SS United States Artificial Reef Sinking Nears in Florida

Okaloosa County in Florida expects to turn the SS United States artificial reef plan into reality in the second week of November, weather permitting. The county said the ship will be deployed about twenty-two nautical miles southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach, according to a county statement reported by Cruise Hive. No exact date has been set, because the operation depends on conditions at sea, and the county said the schedule may change if the weather turns.

The sinking will use no explosives. The ship will be towed to the site, anchored for final preparation, and then sunk through controlled flooding, according to reporting on the county plan. The SS United States artificial reef is expected to settle upright on the seabed in roughly one hundred eighty feet of water, with its upper deck about fifty-five feet below the surface. The reefing will be livestreamed, and the Coast Guard will keep a wide security perimeter around the operation, so spectators will have to watch from outside it or online.

That shallow upper deck matters for who can visit the SS United States artificial reef. A diver who stays near the top of the wreck will be working in water that recreational divers can reach, while deeper parts of the hull will suit technical divers with more training and equipment. Once it is down, the SS United States artificial reef will join more than five hundred artificial reefs already in the region, according to the Associated Press account republished by Zark News. It will also sit about twelve nautical miles from the USS Oriskany, the retired aircraft carrier sunk off Pensacola in two thousand six.

A record the ship still holds

The SS United States was built to do two jobs at once: carry passengers in comfort and, if needed, serve as a fast military transport. On her maiden voyage in July nineteen fifty-two, she crossed the Atlantic in three days, ten hours and forty minutes, according to Parade. That run took the Blue Riband for the fastest passenger liner crossing, beating the record set by Britain's Queen Mary by about ten hours, and no passenger liner has beaten it since, Parade reported.

Designer William Francis Gibbs once boasted about the ship in terms that now read like a dare. "You can't set her on fire, you can't sink her and you can't catch her," Gibbs said, according to Parade, quoting Mobile Bay Magazine. The Navy treated her top speed as a secret, and a former captain said she could outrun some destroyers, according to Invention and Technology as cited by Parade. The ship cost at least seventy million dollars to build, with the United States government covering fifty million dollars of that total, according to Atlas Obscura as cited by Parade.

Commercial air travel ended her passenger career in nineteen sixty-nine, after seventeen years of service. She spent decades changing hands and deteriorating, including almost three decades moored in Philadelphia, according to Atlas Obscura as cited by Parade. A rent dispute with the owner of the Philadelphia pier forced the SS United States Conservancy to sell, and Okaloosa County bought the ship for one million dollars, according to PhillyVoice as cited by Parade. A tow took her out of Philadelphia on February nineteenth, two thousand twenty-five, headed for Mobile, Alabama.

What had to happen before the sinking

Preparation in Mobile was extensive. Crews removed toxic materials, sealed off areas unsafe for divers, emptied and cleaned all of the ship's fuel and lubricant tanks, and stripped ventilation, wiring, exterior paint and hundreds of portholes, according to reporting on the preparation work. Flooring with high PCB levels was removed and disposed of. The SS United States Conservancy said the United States Army Corps of Engineers granted final approval for the deployment, and the Environmental Protection Agency did not oppose it, according to Cruise Hive, clearing the way for the SS United States artificial reef.

Okaloosa County planned to spend ten million dollars on the SS United States artificial reef project, covering cleaning the ship, sinking it and building a museum about its history, according to PhillyVoice as cited by Parade. The county's own statement put the case for the project in plain terms. "This is an exciting move forward to create a one-of-a-kind resource for the environment and for our tourism industry," county officials said in the statement, according to Cruise Hive. Supporters hope the wreck will draw scuba shops, charter fishing boats and hotels into a steady stream of visitors, according to the Associated Press account.

Not everyone wanted the ship sunk. Preservation groups moved unsuccessfully to have the ship saved, but high costs hindered those efforts, according to the Associated Press account. Craig Coffey, Okaloosa's deputy county administrator, told WEAR that the Oriskany currently holds the largest artificial reef record, and that the county expects the SS United States to surpass it, according to Cruise Chaos. That claim is the county's framing for the SS United States artificial reef, and the real measurements will only be known once the ship is on the seabed.

What visitors will get on land

The SS United States artificial reef will not be the whole story for people who never dive. The Conservancy is continuing plans for a land-based museum near the departure points for future diving tours, according to Cruise Hive. The museum will display the ship's funnels, its radar mast and other salvaged components, along with artwork and artifacts from the vessel's history. For visitors who stay dry, that museum is where the liner's passenger days will be visible, rather than fifty-five feet underwater.

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For now, the county has given a window rather than a date. The SS United States artificial reef deployment is set for the second week of November, the county said on October ninth, and the board said it is working with safety and security partners for a safe and efficient deployment, according to Cruise Hive. Viewing details for the livestream have not yet been released, according to the Conservancy, so anyone planning to watch will have to wait for the county's next update.