SS United States to be sunk, creating the world's largest artificial reef. RIP to one of the greats.

Second-largest is also in Florida

>>2016128
and so is the third-largest

How many threads do we need about this shitbox
>>2003628
>>2011826

>>2016134
Ordinarily I would agree with you but I currently have about 20 threads hidden that are just /pol/ spam that has nothing to do with transportation, at least this is a passenger vessel and not a press release from the office of Stephen M. Ross, so bump just 4 u :-)

>>2016128
Is that Admiral Kuznetsov?

>>2016147
nah that would be the best she'd ever looked then

>>2016147
USS Oriskany. The other is USNS General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a satellite tracking ship

>>2016134
You're right. Let's talk urban planning. Ooopsie, sorry for the bump fagnuts!

I hope they sink it at a low depth, would make a baller dive location at ~30 meters

>>2015994 (OP)
One of the goats for sure, straight fire way to go out.

>>2017922
barrier reefs are fairly shallow, is that a factor in why they make good habitats? If so they might be obligated to

The Florida fish & wildlife page on the Oriskany has a diagram showing they sank it to provide 80 feet (25 meters) clearance over the tallest point of the ship.
That puts the bridge at about 45 meters and most of the main deck at 55 meters

>>2018337
That's a little deep for recreational divers.

>>2015994 (OP)
>buying a literal last-of-its-kind ocean liner so you can sink it

I fucking hate Floridians so much...

>>2018374
And do what with it, exactly?

>>2015994 (OP)
Talk about peak metaphor with that name....if Muskie cared about anything that mattered (efficient travel) he'd wrote a check and save this biddie.

>>2018428
>efficient travel

Cruise ships are just a means to get drunk and gamble just a massive waste

>>2018378
>buy decrepit ocean liner
>pour 100s of millions of dollars into it
>???
>profit

>>2018469
>payback period
never

>>2018458
It's 60 times more efficient per ton, than even a train.....slow is efficient just not per time, and faster times are just low character enabling horseshit. Slower travel makes people more deliberate/intentional. I've never been on a commerical flight. Don't tell me you prefer that cattle car to playing shuffleboard and fresh air even if it takes a day to get to the same place.

>>2015994 (OP)
>SS United States to be sunk, creating the world's largest artificial reef. RIP to one of the greats

You guys are so negative this is going to be awesome. Fort Walton Beach is the middle of the redneck riviera. It'll be beautiful. You'll be able to dive down at a fairly reasonable depth and see fish and sealife around this classic beauty. People will pay to dive and help the economy. And companies will bring those little tourist mini-subs down to view the fish and boat for the old people- a very /n/ thing.

Plus it's the USS United States. It's not seeing it's end being stripped for parts in South India like most scrapped ships. It's going to be a tourist attraction and provide natural barrier.

>>2018523
It'll probably be a technically advanced dive to see it. I don't know if they'll require 80 feet like the Oriskany, but it also needs to be deep enough so storm and wave action don't disturb it.

It's not the USS United States, btw, just SS.

>>2018470
That was clearly a joke dumbass.

>>2015994 (OP)
I'm going to miss seeing that thing out of the food court at the south philly IKEA.

Did it sink?

>>2020904
The owners are still trying to avoid selling it to one or another Florida counties who want to sink it. Even if it's sold tomorrow, it'll need about a year of cleaning and prep work for the actual sinking.

>>2020981
>The owners are still trying to avoid selling it
I read up about the ship a bit and I still don't know what they want to do with the ship. The only reason they seem to be so against it is the name.

>>2018494
Anon im pretty sure to get that '60 times more efficient' number youre quoting, passengers would have to be loaded like they did african slaves; theres no way a carnival cruise ship is utilizing anywhere near its capacity enough to even bring it to energy-efficiency parity with a commercial airliner.

>>2021010
The same objections happened when the Navy wanted to sink the USS America aircraft carrier.

Meanwhile, Okaloosa county now has title to the SS United States. They need a judge to approve the transfer, but expect to get that. The ship could move to Florida as soon as the end of October.

>>2021986
update:
The new ownership has scheduled the vessel’s departure from Philadelphia for this Friday, October 25th. Contractors have been conducting preparatory work to facilitate the ship’s relocation to Norfolk, Virginia, such as removing her anchors, where it will undergo conversion into an artificial reef.

>>2023123
update again:
"Due to the amount of space and availability (only 2 to 4 months) in Norfolk, Virginia, Okaloosa County has decided to move the SS United States to a dock in Mobile, Alabama, that has recently become available”
No date set for the tow.

Odds the hull rips apart when they start towing it and it sinks in the Delaware River?

>>2023175
update:
The ship will start moving on November 14, taking two days to get into Delaware Bay with the right tides. Then about a two-week tow to Mobile.

>>2024239
track it at https://www.destinfwb.com/explore/eco-tourism/ssus/

>>2024239
update yet again:
for unexplained reasons, but partly related to the tropical storm starting to form in the Gulf of Mexico, the tow is delayed. New date not set.

Sinking the United States is such an apt metaphor. Its all going down man.

>>2024947
>Its all going down man.
10 generations is all you get before the slow collapse.

Article listing the cost of each of the rebuild proposals over time, and showing how the value of the ship has fallen and how little the preservation society has taken in compared to all that
https://www.inquirer.com/news/ss-united-states-costs-philadelphia-20241117.html

>not recycled
All that steel sunk. What a waste.

shit is still laid up in philly
now the coast guard is saying the thing is too old and fragile to move safely
starting next week the dock owner is charging $100k a week penalty fee

>>2025634
I don't believe I'd try to take any sort of credit for that abortion of a graph. Let alone call myself an artist.

>>2027297
maybe the only way to get the US out of Philly will be to put her on one of those heavy-lift transport ships. The US's weight must be less than the in-service amount of 53000 tonnes, which is within heavy-lift ability. It'll just cost more.

Okaloosa paid the $100k late fee (appears to be a one-time thing) and are working with Pier 82 are to extend the docking lease through January, at a rate of $3400/day.
Coast Guard requiring a seaworthiness inspection be completed before departure.

>>2027569
Pretty badass, is that basically an ambulatory drydock?

I'm not a boat-type autist, but I have to say, this whole thing really has the flavor of a middle-aged hillbilly's financially catastrophic classic car project he's had since he was 23. When what started out as brake job and head gasket has somehow advanced to ordering custom-engineered castings from Germany and there's no end in sight. Now he's paying for a cross-country trailer haul for 25x the car's value, "it'll all be worth it when it runs (never,)" and meanwhile his marriage is being reduced to an absolute hash

>>2027782
it is just like that. There are a lot of different types, but I picked the Vanguard because it's open-ended so I didn't have to check against the length of the US.

I'm wondering if >>2023445 is going to be right, and it starts to fall apart underway

>artificial reef
What a waste of precious steel.

ruh roh

>>2028091
It sounds like they ordered the additional testing because the ship is incapable of self-propulsion and they want to make sure it'll make the trip. Surely this is something they anticipated, right?

>>2028269
https://www.nwfdailynews.com/story/news/local/2024/12/19/commissioners-in-okaloosa-county-florida-reflect-on-ss-united-states/77055937007/

Okaloosa has $9 million set aside for transportation and environmental services needed before the ship can be sunk.

>>2027297
Damn I knew it was in bad shape but I didn't realize it was that bad.
They should probably just tear it down, though at this point I wonder if you could even recover anything useful from it, at least to offset the cost of the teardown.

On Friday, Okaloosa County told CNN it had hired a “naval architect/engineer to conduct stability tests which are now complete.”

The tests were accepted by the Coast Guard on January 8, and the next steps include establishing a “tow plan,” while factoring in tidal conditions.

The Coast Guard told CNN this week that “positive progress has been made” toward getting her ready to move.

It's finally going to move!
Shifting to another pier Thursday morning and then the tow to Mobile starts Saturday morning at 3:30 am to catch the low tide at 4:30 am.
There's links viewing info at https://www.phillyvoice.com/ss-united-states-philadelphia-departure-date-artificial-reef-florida/

>>2033215

>UPDATE: The SS United States' shift from Pier 82 to Pier 80 in South Philadelphia has been pushed back to 8:21 p.m. Thursday, at the second high tide of the day, Okaloosa County officials announced. The U.S. Coast Guard requested the time change due to a "combination of factors." Saturday's departure from Philadelphia remains on schedule, but is "dependent on visibility," authorities said.

>>2033266
"Plans to move the SS United States from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Mobile, Alabama, have been delayed due to follow-up details requested by the U.S. Coast Guard to ensure a proper tow from Pier 82 to Pier 80," Okaloosa County wrote.

>It's finally going to move!

Great, the NYC doofus group is at it again. They want Trump to buy the ship off of Okaloosa via eminent domain and keep it in Brooklyn. Such a historic connection and, they warn, it'll prevent all that ALUMINUM from OXIDIZING! That dangerous ALUMINUM OXIDE has never ever been put into the ocean before, no sir!

Why is it always last-minute with these people?

>>2033828
>SSUS

>>2033828
To be honest the United States sinking in 2025 would be absolute pottery.
I am sure they will do everything so that ship can sink this year to get another oh SO sweet symbolism they crave so much

Departure is back on for February 17 at 11 am!

>>2015994 (OP)
They finally moved her (30ft from one pier to another)!

>>2033900
>>2034004
Any pictures of the pier or where she stands now?

>>2034008
It's just on the other side of the slip. The Battleship New Jersey staff had a pretty good angle and posted it on youtube

Weather delay to Wednesday 2/19 at 12:51 for movement.

F

>>2034447
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0905U7c2V8

>>2034447
YAYYY!!! I'm so glad she's not getting scrapped

So nice to see her at sea one last time

>>2018469
I always wished i had an aircraft carrier in the feild in my backyard just so i could park my cars in it.

>>2015994 (OP)
I would like to take this opportunity to nominate another candidate for artificial reef.

Kindly leave the crew onboard.

>>2015994 (OP)
Sinking just like the actual USA lol
RIP

just past Key West

I first became aware of the ship when I watched a Youtube documentary about it several years ago. Ever since then I knew it would never be restored.
It's some group of nobodies e-begging for donations, the majority of which cover the storage, security and bare minimum of upkeep of the ship, absolutely nothing was going into actual restoration works, and it had been over 20 years at that point.
Every year labour gets more and more expensive, and the condition of the ship gets worse and worse.

I would honestly be interested in a report of how the donations were spent over the 30-ish years, because I have a strong feeling the heads of the "conservancy" were basically using it as a pay-cheque.
In one Facebook post not long after the sale was announced, people were asking financial questions (gib donation back plz), and they responded that 80% of donations went towards the ship (storage, security, upkeep, etc), meaning the other 20% were used to pay themselves a wage for heading the "conservancy" they set up. I also saw there was a lot of volunteers on staff, meaning less wages to pay other than their own.

It's pretty clear the whole thing was mismanaged and they got complacent over nearly 3 decades, and here we are.

>>2035273
>It's pretty clear the whole thing was mismanaged and they got complacent over nearly 3 decades, and here we are.
Being from Philadelphia, I fully expect that pier to be underused and left vacant for tax reasons or some bullshit, so losing the ship still sucks.
>go to Ikea
>eat meatballs
>see the SS US out the 2nd floor window
will become just another warehouse if that.

Palm Beach Post has shots of it off the coast of Florida, close to land

>>2035397
In the open ocean, is it being pushed by a rack of tugboats or just kind of pulled along?
Is someone at (what's left of) the helm steering it?

>>2035404
much like its namesake, no competent captain is at the helm, instead it is drunkenly drifting to a watery grave led by delusional hucksters promising a deranged fever dream of a lost past based on a confused understanding of history while onlookers rubberneck with a mixture of horror and disgust

>>2035412
>blah blah blah
Yeah, but how is the tug boat rigged to keep it on course?
In the Delaware it had a whole convoy, which would be expensive to do the whole way there for one, and for two I only see one tug in the picture.
It looks like a single tow line to the bow, which isn't really visible at that distance.

>>2035412
keep it on fagbook, boomer

>>2035418
Looks like a single line.

She's currently in Mobile, a fate worse than death

>>2035273
All the conservancy stuff was too late regardless. The ship was doomed when the interior was stripped for scrapping. They just wasted the last 30 years prolonging the inevitable.

This thread shall not sink until she does

Do you think they should remove the superstructure and turn it into a museum instead of just recreating it?

>>2035397
Such an attractive silhouette. It's such a big ship but look at how sleek it looks. It almost has fast warship lines.

Makes me wonder. Was this ship built with the ability to be turned into an auxiliary cruiser? A lot of people don't know this, but even the Titanic was built with strengthened deck positions to allow it to mount guns and become an armed auxiliary cruiser in times of war. If I recall correctly her sister ship Olympic actually was used as an auxiliary cruiser. There were actually naval battles between repurposed ocean liners in WWI. But the SS United States is from the 1950s so maybe they stopped with the doctrine by then.

>>2018337
what type of bow is that?

>>2018340
It will keep them from being stupid and going inside of it.

>>2040027
THE SS United States was actually partially funded by the U.S. government to be used as a troop transport if needed, kind of like the Queen Mary. Parts of the design were considered classified military secrets for years.

Bump

>>2016147
kek

Awaiting her fate - March 2025

>>2035303
>will become just another warehouse if that.
Housing for the homeless.

Speaking of ocean liners, the MS Stockholm, the ship that hit the SS Andrea Doria, is currently at the scrappers

>leaves ship to rot in a warehouse district for thirty years
>fails to pay rent
>gets evicted
>"GUYS!!! WE NEED MONEY JUST.. BECAUSE! OKAY!?"
>half of the money was probably laundered
>coast guard themselfs says the ship is on the verge of sinking
>"Guys we can save it if trump buys it!"


Who the fuck was running the united states conservation group? I've seen tourist trap railroads in the midwest with better leadership then this.

I just want them to tow the fucking thing out and let a few F-18's to blast the hull open, that would be fucking awesome

>>2047886
OUTTA THE WAY, ANDREA DORIA FUCKING SHITS

>>2047891
They got close enough a couple times to selling it to groups that promised to rehab + operate it. I can kinda understand why they held out hope for so long.

>>2046238
I doubt it. Even a crack den is unlikely because that pier is privately owned and considered waterfront property.
So some hair-brained developer will try to build shitty townhouses on it probably, which might get filled by rich yuppies from overseas but just as likely it's an empty pier for a long time.