The SS United States completes its final voyage and sinks to the bottom of the Gulf to become an artificial reef

PENSACOLA, Florida — The historic SS United States, once the fastest ship on the seas, made a slow final voyage under water Wednesday.

The famous ocean liner – which is longer than the Titanic and has crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times – was deliberately sunk to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, where the once-luxurious giant was set to open a new chapter as the world’s largest artificial reef.

It was a long goodbye. Hours after the sinking began, on a cloudy afternoon, much of the massive ship was still visible in the dark waters off the Florida coast as night fell. Organizers predicted the sinking could be over in as little as an hour.

Finally, around 10 p.m. EST, the ship leaned to one side and then quickly sank.

“She is an extraordinary lady who will not go down without a fight,” Coleen O’Malley, president of Coleen Marine, the company that sank the ship, said before the ship disappeared underwater. “Just like the incredible nation that gave it its name.”

The event — described by officials as a controlled sinking — was a long-running $13.5 million project aimed at attracting more divers and fishing enthusiasts while creating a home for tuna, marlin and swordfish.

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The slower-than-expected descent was partly due to crews filling 128 fuel and lubricant tanks aboard the ship with water so that it would sit evenly on the ocean floor, said Nick Tomecek, a spokesman for Okaloosa County, who helped organize the sinking. He said the process “took longer than expected.”

“It’s a big ship,” Tomecek said.

A massive ship with a long history

The project will prevent what was a technological marvel on its maiden voyage in 1952 from becoming scrap metal.

Famous passengers included Hollywood stars like Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor. Other passengers included Presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy as well as former British King Edward VIII. In 1968, a young Bill Clinton won it while studying at Oxford University, decades before he was elected president.

Once on board, passengers were treated to dinners including caviar, roast duck, smoked beef tongue and turtle calf’s head.

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In anticipation of the sinking, organizers removed the 20-meter chimneys and plan to install them in a new museum celebrating the ship.

The use of explosives was not permitted

Federal environmental and explosives rules prevent Okaloosa County, Fla., and its contractor from using explosives to scuttle the ship, Tomecek said. Concerns about bad weather prompted authorities to bring forward the sinking a day.

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The SS United States has pipes that drew seawater into tanks as part of its boiler cooling system, he said, and those tanks were removed so that once the valves opened, the water would flood the hull. Workers also drilled 10-by-10-foot holes in the decks, and more than 400 portholes were removed.

The ship is expected to sink in about 180 feet (55 meters) of water, with its upper deck about 60 feet (18 meters) below the surface – shallow enough for inexperienced divers to visit. It will settle at the bottom of the waters about 40 kilometers southwest of Destin, between Panama City and Pensacola.

Larger than the Titanic, the ship set a speed record on its maiden voyage

More than 3,000 workers helped build the SS United States in 1950 and 1951 in Virginia. An Associated Press reporter and Truman’s daughter, Margaret, were among the 1,700 passengers on the first trip.

The ship’s average speed for this trip was nearly 41 mph (66 km/h), breaking the record set by the British RMS Queen Mary in 1938 of 4.5 mph (7.2 km/h), according to the AP report.

The SS United States set the record even though its voyage ended in a high wind that reached 69 mph (111 km/h) – “so strong it blew a ping-pong table off the deck,” AP reported.

At 990 feet (302 meters), the ship is 108 feet (33 meters) longer than the ill-fated Titanic, which struck an iceberg and sank during its maiden voyage across the Atlantic.

“It truly embodies and expresses the best of this country,” said Susan Gibbs, the granddaughter of the ship’s designer. “She represents pride and resilience, strength and beauty.”

The ship’s resting place has many artificial reefs

More than 500 artificial reefs are located in the waters near where the SS United States will rest.

Previously, the largest artificial reef came from the 2006 scuttling of an aircraft carrier, the USS Oriskany, in the gulf off Pensacola — close enough to the site of the SS United States that an experienced diver could visit both in the same day, Tomecek said. The Oriskany, launched in 1950, measured 911 feet (278 meters) in length.

“We’re trying to be the best diving destination in the world,” Tomecek said.

The ship was decommissioned in 1969. Attempts by a hotel magnate and Norwegian Cruise Lines to use the ship were never successful, and from 1996 until recently it sat alongside a pier in Philadelphia.

Mullane called the enormous funnels — the chimneys that were removed to anchor the new museum — “works of art.”

“I’m so happy we can save parts of her,” Gibbs said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.