Karen Hess’ father, Nick Landiak, was a kind of SS United States royalty. Landiak joined the United States’ crew in January 1952 before her record-breaking maiden voyage, and sailed aboard the ship as First Engineer and relieving Executive Chief Engineer until she was withdrawn from service in 1969.
Prior to COVID, Jens-Erwin Siemssen, artistic director at Das Letzte Kleinod, had prepared a theatrical production to be shown in Bremerhaven as a tribute to the old terminal that was scheduled to be torn down and refurbished. As part of his research, Siemssen visited the ship at her pier in Philadelphia, and conducted interviews with Conservancy President Susan Gibbs, former crew member and Conservancy Board Member Joe Rota, and former crew member and Conservancy Hampton Roads co-chair Joe Muchulsky about the ship’s history, and the unique stories that make America’s Flagship special. While the program awaits its premiere, now scheduled for Autumn 2021, Siemssen provided his reflections on the ship and the interviews he conducted in a story special to to Nordsee-Zeitung.
