The final voyage of a magnificent steam ship

As the SS United States arrives in Mobile, Ala., a dimming hope it can be saved

It was a bittersweet sight last week as a maritime masterpiece passed off the coast of Palm Beach County.

The SS United States, a 1950s ocean liner that garnered superlatives for speed, size and design, was under a slow tow to its last chapter above water.

The ship once known as America’s Flagship left its berth at a Philadelphia pier Feb. 19 and was towed to the Atlantic, where it headed south around Florida’s Keys and then north to Mobile Bay.

Plans are for it to be sunk off Destin, Fla., to become the world’s largest underwater reef after a stop in Mobile, Ala., to remove any remaining hazardous materials.

The ship arrived Monday in Mobile.

While Philadelphians are familiar with the ship that sat dormant for nearly 30 years, many who were watching it pass by were unaware of its notoriety.

America’s largest ocean liner

A group based in North Palm Beach wants to change that and keep the “First Lady of the Seas” above water as a national monument, or at least, a multipurpose attraction.

“This is the famous ship that didn’t sink,” said Carlos Camacho Jr., the communications director for the S.S. United States Preservation Foundation. Like the ill-fated Titanic, the United States was considered a marvel of ingenuity at its time. “It’s a testament to American shipbuilding and engineering.”

The ship is a 990-foot luxury ocean liner and the largest vessel built in America as the world was recovering from World War II.

With commercial air travel still in its infancy, ocean liners commanded the passenger routes internationally.

The ship was designed for the United States Lines by naval architect William Francis Gibbs, who set out to deliver the world’s fastest ship.

It was paid for by the U.S. Lines, along with the U.S. government and the Navy, which wanted a vessel to move troops quickly in wartime. The SS United States could be stripped of furnishings and hold more than 14,000 troops. The ship would be in reserve for that purpose.

Much of the build-out was done at a dry dock in Newport News, Va., to keep it a secret. Gibbs wanted to protect his design, meant to be the safest, fastest and most innovative liner of its time.

Built for speed

Featuring 2,200 tons of aluminum in the superstructure, along with dual, separated engine rooms to afford a “spare” in an emergency and provide extra horsepower, every element of the ship’s design was aimed at breaking speed records.

It was also touted as one of the safest on the seas, with fireproof fixtures. Gibbs, terrified of the ship fires he witnessed while working on it, insisted no wood was allowed on board for any surface or furnishings, except for a piano and a butcher’s block in the galley.

Fabrics on furniture, wall and table coverings and curtains were made using fireproof materials.

More than the number of lifeboats required were attached to davits, so that if the ship were to list in an emergency, enough lifeboats would be available to evacuate everyone aboard.

The ship was launched to much fanfare on July 3, 1952. It broke speed records crossing the Atlantic to Southampton, England, winning the Blue Riband, an honor given to passenger ships that follow a regular route.

Its time of three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes had beaten the RMS Queen Mary’s record by nearly 10 hours.

The ship attracted celebrities such as Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe and Buster Keaton. Four presidents would sail on her as well.

One of its most famous passengers wasn’t a person, but the Mona Lisa, which was returned to France aboard the “fireproof” ship after its showing at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1963.

The ship ran its route from New York to Southampton and Le Havre, France, for 400 voyages without incident.

Icon falls on hard times

The ship became an icon and symbol for her namesake country. But after a decline in passengers when air traffic overtook transatlantic voyages, it sat idle at a dock since 1969.

Several owners have tried and failed to bring it back to life, either as a cruise ship or a dockside attraction, a museum or event space. Refurbishment cost was the sticking point in each plan.

In 1984 her furnishings were sold at auction. And a decade later, the interior was stripped to the bulkheads.

The latest owner was the SS United States Conservancy, which sold the ship to Okaloosa County in Florida for $1 million in 2024 after failing to raise rent money for dockage. The Florida county’s commissioners allotted more than $10 million more for transport, cleaning and sinking the ship, as well as putting up a museum on land to highlight the ship’s history.

The ship was evicted from Penn Warehouse docks in a court order in 2024. After several false starts to move it, it has finally made its way to Mobile Bay.

But it deserves a better ending than the bottom of the ocean, said Steve Perry, a ship engineer and vice president of the preservation foundation. “Sinking her is an insult,” he said.

The preservation group, formed by military veterans, merchant marines and historic preservationists in 2024, is working daily to get the attention of politicians as well as the president to declare the ship a historic monument and offer it a berth as a museum and “living” piece of history.

“We want to make sure she’s preserved,” Camacho said. “So much of our history is being lost. It’s a shame what we’re doing.

“We’ve been on the ship, and it’s so beautiful. It’s a very intricate ship, and significant to our history.”

Challenges ahead

Sinking it is going to be harder than the Okaloosa County Commission thinks, Perry said.

“I think they think they got a garage sale deal,” he said. The commission was looking for a big ship to sink as an artificial reef for tourism purposes. Word got out that the SS United States was available and they made an offer on it and now own it.

But Perry worked aboard the ship for months with the previous owners to mitigate its environmental impact, advising about cleaning and stripping out toxic materials, with an eye to keeping it afloat.

On the Okaloosa County government website, an FAQ argues that it would cost massively more to restore the vessel. And that the best solution is to sink it.

It has potential problems for underwater use, he said.

First is all the aluminum. “Once it comes in contact with seawater, it corrodes, creating compounds that could be harmful when leached into the ocean.”

Then there are the oil tanks — 100 of them that have sat and need to be completely cleaned out. That could be another disaster, he said. 

“And there’s still traces of asbestos on it,” he said.

Panhandle leaders aren’t really up for the task, he said. “They’re not ship people or engineers. All they have dealt with are small boats.”

The last voyage has rekindled interest in the ship and its preservation.

The preservationists don’t want Okaloosa to lose out on a ship, however, and would like to see any of the Navy’s ships, particularly the SL 7s — fast sealift ships — that are being decommissioned, sunk in its place.

They’re safer underwater, too, because of simple layouts. The SS United States is a maze of potentially deadly enclosed passageways for divers to get caught in. Even if the ship is closed off in certain areas, it’s a natural instinct to want to get inside and look it over, Perry said.

“Okaloosa could still have their reef and tourism,” he said. “They could come out winners.”

As for what the preservation foundation would do with the ship, Perry said he’s identified places it could be docked to provide a land-based attraction, including one in downtown Miami near the sports arena.

It’s all about preserving a very large piece of maritime history, he said.

“She’s more than a ship. It’s a one-of-a-kind engineering masterpiece.”