The luxury liner SS United States completed its journey Monday from South Philadelphia to Alabama, where it will undergo preparations before it is sunk in the waters off Florida's Gulf Coast to become an artificial reef.

The SS United States is towed to Alabama and draws onlookers to the East End of Dauphin Island on Monday, March 3, 2025. The historic ocean-liner is being towed to Mobile where it will be prepared for submersion as the world's largest artificial reef off the Florida Gulf Coast near Destin-Fort Walton. John Sharp

The SS United States, the former luxury ocean liner that was parked in South Philadelphia for almost 30 years, has reached Mobile, Ala., faster than expected and in one piece, proving the skeptics wrong.