre as an Advance Over All Rival Shipping

SPEED ROSE ON FINAL DAY

Made 36.4 Knots for 17 Hours—Vessel Rode Smoothly, Though Lashed by Wind

By George Horne , Special to the New York Times

LE HAVRE, France, July 7— America’s new mistress of the seas came to this French port tonight wearing her laurels like an aristocrat.

The liner United States has shattered all records for speed of commercial vessels and is being greeted here as a seagoing engineering achievement whose performance has far surpassed rival shipping, taking to the United States for the first time in a hundred years supremacy along the merchant sea lanes.

Dressed in international code flags stretching over her towering stacks and surrealistic aluminum radar mast, the world’s fastest liner docked at this trans-Atlantic terminal after a leisurely trip from the point of Bishop Rock that she had crossed at the eastern end of the western ocean racecourse.

At 5:16 a.m. Greenwich time this morning the 53,000-ton superliner crossed the finish line, having traveled from Ambrose Light, off New York Harbor in the unparalleled time of 3 days 10 hours 40 minutes.   She passed Ambrose Light at 2:36 p.m. Eastern daylight time Thursday. Her average speed for 2,942 nautical miles was 35.59 knots. She beat the previous record held by the Queen Mary, over approximately the same course by 10 hours 2 minutes.

COMPARISON OF RECORDS

The Queen Mary covered 2,938 nautical miles when she made her record crossing in August, 1938, at an average speed of 31.69 knots. The British liner’s best day’s run was 738 miles at 32.08 knots and the sensational new American flagship clocked off her full day from noon yesterday to noon today at 36.21 knots for a total of 833 miles.

The figure on the total run to Le Havre from the United States was 3,191 miles in 3 days 17 hours 48 minutes at an average of 35.53 knots. The speed run was complete in a thundering wind that overswept the decks with spray. Despite the weather the $73,000,000 liner raced smoothly, covering 631 miles from noon yesterday to the point abreast Bishop Rock in 17 hours 16 minutes. The average for this part of the voyage was 36.4 knots, by far the fastest of any ship’s run over a sustained period of time.

Shipping authorities point out conditions and distance for the two ships were almost identical, so it was a fair race.

GETS A WARM WELCOME

Majestically, the United States moved into Le Havre roads, coming to anchor at 2:20 p.m. Two Le Havre pilots, Albert Guerrier and George Dubois brought her in. Standing off not far was the Polish liner Batory, which left the New York route months ago because of surveillance that the Poles considered harassment.   She did not salute, but at dinner time as the United States lifted anchor and moved past the breakwater to the terminal, harbor craft and the port whistled
salutes, and fireboats shot bright plumes of spray in the clear afternoon sunshine.

Since the ship docked here early, the formal welcoming ceremonies will be held tomorrow as originally scheduled. Officials of the port and nation will come aboard to greet Commodore Harry Manning, who has realized an old dream to command a ship that, in the opinion of experts, far outdates competitors.

PASSENGERS DROOPY EYED

Despite the upset in arrangements that the ship’s speed produced, some passengers are going ashore tonight to continue their trip to Continental points.   For the most part they are a droopy-eyed lot, since the majority of the 1,700 aboard remained up all night to witness the historic crossing of the finish line.

They were wearing colored hats and continuing the overlong last night’s gala party that celebrated the victory run in advance. With the ship’s band playing and the passengers moving gaily around the decks as Commodore Manning sounded a single whistle blast signifying the new record, it appeared to be an odd admixture of revelry and ritual.

A number of prominent passengers including Margaret Truman, the President’s daughter, were on the bridge with the
commodore by invitation at the finish line of the traditional course from Ambrose Light to Bishop Rock.

Officers, passengers and company officials are somewhat awed by the magnitude of the ship’s achievement and agree that the sea lanes between America and Europe, coursed through the centuries by vessels of all descriptions and beyond counting, have this day seen a noble craft, the very acme of engineering skill.

BRITISH GALLANT IN DEFEAT

Watched the Speed Challenge as a Sporting Event

By Clifton Daniel , Special to the New York Times

LONDON, July 7—“Well,” the hat check man in one of London’s big hotels said to an American visitor last night, “it looks as if we are going to lose the old blue ribbon.”

And this morning they did lose it when the liner United States passed Bishop Rock at 5:16 Greenwich mean time (1:16 a.m. Eastern daylight time), setting a new trans-Atlantic speed record.

Being a sea-faring, race-going, proud people, the British were triply interested in the American ship’s challenge to the Queen Mary’s long established supremacy of the seas. In the newspapers and on the radio they closely followed the progress of the United States from New York to the Scilly Isles.

With a punter’s eternal optimism, many Britons hoped against hope—and some still hope—that the Queen Mary
or the Queen Elizabeth might show a sudden turn of speed and recapture the mythical trophy before it was well out of Britannia’s hands.

ELIZABETH WON’T SEEK MARK

“The Queen Elizabeth has never officially attempted a record crossing and her top speed has not been disclosed,” the Manchester Guardian remarked today.

However, Commodore George Cove, captain of the Elizabeth, was quoted as saying yesterday, “You can take it for granted that there will be no attempt to beat the United States.”

If the blue ribbon cannot be recaptured, Britons must unhappily take the success of the new liner as one more instance of this country’s loss of material prestige to the United States.

Meanwhile, good sportsmanship, another British trait, triumphed over pride and patriotism. F.A. Bates, chairman of the Cunard Line, owner of the two Queens, sent a message of congratulations to J.M. Franklin, president of the United States Lines, and Commodore Harry Manning, captain of the new queen of the seas.

Commodore Cove, The Daily Mail observed, did not “rage and roar about the ‘Yanks’ and furiously demand more
knots from his engine room.” Instead he sent a gracious message to his old friend Commodore Manning.

In a human enough way the British also looked for consolation.

“It is true we have been beaten in speed, possibly in lack of vibration,” Don Iddon telegraphed from the American liner to The Daily Mail. “But in comfort, size, food, service and dignity we are still supreme.”

The Reuters’ correspondent reported that “the service on board is not quite up to the remarkable speed, but the purser, Mr. Jack Lock, is confident that it will improve.”

Several newspapers noted with pride that a considerable number of the crew were Britons, trained by the Cunard line.

A Briton, Clifford Thomas of Kingston-on-Thames, won the ship’s pool yesterday, having made the best guess on the liner’s record breaking speed. The Cunard’s loss was his gain. Pocketing about $4,000 he said, “Well, the British have won something.”

Another British passenger, hearing a derisory comment about Britain’s slowness, retorted with a reminder that the fastest airliner in the world today was the British de Haviland jet-powered Comet, plying between London and South Africa.

Juan Trippe, president of Pan American Airways, arrived here today to look at the Comet and other advanced types of British aircraft. About the Comet, he said, “It is a good show.”

Asked if he would buy any, Mr. Trippe said, “We are going to look and see what progress has been made since we were last here. If business dictates, then Pan American will buy British aircraft.”

The blue ribbon trophy won by the liner United States is in this country, but not in the possession of the Cunard Line. The Queen Mary never claimed it and never flew a blue pennant from her mast as she was entitled to do.

Until 1935 there was no actual trophy, but in that year, at the insistence of H.K. Hales, a former member of Parliament, one was made. Four feet high, and worth £2,500, it stands in a Hanley jewelry shop.

If the United States claims the trophy, there will have to be a meeting of the committee, headed by the Duke of Sutherland, that was formed to administrate it, The Manchester Guardian said today.

Manning Says Atom Ships May Capture Ribbon Soon

LE HAVRE, July 7—Commodore Harry Manning of the liner United States predicted her new record may not stand for long saying “atomic developments may produce faster ships.”

He praised the work of radar in his record run declaring, “I’d rather be without my right arm than radar.”

He had to use his two Big Radar screens through the second night out when fog was heavy and again early
today during a gale.

President Truman wired congratulations today. A similar message was said to be on the way from Prime Minister Churchill.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

Britain Outdoes U.S. In Hailing Sea Queen

By George Horne , Special to the New York Times

SOUTHAMPTON, England, July 8—This home of great ships opened its heart today to a rival liner that had won from Britain the speed supremacy of the seas.

In a ceremony that dwarfed New York’s beat, Southampton roared a welcome this afternoon to the new
United States Lines superliner, the United States.

From far below the Isle of Wight, as the new speed queen moved up the water approaches that have known so many great ships, greeting vessels of every description—literally thousands of them, from Channel steamers to rowboats packed to their gunwales—led the line with displays of hospitality.

This is a port that loves ships and England is a nation that loves them. The people sometimes considered reserved in their public demonstrations dropped the barriers and let everything go. Along the Solent, along the Hampshire countryside, along the beaches, on crowded piers, in open green fields, masses of people were standing to say to the United States, “Welcome, Welcome.”

The great ship commanded by Commodore Harry Manning beat the speed record by crossing from Ambrose Light
vessel to Bishop Rock in 3 days 10 hours and 40 minutes at an average speed of 35.59 knots. The old record held by the Queen Mary was 3 days 20 hours and 42 minutes at an average speed of 31.69 knots.

PAYS TRIBUTE TO BRITISH

Meeting the press of America, British and other countries in the ship’s smoking room after the docking, Commodore Manning and William Francis Gibbs, the ship’s designer, paid tribute to the British people as seafarers.

“I am somewhat saddened by taking the record from such a fine ship and a fine crew as the Queen Mary,” said the commodore. “Nothing ever lasts. Now she has an opportunity to take the record back.”

Then he paused a moment and added, “But not if I can help it.”

He expressed the hope that the fine public rooms would never, in the words of Prime Minister Winston Churchill know the “melancholy phase of war.” He read a message of congratulations that he had just received from the Prime Minister.

Mr. Gibbs, visibly moved by the unusual scene he had just witnessed along the Solent and in Southampton Water, voiced a similar hope to the effect that the love of ships shared by the two nations themselves would be used, “in a common cause.”

MAYOR GREETS MARGARET TRUMAN

Mayor Edwin Burrow of Southampton, who came aboard at the dock in his role as Admiral of the Port and wearing his chain of office, greeted Margaret Truman, the President’s daughter, who was a passenger. The Mayor will go aboard tomorrow for an official welcome to Commodore Manning and to the ship, as will other officials. Miss Truman, like the other passengers, was astonished by the welcome given. British reporters said they had never seen such a demonstration.

As the liner moved up the Solent, big excursion vessels, so packed with people they canted over, moved along the sides of the ship. Their shrill piping sounded continuously and the thunderous voice of the United States responded.

On the deck housing of the forecastle of the new liner, a man was playing the bagpipes. He was a passenger, James Black of Flushing, Queens, born in Scotland and on his way for a visit there. He played “Hundred Pipers and A’A’” and “The Road to the Isles.”

PASSENGERS AFFECTED BY WELCOME

Passengers on the deck choked up with emotion. A girl standing under the bridge kept repeating “These wonderful people, these wonderful people.”

And they were wonderful. Off Southampton dock an electrically amplified voice boomed these words: “Commodore Manning we welcome you.” It could be heard all the way across Southampton Water. The ship answered with three whistle blasts.

As the nose of the liner touched the pier and she began to move in, four bells were sounded. It was 6 o’clock.

The river pilot, Capt. James Bowyer of Ryde, Isle of Wight, who represents the sixth generation of pilots in his family, turned the ship back to Commodore Manning. His job was done. The din of two hours died down and the paddle steamers, rowboats, and sailing craft turned back; the Vampire jet planes and the huge flying boats winged away ; the people went home.

NON-COMMITAL ON WESTWARD TRY

At the press conference the reporters, including several score who had come down from London, tried to find out from Commodore Manning whether he would seek the westward record still held by the Queen Mary. He said that had not been decided.

The commodore parried questions about fuel consumption, which has been much discussed as one of the revolutionary features of the new liner. This is one of the many statistics that will be kept secret.

Earlier today the United States received an official welcome from the port of Le Havre, where some of the 1,700 passengers landed last night. As the ship was leaving the French port at noon, officials announced an extra passenger. A baby girl was born yesterday afternoon in the ship’s hospital to Dr. and Mrs. Milton J. Allen of Madison, N.J. They were en route to England for a visit.

The United States will remain at Southampton until Thursday and then cross again to Le Havre to pick up other passengers. Company representatives said she would have a full list of nearly 2,000 passengers for the westward crossing.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

NEW OCEAN QUEEN HOST TO BRITONS

United States Lunch Honors Southampton—Top Shipping Aide Hails American Feat

Special to the New York Times

SOUTHAMPTON, England, July 9—The superliner United States resting briefly on her laurels as the new speed queen of the North Atlantic, entertained at luncheon today civic dignitaries from the seaport that gave her such a hearty welcome and British shipping men who were quick to pay their tribute.

Viscount Runciman, chairman of the General Council of British Shipping, included in his congratulations “the whole body of American taxpayers,” in a reference to the subsidy that made the ship’s construction possible. He said he hoped that the new ship would stimulate Atlantic travel by sea and, referring to British-American rivalry for the blue ribbon, said that, “competition need not be inconsistent with cooperation.”

The president of the United States Lines, John M. Franklin, expressed thanks to the Cunard Company for having altered its sailing schedule so that Southampton Ocean Terminal, the only dock in Britain that can comfortably accommodate superliners, would be available.

Commodore Harry Manning of the United States, who in Lord Runciman’s words, would have been, “less than human if he were not a pretty proud man today,” described the pier, completed two years ago, as “a new world standard in ocean terminals.”

Commodore Manning recalled that Southampton had been the port of debarkation for more than 2,000,000 men and women in the United States military forces to help in the liberation of Europe and, like other speakers, he drew applause from the guests when he expressed the hope that the liner would never have to be converted to military use.

In the name of the people of Southampton, Mayor Edwin Burrow congratulated the United States on winning the blue ribbon “with no reservations whatsoever” and stressed the port’s role in the “glorious association of our peoples” since the days of the Mayflower.

United States Ambassador Walter S. Gifford referred to the early days of the United States merchant marine when his birthplace, Salem, Mass., was a flourishing port and said that the United States merchant marine had proved a lifeline.

He recalled the wartime service of the steamship America, the new superliner’s predecessor, as the flagship of the United States Lines, under the name of the U.S.S. Westpoint and hoped that the new ship would never be called on for similar service.

A succession of tugs and launches crowded with sightseers went past the United States as she lay at dockside, her twin red, white and blue stacks towering high above the pier. The crowds waved and cheered and one man shouted, “It won’t be long!”

In other words, he hoped, as all sea-loving Britons do, that Britain would soon regain the symbolic maritime speed trophy.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

United States Heads Home at ‘Peaceful’ Record Pace

Special to the New York Times

ABOARD LINER UNITED STATES, at sea, July 11—America’s new speed queen was 600 miles from Le Havre at 6 p.m.
today, heading homeward at the easy speed of thirty-four knots. She is cruising “peacefully,” Commodore Harry Manning said, adding that he had no intention of pushing her faster since that speed will bring her to Ambrose Light in plenty of time to take the westbound record without upsetting the planned schedule for arrival in New York Tuesday.

The liner left Le Havre at 1 a.m. and passed Bishop Rock at 9:17 a.m. (4:17 a.m., New York time). It was announced at noon that the liner had traveled 341 miles and had 2,814 to go to Ambrose Light. The ship is on “Track C,” which is 2,902 miles from Bishop Rock to Ambrose Light—the landfalls used for record purposes—and is forty miles shorter than the eastward track on which the United States just shattered all speed records.

The Cunard liner Queen Mary still holds the westward record having crossed in 1938 in 3 days 21 hours and 48 minutes at an average speed of 30.99 knots.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

Liner Sets Day’s-Run Mark; City Plans Record Welcome

By George Horne Special to the New York Times

ABOARD THE LINER UNITED STATES, at Sea, July 12—The liner United States was racing into fog wisps tonight,
with a forecast of thickening weather ahead, but the ship’s officers were confident that they had built up a sufficient margin to assure her of a new record on the westbound run.

In the twenty-five-hour period ended at noon, the liner had traveled 902 miles, setting a new one-day mileage record against slight westerly winds and in smooth seas at an average speed of 36.08 knots, or 41.5 land miles an hour. The speed, however, was not a record because of the eastward voyage she had made 36.21 knots in a twenty-three-hour day for 833 miles.

Plans are set for the most colorful and elaborate harbor demonstration in the history of the city, Grover A. Whalen, chairman of the Mayor’s Reception Committee, said in New York. He said that next Friday Commodore Harry Manning, his officers and members of the crew would have a Broadway parade and a City Hall welcome.

Commodore Manning posted today in all crew quarters congratulatory messages from President Truman and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, adding his own warm thanks to the crewman for their contribution to the operation and service, which are being widely commended by passengers.

Chief Engineer William Kaiser, 50 years old, of Virginia, said today that this vessel was not only the dream vessel of the passengers but of crewman as well.

Her riding qualities and negligible vibration are simply tangible evidences to the customer of a vessel that it is revolutionary and so far advanced that she will “stand for fifty years.” He said that the next or better thing would have to be atomic powered with wings.

CITY PREPARES HARBOR WELCOME

With plans set for the most colorful and elaborate harbor demonstration in the history of the city, the world’s fastest liner—the United States—will be welcomed here on her westward maiden voyage late tomorrow or early Tuesday.

Grover A. Whalen, chairman of the Mayor’s Reception Committee, said yesterday that all stops would be pulled out here for the new queen of the seas.

R.M. Hicks, executive vice president of the United States Liners, owner of the vessel, said the possibility still existed that she might break another record on her way to the home port. He said if the superliner averaged 34 knots—she average 35.59 knots on her eastward passage—she would arrive here at 4 p.m. tomorrow.

Officials believed, however, that the United States will arrive Tuesday and berth at Pier 86, North River, between 10 a.m. and noon. When she does arrive, she will be met by six tugboats near Ambrose Lightship as she reaches quarantine and by two Coast Guard cutters carrying welcoming officials.

One of the tugs, from the Department of Marine and Aviation, will carry the Sanitation Department Band.   There will be three tugs transporting newspaper reporters, still photographers, newsreel and television cameramen and radio crews.

HOLIDAY ATTIRE REQUESTED

All shipping and allied interests along the 600-mile city waterfront have been asked to dress up their establishments in holiday attire in honor of the event. The same request has been made of railroads having waterfront sidings.

The city’s fleet of seventeen ferry boats and all other floating equipment in the harbor have been asked to be in the bay and to whistle salute as the superliner passes. Fire Department boats will be on hand to render water salutes, while the Fire Department Band will greet her at Pier 86.

Next Friday Commodore Manning, the ship’s skipper, will be honored with his officers and members of the crew with a Broadway ticker tape parade and a City Hall reception. Among the marchers will be elements of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Fire, Police and Sanitation Departments and 700 cadets from the Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

The United States Due to Set mark Today for Run West Despite Fog

By George Horne , Special to the New York Times

ABOARD THE LINER UNITED STATES, at Sea, July 13—The world’s fastest ocean liner was slipping through calm
seas at about 36 knots at dinnertime tonight, less than a day’s run from New York and with the westbound trans-Atlantic record in her grasp. We are less than 800 miles from New York.

Last night’s fog allowed the 53,000-ton superliner somewhat but it cleared in the morning, and this afternoon passengers could feel the increasing pulse of the mighty engines. Officers announced at dinner over the public address system that the ship would reach Ambrose Light Vessel late tomorrow afternoon.   Spokesman for the United States Lines, the operators, indicated that she would reach the lightship, the official finish line from Bishop Rock, at about 5 p.m. New York time.

Bishop Rock, one of the Scilly Isles just southwest of the Cornwall coast of England, is equipped with a powerful beacon light and is often considered a point of departure by trans-Atlantic liners coming from Channel ports. The Ambrose Light Vessel is anchored midway between Sandy Hook and the Rockaways and is the point where inbound vessels pick up their harbor pilots.

If the United States arrives at the predicted time, it would give her honors in both directions on the Atlantic and set a westward record of 3 days and approximately 12 hours at an average speed of about 35 knots. The present record, set by the Queen Mary in 1938, is 3 days, 21 hours, 48 minutes, at a speed of 30.99 knots.

This ship’s new eastbound record, set last week between Ambrose and Bishop’s Rock, is 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes at a speed of 35.59 knots.

Commodore Harry Manning announced at noon that the liner had been forced to slow down because of low visibility and had covered only 865 miles in a 25 1/2 -hour-day, from noon to noon. The speed over this period was 33.95 knots. From Bishop’s Rock, which we passed at 9:17 a.m., Greenwich summer time, or 4:17 a.m. New York time, on Friday, we had traveled by noon 1,855 miles with 1,047 to go to Ambrose Light.

Despite the slower speed, it is still a faster pace than any commercial ship can maintain, and the speed thus far has left a safety margin that ought to guarantee victory even though there is still a possibility of thick weather tonight.

The liner will maintain her docking schedule no matter what time she reaches New York Harbor. So as not to disrupt passenger arrangements ashore, she will anchor off Quarantine Station on Staten Island and proceed up the bay and up the Hudson River to her West Forty-sixth Street pier after 7 a.m. Tuesday. A shipboard celebration is being planned for the moment of arrival at Ambrose, and those on board are expecting New York to unfold a welcome Tuesday morning.

BIG WELCOME PLANNED HERE

The record-breaking liner United States will get an overnight rest off Ambrose Lightship tonight before starting up New York Bay tomorrow morning for one of the city’s most elaborate harbor celebrations

The United States Lines confirmed last night that the vessel might reach Ambrose Light Vessel by 5 p.m. today. In any event, she was to anchor there during the night, and wait until tomorrow morning before starting She is due to leave Quarantine at 7 a.m., and to doc at Pier 86, West Forty-sixth Street, and the Hudson River at 9 a.m.

The welcome is being arranged by Grover A. Whalen, chairman of the Mayor’s Reception Committee, and occupants of all waterfront buildings are being urged to display holiday décor. A city tug will carry the Sanitation Department Band out into the bay to herald the arrival, while the Fire Department Band will be at the pier.

Two Coast Guard cutters are to transport officials down the bay for the welcome. Fire department boats are to send up their fountain sprays, and all municipal craft in the harbor will whistle in salute.   The celebration will continue on Friday, when Commodore Manning, the ship’s skipper, his officers and members of his crew will be honored with a
Broadway parade and a City Hall reception.

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

UNITED STATES SETS NEW WESTWARD RECORD; PORT SALUTE TODAY

Superliner Cuts Queen Mary’s 14-Year-Old Speed Mark by 9 Hours 36 Minutes - JOY REIGNS ABOARD SHIP

Supremacy of Atlantic Comes to This Nation for the First Time in a Century

By George Horne Special to the New York Times

ABOARD THE LINER UNITED STATES, in Quarantine Station, July 14—The liner United States has swept the seas of
speed competition and stands as the fastest vessel in the world.

She passed Ambrose Channel Lightship at 4:29 p.m., New York time, today completing the 2,902-mile run from
Bishop Rock in 3 days 12 hours 12 minutes. The average speed for the crossing of the Atlantic was 34.51 knots.

With a few planes overhead and a Navy destroyer lying respectfully to the starboard after escorting the liner to the lightship, and with several welcoming craft tossing in the haze-covered sea, the United States slowed down and drifted across the bow of the little red lightship, which saluted with three blasts on her whistle. The deep-throated horn of the United States answered, the third blast being prolonged, a signal to the passengers that the race was over.

RECORDS BOTH WAYS

The United States had beaten the Queen Mary’s record of 3 days 21 hours 48 minutes by 9 hours 36 minutes.   Last week the United States passed Bishop Rock on the eastward run after 3 days 10 hours 40 minutes, averaging 35.59 knots .

After the whistles blew at Ambrose, bedlam broke loose on the ship. The passengers then stood while the Meyer Davis Band played the National Anthem, followed by the ship’s own song, “First Lady of the Seas,” and a variation whipped up for the occasion called, “I Like Harry and He Likes Knots.” This is in tribute to Commodore Harry Manning.

The commodore said he was proud and pleased at the performance of his ship and that it would be a fine thing if all Americans could realize, as passengers do, that this country has something to be proud of.   It has been some 100 years since the United States could enter a great express ship in the competition of the seas, a ship that has no peer, he said.

MESSAGE FROM HEAD OF LINES

When word of her record-smashing triumph was radioed to New York, John M. Franklin, president of the United States Lines, sent back his warm congratulation by radio telephone, saying:

“We are all delighted with the ship and pleased that she has broken the record in each direction. The good Lord was kind to us in the weather, Commodore Harry Manning and his staff navigated the ship magnificently.”

The 53,000-ton liner, built at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Virginia, had accomplished the remarkable steaming to Bishop Rock and back—5,844 miles, or a quarter of the distance around the world—at better than 35 knots. This is believed to be faster than any big ship ever did, even in brief maximum effort on a trial run.

Her best day on the eastward journey was 814 miles, an average of 36.17 knots, in a twenty-two and one-half-hour run. Coming home, her best twenty-five and one-half-hour day was last Saturday, 902 miles, a 36.08 knot average.

Ninety-three hours ago the passengers on this luxurious ship were standing on the dock in Le Havre, France.

After coasting past the Ambrose Lightship, Commodore Manning brought the ship to a stop and took on the Sandy Hook pilot. Shortly after 7 p.m. the ship moved on to Quarantine to wait Federal inspection officials and welcoming parties early tomorrow morning.

New York’s homage has already begun in a small way. A few small craft are hovering around the ship, and a while ago a tug came by shooting water like a fireboat. The ship is continuously being saluted by passing craft.

BLUE RIBBON TO BE PRESENTED

One shipboard ceremony on the journey up the bay will be the presentation of a huge blue ribbon signifying speed honors through Mr. Franklin. The company had not planned to fly one, but the newspaper contingent on board, making the round-trip voyage, provided the emblem that will be flown from the ship’s flag hoist.

Many of the passengers feel that the wait of more than half a day before docking is something of an anti-climax. But company executives say it would be difficult to re-arrange schedules now and land the passengers so far ahead of their train and hotel reservations.

It has also been suggested that the company might have to alter schedules that now call for four and one-half days from dock to dock, and an operating speed of 29 or 30 knots. It was said, however, that this would not be done for the remainder of the year at least. The United States left New York on July 3 and received a tumultuous welcome at Southampton after breaking the record eastward by crossing to Bishop Rock in 3 days 10 hours 40 minutes at an average speed of 35.59 knots.

She is so fast that she could omit the port of Havre and make a round trip passage to Southampton and back
to New York in less than a week. In fact she has not yet done her best time, and members of the crew believe she will set new Atlantic marks in the near future.

40 KNOTS NOT EXCESSIVE

At an interview with newspaper correspondents on board during this passage, William Francis Gibbs, designer of the ship, indicated that persistent rumors of a 40-knot speed were not excessive. Until this trip, officials connected with her design, construction and operation were careful to say she was faster than other commercial vessels or any large warship in the world.

Now, when discussing speed, they include fast destroyers. Mr. Gibbs said he believed an unloaded destroyer possibly could go faster.

HARBOR WELCOMES SPEED QUEEN TODAY

Triumphal Run of United States From Quarantine to Her Pier Will be Slow and Noisy

When the liner United States enters New York Harbor this morning as speed queen, she will get a greeting reserved for ocean royalty .

She will lift anchor at Quarantine at 7 a.m., and proceed to her home pier at West Forty-Sixth Street on the North River, but will make this part of her triumphal journey at only ten knots. She is due to dock at 9 a.m.

The harbor will be gay with bunting as the liner slips through the Narrows, past the Battery, and up the Hudson. Great numbers of craft will squire her in, and they will not spare their sirens. She also will have air escort, and there will be salutes from shore.

The mythical blue ribbon of a record holder, may become reality on the United States in the last stage of her homeward crossing, but only as a radio station’s promotion stunt.

Dave Driscoll, WOR’s news director, who is aboard the liner, arranged by wireless last Friday, to have a blue sailcloth banner, 20 by 40 feet, made up by William J. Mills & Co. in Greenport, L.I. for delivery to the vessel before she leaves Quarantine.

Grover Whalen, head of the Mayor’s Reception Committee, will board the United States at Quarantine at 7 o’clock this morning with a host of dignitaries at the same time that Government inspecting officers go aboard.

SOME OF THE WELCOMERS

With Mr. Whalen will be, among others, Rear Admiral Roscoe H. Hillenkoetter, commanding the Third Naval
District; Lieut. Gen. Willis D. Crittenberger, commanding officer of the First Army; Rear Admiral Roy T. Cowdry, commandant, New York Naval Shipyard, Brooklyn; Commissioner of Marine and Aviation Edward F. Cavanaugh, Jr.; Henry Hobson, Consul General for Great Britain; Guy de Berc, general manager of the French Line; Rear Admiral Gordon McClintock, head of the United States Merchant Marine Academy at Kings Point, L.I.; Eugene Moran of the Moran Towing Company; Rear Admiral Louis B. Oilson, commandant, Third Coast Guard District; Maj. Gen. Leon W. Johnson, commanding officer, Continental Air Command, Mitchell Air Force Base, L.I.

Plans for a fly-over of Air Force planes fell through last night when the Defense Department in Washington ruled against Air Force participation, but private aircraft, police helicopters, and possibly Navy blimps may act as air escort.

Swarms of police boats, private tugs, city craft and two Coast Guard cutters will be in the escort fleet and at least two city ferry boats, one coming from St. George, one on her way there, will lend their special bunting and the power o their whistles to the welcome.

Two, and possibly four, city fireboats, will give the geyser salute to the liner. A tugload of musicians from the city’s Sanitation Department Band will serenade the United States from Quarantine to the pier, and on the pier a Fire Department band will carry on.

Half-way point in the liner’s slow-paced glide from Quarantine to West Forty-sixth Street will be at the Battery, where she is due at about 8 a.m .

FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES

Port Hails the United States as New Speed Queen

By Meyer Berger

The new Atlantic speed-record holder, the liner United States, was escorted in triumph yesterday morning from Quarantine to her home berth at West Forty-six Street, Hudson River.

Most of the city, veiled in red-shot heat haze, still slumbered as she lifted anchor just after 7 a.m. to move at a comparative crawl for two hours through the Narrows, Upper Bay and the river.

The liner’s welcome on her return from her maiden Atlantic round trip—she set records both ways—was somewhat less strident than when she came up from Newport News to home harbor on June 23. It did not match the reception the British gave her at Southampton a week ago.

The few thousands who turned out in the morning heat to watch the liner enter the harbor were astonished at the scars she bore—paint peeled from her slender black hull by wave friction as she averaged 34.48 knots in the 3,155 miles from Le Havre to New York.

The United States had rested through the night at Quarantine after she had passed Ambrose Light at 4:29 p.m. on Monday. At 6:30 a.m. yesterday visitors brought a gift “blue ribbon,” a giant sailcloth banner, to fly from her radar mast as the symbol of her speed supremacy.

Neither Commodore Harry Manning nor John M. Franklin seemed to take too kindly to this display, which was not their own idea but one some passengers dreamed up. Commodore Manning is skipper of the liner and Mr. Franklin is head of the United States Lines.

FLAG, YES; BROOMS, NO

Mr. Franklin finally permitted the blue pendant on the radar mast. He put his foot down, though, when enthusiastic passengers—the liner carried 1,651 on the home voyage—also tried to fix to the mast a cluster of kitchen brooms, signifying that she had made a clean sweep.

A little later Mr. Franklin announced the company would not attempt soon to better the speed records of the ship. He said she would be throttled down hereafter to maintain her published schedule of about five days for the crossing.

Boarding parties of city officials, custom’s men and reporters put out from Lower Manhattan at 6 a.m. for rendezvous with the United States at Quarantine at 7 o’clock. Other small craft fell into line astern and to port and starboard.

They rode on a glassy sea coppered by the ardent rising sun. Manhattan’s skyline and the New Jersey and Brooklyn shores were blue silhouettes behind heat shrouds; silent towers and factories without sharp form or detail. Even the gulls were gone from the hot sky.

Grover Whalen, head of the Mayor’s Reception Committee, led the official party aboard. E.F. Cavanagh, Jr., Commissioner of the Department of Marine and Aviation, represented Mayor Impellitteri.   Army, Navy, Coast Guard and Air Force officials climbed up behind them.

A t 7:10 a.m. the United States lowered her quarantine flag, gave three resounding blasts that wakened the morning echoes in Gravesend Bay, and moved out, with sixty to eighty small craft plowing lesser wakes all around. Their whistles shrilled salute and gave deep, throaty answer.

The liner started out at ten knots, then slowed to about five. Smoke from her giant red funnels drifted heavily toward the Brooklyn shore to deepen the haze curtain there and the angry sun blinked behind it in red frustration.

The triumphal formation moved onward over the waters like molten metal. The liner’s harsh voice broke and shattered with awesome volume. Cadet Midshipman Albert Hertenger figured later it spoke almost 400 times to answer 130 small craft salutes. And he kept the rough log, too:

7:22—Robbins Reef
7:29—Red Buoy
7:34 --No. 2 Whistle Buoy
7:30 --Statue of Liberty

Off the statue two fireboats waited, one well to port, one far to starboard. Their nozzles erupted with towering geysers that the sun turned into rainbows. They moved with the formation on the great liner’s flanks, maintaining the display.

Downtown Manhattan was a blurred silhouette. Haze-veiled skyscraper summits looked broken and jagged, as if they had been raked with super-artillery. The hidden sun was a flattened disk, with smoke drifting before it. The island seemed hidden in yellow-shot thunderheads.

But the liner moved on with her escort. Six helicopters played around her like doodle bugs; Staten Island and New Jersey ferries came out of their normal lanes to ride with the triumphal fleet and passengers in shirtsleeves and shirtwaists formed white girdles at their rails.

Midshipman Hertenger kept blasting and scribbling, alternately:

7:41—Ellis Island
7:45—the Battery
7:54—Pier 14

The city-owned tug Brooklyn clung desperately to the liner’s port side. On her aft deck the Sanitation Department Band with glittering brass at its lips tried in vain to send its serenades to the great ship’s high decks, but music was tattered and thin.

Before the United States pivoted on the oak-and-rubber pier-fender to work into her berth, deep-throated salutes reverberated over the river. The Queen Elizabeth, flag draped and bright in her dock four blocks to the north, called greeting. So did the Italian Line’s Vulcania, just to the south.

The United States answered in kind and the docking crews, contending with the strong ebbing tide, worked her carefully in. On the pier thousands cheered. The Fire Department Band, in front of massed American flags, burst into a lively march number.

At 9:12 a.m. the new speed queen was tied up. Her gangplanks came down. Mrs. Walter E. Edwards of Stamford, Conn., head of the Flag Foundation of America, gave the ship, through Commodore Manning, a bright new flag, and he thanked her. Midshipman Hertenger wrote a hasty finale in his log.

NEW SPEED DASHES FOR LINER BARRED

Engineer Says United States Can Top Own Records, but Will Loaf at 30 Knots

Confident that no other liner afloat today can approach the amazing speed of the superliner United States, John M. Franklin, preseident of the United States Lines, announced yesterday that the company would not attempt soon to better the ship’s two record-breaking performances.

The powerful engines and quadruple screws, which were revved up to better than 36 knots at times on the measured course to and from Bishop Rock and Ambrose Lightship, will be throttled down to speed of 30 knots or less, sufficient to maintain the liner’s published schedule of about five days to Southampton, Mr. Franklin said.

In an interview a half-hour after the liner docked yesterday, Mr. Franklin had high praise for Commodore Harry Manning, master of the vessel, and Chief Engineer William Kaiser and their staffs who made the record-breaking performance possible.

The interview was held in the spacious quarters of Commodore Manning, who, with William F. Gibbs, head of Gibbs & Cox, the ship’s designers, answered question on the United States’ performance, potential and design.

SHOULD WAKE AMERICANS UP

“In 100 years we have been able to do this just once,” said Commodore Manning in a comment on winning the speed laurels of the Atlantic. “It should wake our people up and make them realize what a ship like this means—particularly her qualities as a troop transport.”

Mr. Gibbs said that, while he was always referred to as the ship’s designer, actually thousands of people were responsible for creating the superliner.

Earlier, as the ship moved up the harbor to her pier, her performance was discussed by Chief Engineer Kaiser.

Mr. Kaiser asserted that if it were not for the fog Saturday and Sunday the ship’s westbound record would have exceeded that made on the eastward run. The ship made the eastward crossing in 3 days 10 hours 40 minutes and returned in 3 days 12 hours 12 minutes.

“I believe the new records will stand for good,” Mr. Kaiser said, “but I hope somebody breaks it.”   Refusing to be specific, he implied strongly that the superliner had plenty of power in reserve to better her own mark if necessary.

Mr. Kaiser praised the fine work of his engine room crew, which numbers 138 men, including forty officers. The crew’s work was the more outstanding, the engineer said, since the men first saw the engine room when the vessel was turned over to the line by the Government on June 20. Previously the ship had been operated on her trials by employees of the builder, the Newport News Ship Building and Dry Dock Company of Newport News, Va.

The men had to familiarize themselves with thousands of dials, valves and other equipment before the liner sailed for Europe on July 3.

“This ship has so much power she can almost dock herself,” Mr. Kaiser said as the liner was nudged into her berth. “She can turn on a dime. She’s got it.”