SS United States, Once the World’s Fastest Ocean Liner, Is Sunk Off Florida to Become the Largest Artificial Reef

DESTIN, Fla., Nov. 12 (TodayViralUSA) — The SS United States, the record-setting ocean liner that once carried presidents and Hollywood stars across the Atlantic, has been sent to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico to begin a second life as the world’s largest artificial reef.

The 990-foot ship, longer than the Titanic, was deliberately sunk Wednesday about 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin–Fort Walton Beach in a controlled operation that used no explosives. After hours of slow descent, it disappeared beneath the surface around 10 p.m. ET and now rests upright in about 180 feet of water, NPR reported.

The fastest liner ever built

Launched for service in 1952, the SS United States won the Blue Riband on its maiden voyage and still holds the transatlantic speed records in both directions. Until its retirement in 1969 it carried royalty and celebrities, including Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, a young Bill Clinton, Marlon Brando, Walt Disney and Judy Garland.

The liner then spent decades idle, including nearly 30 years docked in Philadelphia, as plans to turn it into a museum or floating hotel collapsed under legal and financial pressures. Okaloosa County, Florida, bought the ship in 2024, and it was towed to Alabama for cleaning and remediation before its final trip to the reef site this week.

Built to sink straight

Coleen Marine, the contractor that prepared the vessel, spent more than 18 months on the project, repairing the hull so it would settle upright and sealing off areas considered unsafe for divers. “The biggest thing with sinking a ship is not how much water you put in. It’s making sure the air comes out,” company president Coleen O’Malley told NPR.

A new draw for divers

Okaloosa County officials said survey teams, including divers associated with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, would first pin down the wreck’s exact position, with recreational diving expected to open soon after. The upper decks are planned to sit within reach of recreational divers, while deeper sections are intended for technical divers. Officials expect the reef to attract red snapper, grouper and amberjack.

The SS United States Conservancy, which fought for years to keep the ship afloat, plans a land-based museum in Florida. “[The ship] has always been this unabashedly American symbol that brings so many people together,” conservancy president Susan Gibbs, whose grandfather helped design it, told CBS News.