DESTIN, Florida (The Thursday Times) — The SS United States, the ocean liner that still holds the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing, has begun its final voyage to the seabed off Florida’s Gulf Coast, where it is to become the world’s largest artificial reef.
The 1,000-foot ship, longer than the Titanic, is being sunk about 20 nautical miles offshore between Destin-Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola in a controlled flooding operation that uses no explosives. The sinking began on Wednesday afternoon but went far more slowly than planned, and officials in Okaloosa County, which owns the ship, said it was not clear when it would be complete.
Hundreds of boats gathered as close as the US Coast Guard allowed to watch, some carrying people who had travelled from as far as California and Philadelphia.
Presidents, film stars, and a secret design
The liner made its maiden voyage in 1952, setting a transatlantic speed record that has never been broken. Its design was so advanced that the Pentagon kept parts of it secret.
Over 17 years in service it carried presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F Kennedy, a young Bill Clinton, and stars including Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Judy Garland, Marlon Brando, Cary Grant, Salvador Dalí, and Walt Disney.
It was retired in 1969 and spent nearly 30 years docked in Philadelphia, where plans to turn it into a museum, hotel, or other attraction all failed, and its rusting hull became a local landmark.
A $13 million reef
Okaloosa County bought the ship from the SS United States Conservancy for about $1 million in 2024. It spent a year in Mobile, Alabama, being stripped of fuel, wiring, and other materials that could harm the sea, and holes were cut into the hull so that it settles upright. The roughly $13 million project is funded by the county’s tourist tax, and local officials hope the wreck will draw divers all year round.
“We tried for decades to save the ship, keep her afloat,” said Susan Gibbs, the granddaughter of the liner’s designer, who led the conservancy. “May she rest in peace.” The conservancy now plans a museum in Okaloosa County displaying more than 10,000 artefacts from the ship.
