The SS United States, America’s Flagship, arrived in Mobile, Alabama today after an approximately 1,800-mile tow from her berth in Philadelphia. The iconic national symbol and last surviving American ocean liner will now undergo preparations for her deployment as the “World’s Largest Artificial Reef” off Florida’s Gulf Coast near Destin-Fort Walton Beach.
“Today, the nation’s sole surviving ocean liner will glide down the Delaware River to begin the next chapter in her uniquely American story. As the fastest ship to ever cross the Atlantic travels for the first time since arriving in Philadelphia in 1996, we are reminded of the postwar high-water mark that the SS United States so gracefully and powerfully embodied when she was launched in 1951.”
Following a federal judge's ruling, an iconic piece of history is looking for a new home. The SS United States is getting kicked out of its port in South Philadelphia after a rent dispute went to court. The group that controls the ship has less than three months to find a new spot. As NBC10's Brenna Weick shows us, they have a plan for her future if they can find one.
The hulking and historic SS United States, a thousand-foot-long ocean liner tied for 28 years to Pier 82 behind a South Philly Ikea, will need to find a new home by Sept. 12, a federal judge ruled this month. The ruling follows a yearslong court dispute over the vessel's berth after landlord Penn Warehousing first told the ship to leave the Port of Philadelphia in 2022.
If the ship can't find a new home, say its stewards, the nonprofit SS United States Conservancy, the historic ship will risk being lost forever…
An irreplaceable historic symbol could soon be homeless and face destruction. The SS United States, the only vessel to the bear the name of our nation, is in an intense race against time to remain safely afloat. The ship’s owner and caretaker, the national nonprofit SS United States Conservancy has launched an urgent effort to raise $500,000 to help cover the costs of the ship’s potential relocation and other critical expenses.
