SS Independence

<a href="Oceanic1a.jpg"><img border="0" src="tn_oceanic1_jpg.jpg"></a>   

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SS Independence, now registered as SS Oceanic, is an ocean liner built in 1950 for the American Export Lines. She is currently laid up in Hunters Point Naval Ship Yard and owned by Norwegian Cruise Line. Her colorful flowered funnels are just visible to drivers entering San Francisco via Interstate 280, just before the Mariposa exit.

SS Oceanic is the last US built ocean liner to sail under the American flag. She is a sister ship to SS Constitution, which sank while under tow to be scrapped in 1997.

Following the 2001 bankruptcy of American Global Line, the owners of the American Hawaii Line, SS Independence became the property of the US Maritime Administration and sailed from Honolulu to San Francisco, arriving on November 8, 2001.

In February 2003, Independence was sold at auction for US$4 million to Norwegian Cruise Line, which also acquired SS United States. At this time, NCL received permission to create US flagged cruise operation, to be named NCL America. (US flagging is a valuable competitive advantage, as the Jones Act prohibits non-US lines from transporting passengers from one US port to another without stopping at a foreign port, and in particular it permits 7-day Hawaii cruises. As US flagging requires US-built ships, no other major cruise operation is US-flagged.)

Mid 2006, Independence was renamed Oceanic, amid speculation she may be scrapped. In July 2007, Norwegian Cruise Line announced that the Oceanic had been sold with later reports claiming the ship had been purchased by an American company.

External links

• History and photos of Constitution and Independence