(PHILADELPHIA) — A historic ocean liner that once ferried immigrants, Hollywood stars and heads of state may soon find its final resting place at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, after a Florida county inked a tentative deal to turn the ship into the world’s largest artificial reef, WPVI News reported.
The contract approved Tuesday by officials in Okaloosa County on Florida’s coastal Panhandle is contingent upon the resolution of court-imposed mediation, after a judge ordered the storied but aging ship to vacate its berth at a pier in Philadelphia following a years-long dispute over rent and dockage fees.
The largest passenger ship ever built in the U.S., SS United States shattered a record for the fastest trans-Atlantic crossing by a passenger liner on its maiden voyage in 1952, The Associated Press reported from aboard the vessel.
But the ship has been in a race against time to find a new home, with conservationists scrambling to find an alternative to scrapping the massive ocean liner, which is more than 100 feet longer than Titanic.
The solution: Sink it on purpose and create what supporters hope will be a barnacle-encrusted star in Okaloosa County’s constellation of more than 500 artificial reefs, making it a signature diving attraction that could generate millions of dollars a year in local tourism spending for scuba shops, charter fishing boats and hotels.
“To have an opportunity to have the SS United States right here by our shore is a heritage and a legacy that is generational,” said Okaloosa County Commissioner Mel Ponder. “I’m very excited for not only what it does for the diving community, but also the fishing community, but the community at large.”
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