The ocean liner SS United States slips beneath the surface of the Gulf off Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida, on Wednesday night, completing her sinking as the world’s largest artificial reef.
In this footage, recorded in the final minutes of the deployment, the 990-foot liner sits deep with her stern venting a bright plume of escaping air. From above, her hull then rolls as she slides under, her name still readable on the bow section, until only churning water and the rising plume remain where she went down.
The liner, launched in 1952 and still the holder of the transatlantic speed record, was positioned about 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach for the deployment. The sinking began earlier on Wednesday: watch her settling low in the water as it got under way in SS United States Goes Down Off Florida. Background: Historic Liner SS United States to Be Sunk Off Florida as the World’s Largest Artificial Reef.
She now rests on the Gulf floor as a dive site and marine habitat, the end of a long final chapter for the fastest ocean liner ever built, which crossed the Atlantic in record time on her maiden voyage in 1952 and was withdrawn from service in 1969.
Video: Associated Press
