Florida is the dream retirement destination for many Americans.
It is not just people who will spend their golden years in the Sunshine State.
And a historic ship is getting one surprising job after retirement in Florida.
Historic ocean liner will become the world’s largest artificial reef
The SS United States is the largest passenger ship ever built in the United States and was once known as “America’s Flagship”
It broke the trans-Atlantic speed record on its maiden voyage in 1952, where it cruised at an average of 36 knots, a little over 41 miles per hour.
SS United States still holds the record for speed.
The nearly 1,000-foot ship was a marvel of engineering at the time it was built.
It was designed to be converted into a troop transport ship in the outbreak of war.
The SS United States was featured prominently in movies like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Bon Voyage, and Gentlemen Marry Brunettes.
Airline travel switching to jets in the 1960s led to a decline in trans-Atlantic ocean liners.
The SS United States made its final journey as a passenger liner in 1969 before it began changing hands over the decades.
Various owners hoped they could restore the ship to its former glory, but restoration proved to be too costly or time-consuming.
Eventually, the SS United States began to deteriorate with age.
The ship sat docked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as it continued to change ownership.
Okaloosa County, Florida, announced that it would buy the SS United States and sink the ship to create the largest artificial reef in the world in the Fort Walton Beach area.
The county hopes that the sunken ship will become a tourist attraction for divers and fishing charters that will generate millions of dollars for the local economy.
“Once deployed off Destin-Fort Walton Beach, at nearly 1,000-feet long, the SS United States will be a home for a diverse range of marine life and attract divers and anglers from around the world,” Destin-Fort Walton Beach’s tourism website stated.
A museum will be on land to commemorate the ship with parts salvaged from the ship.
SS United States begins its final voyage
The SS United States is being towed from Philadelphia to Mobile, Alabama, where it will be cleaned before its eventual sinking.
The trip to Mobile, the needed work on the ship, and then the eventual sinking is expected to take almost two years.
The journey was supposed to start last November, but the Coast Guard was worried the ship could not manage the trek.
SS United States Conservancy president Susan Gibbs, the granddaughter of the ship’s architect William Francis Gibbs, wished the ocean liner farewell from Philadelphia.
“The ship will forever symbolize our nation’s strength, innovation, and resilience,” Gibbs stated. “We wish her ‘fair winds and following seas’ on her historic journey to her new home.”
The SS United States, once the height of the transatlantic ocean liner industry as the fastest liner to cross the Atlantic departs Philadelphia once last time to be brought to Florida and sunk for an artificial reef. Pictures from Chester, PA & Wilmington, DE pic.twitter.com/lf2Y5zuKLu
— Jeffrey Carberry 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@JeffreyCarberr1) February 20, 2025
Four tugboats are pulling the ship down the Atlantic Coast toward the Gulf of America because its engines do not work.
The SS United States avoided the scrapyard to find a new life entertaining people as an artificial reef for decades to come.
DeSantis Daily will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
