MOBILE, Ala. – THE HISTORIC SS UNITED States ocean liner, currently undergoing environmental remediation work in Mobile, Alabama, ahead of its planned sinking and conversion to an artificial reef off of Florida’s coast, was this week given a tentative April departure date from that port for its final destination, Fox 10 WALA reports.
The new timeline has lit a fire under the New York Coalition to Save the SS United States, the preservation group battling to rescue the ship. Its members want to see the boat returned to New York, its original home port, where a berth has been waiting for it since 2015 at the Gowanus Bay Terminal, owned by supporter John Quadrozzi, Jr. There, the coalition says, the ship can be restored and converted to educational or other uses.
A lawsuit filed by the group to block the sinking was dismissed last year, although an attempt by local Florida officials to sanction the group’s attorney was also rejected this week. The coalition is now hoping to generate awareness and attention from sympathetic figures as the ship is readied for sinking.
✰✰✰
