This U.S. ocean liner may become the world’s largest artificial reef

Giving visual echoes of the Titanic, a passenger ship may be sunk in Florida waters to become the world’s largest artificial reef. The SS United States is a two-funneled ocean liner that broke the record for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing on its maiden voyage in 1952 (sound familiar?) For years, the vessel has been docked in Philadelphia while legal disputes raged, and now, rather than scrapping it—which would be a shame—officials in Okaloosa County, Florida, want to sink it to the bottom of the Gulf, as reported by The Independent.

It would provide habitat for fish and a playground for divers, boosting tourism for scuba boats, charter fishing boats and hotels on land, to the tune of millions of dollars a year. Wouldn’t you pay to dive down to this ship and see the ghostly bow underwater?

Okaloosa County extends from the Gulf of Mexico to the Alabama state line and already hosts more than 500 artificial reefs. These reefs attempt to make up for the loss of fish habitat with holes where fish can go inside to hide. Barnacles, corals and oysters attach to reefs to create a bustling marine community with food for fish. And in fact, the SS United States is already described in the article as “barnacle-encrusted.”

Offshore from the county’s Destin-Fort Walton Beach, 564 reef sites (already including some decommissioned, deliberately sunken vessels) attract sea turtles, snapper, amberjack, starfish, and grouper, a stunning thing to witness from behind your scuba mask—or even under your snorkel mask.

So, while this ought to be a done deal, the county’s Board of County Commissioners asked to postpone the vote on the vessel until September 17, saying that there’s a “wrinkle” with pier operators. Fingers crossed that the wrinkle can be ironed out.

According to the SS United States Conservancy, a group that has organized to save the ship, the vessel wasn’t just the fastest ocean liner, it was also a national security asset and could be used as a top secret military ship. “It is the story of the nation’s triumphant emergence after the trauma of World War II,” reads the group’s website. “It’s also a story of the glamour of old Hollywood and the advent of mid-century modern art and design. It’s about people from small towns and big cities setting out on journeys to distant shores. It’s about immigrants crossing the sea and beginning new lives.”

And for you other Titanic-obsessed folks, the ship is 100 feet longer than the doomed 1912 liner, and its rudder was designed for good maneuverability at top speeds (the Titanic’s small rudder didn’t permit her to react in time to miss the iceberg). The United States carried far more rafts and lifeboats than needed, placed in various places on ship, to avoid the desperate situation faced by Titanic with one of its collapsible lifeboats, and to a larger degree by the Lusitania and the Andrea Doria, where up to half the lifeboats were unusable based on their location.