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Historic Ship Completes First Leg of Journey to Become World’s Largest Artificial Reef

The SS United States is towed at sunset past Key West, Fla., headed to Mobile, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, where it will be prepared to be used as an artificial reef. (Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP)
The SS United States is towed at sunset past Key West, Fla., headed to Mobile, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, where it will be prepared to be used as an artificial reef. (Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP)
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Historic Ship Completes First Leg of Journey to Become World’s Largest Artificial Reef

The SS United States is towed at sunset past Key West, Fla., headed to Mobile, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, where it will be prepared to be used as an artificial reef. (Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP)
The SS United States is towed at sunset past Key West, Fla., headed to Mobile, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, where it will be prepared to be used as an artificial reef. (Rob O'Neal/The Key West Citizen via AP)

The historic, aging ocean liner that a Florida county plans to turn into the world’s largest artificial reef has completed the first leg of its final voyage.

The SS United States, a 1,000-foot (305-meter) vessel that shattered the trans-Atlantic speed record on its maiden voyage in 1952, arrived early Monday in Mobile, Alabama, nearly two weeks after departing from south Philadelphia’s Delaware River.

The ship was due to arrive at a repair facility in Mobile later Monday. Crews will spend about six months cleaning and preparing the ship before it is eventually sunk off Florida’s Gulf Coast.

The 1,800-mile (2,897-kilometer) move south started on Feb. 19, about four months after a years-old rent dispute was resolved between the conservancy that oversees the ship and its landlord. Plans to move the vessel last November were delayed over US Coast Guard concerns about whether the ship was stable enough to make the trip.

Officials in Okaloosa County on Florida’s coastal Panhandle hope the ship will become a barnacle-encrusted standout among the county’s more than 500 artificial reefs and a signature diving attraction that could generate millions of dollars annually in local tourism spending for scuba shops, charter fishing boats and hotels.

Officials have said the deal to buy the ship could eventually cost more than $10 million.

The SS United States was once considered a beacon of American engineering, doubling as a military vessel that could carry thousands of troops. Its maiden voyage broke the trans-Atlantic speed record in both directions when it reached an average speed of 36 knots, or just over 41 mph (66 kph), The Associated Press reported from aboard the ship.

The ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean in three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes, besting the RMS Queen Mary’s time by 10 hours. To this day, the SS United States holds the trans-Atlantic speed record for an ocean liner.

The SS United States became a reserve ship in 1969 and later bounced between various private owners who hoped to redevelop it. They eventually found their plans too expensive or poorly timed, leaving the vessel looming for years on south Philadelphia’s Delaware River waterfront.

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Japan’s Airlines Cancel Flights as Blizzards Hit Northwest Coast

A man makes his way in the heavy snow in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, Dec. 20, 2022. (Reuters)
A man makes his way in the heavy snow in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, Dec. 20, 2022. (Reuters)
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Japan’s Airlines Cancel Flights as Blizzards Hit Northwest Coast

A man makes his way in the heavy snow in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, Dec. 20, 2022. (Reuters)
A man makes his way in the heavy snow in Uonuma, Niigata Prefecture, Japan, Dec. 20, 2022. (Reuters)

Strong winds and heavy snowfall forced the cancellation of dozens of airline flights headed ​to and from Japan's northwestern coast, the country's largest airlines said on Tuesday, including popular skiing regions.

As of 1 p.m. local time (0400 GMT) ANA Holdings had cancelled 56 flights, affecting around ‌3,900 passengers, while as ‌of 11 ‌a.m. (0200 ⁠GMT), ​Japan ‌Airlines had cancelled 37 flights, affecting 2,213 passengers.

ANA said that it had not planned any flight cancellations for Wednesday but there would be delays at some airports due ⁠to continued adverse weather conditions.

New Chitose Airport ‌near Sapporo in Japan's ‍northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido ‍was the worst hit, ‍making up 49 of ANA's 56 cancelled flights.

The airport is the gateway to ski resorts such as Niseko, which ​has surged in popularity among international visitors looking to take advantage ⁠of some of the best powder skiing conditions in the world and capitalizing on the weak yen.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned on Monday that between January 21 and 25 heavy snow would hit the north and west of the country along the Sea ‌of Japan and advised against non-essential journeys.

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Surfer Bitten in 4th Shark Attack off Australia’s East Coast in 3 Days

A lifeguard patrols North Steyne beach as beaches are closed after recent shark attacks, in Sydney, Australia, January 20, 2026. (Reuters)
A lifeguard patrols North Steyne beach as beaches are closed after recent shark attacks, in Sydney, Australia, January 20, 2026. (Reuters)
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Surfer Bitten in 4th Shark Attack off Australia’s East Coast in 3 Days

A lifeguard patrols North Steyne beach as beaches are closed after recent shark attacks, in Sydney, Australia, January 20, 2026. (Reuters)
A lifeguard patrols North Steyne beach as beaches are closed after recent shark attacks, in Sydney, Australia, January 20, 2026. (Reuters)

A surfer had minor injuries from being bitten by a shark Tuesday in the fourth attack off the coast of Australia's most populous state in three days.

The shark attacked the man's surfboard at Point Plomer, 460 kilometers (290 miles) north of the New South Wales state capital, around 9 a.m., officials said.

The man was lucky to survive with minor cuts, Kempsey-Crescent Head Surf Life Saving Club captain Matt Worrall said.

“The board seemed to take most of the impact,” Worrall told Australian Broadcasting Corp. “He made his own way into shore where he was assisted by locals.”

The bystanders drove the 39-year-old man to a hospital and he was later discharged.

In the earlier attacks, a man and a boy suffered critical leg wounds and the surfboard of another boy was bitten by sharks at Sydney locations Sunday and Monday.

Beaches along New South Wales' northern coast and northern Sydney were closed Tuesday and local authorities said Sydney's northern beaches would remain closed to swimmers and surfers for 48 hours. Electronic drumlines that alert authorities when a large shark has taken bait were deployed off the Sydney coast.

Authorities warned that recent rainfall has left the water off area beaches murky, which increased the risk of bull shark attacks. Bull sharks are responsible for most attacks around Sydney.

“If anyone's thinking of heading into the surf this morning anywhere along the northern beaches, think again. We have such poor water quality that’s really conducive to some bull shark activity,” Surf Life Saving NSW chief executive Steve Pearce said.

“If you're thinking about going for a swim, just go to a local pool because at this stage, we’re advising that beaches are unsafe,” Peace added.

On Sunday, a 12-year-old boy was attacked after jumping from a 6-meter (20-foot) ledge known as Jump Rock near Shark Beach inside Sydney Harbor. Police have credited the boy’s friends with saving his life by jumping from the cliff during the attack and dragging him back to shore.

“Those actions of those young men are brave under the circumstances and very confronting injuries for those boys to see,” Supt. Joseph McNulty said.

News media have reported that the boy lost both legs in the attack.

Around noon Monday, an 11-year-old boy was on a surfboard that was attacked by a shark at Dee Why Beach, an ocean beach north of Manly. The shark bit off a chunk of the board, but the boy escaped uninjured.

A surfer in his 20s was bitten on a leg by a shark off North Steyne Beach on the Pacific Ocean coast in the northern suburb of Manly at 6:20 p.m. Monday, police said. Bystanders pulled him from the water before an ambulance took him to a hospital in a critical condition.

All three Sydney beaches have some form of shark protection netting. It was not immediately clear where the attacks occurred in relation to that netting.

Pearce said the scene of the latest attack was isolated and did not have shark netting.

Dee Why Beach is close to the beach where a 57-year-old surfer was killed by a suspected white shark last September.

In November, a 25-year-old Swiss tourist was killed and her partner was seriously injured trying to save her as they swam off a national park north of Sydney.

Varieties

Chile Fights Wildfires that Killed 19 and Left 1,500 Homeless

Mirtza Aguilera, right, and her daughter embrace in front of their home burned by wildfires in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
Mirtza Aguilera, right, and her daughter embrace in front of their home burned by wildfires in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
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Chile Fights Wildfires that Killed 19 and Left 1,500 Homeless

Mirtza Aguilera, right, and her daughter embrace in front of their home burned by wildfires in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)
Mirtza Aguilera, right, and her daughter embrace in front of their home burned by wildfires in Tome, Chile, Monday, Jan. 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Torres)

Firefighters in Chile are battling forest fires that started on Sunday and have killed at least 19 people and left around 1,500 homeless as they swept through thousands of acres in the center and south of the country, officials said.

Five large wildfires were still active Monday in the South American nation, with temperatures higher than usual due to a summer heatwave, said the National Service for the Prevention of Disasters, The AP news reported.

Chilean President Gabriel Boric declared a state of catastrophe in the central Biobio and neighboring Ñuble regions on Sunday. The emergency designation allows greater coordination with the military to rein wildfires.

Boric said on his X account on Monday morning that weather conditions are adverse, which means some of the fires could reignite.

Wildfires are common in Chile during the summer due to high temperatures and dry weather. The current outbreak of fires in central and southern Chile is one of the deadliest in recent years.

In 2024, massive fires ripping across Chile’s central coastline killed at least 130 people, becoming the nation’s deadliest natural disaster since a devastating 2010 earthquake.