You may not have known there was an SS United States, and you may not have known that the government plans to murk it and send it to the bottom of the Gulf of America.
But now you know both:
As the 75-year-old ship prepares to head to its final resting place, it's worth reflecting on its historic career:
SS United States is a retired American ocean liner that was built during 1950 and 1951 for United States Lines. She is the largest ocean liner to be entirely constructed in the United States and the fastest ocean liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean in either direction, retaining the Blue Riband for the highest average speed since her maiden voyage in 1952, a title she still holds today.
The ship was famous in its heyday for transporting both celebrities and immigrants across the waters, and it was known for several design innovations, though it gradually lost ridership as the age of trans-Atlantic flight commenced.
United States Lines subsequently collapsed and folded, leaving the ship in a series of changing hands, none of whom were able to make it profitable. It was subsequently stripped to the bulkheads in the 1990s and docked at Philadelphia, where it remained until this month:
In recent decades many have called for her restoration and preservation as an historic ship, but restoring the craft to its former glory would be very expensive, to say the least:
The ship is scheduled to be sunk off the coast of Florida, near Destin, on the panhandle.
Safe travels, old girl — one last time, anyway!
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