The SS United States has until the end of this month to leave its present location beside the Delaware River, but it doesn’t seem like the ship will be moving anytime soon.
A federal judge backed with Penn Warehousing earlier this year, ruling that the formerly magnificent ocean ship couldn’t remain at Pier 82 in South Philadelphia past September 12.
Penn Warehousing reportedly threatened to charge the ship’s owner, the SS United States Conservancy, $3 million if the ship remains there on September 13, according to court records.
The Okaloosa County Board of Commissioners was scheduled to discuss the possibility of the sinking of the SS US off the coast of Florida during their meeting in early September.
The board decided to postpone voting on whether to send the ship there and scuttle it off the shore as an artificial reef during that meeting on September 5.
The vote should be postponed two weeks until Tuesday, September 17, according to County Administrator John Hofstad, who claimed that the county “hit a wrinkle” with its pier operators.
The SS United States is so tall that, according to sources, it would pass “feet” close to the Walt Whitman Bridge deck; passage would therefore have to be coordinated with the lowest tide. Meetings on traffic on the shipping channel and over the bridge are still required.
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Once dubbed “the most powerful, modern, and advanced passenger liner ever built,” the SS United States Conservancy states that it has been berthed in South Philadelphia since 1996. The SS US was built as a cruise ship in the late 1940s with the intention of swiftly moving soldiers in the case of war.
The ship set sail in 1952 and traveled the Atlantic for 17 years, transporting dignitaries, entertainers, and presidents.
In an effort to save the ship, the SS United States Conservancy has raised almost $500,000 to assist with moving expenses and other costs.
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