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The SS United States, the historic liner once the fastest vessel on the ocean, finally slipped beneath the waves in the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday evening.
Around 9pm, the ship tilted to one side and quickly went under. The sinking had begun hours earlier on a cloudy afternoon, and organizers had predicted it could be finished in as little as an hour. Instead, by nightfall much of the vast hull was still visible in the dark waters off the coast of the Florida Panhandle.
The vessel, longer than the Titanic and a veteran of more than 800 Atlantic crossings, was deliberately sent to the seabed to begin a new existence as the world's largest artificial reef.
“She is an amazing lady who will not lay down without a fight,” Coleen O’Malley, president of Coleen Marine, the company sinking the ship, said before the vessel disappeared beneath the water. “Much like the amazing nation she was named after.” Officials described the operation as a controlled sinking, the culmination of a long-planned $13.5 million project.
The aim is to attract more divers and fishing enthusiasts while creating a home for tuna, marlin and swordfish.
