OFF FLORIDA PANHANDLE– The SS United States, the fastest ocean liner ever to cross the Atlantic, sank Wednesday night in the Gulf. Even in her final hours, she was in no hurry.
Crews began flooding the ship’s hull in the afternoon, 22 nautical miles off the Panhandle. No explosives were used. Seawater poured in through openings cut into her decks and through more than 400 portholes that had been removed to speed up the process. Night fell, and the ship was still afloat.
She now rests about 60 feet below the surface, where she will become the largest artificial reef on Earth.
The slow goodbye suited a ship that was never easy to catch. Her designer, William Francis Gibbs, liked to boast that she could not be set on fire, caught or sunk. Nobody ever caught her. Her 1952 transatlantic record of three days, 10 hours and 40 minutes still stands.
The Navy had quietly helped shape her design. Her top speed was classified, and she was engineered to serve as a troopship capable of carrying 14,000 soldiers on short notice. One former captain said she could outrun some destroyers.
Instead of carrying an army, she spent her career carrying presidents, movie stars and some of the most famous passengers of her era.
For the people who fought for years to save her, the long, stubborn sinking felt fitting.
Photo credit-World Warships
