A ship that was once the fastest in the world and is longer than the Titanic will be sunk off the coast of Florida and turned into the world’s largest artificial ocean reef.
The SS United States spent nearly 30 years docked in Philadelphia before it was moved to Florida, where it will soon become a home for sea life and an underwater attraction for marine enthusiasts.
Activists unsuccessfully fought for the historic liner – which crossed the Atlantic Ocean hundreds of times – to be preserved as a museum.
Instead, after a Florida county purchased it, it will be added to the dozens of artificial reefs off the coast, and a land-based museum detailing the ship’s history is also planned.
Before its retirement, the SS United States was known for carrying royalty and celebrities from the US to Europe, beginning in 1952 and ending in 1969.
A young Bill Clinton, before he was president, used the ship to cross the Atlantic. Former presidents Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy also travelled on the vessel.
The ship moved from Philadelphia to Alabama last year for cleaning and remediation. On Monday, it took its final journey from Alabama to the coast of Destin, Florida, where it will be sunk on Wednesday in a precision operation without explosives.
A 2015 image from when the ship was docked in Philadelphia
Stars including Marlon Brando, Coco Chanel, Duke Ellington, Salvador Dali, Walt Disney, Judy Garland and Cary Grant also boarded the ship during its sailing lifetime.
Before the municipal Florida government purchased it, several proposals to give the ship a second life as a museum or floating hotel failed.
SS United States in the 1950’s
Instead, the famed ship sat at various docks with various owners as legal battles played out.
The SS United States Conservancy group repeatedly attempted to keep the ship above water, but was unsuccessful.
Conservancy President Susan Gibbs – whose grandfather helped design the SS United States – said she was glad that the story of the ship would live on.
“[The ship] has always been this unabashedly American symbol that brings so many people together,” Gibbs told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner.