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

We’ve sank dredges and ships and barges and tugboats and all kind of stuff” — David Walter, owner of Walter Marine in Orange Beach, is the go-to-guy. He has done it more than two dozen times from Texas to Florida.