"New York Harbor pulled out all the stops yesterday in greeting the new ocean queen, the superliner United States," The Times reported in June 1952. As the United States neared her home port at Pier 86 on West 46th Street in Manhattan, the harbor staged "one of the most exciting demonstrations in its long history," which began early in the morning and lasted six hours.
"Hung-over guests on the liner who had looked too long and too often into their cups on the swift voyage home were startled at 7:30 a.m. when the ship let go with its whistles. The tremendous blatting sound made passengers' ears vibrate. It echoed and rolled on the lonely waters," The Times reported. By sea, the ship was escorted by tugs and launches, dredges, fishing craft, police boats, fireboats, sightseeing craft, Coast Guard picket boats and even bay-crossing ferries. Overhead, it was joined by helicopters and small planes.
"They swarmed around the great liner as the Lilliputians swarmed around Gullivers," our article explained. In Manhattan, crowds lined the shores, and many more saluted the ship from skyscrapers and rooftops. Our staff photographer George Alexanderson took this photo of fireboats spraying streams of water as the super liner sailed up the Hudson River. It appeared on the front page of The Times the following day.
