SS United States is slated to light up green for the Eagles Thursday, then begin its final move Friday afternoon
The ship will move from Pier 82 to Pier 80 in the middle of Super Bowl speeches.
The SS United States, a native of Newport News, Va., wasn’t even supposed to be in Philadelphia when the Eagles played in the Super Bowl. But thanks to kismet — what could be considered logistical hurdles — the ship is still here, slated to light up green Thursday, and should all go as planned, the vessel is scheduled to begin a long-awaited, two-part departure in the middle of Friday’s parade.
The ship, which has been docked in Philadelphia for almost 30 years, was unceremoniously pushed out by its landlord at Pier 82 after plans to redevelop the chunk of metal ebbed and waned. Its owner at the time, the SS United States Conservancy, sought an alternative to the scrap heap after a federal judge sided with the landlords and ordered the vessel’s stewards to find a new berth.
A white knight in the form of a developer never came, and instead, officials in Okaloosa County, Fla., offered to buy the ship to sink it and turn it into an artificial reef off the coast of the Florida Panhandle. That deal was inked last year, but getting the ship out of Philly has faced a few obstacles, with this being the third potential move date by the ship’s new owners.
The county has had to deal with inclement weather and, most recently, concerns by the U.S. Coast Guard about the ship’s seaworthiness and whether it would be able to withstand a two-week tug — the vessel has long been incapable of self-propulsion — to Mobile, Ala., where it will undergo environmental remediation so it doesn’t harm the environment when sunk.
But even a move out of Pier 82 is tricky. On Friday, the ship is scheduled to begin the move at high tide around 2:47 p.m. to Pier 80. On Monday, the ship would begin its final move out of Philly during low tide at 11:18 a.m., passing below the Walt Whitman Bridge as well as the Commodore Barry Bridge.
The Delaware River Port Authority has previously said it would pause traffic “to minimize driver distraction as the SS United States passes underneath the spans.”
The agency was not immediately available to confirm Monday’s traffic pauses.
Almost as if in a final farewell to its adopted city, the ship was expected to light up green Thursday evening to commemorate the Birds’ win, using the same lights used to honor the 2018 Super Bowl victory.