Historic SS United States sinks after hours-long goodbye off Florida’s coast
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States → sink → coast
Published Nov. 12, 2026, 12:01 a.m. ET
The historic SS United States, once the fastest ship on the seas, made a slow final journey beneath the waters Wednesday.
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States → publish → waters
The famous ocean liner — which is longer than the Titanic and crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times — was deliberately sunk Wednesday to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, where the once-luxurious behemoth was set to begin a new chapter as the world’s largest artificial reef.
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behemoth → cross → reef
Hours after the sinking began on a cloudy afternoon, much of the hulking ship could still be seen in the dark waters off the coast of the Florida Panhandle by nightfall.
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much → begin → nightfall
Organizers had predicted the sinking could finish in as quickly as an hour.
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sinking → predict → hour
Finally, around 9 p.m., the vessel leaned on one side and then quickly submerged.
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vessel → lean → side
“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.
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vessel → lay → water
“Much like the amazing nation she was named after.
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she → name → nation
The event — described by officials as a controlled sinking — was a long-planned $13.5 million project aimed at attracting more divers and fishing enthusiasts while creating a home for tuna, marlin and swordfish.
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event → describe → tuna
The slower-than-expected descent was partly due to crews filling 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.
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which → expect → sinking
He said the process “took longer than we thought.”
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we → say → ?
“She’s a big ship,” Tomecek said.
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Tomecek → ’ → ?
A massive vessel with a long history
The project will keep what had been a technological marvel when it made its maiden voyage in 1952 from becoming scrap metal.
Famous passengers included Hollywood stars like Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor.
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passengers → keep → Kelly
Other passengers have included Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy and Britain’s former King Edward VIII.
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passengers → include → Truman
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
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
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
Explosives were not allowed to be used
Federal environmental and explosives rules prevent Okaloosa County, Florida, and its contractor from using explosives to scuttle the ship, Tomecek said.
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Tomecek → allow → ship
Concerns about inclement weather prompted officials to move up the sinking by a day.
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Concerns → prompt → day
The SS 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 was to sink in about 180 feet of water, with its top deck about 60 feet 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 southwest of Destin, between Panama City and Pensacola.
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It → settle → City
Larger than the Titanic, the ship set a speed record on its first voyage
More than 3,000 workers helped build the SS 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 mph, besting a record set by Britain’s RMS Queen Mary in 1938 by 4.5 mph, according to the AP’s dispatch.
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speed → best → dispatch
The SS United States set the record even though its journey ended in the face of a full gale that reached 69 mph — “so strong it blew a ping pong table off the deck,” AP reported.
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AP → set → deck
At 990 feet, the ship is 108 feet longer than the ill-fated Titanic, which hit an iceberg and sank on its first voyage across the Atlantic.
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which → hit → 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
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place → have → reefs
More than 500 artificial reefs are located in the waters near where the SS United States will rest.
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States → locate → waters
Previously, the largest artificial reef came from the 2006 scuttling of an aircraft carrier, the USS Oriskany in the Gulf off Pensacola — near enough to the SS 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 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
Mullane called the huge funnels — the smokestacks that have been removed to anchor the new museum — “works of art.”
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that → call → art
“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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