Famed ocean liner SS United States, the largest passenger ship ever built in America and the world’s fastest, headed for the sea floor near Florida on Wednesday in a deliberate sinking designed to transform the vessel into the world’s biggest artificial reef.
The finale to a year-long process preparing the ship to meet its destiny, 75 years after it was first launched at sea, was presented in a live stream showing aerial views of the once-grand vessel’s rusted hulk, stripped of its two smokestacks, afloat but quietly, slowly settling into calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
The ship, measuring 302 metres (990 feet) from stem to stern, was surrounded by onlookers and safety crews aboard dozens of tugboats and recreational vessels that accompanied the ocean liner as it was towed out to sea for its final voyage.