Ocean Liner SS United States Is Sunk Off Florida's Coast After a Long Goodbye
The 990-foot liner will provide habitat for fish, corals and other marine life, while researchers begin a multi-year study of the new reef.
- On Wednesday, November 11, 2026, the SS United States sank beneath the Gulf of Mexico off Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida, becoming the world's largest artificial reef.
- Okaloosa County purchased the historic liner for $1 million in 2024, initiating the $13.5 million reefing project after years of failed preservation efforts left the vessel facing the scrapyard.
- At 302-meter long, the vessel surpasses the 911-foot USS Oriskany as the largest ship-based artificial reef, with its hull resting at approximately 180 feet deep.
- Strong winds forced officials to move the sinking forward 24 hours, and the operation took over seven hours to complete as crews carefully controlled flooding to settle the vessel properly.
- Researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution plan a multi-year study to document the ship's ecosystem formation, monitoring how corroding steel releases metals and impacts microbial communities from scratch.
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65 Articles
The SS UNITED States spent nearly 30 years anchored in Philadelphia before being moved to Florida, where it will become a habitat for marine organisms and an underwater attraction for sea lovers.
Historic SS United States Sinks Off Florida Coast To Become World’s Largest Artificial Reef
DESTIN, FLORIDA (VINnews) — The SS United States, once the world’s fastest ocean liner, was deliberately sunk Wednesday off the Florida Panhandle, becoming the largest artificial reef in the world. The 990-foot vessel went down about 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach in a controlled, explosive-free operation. Okaloosa County officials said the ship […]
The SS United States took much longer to sink than anticipated
The SS United States was intentionally sunk 22 nautical miles off the coast of the Destin Fort-Walton Beach in Florida on Wednesday. The sinking took about four hours — way longer than initial estimates.
A prestigious American ship, the SS United States, longer than the Titanic and having completed more than 800 transatlantic voyages in the 1950s and 1960s, was sunk on Wednesday, November 11 off Florida to become "the largest artificial reef in the world" and a tourist destination.
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