Once the historic ocean liner reaches its final resting spot off the coast of Florida’s Gulf Coast, it becomes the world’s largest artificial reef. Competing diving companies are fighting for the huge ship to be carved near them, but one group is suing to stop the ship sinking.
The SS US, a roughly 1,000-foot (305-meter) vessel that crushed the transatlantic speed record in 1952, is undergoing months of scrutiny at Alabama’s mobile port.
Workers will empty and clean all 120 fuel tanks and remove chemicals, wiring, plastic and glass.
“There are a lot of annoying people on the ship built in the 50s,” said Alex Fogg, resource manager for the Okaloosa County Coast. “Essentially, when you’re ready to deploy, it’s a steel and aluminum structure.”
SS US is planning to participate in more than 500 artificial reefs in Okaloosa County. Authorities want to portray tourists at scuba shops, charter fishing boats and hotels, generating millions of dollars each year, providing habitat for important fish species and other marine life.
“The goal here is to become a dive capital in Florida,” Fogg said. “We’re even trying to surpass Florida’s keys.”
Fogg said he hopes SS US will sink by the end of the year at one of three locations, just over 20 nautical miles (37 kilometres) from Destin, Florida. All three locations are the same depth, about 180 feet (55 meters) of water in the sand, but the container is very high, with the top deck being about 60 feet (18 meters) from the surface.
“It’s within the profile of beginner divers, and their deep depth is certainly appealing to these technical, advanced divers,” Fogg said.
Bay County officials have agreed to provide Okaloosa County $3 million to sink SS US near Panama City Beach.
Panama City Beach president and CEO Dunlow said his area has one of the largest diving boat fleets along the northern Gulf Coast. Bay County has a long history of developing technologies used in underwater exploration, with the US Navy Dive School located in Naval Support Activities Panama City.
“Diving is part of our DNA,” Lowe said.
Escambia County officials have only provided $1 million to sink a ship near Pensacola, but Pensacola’s president and CEO Darien Schaefer said the western location is only 12 kilometres (22 kilometres) away from USS Oriskany, where another popular dive site sinks, in 2006.
“We think the proximity of these two shipwrecks is a legendary diving site,” Schafer said.
SS US arrived in Alabama at the beginning of March, following a 12-day towing from the Delaware River in Philadelphia, where it spent nearly 30 years. Okaloosa County was able to acquire ownership of the ship after it was settled in October between the ship and its landlords.
Various groups have been trying to restore SS US for many years, but due to sudden costs all plans were ultimately abandoned. Recently, the intensification of media attention has generated more calls to preserve the ship, and a group called the New York Union filed a lawsuit in Federal Court for Pensacola to ask judges to stop the sinking of such historically important vessels.
But preventing SS America from becoming a coral reef will simply send it to Scrappy. The county’s $10.1 million plan for purchasing, moving, cleaning and sinking also includes $1 million for the Landside Museum to promote the ship’s history.
“When a ship is deployed as an artificial reef, more people will visit it in the first month of the water than they have visited in the last 30 years,” Fogg said.
SS USA, more than 100 feet (30 meters) longer than the RMS Titanic, was once considered a beacon of American engineering and doubled as a military ship capable of carrying troops of thousands. The maiden’s voyage broke records of transatlantic speeds in both directions when it reached an average speed of 36 knots, or more than 41 mph (66 kph), the Associated Press reported after aboard the ship.
The ship crossed the Atlantic in 10 hours and 40 minutes for three days, earning 10 hours of RMS Queen Mary’s time. To this day, SS US holds a record of Ocean Liner’s transatlantic speeds.
