SS United States to sink off Florida as artificial reef
What's next: Okaloosa County plans to pair the dive site with a land museum after the liner is lowered without explosives.
The SS United States, the record-setting ocean liner that once carried presidents and celebrities across the Atlantic, is set to be intentionally sunk off Florida's panhandle and turned into what officials call the world's largest artificial reef. The nearly 1,000-foot ship is due to go down Wednesday near Destin in a controlled operation that avoids explosives, after remediation work in Alabama and a final tow from the Gulf Coast. Okaloosa County bought the vessel after preservation efforts failed and plans to use the reef as both marine habitat and a diving attraction. A land-based museum is also planned to preserve the ship's history after decades laid up in Philadelphia.