From NPR · · 1m 50s
Record-breaking liner sunk to create artificial reef
The SS United States, which held the transatlantic speed record for over 60 years, was deliberately sunk off Florida to become the world's largest artificial reef.
In brief
The SS United States, which held the transatlantic speed record for over 60 years, was deliberately sunk off Florida to become the world's largest artificial reef. The SS United States, a retired ocean liner that set transatlantic records in 1952, was deliberately sunk in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday to create an…
A ship sinks by design
The SS United States, a retired ocean liner, was deliberately sunk on Wednesday to create the world's largest artificial reef.It disappeared beneath the waves at ten p.m.
A record-breaking maiden voyage
The ocean liner took its maiden voyage in nineteen fifty-two and shattered the trans-Atlantic speed record, winning the coveted Blue Riband. It still holds the record more than sixty years later.
A ship longer than the Titanic
Measuring almost one thousand feet from bow to stern, the giant ship is longer than the Titanic.
Notable passengers and military potential
By nineteen sixty-nine, the SS United States carried Harry Truman, Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe, Walter Cronkite and a young Bill Clinton.
Designer's granddaughter reflects on goodbye
Susan Gibbs chairs the board of the SS United States Conservancy. Her grandfather, William Francis Gibbs, designed the ship more than seventy years ago. She described the sinking as grief mixed with gratitude and hope.
“It's a combination of grief, that I will be saying goodbye to her in her current form, but, gratitude and hope in terms of what she will continue to give to the world.”
Eighteen months to sink a ship
Coleen Marine, a marine engineering contracting company specializing in artificial reefs, led the sinking project.President Coleen O'Malley said the biggest challenge was ensuring air came out, not how much water went in.
“The biggest thing with sinking a ship is not how much water you put in. It's making sure the air comes out.”
A museum planned in its honor
Okaloosa County, Florida purchased the ship in twenty twenty-four and decided to sink it. The SS United States Conservancy is now planning to construct a museum in the ship's honor in Florida.
The key point
The SS United States, a retired ocean liner that set transatlantic records in 1952, was deliberately sunk in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday to create an artificial reef for divers and marine life.
