• A historic ocean liner is getting a new legacy as the world’s largest artificial reef.
• In its heyday, the SS United States carried movie stars and presidents.
• The ship will be scuttled by 2026 and serve as a dive site for both beginner and advanced scuba enthusiasts.

Once the most talked-about ship on the sea, the SS United States is heading toward its final resting place. But it won’t be the end of the ship’s story.

The vessel holds the record for the fastest transatlantic crossing by an ocean liner, completing the journey from New York to Europe in just three days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes on its inaugural voyage in 1952. After years of uncertainty and the loss of the ship’s longtime berth in Philadelphia, the historic ocean liner was purchased by Okaloosa County, Florida, with plans to sink the ship by 2026 to create what will become the world’s largest artificial reef.

To the delight of divers, the site is expected to be located about 10 miles off the coast of Destin in the Florida Panhandle, with the 1,000-foot-long vessel’s top decks resting 60 feet below the surface—accessible to both beginner and advanced divers. Before the vessel is scuttled, crews will remove hazardous materials and prepare it for safe reef conversion in accordance with environmental guidelines.

The initiative is part of Okaloosa County’s efforts to boost eco-tourism and marine biodiversity; the SS United States will join more than 500 artificial reefs in the area, including a dozen smaller shipwrecks.

It’s a dignified coda for “America’s Flagship”—a vessel that broke records, carried presidents and celebrities (its passenger list included John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Marilyn Monroe, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Salvador Dalí, Marlon Brando, and even Walt Disney), and symbolized the might of American engineering in its heyday.

After retiring from service in 1969, the ship languished in limbo; it was saved from the scrapyard several times but never fully restored. When efforts to repurpose it as a museum or hotel didn’t materialize, Okaloosa County officials stepped in with a forward-thinking plan: turn the SS United States into a reef teeming with life, a win-win boon to the marine environment and to eco-tourism.

Perhaps it’s not a restoration to the vessel’s former glory, but this next chapter will transform the ship into a sanctuary and a monument inspiring future generations with its underwater legacy.

On its final voyage south, the ship passed Palm Beach and caused a stir among locals—shots of its iconic red, white, and blue smokestacks gliding past the shores carried a poetic weight in a town whose own origin (and very name) traces back to a coconut-laden shipwreck.

You can follow the ship’s journey to the deep on the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Welcome + Adventure Center website, and the 1962 Disney film “Bon Voyage!” has scenes of the ship in all its glory.