Historic ocean liner SS United States to be scuttled as artificial reef

Summarised from 3 outlets · 4 reports · Updated 10 Nov, 14:20 · Archive

The SS United States, the world's fastest ocean liner, will be deliberately sunk off Florida to become an artificial reef.

The SS United States, once the world's fastest ocean liner, was moved by a fleet of five tugboats from Mobile, Alabama, on Monday towards the Gulf of Mexico, where it will be deliberately sunk off the coast of Destin, Florida, on Wednesday afternoon. The scuttling will take place 25 miles offshore as a precision operation to create an artificial reef.

On her maiden voyage in July 1952, the ship crossed the Atlantic in three days, ten hours and 40 minutes at an average speed of more than 40 miles per hour – a transatlantic crossing record that has never been broken. During her nearly two decades in service, she carried four U.S. presidents, countless celebrities and tens of thousands of passengers. She was five city blocks long and 12 stories high, and represented American technological achievement at the height of the ocean liner age.

However, the growth of transatlantic air travel made the ship obsolete. By 1969 she was withdrawn from service by United States Lines, as passenger numbers declined. She then sat docked in Philadelphia for almost 30 years, unused and deteriorating. At various times, plans were proposed to convert her into a floating hotel, a museum or a hospitality venue, but none raised sufficient funding or support to proceed.

Susan Gibbs, president of the SS United States Conservancy, described the ship as 'this unabashedly American symbol that brings so many people together'. Gibbs's grandfather, William Francis Gibbs, designed the ship, which was built with U.S. military funding as a vessel that could be converted into a troop transport within 24 hours.

Becoming an artificial reef was not the outcome preservationists had sought for the vessel. The deliberate sinking will end a decades-long wrangle over the ship's fate and transform the historic liner into an attraction for divers beneath the Gulf of Mexico waves.

How it is being reported

• Historic ocean liner to ‘live on’ beneath waves as world’s biggest artificial reefThe SS United States will sink off Florida coast to become an artificial reef, ending long-running wrangle over its fate Final preparations were under way on Tuesday to sink the world’s fastest ocean liner in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef, concluding a decades-long wrangle over the fate of the transatlantic icon . A fleet of five tugboats moved the rusting hulk of the SS United States from a quayside in Mobile, Alabama, on Monday for its short journey to 25 miles off the coast of Destin, Florida, where it will be scuttled in a precision operation on Wednesday afternoon. Continue…Guardian World · 10 Nov, 14:05
• The SS United States and her final destinationShe was the fastest ocean liner in history. But the jet age took the SS United States out of service, and she wound up docked in Philadelphia for nearly 30 years. Now, she's scheduled to be scuttled off Florida, to become the world's largest artificial reef.CBS News · 8 Nov, 14:34
• The SS United States and her final destinationShe was the fastest ocean liner in history, widely known as America's flagship, and in her nearly two decades in service, the elegant SS United States carried four presidents, countless celebrities, and tens of thousands of happy voyagers. But the jet age took her out of service, and she eventually wound up docked at a Philadelphia berth for close to 30 years. Now, the SS United States is scheduled to sink off the coast of Florida, to become the world's largest artificial reef. Correspondent Lee Cowan looks back on the history and future of a maritime legend.CBS News · 8 Nov, 14:33
• SS United States, a historic ship will be sunk to create an artificial reefNPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Alex Fogg, Natural Resources Chief of Okaloosa County, Florida, about efforts to deliberately sink the SS United States and create an artificial reef in its wreckage.NPR · 8 Nov, 13:34

In this story: SS United States · Destin · Florida · Philadelphia · Mobile · Gulf of Mexico · Susan Gibbs · William Francis Gibbs

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