The SS ''Constitution'' was an

ocean liner An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

owned by

American Export Lines American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines, New York, was the leading US-flag shipping company between the U.S. east coast and the Mediterranean from 1919 to 1977, offering both cargo ship and passenger ship services, until it declared bankruptcy and was ...

, sister ship of the SS ''Independence''. Both were constructed in the United States and made their maiden voyages in 1951.

History

Commissioned in 1951, she started her long career sailing on the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

route to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Following service on American Export's "Sunlane" cruise to Europe in the 1950s and 1960s the two ships sailed for American Hawaii Cruises and American Global Line for many years in the 1980s and 1990s; as U.S. ships with U.S. crews meeting the criteria of the Passenger Services Act they were able to cruise the Islands without sailing to a foreign port. SS ''Constitution'' was retired in 1995; while under tow to be scrapped, the liner sank north of the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

on November 17, 1997. The exact location of the wreck has yet to be discovered.

In popular culture

SS ''Constitution'' was featured in several episodes of the

situation comedy A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

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'' starring

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Golden ...

and

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986) was a Cuban-born American actor, bandleader, and film and television producer. He played Lucy and Ricky Ricardo, Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom ''I Lov ...

, starting with episode, "Bon Voyage," aired January 16, 1956. Lucy Ricardo missed the ship and had to be ferried by air by a then-novel

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

. American movie actress

Grace Kelly Grace Patricia Kelly (November 12, 1929 – September 14, 1982) was an American actress who, after starring in several significant films in the early to mid-1950s, became Princess of Monaco by marrying Prince Rainier III in April 1956. Kelly ...

sailed aboard SS ''Constitution'' from New York to Monaco for her wedding to Prince Rainier in 1956. SS ''Constitution'' was featured in the 1957 film, ''

An Affair to Remember ''An Affair to Remember'' is a 1957 American romance film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Filmed in CinemaScope, it was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is considered among the most romantic films of all ...

'' starring

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

and

Deborah Kerr Deborah Jane Trimmer CBE (30 September 192116 October 2007), known professionally as Deborah Kerr (), was a British actress. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress. During her international film career, Kerr won a G ...

. Former President Harry S. Truman and his wife Bess sailed back to New York from Europe on the ''Constitution'' in the summer of 1958. The ship was also featured in the beginning and end of an episode of the ''Naked City'' TV series titled "No Naked Ladies in Front of Giovanni's House!" aired April 17, 1963. The ship also featured prominently in the ''

Magnum, P.I. ''Magnum, P.I.'' is an American crime drama television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator (P.I.) living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from December 11, 1980 to May 8, 1988 during its first-run broadcast on ...

'' television series episode titled "All Thieves on Deck" aired January 30, 1986.

References

External links

History and photos of ''Constitution'' and ''Independence''
* ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inPAz7P-ctw First-hand travel experience near the end of Constitution's career {{DEFAULTSORT:Constitution Type P3 ships Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts 1950 ships Passenger ships of the United States Ocean liners Maritime incidents in 1997 Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean Cruise ships of the United States Ships of American Export-Isbrandtsen Lines