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 is getting towed down the East Coast on its way to the Florida panhandle, where it will be sunk and turned into an artificial reef. The ocean liner was once a technological marvel and still holds the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing for a vessel of its size.

The long-retired SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever to cross the Atlantic, left the Delaware Bay on Thursday for its final voyage, after having been anchored to a Philadelphia dock for more than three decades.