The largest ever passenger ship built in the United States, which has multiple connections with our area, is on her final voyage and passed just offshore of the Outer Banks on Friday and Saturday.
The SS United States had an illustrious career from 1952 until 1969 carrying royalty, celebrities and immigrants over the high seas, and still holds the record for the highest average speed crossing the Atlantic Ocean set on her maiden voyage.
After United States Lines financially collapsed at the end of the 1960s, the ship passed through a number of owners who tried and failed to revive her.
She slowly deteriorated at various docks in Hampton Roads until 1996, when she was towed to Philadelphia and remained there until Wednesday.
Back in 1984, the interior furnishings were stripped down and sold at auction.
Among those who purchased the items at auction was Dr. Sarah Forbes, a native of Currituck County who grew up in Newport News.
Dr. Forbes was Norfolk General Hospital’s first female resident, and the first woman physician to open a private OB/GYN practice in Newport News in 1958.
She also owned the Windmill Point Restaurant which overlooked the Roanoke Sound in Nags Head, as well as a number of vacation rentals that are still owned by a trust in her name that donates its profits to a variety of charities that were close to heart.
Paying over $300,000, Forbes became the largest private owner of SS United States memorabilia.
That included a model of the SS United States that sat at the entrance of the restaurant, railings adorning the stairway to the upstairs lounge Dr. Forbes named for the ship, the kidney shaped bar, along with tables and chairs from the liner’s First Class Promenade Deck Lounge.
She proudly touted the SS United States Lounge in commercials with her distinctive voice that aired on Outer Banks radio stations until the restaurant closed in 2007.
Dr. Forbes donated a number of the items to the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News prior to her death in a car crash in Coinjock in June 2011 at age 85, while a collection of the memorabilia that was never unpacked after her purchase more than 30 years earlier was sold at auction in 2017.
The replica windmill that sat outside the restaurant was relocated to Island Farm on Roanoke Island where it still stands today.
She sold the building and property to the Town of Nags Head, it was razed in a training fire by the Nags Head Fire Department in 2011, and the grounds are now part of the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau’s The Soundside event site.
Among the plans touted by a long string of owners who attempted to restore the SS United States to her former glory ranged from a floating hotel or museum, and even Norwegian Cruise Lines and Crystal Cruises looked at modernizing her.
All of those efforts failed to come to fruition.
Last year, a court ordered the ship vacate its berth in Philadelphia as the conservancy that has owned the ship since 2009 and the dock’s owner came to an impasse over rent and damage being caused by the ship.
On Wednesday, the SS United States departed under tow from Philadelphia to Mobile for preparations before her scuttling. Traveling at an average of 5 knots, the voyage is expected to take 18 days.
In Mobile, the ships two iconic funnels and the radar mast will be removed for placement in a museum in Florida.
The final cost of the purchase, berth rental, modifications and eventual sinking will run about $10.1 million.
The ship slowly passed off the Outer Banks well over the horizon on Friday and Saturday, and was off Cape Lookout by mid-afternoon.
“Live” tracking of the final voyage of the SS United States can be found at https://share.garmin.com/SSUNITEDSTATES
