SS United States Arrives In Mobile Bay

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T​he historic SS United States arrived in Mobile Bay, Alabama, Monday, ending the first part of the ship's voyage to become the world's largest artificial reef.

The ship was once considered a beacon of American engineering, and now she will face a new life, giving a home to sea creatures of all kinds. The ocean liner, which doubled as a military vessel in her heyday, left Philadelphia on Feb. 19.

The ship broke the transatlantic speed record on her maiden voyage in 1952, reaching an average speed of 36 knots (just over 41 mph), and crossing the Atlantic in three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes. The ship beat the RMS Queen Mary’s time by 10 hours, according to The Associated Press. The SS United States still holds the transatlantic speed record for ocean liners.

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“She carried four US presidents, over a million passengers, diplomats. She really was an ambassador to the world for the United States. American servicemen and servicewomen traveled on her to Europe and back,” Warren Jones, board of directors of the SS United States Conservancy, who was lucky enough to cross the Atlantic twice on the ship, told the AP.

For the last 30 years, the 1,000-foot ocean liner has been docked and rusting at a South Philadelphia pier on the Delaware River. But she headed out Wednesday to begin her final journey, pulled by five tugboats, as she can no longer move under her own power, the New York Times reported.

“The people of Philadelphia have embraced this ship for almost 30 years, she’s been here. So it will be sad to see her go, you know, I'll be sad to see her not above the water,” Jones shared. “But we're, we're content with a resolution. And it was one of the few choices we had as a conservancy for the outcome of this, as scrapping was never anything anybody wanted.”

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In Mobile, she’ll be stripped of any hazardous materials, have any remaining fuel drained and have her lead paint removed. In about a year, the SS United States will be ready for her new home off of Florida’s Gulf Coast, where she will not only house various sea life, but Okaloosa County, already home to more than 500 artificial reefs, hopes the site will become a popular tourist destination for divers. The new reef has the potential to generate millions of tourism dollars annually, from spending in scuba shops to charter fishing boats and hotel spending.

(​Weather.com senior writer Jan Childs contributed to this report.)