A group calling itself the New York Coalition to Save the Steam Ship United States has appealed to federal courts, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Donald Trump in a last-ditch effort to prevent the iconic 1950s-era superliner from being sunk off Florida’s Gulf Coast to create the world’s largest artificial reef.
The Feb. 10 appeal said that preserving the ship amounts to “not just a matter of preserving a historic vessel but honoring the legacy of American greatness.”
U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers on April 23 denied a motion by Okaloosa County, Florida, the owner of the SS United States, to have the lawsuit dismissed. The case was originally filed March 2 in U.S. District Court in Pensacola, Florida.
The New York Coalition to Save the Steam Ship United States was created last October, about two months after Okaloosa County bought the vessel with plans to remove it from a port in Philadelphia it had occupied for nearly three decades.
Is it too late to save the ship?
By Feb. 10, when the group sent letters to Bondi and Trump, preparations were well underway to haul the 990-foot liner to Alabama, where a contractor would begin removing all non-metal materials from the vessel so that it could be sunk in an environmentally-friendly manner.
The journey begins: SS United States starts last voyage to its final destination – at the bottom of the Gulf
In a court document, the coalition says its members are dedicated to preserving historic landmarks in New York. It calls the SS United States “an American-built steamship of inestimable historic value to which the people of the United States have a sovereign interest from being sunk, dismembered or destroyed.”
In letters addressed to Bondi and Trump, the group appealed to the nation’s highest offices to decide whether the SS United States should be taken for public use with fair compensation to the county “rather than allowing the ship, which is due to be irrevocably cut apart, dismembered and sunk as an artificial reef in the waters of the Gulf.”
The letter says the ship, if saved, “could become among the greatest economic and cultural sites in Brooklyn.”
An illustrated look: How SS United States, bigger than Titanic, will become world’s largest artificial reef
The county argues the New York coalition’s claims are baseless.
“(The group) asks this court to restrain the county from utilizing its tangible property as it desires,” the motion to dismiss said.
It notes that the SS United States had been left for almost 30 years at its Philadelphia mooring site and suffered irreparable damage there due to lack of proper care. The ship, which in its heyday bore four presidents across the Atlantic Ocean and broke transatlantic travel records, had several owners after being retired in 1969.
Its most recent owner before Okaloosa County, the SS United States Conservancy, purchased the ship in 2011 with plans to transform it into a hotel, condominiums or multi-purpose venue.
“Such plans never came to fruition,” the motion to dismiss said. “And in 2024 the conservancy and its vessel faced imminent eviction from (its berth) Pier 82 (in Philadelphia).”
The county claims the New York Coalition to Save the SS United States didn’t enter the picture until two months after Okaloosa County bought the ship and began preparing to move it. The group “involved itself for the sole purpose of preventing the county from following through on its plans.”
Looking back: With SS United States set to be sunk, passengers remember the iconic ocean liner
The motion noted that as of March 28, when the motion was filed, the coalition had heard nothing from the Trump Administration regarding the vessel.
“At present, the (coalition) does not know whether the Executive Branch of the United States is even aware of the letter, let alone whether it is being considered,” the motion said.
Work already underway to prepare for sinking
The county’s motion said that while seeking possession of the SS United States, the New York coalition failed to request that Okaloosa County halt the work of preparing the ship to be sunk.
The coalition argues that moving the prominent outside features such as the vessel’s two prominent smokestacks will forever preclude “any hope of preserving the ship afloat and intact.”
With no order to halt work, crews in Mobile, Alabama, continue work to make the ship ready by early next year to be towed somewhere about 20 miles off Florida’s Gulf Coast and sunk.
“Crews have removed some deck paint from the upper decks and have made a lot of progress on cleaning all 121 fuel tanks on board, Okaloosa County spokesman Nick Tomecek said in an email to the Panama City News Herald, part of the USA TODAY Network. “Work is also progressing on removing wiring and all other non-metal items on board the ship.”
The county has agreed to expend more than $10 million to create the world’s largest artificial reef, and part of the funding go toward creating an SS United States Conservancy museum.
Tomecek said when the smokestacks are removed in coming weeks, at least one of them will be preserved and displayed at the museum.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: NY group asks Trump, Bondi asked to stop SS United States sinking
