SS UNITED STATES
THAT SHIP HAS SAILED
The SS United States – which ended up a 990-foot-long rotting pile of rust that sat for decades in the Delaware River and was moored just a few hundred yards from John’s Roast Pork – had been the largest ocean liner in US history, and the fastest ocean liner ever built anywhere.
Had it stood vertically, it would have been the tallest building in Philadelphia - or, at least, until Comcast's Technology Center was completed.
Inspired by Britain’s HMS Queen Mary and HMS Queen Elizabeth and completed in 1952, the SS United States was a state-of-the-art, 12-deck, fireproof luxury liner capable of transporting all of its 1,972 passengers (and its 1,011 crewmembers) across the Atlantic Ocean in less than three and a half days. It even had its own theme song!
But in addition to luxury cruises, the SS United States – which was funded in part by the Federal Government – served a potential military purpose. It could, if necessary, have been converted in a single day to a 14,000-troop transport ship.
Despite a practically flawless 17-year performance on the high seas, the SS United States and its fellow trans-Atlantic superliners were done in with the advent of trans-Atlantic jumbo jets that made the ship's 3-day Atlantic Ocean crossing a laughable relic from the past. It sailed for the last time in 1969.
After two failed attempts to restore the ocean liner to its former glory, the SS United States was towed to South Philly in 1996 and remained there for nearly 30 years, fitting in perfectly with the semi-wasteland that is Columbus Boulevard (Delaware Avenue). Two separate non-profit organizations, the SS United States Foundation and the SS United States Conservancy, tried one last time without success to raise enough money to revitalize America's erstwhile ocean-going marvel.
Okaloosa County, located in Florida's panhandle, purchased the SS United States for $1 million in late 2024, with plans to sink it offshore in the Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America?), where it will become a coral reef. The mighty ship, pulled by tugboats, departed Philly in February 2025. The SS United States Conservancy hopes to build a land-based museum on the Gulf coast, chock full of memorabilia and salvaged artifacts great and small.
But wait, folks - it ain't over yet. For now, our rusty old friend is moored in Mobile, AL, awaiting a very costly environmental remediation process before anyone can sink it. And legal battles are underway to prevent the sinking altogether.
For all we know, Philly's former 990-foot rotting pile of rust will become Mobile's 990-foot rotting pile of rust for years to come.
