News, News and Updates
Hannah McGovern
Design Begins for New SS United States Museum ...

The towering funnels of the legendary SS United States will soon be removed from the historic ocean liner in Mobile, Alabama. Soaring six stories high and sloping backward to convey the record-breaking speed of the ship, the iconic structures will form a dramatic centerpiece of the future SS United States Museum and Visitor Experience. The aft funnel is expected to be removed soon after the forward funnel. The ship is now being prepared for deployment as the “world’s largest artificial reef” off the coast of Florida’s Destin-Fort Walton Beach.

Design Begins for New SS United States Museum and Visitor Experience
News, News and Updates
Guest User
America's Flagship, the SS United States, ...

The SS United States, America’s Flagship, arrived in Mobile, Alabama today after an approximately 1,800-mile tow from her berth in Philadelphia. The iconic national symbol and last surviving American ocean liner will now undergo preparations for her deployment as the “World’s Largest Artificial Reef” off Florida’s Gulf Coast near Destin-Fort Walton Beach.

America's Flagship, the SS United States, Completes Voyage to Mobile, Alabama Well Ahead of Schedule
News, News and Updates
Guest User
America's Flagship Departs Philadelphia on ...

“Today, the nation’s sole surviving ocean liner will glide down the Delaware River to begin the next chapter in her uniquely American story. As the fastest ship to ever cross the Atlantic travels for the first time since arriving in Philadelphia in 1996, we are reminded of the postwar high-water mark that the SS United States so gracefully and powerfully embodied when she was launched in 1951.”

America's Flagship Departs Philadelphia on Historic Voyage
News
Guest User
Associated Press: Historic ocean liner could ...

The conservancy that oversees a storied but aging ocean liner and its landlord have resolved a years-old rent dispute that will clear the way for a Florida county to turn the historic ship into the world’s largest artificial reef.

Associated Press: Historic ocean liner could soon become the world’s largest artificial reef

Media Highlights

, ,

Times-Picayune Coverage of the Conservancy's Future Museum

, ,
Times-Picayune Coverage of the Conservancy's Future Museum

The Times-Picayune reported on the enormous public interest in the SS United States and the Conservancy's exciting plans for a future museum and visitor experience. Our museum in the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area will celebrate the extraordinary story of the SS United States and will showcase our extensive collection of original mid-century modern shipboard art, artifacts from the vessel, archival documentation, oral histories, film footage, and more.

Read more here.

Photo of the SS United States from 2025 courtesy of Nathanael Miller.

,

Mar 15, 2017 -- Newsday: Tending to a giant liner’s grand history

,
Courtesy of Heather Walsh/Newsday.

Courtesy of Heather Walsh/Newsday.

This excellent profile of Robert Sturm, former SS United States engineer and author of the book SS United States: The View From Down Below, explores his decades-long fascination with the Big U.

“The ship is the epitome of American genius when it comes to naval architecture and marine engineering, both in design and construction and in operation,” Sturm told Newsday.

“It was truly a magnificent piece of work.”

Sturm spoke with reporter Bill Bleyer about his book -- available for purchase here -- in which he "details his knowledge about the ship gleaned during his 44 transatlantic voyages, from 1957 to 1959."

He also discussed his work as a volunteer archivist at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, organizing and cataloging boxes of documents and photographs the museum acquired when United States Lines was dissolved in 1992. Unsurprisingly, the files he lingers the longest over are those related to the Big U.

To read the profile in its entirety, click here.