SS United States, the largest and fastest transatlantic passenger liner ever built in America, was towed this morning from the dock in Philadelphia where it has been moored for nearly three decades, on the first leg of its final voyage. The historic ocean liner’s next stop is Mobile, Alabama, where it will be prepared for a new role, to become the world’s largest artificial reef, off the coast of Destin-Fort Walton Beach in the Gulf of Mexico.
“Today, the nation’s sole surviving ocean liner will glide down the Delaware River to begin the next chapter in her uniquely American story,” said Susan Gibbs, president of the SS United States Conservancy and granddaughter of the ship’s designer, William Francis Gibbs, in statement just before ship left.
In the fall of 2024, Okaloosa County bought the ship to sink her to create an artificial reef off the Florida Panhandle. Since then, the ship’s departure has been delayed by bad weather, lawsuits over dockage fees, and the Coast Guard concerns over the ship’s structural integrity.
On her maiden voyage in 1952, the United States set speed records crossing the Atlantic in both directions, earning the coveted Blue Riband.
Nevertheless, her days in liner service were numbered from the start. Only five years after entering service, Boeing introduced the Model 707, the first widely adopted long-range commercial jetliner. The 707 ushered in the Jet Age and marked the end of the golden age of ocean liners.
United States completed 800 Atlantic crossings before she was laid up in 1969. The ship was sold several times in the intervening years, with each new owner trying unsuccessfully to make the liner profitable. Eventually, the ship’s fittings were sold at auction, and hazardous wastes, including asbestos panels throughout the ship, were removed, leaving her almost completely stripped by 1994. Two years later, she was towed to Pier 82 on the Delaware River, in Philadelphia, where she remained until this week.