Let me tell you a story...

Birth

This is the story of the SS America. She was also known by other names, including the SS American Star, the USS West Point, the SS Australis and more.
Built in 1940, she was designed to accomodate 543 Passengers comfortably at 22.5 knots (about 24mph)

Early life

Active Service

On 28 May 1941, America was called up to service by the United States Navy, while the ship was at Saint Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands. She was ordered to return to Newport News to be handed over to the Navy.

Renaming

For the duration of world war II she carried the name USS West Point and had a capacity of 7678 Passenger.

Cruise Service

After the war she wandered in and out of various cruise operators, holding many different names until finally being resold as a floating hotel in Phuket.

From 1964-1977 she was renamed the SS AUSTRALIS.

Typically, every three months, AUSTRALIS would sail from Southampton to ports in Australia and New Zealand. Under a prized and heavily subsidized migrant transportation contract, her passengers could pay as little as ten Pounds each for their adventure - essentially a carefree cruise more than halfway around the world. At such attractive rates, she sailed at full capacity more often than not, with whole families sharing four and six-berth staterooms on the lower decks.

The wreck

The floating hotel was never meant to be.
In August 1993 she was renamed American Star, her propellers were removed and placed on the deck, the funnel and bridge were painted red, and ladders were welded to starboard. She left Greece on 22 December 1993 under tow, but the tow proved impossible due to the weather. She then returned to Greece for a few days until the weather calmed down. On New Year's Eve 1993, American Star left Greece for the last time.

The one hundred day tow began; American Star and her tugboat entered a thunderstorm in the Atlantic. The tow lines broke and six or more men were sent aboard American Star to reattach the emergency tow lines. This proved unsuccessful. Two other towboats were called to assist the tugboat. On 17 January, the crew aboard American Star was rescued by helicopter. The ship was left adrift. On 18 January, the ship ran aground off the west coast of Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands.

Within the first 48 hours of grounding the pounding surf of the Atlantic broke the ship in two just past the second funnel. The stern section collapsed completely to port and sank in 1996,

The ship was declared a total loss on 6 July 1994.

The stern section collapsed completely to port and sank in 1996.

The final demise

In November 2005, the port side of the bow section collapsed, which caused the liner's remains to assume a much sharper list.

The collapse of the port side also caused the hull to begin to break up and by October 2006, the wreck had almost completely collapsed onto its port side.

2007

2009

In her final few years she was only visible at low tide. Google earth confirms no visible wreck as of approximately 2013

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_America_%281939%29
http://www.urbanghostsmedia.com/2014/06/wreck-ss-american-star-photos/

Hope you enjoyed this short introduction to a great ship with a checkered past. Check out the Wiki for even more information!