Legendary liner SS United States slips beneath waves off Florida coast

The SS United States, the historic liner once the fastest vessel on the ocean, finally slipped beneath the waves in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday evening.Around 9pm, the ship tilted to one side and quickly went under. The sinking had begun hours earlier on a cloudy afternoon, and organizers had predicted it could be finished in as little as an hour. Instead, by nightfall much of the vast hull was still visible in the dark waters off the coast of the Florida Panhandle. The vessel, longer than the Titanic and a veteran of more than 800 Atlantic crossings, was deliberately sent to the seabed to begin a new existence as the world's largest artificial reef.Crews prepare to sink the former ocean liner SS United States to create an artificial reef about 22 miles off the coast of Destin, Florida (Reuters)“She is an amazing lady who will not lay down without a fight,” Coleen O’Malley, president of Coleen Marine, the company sinking the ship, said before the vessel disappeared beneath the water. “Much like the amazing nation she was named after.” Officials described the operation as a controlled sinking, the culmination of a long-planned $13.5 million project.The aim is to attract more divers and fishing enthusiasts while creating a home for tuna, marlin and swordfish. The descent proved slower than expected, partly because crews filled 128 fuel and lubricant tanks aboard the ship with water so that it would rest evenly on the ocean floor, said Nick Tomecek, a spokesperson for Okaloosa County, which helped organize the sinking.He said the process “took longer than we thought.”“She’s a big ship,” Tomecek said. The ship will sink to about 180 feet (55 meters) of water, with its top deck about 60 feet (18 meters) below the surface.A tugboat pulls away as they prepare to open the valves to sink the S.S. United States (AP)That depth is shallow enough for inexperienced divers. It will settle on the seafloor about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Destin, between Panama City and Pensacola. Federal environmental and explosives rules prevented Okaloosa County, Florida, and its contractor from using explosives to scuttle the ship, Tomecek said.Concerns about inclement weather prompted officials to move up the sinking by a day. The SS United States has pipes that pulled seawater into tanks as part of the system that cooled its boilers, he said. Those tanks have been removed so that once the valves are opened, water will flood the hull. Workers also cut 10-foot by 10-foot (3-meter by 3-meter) holes in the decks, and removed more than 400 portholes.In preparation for the sinking, organizers removed the 65-foot (20-meter) smokestacks and plan to use them to anchor a new museum that celebrates the ship. The project spares what had been a technological marvel, which made its maiden voyage in 1952, from becoming scrap metal. More than 3,000 workers helped build the SS United States in Virginia in 1950 and 1951.An Associated Press reporter and Truman's daughter, Margaret, were among 1,700 passengers on the first voyage. The ship's average speed for that trip was almost 41 mph (66 kph), besting a record set by Britain's RMS Queen Mary in 1938 by 4.5 mph (7.2 kph), according to the AP's dispatch. The record was set even though the journey ended in the face of a full gale that reached 69 mph (111 kph) — “so strong it blew a ping-pong table off the deck,” AP reported.At 990 feet (302 meters), the ship is 108 feet (33 meters) longer than the ill-fated Titanic (AP)At 990 feet (302 meters), the ship is 108 feet (33 meters) longer than the ill-fated Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank on its first voyage across the Atlantic. Famous passengers included Hollywood stars like Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor. Others aboard included Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy, as well as Britain's former King Edward VIII.In 1968, a young Bill Clinton took the ship when he went to Oxford University, decades before he was elected president. Once aboard, passengers were treated to dinners that included caviar, roast duckling, smoked ox tongue and Calf's Head en Tortue. “She really embodies and expresses this country’s best,” said Susan Gibbs, the granddaughter of the ship's designer. “She represents pride and resilience and strength and beauty.”More than 500 artificial reefs are located in the waters near where the SS United States will rest. Previously, the largest artificial reef came from the 2006 scuttling of the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany in the Gulf off Pensacola. That site is near enough to the SS United States location that an experienced diver could visit both in the same day, Tomecek said.The Oriskany, launched in 1950, was 911 feet (278 meters) in length.“We're trying to be the best diving destination in the world,” Tomecek said. The ship was decommissioned in 1969. Attempts by a hotel magnate and Norwegian Cruise Lines to use the ship never materialized, and from 1996 until recently it sat docked in Philadelphia. Mullane called the huge funnels — the smokestacks that have been removed to anchor the new museum — “works of art.”“I’m just so happy that we are able to save parts of her,” Gibbs said.