The SS United States’ long, complicated tenure docked in South Philadelphia ended Wednesday when tugboats guided it down the Delaware River.
At 11:45 a.m., tugs began to move the fastest-ever passenger liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean into the middle of the waterway.
At 12:45 p.m., it skirted underneath the bridge, guided by six tugs — one pulling from the front, two on each side and a single “trailer” behind it — as well as a small flotilla of support boats.
It was quite a sight.
“You’re looking at her now, going down the river, it looks like she’s under her own power,” said Warren Jones, a board member of the SS United States Conservancy and a former passenger of the ship. “And you know, she’s not, but she’s cutting through the water just so cleanly as she always did.”
Jones was a part of the crowd of hundreds that lined the banks of the river along Freedom Pier, in Gloucester, N.J., which was the best spot to view the ship go under the Walt Whitman Bridge.
By 3:15 p.m., it was near Chester. At 9:30 p.m., it had reached the Delaware Bay.
Over the next two weeks, the ship will head to Mobile, Ala. After a couple months of cleaning and stripping the ship of environmental hazards, it will then travel on to its final destination, in the Gulf Coast near Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Fla., where it will be sunk and become the world’s largest artificial reef.
”Our dive community is really excited,” said Jennifer Adams, the tourism director for Okaloosa County, Fla., which purchased the ship. “We’re just a small fishing village. So to have her, you’ll be able to fish on her, spearfish, explore. And so they’re really, you know, rallying to that.”
The ship, known alternately as “America’s Flagship” and “the Big U,” has been on Philly’s waterfront since 1996, and was originally slated to depart in November. That trip was postponed indefinitely due to poor conditions. The move was rescheduled for Feb. 6, then pushed back three more times, until last Friday when it was successfully moved from Pier 82 to Pier 80.
Cruise memories
Jones, the board member, spoke to Billy Penn about the trip family took aboard the ship, from New York to Le Havre, France, in September 1961 and back to the U.S. a year later. Jones was 8 at the time.
“We took our dog with us,” Jones said of the westward journey. “The dog went in first class, because they only had kennels in first class. We had to get permission to go see the dog from first class.”
The ship broke the transatlantic speed record in both directions in July 1952, travelling at speeds of more than 38 knots — almost 44 mph! — according to the conservancy’s website. Jones remembered finding out firsthand just how that speed felt when he travelled aboard.
“I remember one time I stepped out and somebody yelled at me — it wasn’t a crew member, it was a passenger — he said, ‘Don’t go out there, the wind is too strong,’ ” Jones recalled. “And he was right. I was hanging onto the railing and he kind of got me back in the ship.”
Today, though, Jones guessed the top speed was closer to six knots.
“A little slower, she’s not breaking any records today,” he joked.
The conservancy 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 and visitors center in Florida. The artifacts the conservancy has kept in storage will be put on show there, along with the ship’s funnels, radar mast and other parts that will be removed before it is sunk.
“We’re really excited about the museum, to work with the conservancy,” said Okaloosa County’s Adams. “They have kept a lot of the memorabilia. So, we’ll take their lead on that. Our teams will be trained to be sure that we are keeping that history message going.”
The ships’ admirers have been divided about its underwater fate, Jones said, with some still hoping that an 11th hour intervention can keep it from being sunk.
“The SS United States Conservancy has done such an amazing job with taking care of the ship, preserving its history,” said Rob Rupp, who travelled from Trenton to see the final voyage. “It’s truly a shame that it couldn’t work out with the ship becoming a museum, but I personally think that reefing is more preferable than the scrap yard.”
“There’s more than a little bit [of sorrow],” Susan Gibbs, conservancy president and granddaughter of the ship’s lead designer, William Francis Gibbs, said back in November. “It’s a big move, but I do get the sense that she’s ready to make a move. I mean she’s been here in Philadelphia since 1996 and that’s a long time for a fast-moving ship just to stay put. So I think she’s ready and I think we’re getting ready to let her go.”
The ship will be equipped with a GPS tracker allowing the public to follow the journey in real time.
