The historic SS United States ocean liner has secured its final resting place and will become the world’s largest artificial reef off the coast of Florida. On November 15th it is expected to leave the Philadelphia dock where it has rested for almost 30 years, and head down the Delaware River to start it’s journey.
The SS United States is the largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and has the record for the fastest ocean liner crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.
For years the SS United States Conservancy has been paying significant bills to keep the ship docked in Philadelphia as they looked for new uses for the ship… preferably a use that kept it floating on top of the water.
But with rising rent and mounting pressure from the owners of the Philadelphia pier where the ship has been quietly resting all these years and with limited other options, the Conservancy accepted a deal from the Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners to relocate the 1,000 foot ship to Florida where it will be sunk to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico… and become an artificial reef.
It was announced today that in a 2-day effort at the Philadelphia waterfront, on Thursday November 14th tugboats will first move the SS United States to the northern side of it’s slip (the slip is positioned in front of the Ikea store shopping center). It will then be secured at that area until the next morning.
On Friday November 15th the tugboats will start to move the ship into the Delaware River before sunrise, and make the move down the Delaware River.
The timing for the move is set to coincide with low tide around 7am so that the ship has enough clearance to move underneath the three bridges; Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry and Delaware Memorial.
It has been stated that as the ship passes under each of the bridges, traffic will be stopped during that time… which yes would likely be during the morning rush hour.
While I have not found any estimations of how long they expect each bridge to be closed, based on the movement of the Battleship New Jersey earlier this year I would expect those closures to be kept at a minimal amount of time.
Before the ship can be safely relocated to the Gulf of Mexico seabed it must go through some environmental cleanup activities as well as modifications.
Originally those plans included a stop at Norfolk VA to complete those efforts, but there was limited space and availability at that facility to complete the entire effort in that one stop.
Officials found an alternative location that may actually have worked out better for them… the new temporary address for the US United States will be in Mobile AL
According to information presented by Oskaloosa county, the effort to prepare the ship in Alabama will be significantly less expensive and the project contractor will be able to work on the ship at the site for the entire duration of the project.
It is expected that the 2,000 mile trip to Mobile will take about two weeks to complete as it will of course have to travel around the entire Florida State peninsula.
Florida officials have created a website to keep the public informed of the new artificial reef effort, and will be presenting a tracker map of the ship’s movements during it’s two week trip.
While in Mobile, officials estimated the preparation effort will take about one year.
The exact location in the Gulf of Mexico for the final resting place has not been set but the ship will likely be deployed about 20 miles South of the Florida Panhandle region (Destin).
With Okaloosa County only about 100 miles from mobile AL the final trip next year should be a quick one.
SS United States
The SS United States was christened in 1952 and for 17 years was a luxury transatlantic ocean liner for top celebrities, political leaders and royal families.
As mentioned she is the largest ocean liner built entirely in United States and also the fastest ocean liner in the world to cross the Atlantic in either direction! Consider that this was a steam powered ship!
It was also designed so that in case of war it could be quickly converted into a troop transport, carrying 14,000 troops 10,000 miles without refueling!
While the SS United States was in operation for 17 years it really was only five years after its first launch that it started feeling the impacts of the growing commercial airline industry. In 1957, for the first time airplanes carried more passengers across the Atlantic than Ocean Liners.
With the collapse of the owner United States Lines in the late 1960s, the ship was removed from service in 1969.
While the ship had its last use in 1969, 15 years later in 1984 it still had the original fittings and furniture in place.. which at that time were then auctioned off to pay creditors!
Today the interior has been basically stripped out of all its inside components which in some ways was a positive if anyone were to of stepped up with ideas and funding to convert it into some other commercial use.
Surprisingly in the 90s the ship made its way to Turkey and the Ukraine before being brought back to Philadelphia in 1996.