The Times (of London): SS United States broke a speed record. Now it will become a reef
A historic ocean liner has set out on its final voyage from Philadelphia to the Gulf of Mexico, where it will be sunk and turned into the world’s largest artificial reef.
The SS United States, a 302m (1,000ft) vessel roughly the same size as the Shard in London, broke the transatlantic speed record on its maiden trip from New York to Bishop Rock, Cornwall, in 1952.
On Wednesday it set a more gingerly pace as it was towed down the Delaware River and out into the Atlantic. Its journey of 1,800 nautical miles to Mobile, Alabama, is expected to take two weeks.