After months of anticipation and delays, the iconic SS United States may finally leave Philadelphia this week.
The ship is scheduled to begin its move to Okaloosa County, Florida, on Thursday and depart Philadelphia on Saturday morning.
Okaloosa County officials say the ocean liner will move from Pier 82 to Pier 80 in Philadelphia around 8:21 p.m. Thursday and leave Philly around 4 a.m. Saturday.
The Florida county claims that if visibility is a problem Saturday morning, the move downriver will happen at the next low tide.
The SS United States will be accompanied by multiple tugboats on its move down the Delaware River and into the Atlantic Ocean.
Once the ship begins moving operations, Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida, will offer GPS tracking of its journey. Officials say the vessel will arrive in Mobile, Alabama, about two weeks after departing Philadelphia.
The SS United States was expected to depart Philadelphia in the fall of 2024, but a tropical storm and last-minute concerns about a possible bridge strike canceled those plans. Additional testing was ordered and concluded last month.
Okaloosa County bought the ship for $1 million as part of a budgeted $10 million project to deploy the vessel as an artificial reef.
“This is the second best choice other than scrapping, which I really didn’t want to see,” said David Boone, a retired tugboat captain from Cherry Hill, New Jersey, with a special connection to the SS United States.
