Legendary American Ocean Liner Sunk Off Florida To Become Diving Destination

The SS United States, once the fastest passenger liner in the world and a symbol of American postwar ambition, has reached its final resting place beneath the Gulf of America.

Photographer: Hannah Yoon/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The historic ocean liner was deliberately scuttled Wednesday night roughly 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin, Florida. The sinking began after hours of preparation, with seawater entering openings cut into the hull. By 8:59 p.m. CT, the ship had disappeared beneath the waves.

Sonar showed the ship settled upright about 180 feet down, nearly at its target coordinates, and county officials said Thursday the wreck is already open to divers.

The ship is expected to become a major attraction for recreational divers. Okaloosa County tourism officials have described the ship as the centerpiece of the region’s artificial reef program.

Crews stripped the vessel of hazardous materials, drained its fuel tanks, removed wiring and other potential entanglement hazards, and cut passages throughout its interior to give divers safer routes to open water. 

Local diving professional Kerry Freeland told

WEAR-TV that divers would need to wait for conditions around the wreck to stabilize.

The ship could strike the bottom with enough force to dislodge equipment, Freeland warned, while escaping air pockets could create additional hazards. 

The SS United States was designed by naval architect William Francis Gibbs and launched in 1951. Built during the early Cold War, it was intended to serve as both a luxury passenger liner and a potential troop transport in the event of a military conflict.

On its maiden voyage in July 1952, the vessel broke transatlantic speed records in both directions and captured the Blue Riband, the distinction awarded to the fastest transatlantic ocean liner. 

For nearly two decades, the ship carried presidents, royalty, entertainers and ordinary travelers between the United States and Europe. Its passengers included Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Walt Disney and Duke Ellington. The Mona Lisa also crossed the Atlantic aboard the vessel in 1963 during the painting’s visit to the United States.

But the rise of commercial jet travel made transatlantic ocean liners increasingly uneconomical. The SS United States was taken out of service in 1969 and eventually spent decades docked in Philadelphia, where efforts to turn it into a hotel, museum or entertainment complex failed to materialize.

Its future became uncertain after it was evicted from its Philadelphia berth in 2024. The SS United States Conservancy, which had worked for years to preserve the vessel, ultimately agreed to sell it to Okaloosa County for $1 million rather than see it sent to a scrapyard.

It was towed from Philadelphia to a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, in 2025, where crews undertook the extensive work necessary to prepare it for reefing.

The ship’s signature red, white and blue smokestacks were removed for a planned museum and visitor experience in the Destin area.

For Susan Gibbs, granddaughter of the vessel’s designer and head of the SS United States Conservancy, the sinking marked an emotional end to years of efforts to save it.

She previously described the decision to turn the ship into a reef as a complicated mix of sorrow, gratitude, pride and hope, but said reefing offered a more dignified fate than scrapping the vessel.

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