Frustrations as Departure of Famed Ocean Liner SS United States Delayed

Excitement over the impending departure of the famed ocean liner ss United States was building last week before a further delay appeared prolonging her stay in Philadelphia. The new owners of the liner, Florida’s Okaloosa County, have been trying for months to start the final voyage of the now 75-year-old liner as she heads toward a new chapter as the largest artificial reef.

On Wednesday, February 5, Okaloosa County announced that after months of delay, it had finally received all the necessary approvals for a large ship dead tow as defined by the U.S. Coast Guard. At high tide around 0600 on Thursday, February 6, the plan was to yank the 53,000 gross ton liner from Pier 82 where she has been docked since July 1986 after the vessel returned from having been stripped of her interior fittings in Turkey and Ukraine. 

The ss United States despite having been out of service since 1969 remains fabled in the annals of shipping history. Design by American’s renowned naval architect William Francis Gibbs, she entered service in 1952. On her maiden voyage, she shattered the Atlantic speed record for a passenger liner with an average speed of over 35 knots and 72 years later remains the fastest passenger liner to have ever crossed the Atlantic. The …