America’s fastest ocean liner to be sunk and turned into world’s largest reef

The SS United States, a 990-foot ocean liner that carried presidents, dignitaries and celebrities across the Atlantic, is preparing for a final voyage that will take it from a historic passenger ship to an underwater attraction. More than seven decades after its maiden voyage in 1952, the vessel is scheduled to be sunk off Florida’s Gulf Coast in November 2026, where it is expected to become the world’s largest artificial reef. The deployment is planned for the second week of November, subject to final arrangements and weather conditions, according to the SS United States Conservancy.The ship is currently in Mobile, Alabama, where it has undergone environmental remediation and preparations for its planned conversion. Okaloosa County, Florida, which purchased the vessel to prevent it from being scrapped, intends to place it approximately 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin–Fort Walton Beach in the Gulf of Mexico.