The SS United States, the former luxury ocean liner that was parked in South Philadelphia for almost 30 years, has reached Mobile, Ala., faster than expected and in one piece, proving the skeptics wrong.

The SS United States completed its long trip from Philadelphia to the Port City on Monday, but in many ways, its journey is just beginning.

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.

After 12 days and 1,800 miles at sea, the historic liner SS United States arrived Monday in Mobile, Ala., for a year’s work of preparation before being sunk off Florida as an artificial reef. Th

She came to existence in the 1950s as airplane travel started reaching its peaks. She went out of commission in 1969 and was passed to different owners, eventually rotting in the port of Philadelphia. Despite efforts from a conservancy, it was agreed that the ship would take one more trip down the Atlantic into the Gulf.