Follow-Up: Flooding Begins to Sink SS United States off Florida as It Becomes the World's Largest Artificial Reef
The sinking of the ocean liner SS United States off Okaloosa County, Florida, began on November 11, as crews started flooding the 990-foot ship. It is being sunk about 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach to become the world's largest artificial reef.
The date was moved up by one day because of forecast heavy winds and unsafe sea conditions. Okaloosa County had planned the deployment for November 12 and instead began at 1 p.m. Central Time on November 11. Crews are flooding the ship in a controlled process through its original seawater intake pipes and 128 tanks, with no explosives planned. The final descent is expected to take about 45 minutes, leaving the ship in about 180 feet of water.
The operation ran behind schedule. Because the sinking was moved up a day, crews were preparing the vessel and flooding it at the same time. Valves were opened during the afternoon and a fire boat pumped water into the hull, but the final descent had not been completed. The deployment coordinates are 30 degrees 07.148 minutes north, 86 degrees 46.755 minutes west. Dive teams from Destin-Fort Walton Beach and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution will make the first survey dive to fix the ship's exact resting position.
SS United States set the transatlantic speed record on its 1952 maiden voyage, crossing in 3 days and 10 hours, a record it still holds. The ship was retired in 1969, moored in Philadelphia from 1996, and towed to Mobile, Alabama, in February 2025 for environmental remediation and reef preparation. Okaloosa County purchased the ship in 2024 for $10.1 million.
A preservation group tried to stop the sinking in court. U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers denied the SS United States Preservation Foundation's motion on November 6, allowing the deployment to proceed.
Source: Okaloosa County
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：合众国号邮轮停泊在 Philadelphia 时的资料照片。Smallbones 摄，CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / File photo: SS United States moored in Philadelphia. By Smallbones, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
