The SS United States is the largest passenger ship ever built in America. It broke the trans-Atlantic speed record on its maiden voyage in 1952, reaching an average speed of over 41 miles per hour. Now the aging vessel is making a career change.
Tugboats led it out of Philadelphia’s Delaware River waterfront in Pennsylvania on February 19. Where is it heading? The bottom of the sea.
Officials in Florida’s coastal Panhandle hope it will serve as a barnacle-covered reef. The ship built to transport 14,000 troops in wartime will soon host creatures like urchins and crabs. Locals anticipate the vessel will generate millions of dollars each year in tourism. Scuba shops, charter fishing boats, and hotels could all benefit.
The 990-foot ship is making a 14-day voyage to Mobile, Alabama. Workers there will remove hazardous materials. That includes tanks still filled with fuel. The entire process of cleaning, moving, and sinking the vessel is expected to take at least a year and a half.
Many fans of the ship, including former passengers, had hoped it could be restored and opened to visitors. It became a reserve ship in 1969. It later bounced to various private owners. But plans to revive it were too expensive or poorly timed. The vessel rusted for decades in Pennsylvania.
The S.S. United States Conservancy is a nonprofit that bought the ship in 2011. A long legal dispute over rent ensued between the conservancy and the ship’s landlord. A federal court ordered the vessel evicted from a Philadelphia pier last summer.
Warren Jones is a member of the conservancy board and a former passenger. The board reached out to every major port on the East Coast. It even contacted some on the West and Gulf coasts. Every spot turned out to be too small, too shallow, or too hard for the massive liner to reach.
The New York Times reports the ship will be sunk in about 180 feet of water off the Gulf Coast. The highest part of the ship will be about 60 feet below the surface. Okaloosa County, Florida, is planning a museum. It will showcase the SS United States’ history and will include some preserved ship parts. At least one of its funnels will be on display.
United States was built in the early 1950s. It is more than 100 feet longer than the RMS Titanic. It crossed the Atlantic eastbound on its first voyage in three days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes. That bested the RMS Queen Mary’s time by 10 hours. United States powered across the Atlantic 800 times total. But travelers began to opt for the speed of planes over ships.
Susan Gibbs is the president of the SS United States Conservancy. She is also the granddaughter of the naval architect who designed the vessel. “The ship will forever symbolize our nation’s strength, innovation, and resilience,” she says. “We wish her ‘fair winds and following seas’ on her historic journey to her new home.”
