After months of multiple delays, the SS United States finally left its longtime home of Philadelphia just before 1 p.m. ET Wednesday. The storied ocean liner’s next stop is Mobile, Alabama, where it will be prepared for its final mission – to become an artificial reef off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.

Almost three decades later and with more than $40 million spent on rent, insurance, and feasibility studies, the SS United States — the dilapidated 990-foot ship that adorned or blemished the Delaware River waterfront, depending on whom you ask — has finally left Philadelphia.

The SS United States has finally left Philadelphia. Driving the news: The largest ocean liner ever built in the U.S. was towed down the Delaware River on Wednesday, gliding beneath the Walt Whitman Bridge as part of a two-week journey to Mobile,

The ship will eventually be laid to rest at the bottom of the ocean about 20 miles off the coast of Florida. It will become the world's largest artificial reef.

A storied ocean liner that offered passengers regal elegance while setting trans-Atlantic speed records for decades began its final journey this week at a much more measured pace.

The SS United States is getting towed down the East Coast on its way to the Florida panhandle, where it will be sunk and turned into an artificial reef.