The SS United States, the retired and historic ocean liner that has been slated to become an artificial reef will make its final journey to the bottom of the ocean today, Wednesday, November 11th off the coast of Destin-Fort Walton Beach in Florida. You can watch the livestream here beginning at 11 Central/noon Eastern.
After the sinking and once the site is determined to be safe by the United States Coast Guard, and the SS United States will become a recreational diving destination complete with a museum dedicated to the ocean liner.
Since hitting the sea in 1952, the SS United States was renowned as a record-breaking ship that held the time for the fastest transatlantic crossing at three days, 12 hours, and 12 minutes. To this day, it’s still the fastest ship to cross the Atlantic. SlashGear reported on the ship’s exploits when news of its fate hit the headlines last year.
Read more: Every Class Of Battleship The U.S. Navy Operated In WWI And WWII
Living on under the waves
EbersonImages/Shutterstock
Recently, the SS United States has attracted a lot of attention. According to ABC 6 news out of Philadelphia, a judge even had to preside over a case where a preservation group argued that the ship was too historically important to sink and the environmental impact was not properly considered.
That case was eventually dismissed and while seeing the ship preserved to its heyday from the 1950s and 1960s would probably be preferable to sinking, the artificial reef treatment is miles better and more dignified than scrapping the ship, or letting it rot away in Philadelphia where it sat for decades prior to getting towed to Florida.
So the SS United States will live on in some form or another. It will now, instead, be a home for Floridian aquatic life, instead of wealthy patrons from the mid-20th century and golden age of lightning fast ocean liners.
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Read the original article on SlashGear.
Source: www.yahoo.com
