Video: SS United States Completes First Move as Final Journey Begins
The famous ocean liner the ss United States started her final journey today moved from the Philadelphia dock where she had sat while preservations tried to find the vessel a future. Plans call for the liner to depart Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Monday, February 17, to be towed to Mobile, Alabama.
After numerous delays, tugs and crews handled the nearly 1,000-foot liner timed to the midday high tide on the Delaware River. After having been at Pier 82 since 1996, the lines were released and tugs diagonalized her across the slipway moving the stern first and then the bow. She was resecured to Pier 80 on the north side of the slipway where she will remain until Monday, February 17. Reports are that there is a final planning meeting on Saturday to prepare for the momentous tow.
Monday morning, tugboats will maneuver the ss United States out into the Delaware River channel and then proceed with the tow down river at low tide at approximately 11:18 a.m. (local time). The ship will pass under various roadway bridges, including the Walt Whitman Bridge (I-76), the Commodore Barry Bridge (U.S. 322), and the Delaware Memorial Bridge (I-295) along her route. The Delaware River Port Authority has said it will be coordinating bridge closures as she passes underneath, but because it is a federal holiday road traffic is expected to be lighter than a normal workday.
The SS United States Conservancy which continues to work with the liner’s new owners, Okaloosa County, Florida, is following the move. They plan to livestream the tow under the Walt Whitman Bridge on their Facebook page.
For the tow, she will be secure to a more powerful tug. According to the tow plan, it is the Vinik No. 6, a twin screw tug, rated at 5,700 horsepower. Okaloosa has said the tow plan will be adjusted utilizing real-time route planning, which will adjust the ship's course every six hours based on weather and currents. They plan to post a track of the ship's course online.
The tow is expected to require approximately 14 days. When she reaches Mobile, she will be docked at the Modern American Repair & Recycling Services facility where the remediation work will proceed. Lose paint, PCBs, and other contaminants need to be removed as well as the fuel in her tanks. All the windows and portholes are to be removed and her funnels and radar mast dismantled and handed to the Conservancy which will explore incorporating them into a visitor’s center and museum to be in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area. The plan says it will require a year to prepare the liner for her reefing.
In a farewell gesture to Philadelphia, a group of volunteers went aboard yesterday afternoon and positioned lights on the ship. At dark, her bridge front was illuminated in green in honor of the Philadelphia Eagles football team that last weekend won the Superbowl. The city was hosting a victory celebration for the team today.
A few loyal fans of the liner were at the fence line of the pier today to watch as she began her final trip. It comes 75 years after the keel was laid for the liner in the dry dock at Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. In 1952, at an average speed of 36 knots, the ss United States became the last liner to capture the speed record for an Atlantic crossing. She remained in commercial passenger service, and in later years also did a few pleasure cruises, before being retired in 1969. She passed through a succession of owners between 1980 and 2024, with plans to resume her service or to convert her to a static attraction.
After owning the ship since February 2011, the Conservancy relinquished ownership after becoming involved in a dispute with the operators of the pier. A court ordered the ship to vacate the pier. Unable to relocate the ship, the non-profit sold it to Okaloosa Country in October 2024 for $1 million as part of a $10 million plan to turn the famous ship into the world’s largest man-made reef.