SS United States to become world's largest artificial reef after years in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- A historic ship that has been docked in Philadelphia for nearly 30 years will soon find a new home in Florida as the world's largest artificial reef.

Video in the player above is from a previous report.

The SS United States first launched in 1951. It was operational from 1952 to 1969 and was primarily used as a transatlantic passenger line transporting celebrities and dignitaries.

It found its home on Pier 82 in South Philadelphia in 1996.

A nonprofit called the SS United States Conservancy saved it from the scrapyard in 2011. Its plans to rehabilitate the ship, however, never came to fruition and on Saturday, its title was turned over to Okaloosa County in Florida.

"This day is, for anyone with a heart, understandably fraught with emotion," speakers said during the title ceremony. "Presented the nation with the equivalent of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, and the Golden Gate Bridge."

"She was America's flagship. Smashed the transatlantic record using only two-thirds of her power. Convertible trip ship, although never went to war," said Susan Gibbs, the president of the SS United States Conservancy.

The ship is mainly stripped, but its conservancy has big dreams for its future.

"Where she would be a museum, a convention center, hotels. Be publicly accessible to everyone, and we came so close," said Gibbs, who added while they came close, they were never able to secure a pier to become the vessel's permanent home.

Instead, it will find a new home in Okaloosa County, Florida, where it will be sunk to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and become the world's largest artificial reef.

"It gives the fish habitat, it gives an opportunity for people to come and recreational dive, but mostly it gives us a natural resource of a habitat that comes about that helps really sustain our ecosystem," said Paul Mixon, the chairman of the county commission for Okaloosa County.

The county allocated $10 million for the purchase. In about a year, there will be a land museum celebrating its history and divers will be able to explore the ship at sea.

"So the largest ship that you can go and dive in the world will be in our area and it will be this piece of history," said Mixon.

The plan is to move the ship to Norfolk, Virginia later this month where she will be prepared to be transformed into an artificial reef.

In about a year, the more than 70-year-old ship will set sail for the final time to retire in Florida.