An ocean liner that is longer than the Titanic and was once the fastest on the seas is headed to a final home on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico as the world’s largest artificial reef.
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that → head → reef
The S.S. United States is scheduled to be sunk Wednesday off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, fulfilling a long-planned $13.5 million project aimed at attracting more divers and fishing enthusiasts to the area while creating a home for tuna, marlin and swordfish.
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States → schedule → tuna
The project will keep what had been a technological marvel when it made its maiden voyage in 1952 from becoming scrap metal.
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it → keep → metal
The S.S. United States crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, carrying old Hollywood stars like Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.
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States → cross → Kelly
Other passengers have included President John F. Kennedy and Britain’s former King Edward VIII.
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passengers → include → Kennedy
In 1968, a young Bill Clinton took it when he went to Oxford University, decades before he was elected president.
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he → take → University
In preparation for the sinking, organizers removed the 65-foot smokestacks and plan to have them anchor a new museum that celebrates the ship.
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that → remove → ship
Once aboard, passengers were treated to dinners that included caviar, roast duckling, smoked ox tongue and Calf’s Head en Tortue.
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that → treat → caviar
“It was our goal to make sure that she wasn’t lost forever,” said David Lawrence, a member of the board for the S.S. United States Conservancy, which is dedicated to preserving the ship.
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which → make → ship
The ship will be sunk without using explosives
Federal environmental and explosives rules prevent Okaloosa County, Florida, and its contractor from using explosives to scuttle the ship, said Nick Tomecek, the county’s spokesperson.
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Tomecek → sink → ship
Concerns about inclement weather prompted officials to move up the sinking by a day.
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Concerns → prompt → day
The S.S. United States has pipes that pulled seawater into tanks as part of the system that cooled its boilers, he said, and those tanks have been removed so that once the valves are opened, water will flood the hull.
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water → have → hull
Workers also have cut 10-foot by 10-foot holes in the decks, and more than 400 portholes have been removed.
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portholes → cut → decks
The ship is to sink in about 180 feet (55 meters) of water, with its top deck about 60 feet (18 meters) below the surface — shallow enough that inexperienced divers can visit.
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divers → sink → surface
It will settle on the floor of the waters about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Destin, between Panama City and Pensacola.
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It → settle → City
Larger than the Titanic, the ship’s first voyage set a speed record
More than 3,000 workers helped build the S.S. United States in 1950 and 1951 in Virginia.
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workers → set → Virginia
The ship’s average speed for that trip was almost 41 miles (66 kilometers) per hour, besting a record set by Britain’s R.M.S. Queen Mary in 1938 by 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers) per hour, according to the AP’s dispatch.
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speed → best → dispatch
The S.S. United States set the record even though its journey ended in the face of a full gale that reached 69 miles (111 kilometers) per hour — “so strong it blew a ping pong table off the deck,” AP reported.
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AP → set → deck
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.
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which → fat → Atlantic
“She really embodies and expresses this country’s best,” said Susan Gibbs, the granddaughter of the ship’s designer.
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Gibbs → embody → designer
“She represents pride and resilience and strength and beauty.”
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She → represent → pride
The ship’s resting place has many artificial reefs
About 500 artificial reefs are located in the waters near where the S.S. United States will rest, Tomecek said.
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Tomecek → have → waters
Previously, the largest artificial reef came from the 2006 scuttling of an aircraft carrier, the USS Oriskany in the Gulf off of Pensacola — near enough to the S.S. United States site that an experienced diver could visit both in the same day, Tomecek said.
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Tomecek → come → day
The Oriskany, launched in 1950, was 911 feet (278 meters) in length.
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Oriskany → launch → length
“We’re trying to be the best diving destination in the world,” Tomecek said.
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Tomecek → try → world
The ship was decommissioned in 1969.
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ship → decommission → 1969
Attempts by a hotel magnate and Norwegian Cruise Lines to use the ship never floated, and from 1996 until recently, it sat along a dock in Philadelphia.
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it → use → Philadelphia
“I’m just so happy that we are able to save parts of her,” Gibbs said.
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Gibbs → ’m → her
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Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas.
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Hanna → report → Topeka
The Aporia
