Rains and heavy winds expected on Sunday have lead AAA to warn drivers to take things slowly on the roadways as conditions could change quickly. The weather has also delayed the planned move of the SS United States. NBC10’s Neil Fischer has details.
The departure of the historic SS United States from Philadelphia was delayed yet again, officials confirmed.
On Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, an Okaloosa County spokesperson announced that the storied liner’s departure from Philly was pushed to Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025.
The departure had been pushed from this past weekend to Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, due to powerful winds that swept through the region. The spokesperson said the Feb. 18 date was rescheduled to Feb. 19 also because of the high wind conditions.
“After careful consideration and out of an abundance of caution, the departure of the SS United States from Philadelphia has been rescheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025 due to persisting high wind conditions. She will begin moving south down the Delaware River at low tide at 12:51 p.m. Tug boats will begin to position her off of pier 80 two to three hours before low tide,” the spokesperson wrote. “Once she departs, you can track her progress to Mobile, Alabama at https://www.destinfwb.com/explore/eco-tourism/ssus/.”
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It’s the latest of multiple delays for the ship’s departure.
SS United States
Christened in 1952, the SS United States was once considered a beacon of American engineering, doubling as a military vessel that could carry thousands of troops. On its maiden voyage in 1952, it shattered the transatlantic speed record in both directions, when it reached an average speed of 36 knots, or just over 41 mph (66 kph), The Associated Press reported from aboard the ship.
On that voyage, the ship crossed the Atlantic in three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes, besting the RMS Queen Mary’s time by 10 hours.
To this day, the SS United States holds the transatlantic speed record for an ocean liner.
It became a reserve ship in 1969 and later bounced to various private owners who hoped to redevelop it but eventually found their plans to be too expensive or poorly timed.
It has loomed for years on South Philadelphia’s Delaware waterfront. During that time, there was an ongoing rent dispute between the ship’s conservancy and its landlord, Penn Warehousing. The dispute stemmed from an August 2021 decision by Penn Warehousing to double the ship’s daily dockage to $1,700, an increase the conservancy refused to accept. When the conservancy continued to pay its previous rate, set in 2011, Penn Warehousing terminated the lease in March 2022.
The ship was then purchased by Okaloosa County, Florida, for $10 million in October 2024.
Once the ship is actually moved, it will travel via multiple tugboats to Mobile, Alabama, where it will begin a year-long transformation into an artificial reef, with workers removing any non-metal parts and fuel that could be hazardous to sea life.
The exact location in the Gulf of Mexico for the ship’s deployment has not yet been determined but it’s expected to be about 20 miles south of the Florida Panhandle region in the Destin-Forth Walton Beach area.
For more information about the history of the SS United States, visit www.ssusc.org.
