The SS United States will remain in Philly for a little while longer, after the ship’s new future home, Okaloosa County in Florida, announced that Friday’s planned departure from Pier 80 to Mobile, Ala, has been delayed.
“The Big U’s” short hop, towed by tug boats, from Pier 82 to Pier 80 on Thursday is still on schedule.
Okaloosa County said in a press release that it is “monitoring a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico that could impede safe delivery of the vessel to its destination.”
A new date has not been set yet.
The former ocean liner, the fastest-ever to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction, has been docked in Philadelphia as a ghost ship since 1996, but hasn’t paid its rent in years and was told to leave in 2022. Its new home will be at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, as an artificial reef, likely “20 miles south of the Florida Panhandle region in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area,” Okaloosa County says.
The SS United States Conservancy, the nonprofit that has been taking care of the ship, received $1 million from Okaloosa County for the vessel. That money, plus funds raised while trying to relocate the ship after it was ordered to move, will be put towards a land-based museum in Florida.
For Warren Jones, a conservancy board member and CEO of Keppler Speakers, this second life as a space for divers and marine wildlife was a far better outcome than having the ship scrapped or left to deteriorate somewhere else. He added that Okaloosa County has maintained a good relationship with the conservancy throughout the process.
“They understand the passion of support of the SS United States. They understand that, they recognize the historical value, they have their own economic benefits in mind here, and we totally understand that,” he said. “Short of having her funnels removed, her stacks removed, the ship will be intact. And there’s a bit of a comforting factor to that, to know that she’s being returned to the sea, if you will, from where she was built.”
Once a passenger
Jones was a passenger on the ship when he was a child, traveling with his family from New York to Le Havre, France, in September 1961 and back to the U.S. a year later.
“It is amazing, to this day, how vivid the memories are, because I was 8 years old at the time and I thought, ‘You know, I’d never experienced anything like that in my 8 short years.” And never anything since.” he said of his first trip.
The conservancy has planned a lunch cruise from Philly on Thursday that will help see the ship off on its trip from Pier 82 to Pier 80. Tickets are still available.
Jones, who will be at the cruise and also gave regular tours of the ship, expects his last opportunity to see it fully intact to be “mind blowing.”
“I’m used to the ship being where she’s been for all these years, just tied up there to Pier 82,” he said. “And to see her out, floating in the Delaware in all her glory, and going under the Walt Whitman Bridge, that’s gonna be an unforgettable sight.”
When the ship does make its final voyage along the Delaware River, plans are to get the ship out into the Delaware River ahead of low tide, so it can pass under the Walt Whitman, Commodore Barry and Delaware Memorial bridges. Friday’s plan was to get the vessel out pre-dawn, but the timing for the rescheduled day will likely depend on when low tide is.
Both Pier 80 and 82 are secure TSA areas, so the general public can’t access them.The conservancy recommends the following spots to view the ship’s journey.
- To get a good view of both piers from Philly, head to the IKEA parking lot at 2206 S. Columbus Blvd, and from the second-floor cafe of the store, which opens at 11:00 a.m.
- From Camden, the waterfront public parks, includingPhoenix Park at 227 Jefferson St.
- As the ship moves down the Delaware River south of the Walt Whitman Bridge, including:
- Fort Mifflin (6400 Hog Island Rd., Philadelphia, PA 19153)
- Red Bank Battlefield (100 Hessian Ave., National Park, N.J. 08063)
- Fort Nassau (110 New Jersey Rd., Brooklawn, NJ. 08030)
- Freedom Pier (101 S King St., Gloucester City, N.J. 08030)
- The RiverWinds Complex (1000 RiverWinds Drive, West Deptford, N.J. 08086)
On its roughly two-week journey to Mobile, the ship will remain relatively close to the shore, to avoid ocean currents that could delay the journey and burn excessive fuel, so more viewing points and opportunities will come up (including this Cape May whale-watching tour business).
The ship has been outfitted with a GPS device, so its journey can be followed here.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
