A storied ocean liner that offered passengers regal elegance while setting trans-Atlantic speed records for decades began its final journey this week at a much more measured pace.
The SS United States, the largest ocean liner ever built in the U.S., was nudged from a pier in Philadelphia where it had been rusting away for decades. Tugboats pulled at the 990-foot-long ship as it embarked on a 14-day voyage to Mobile, Alabama, where workers will remove any remaining hazardous materials.
After that, the SS United States, which ferried presidents and movie stars across the Atlantic for nearly 20 years, will be sunk off the Florida Panhandle coast to become what its new owners say will be the world’s largest artificial reef.
Nicknamed the “Big U,” the SS United States was designed to be a luxury ocean liner that could quickly transform into a wartime troop carrier. On its maiden voyage in 1952, it broke a record by crossing from the Ambrose lightship at New York Harbor to Bishop Rock, off the British coast in Cornwall, in three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes, speeding past the mark set by the RMS Queen Mary.
Four sitting and future presidents — Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and a young Bill Clinton, at the time a recent Georgetown graduate on his way to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar — sailed on the SS United States.
“Thanks to her reduced weight and powerful engines, the SS United States could go almost as fast in reverse as the Titanic could go forward,” according to a fact sheet prepared by the SS United States Conservancy. The SS United States was 100 feet longer than the doomed British liner and was designed to pass through the Panama Canal with just 2 feet of clearance on either side.
The ship left active service in 1969, unable to compete with the speed and economy of trans-Atlantic flight. Since 1996, the liner has been docked on the Delaware River in Philadelphia.
The conservancy, a nonprofit that purchased the ship in 2011, initially hoped to develop it as a mixed-use destination, including a hotel, restaurants and event spaces. Legal problems with the pier owner and a court-ordered timetable forced the group’s officials to quickly find another solution.
Susan Gibbs, the president of the SS United States Conservancy, is the granddaughter of William Francis Gibbs, the naval architect who designed the ship.
The SS United States “will forever symbolize our nation’s strength, innovation and resilience,” Ms. Gibbs said. “During this period of intense political polarization, ‘America’s Flagship,’ built through a public-private partnership as a luxury liner and a top-secret, high-speed, troop transport to protect our national interests overseas, illustrates the power and the promise of coalescing around a common cause.”
Florida’s Okaloosa County bought the ship this fall after officials approved a $10 million plan to sink it about 20 miles off the coast of Destin-Fort Walton Beach. A land-based museum will be built to tell the story of the legendary ocean liner.
Okaloosa County Board Chairman Paul Mixon said the SS United States will spend its remaining years providing a habitat for marine life and drawing tourists to the area.
“Our artificial reef system has shown impressive growth through the years, and this accomplishment confirms our commitment to remain good stewards of the environment while also enhancing our community’s status as a premier diving and fishing destination,” Mr. Mixon said.
The repair and recovery effort is expected to take at least a year. Florida officials said the spot where they plan to sink the SS United States has not been determined.
“Due to the size and depth, she will be home to a wide variety of marine life from iconic reef fish such as red snapper to pelagic [open sea] species of fish like wahoo,” Okaloosa County officials said. “This new artificial reef will provide bountiful fishing and diving opportunities for the local, visiting and charter industries.”
Transforming the ocean liner into an artificial reef could have a substantial economic impact on the community. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said every dollar spent creating an artificial reef will return $138 over its lifetime.
“This includes job creation in the construction and maintenance of reefs and increased economic activity in related sectors such as retail,” Okaloosa County officials said.
Ms. Gibbs said she was looking forward to the opening of the land-based museum that will celebrate the history of the vessel her grandfather designed.
“This new interactive museum and visitors center will boast a dazzling architectural design incorporating the SS United States’ most iconic elements, including her funnels, radar mast and propeller,” she said. “[It will] transport visitors back to the golden age of trans-Atlantic travel.”
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.