On Feb. 19, the SS United States, the nation’s last ocean liner, departed her berth of nearly 30 years in Philadelphia for Mobile, Alabama, arriving Mar. 3. There, she’ll be cleaned up in order to be sunk, becoming the world’s largest artificial reef, beating out the World War II aircraft carrier Orikansky, which was reefed back in 2006.
“It’s a real shame, honestly,” said Richard Doran, an ocean liner enthusiast from Belfast, Ireland. “Particularly since [the U.S.] preserved, though preserved is a loose term, the Queen Mary, which was a British ship, but didn’t even preserve their own ocean liner.”
Launched in 1951, the vessel was a collaboration between ship designer William Francis Gibbs and the U.S. Navy. Parts of these requirements included a high average cruising speed (which she met at an average of 33 knots) and being wholly fireproof, amongst other concerns. This latter requirement caused the only wooden fitting aboard the ship to be limited to a Steinway piano. The vessel still holds the Blue Riband, an award for the fastest transatlantic crossing, for a three-and-a-half day trip during which she maintained an average speed of 34.51 knots (just under 40 miles an hour). During her sea trials years earlier, she proved capable of an even higher speed of up to 38 knots (roughly 44 miles per hour).
Her cruising capabilities were part of the requirements set out early in her development, as she was in part designed as a troopship. However, she was never called upon to serve in that capacity, instead serving from her launch all the way until 1969 as a civil ocean liner.
After that point, the ship began the process of transferring between several different owners, all with different plans on what to do with the retired ship.
The first truly solidified attempt at a restoration was led by Fred Mayer, who went as far as having the ship taken to port in Turkey and Ukraine to strip the vessel of hazardous materials. The ship was then brought back to port in Philadelphia. From there, it was sold again to Edward Cantor, a real estate magnate who hoped to see her sail again. He passed in 2002, which snuffed any further efforts.
In 2003, Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL) purchased the vessel for restoration into a modern cruise liner. NCL also purchased the former American Export Line steamer Independence. Both ships were part of what was called “Project America,” which was intended to revitalize the cruise ship industry within the U.S. However, in the years following, the arrival of the 2008 financial crisis made it unviable to continue with the project.
“While it would have been a beautiful ship if modernized, the SS United States [had] simply been laid up for too long and the entire structural integrity is far too degraded to actually fix-it would be the equivalent of the ship of Theseus,” said Paisley Saunders, a fan of the ship from Alberta. “It’s easier to build another liner and make sure it doesn’t suffer the same fate as the SS United States by keeping it renovated intermittently and finding a strong market for it.”
By 2009, NCL began hunting for interested buyers, likely to be shipbreakers. Subsequently, local Philadelphians formed the SS United States Conservancy (SSUSC) and campaigned to raise funds for her purchase in an effort to avoid the scraper’s torch. NCL refused a higher bid from scrappers in order to permit the ship’s purchase by the Conservancy in 2010. She remained in SSUSC possession until her eventual sale to Okaloosa County, following a few other failed efforts to repurpose the liner.
The sale was largely motivated by an increase in price for her berthing in Philadelphia during the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside a federal ruling for an eviction. With no other major interests attempting to purchase her, reefing was considered a better fate for the liner than being outright scrapped. “I thought Americans were better than us at preserving historic artifacts,” Dornan said. “We have HMS Belfast and that’s about it.”
The “Big U” was tugged south at a not-so-eye-watering speed of six knots. Along the east coast of the U.S., curious people documented the “ghost ship” making its final voyage. Here’s wishing fair seas and steady winds to America’s last liner as she prepares for her watery finale.
