A retired ocean liner with a long and expansive history is now playing a whole new role at the bottom of the sea — not as a sunken shipwreck, but an artificial reef to protect the fragile marine ecosystem.
On Wednesday, November 11, the SS United States — an ocean liner that first set sail in 1952 — was deliberately sunk to enjoy a second act protecting the underwater ecosystem off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.
As PBS News reports, the SS United States experienced a successful run as an ocean liner, setting a trans-Atlantic speed record that has yet to be broken.
On the ship’s maiden voyage in July 1952, the SS United States traveled from New York City to Europe in just three days. The daughter of President Harry Truman was among the 1,700 passengers aboard.
Thanks to is speed, the 1,000-foot vessel quickly became the ship of choice for the likes of presidents and movie stars, described as “a technical marvel of its time.”
However, the high costs of operating and maintaining the vessel, coupled with the rising popularity of air travel, eventually made the SS United States financially unfeasible.
In 1969, the ship was taken out of service; it was moored at Phildelphia’s Pier 82, where it sat for three decades until Florida’s Okaloosa County purchased the SS United States with an audacious plan to sink the ship in the Gulf of Mexico so it can become the world’s largest artificial reef.
Because federal regulations prevent the use of explosives, tanks within the vessell were removed and sizeable holes cut into the decks to facilitate its sinking once valves were opened and water flooded into the hull.
After a successful sinking operation, the SS United States now rests in its new home, 180 feet below the ocean’s surface as one of 500 artificial reefs in Okaloosa County. Not only will this new reef supporting the underwater ecosystem, the county also hopes it will become a tourist attraction for divers.
“We’re trying to be the best diving destination in the world,” county spokesperson Nick Tomecek told The Associated Press.
‘Pride and Resilience’
“It was our goal to make sure that she wasn’t lost forever,” David Lawrence, a member of the board for the SS United States Conservancy — which sold the ship — told PBS News.
Ahead of the controlled sinking on Wednesday, the ship’s 65-foot smokestacks were removed, with plans to showcase them in a proposed museum that will celebrate the rich history of the SS United States.
“We’re not destroying anything,” Tim Mullane, chief operating officer of Coleen Marine, the company sending the ship to the ocean floor, said in a video shot by county officials. “It’s going to serve a second life.”
Because of its location off the Gulf coast, the beauty of the SS United States can now be appreciated in a whole new way as it serves its new purpose.
“She really embodies and expresses this country’s best,” said Susan Gibbs, whose grandfather designed the grand vessel. “She represents pride and resilience and strength and beauty.”
Historic Ocean Liner SS United States to Become the World’s Largest Artificial Reef