The ocean liner SS United States was deliberately sunk this week off Florida's Gulf Coast in a controlled, explosive-free operation intended to create the world's largest artificial reef^1,2,3.

CBS News said the roughly 1,000-foot ship was sent down Wednesday about 20 nautical miles offshore between the Destin-Fort Walton Beach area and Pensacola¹. RTE placed the site about 40 kilometres southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach³.

Okaloosa County bought the decommissioned liner from the SS United States Conservancy for about $1 million in 2024 and spent about $13 million to $13.5 million in tourist-tax funds to clean and sink it^1,3. The ship was prepared in Mobile, Alabama, with environmentally unsafe materials removed under EPA and Florida Department of Environmental Protection coordination^1,2.

Launched in 1952, the liner set a transatlantic speed record that still stands, carried presidents, celebrities and, RTE reported, the Mona Lisa in 1963, and was retired in 1969 as air travel grew^1,2,3. It sat for decades in Philadelphia after museum and hotel plans failed^1,2.

RTE said the hull is expected to rest at about 54 metres, with upper decks about 16 metres below the surface³. Capt. Tim Mullane of Coleen Marine, which led the work, said the vessel would serve a second life for marine life, diving and fishing³.

BBC reported that preservation activists had wanted a museum afloat; a land museum is also planned². Conservancy president Susan Gibbs, whose grandfather helped design the ship, said the liner's story would live on².