After many months of delays, the famous Oceanliner SS has United States Leave your berth in Philadelphia at noon on Wednesday, February 19. It is the first step on her last trip to become the world's largest artificial reef off the Florida coast, and spectators became aware of it.
The Oceandian liner, which has still become an integral part of the Delaware River to cross the fastest large passenger ship to cross the Atlantic. In 1998 she created an industrial part of Philadelphia. She returned from Turkey and Ukraine, where her interiors had been withdrawn to prepare for a possible new career as a cruise ship that had never progressed. In the past ten years, the non -profit SS United States Conservancy has tried to convert the ship, but in the end he was forced to sell the ship after losing a court campaign with his landlord who controlled the Philadelphia Pier.
Last week, the ship was moved north to the adjacent Pier via Rutschstrasse to begin the final preparations for the tow, which was later delayed by 48 hours due to weather concerns. Strong wind warnings delayed the departure one last time.
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This lunch day pulled tugs along the liner, pulled out of the slip and turned their south in the Delaware River. She held 80 while the Vinik tractor will bring her to Mobile, Alabama, who hangs on the anchor chain that hangs on the bow.
The trip to the river started on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m., two tugs on each side and another at the rear to run the ship. The first obstacle was Walt Whitman Bridge and she reached it shortly before low tide when the release under the bridge was greatest. Road traffic on the bridge was temporarily stopped so that it could happen under it, but pictures showed the road with vehicles from the roadway authority and the staff that the spectacle watched when the liner with its two massive funnel came downtriver and under the bridge. Reports were that she would have less than 10 feet under the street. When she arrived almost 30 years ago, a radar antenna and a small signal light mast for clearance were removed under the bridge.
Small groups loyal supporters of the liner and curious spectators gathered on points on the river both in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, which took frozen air temperatures to see the unique sight of the graceful liner. Although it was striped rust, color peeled and had a lack of elements like her lifeboats, she still had a majestic profile that differs far from the pictures of today's cruise ships.
According to reports, it will take 24 hours for the towing into the mouth of the Delaware and enters the Atlantic. The trip to Mobile, Alabama, is expected to take about two weeks, and the new owners, Floridas Okaloosa -Land, arranged the Livestream persecution online to follow her way.
As soon as it has reached mobile, the process for decontamination will continue to remove PCBs, asbestos and other harmful materials. Her fuel tanks must be emptied on what was left over from 1969 when it was last in operation. The funnel, the wheel arms and the windows must be removed before the fuselage is torn and the loose color and cover materials are removed.
For many, it seems to be a shameful end of one of the most famous oceanliners. She set the record with an average of more than 35 knots and marked to achieve speeds of 40 knots, it remains the fastest ocean liner that has ever been built. With a length of almost 1,000 feet, she was able to transfer the Panama Canal, and had added military considerations so that she could convert to a troop ship during war. Your designer insisted that there would be no wood in the passenger areas to fire them and only use light materials to reduce their weight to ensure their speed. She wore the former and future US president and many dignitaries, business people, military and government staff as well as regular travelers and even some immigrants during their career, who counted almost 800 Atlantic transitions and a handful of cruises.
The competition from the jet aircraft and the state costs that cost the liner did the liner to fail and in 1969 after only 17 years of commercial service, which made its owners, the US lines, the ship. A symbol of the nation, many of which expected the government would give in and it would return to service. Instead, the Maritime administration acquired it in 1973 and later sold it to a real estate developer.
A result of owners suggested reactivating the ship or later converting it into a static attraction. Okaloosa County acquired her for $ 1 million in October 2024 and expects up to 10 million US dollars to invest in the project to find the liner, which is expected to take place in 2026.