[Guns N' Coffee]

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/gen...ef/ar-AA2gZIyv

The SS United States — a huge ocean liner that once ferried celebrities — is slated to be sunk to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico (America) next week, to become the world’s largest artificial reef.

It will be an auspicious end for the 990-foot ship, which smashed the transatlantic speed record for an ocean liner on its 1952 maiden voyage but spent more recent decades bouncing from owner to owner, struggling to find a new purpose and avoid the scrap heap.

The plan is to set it down 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin, Florida, on Nov. 12, according to officials in Okaloosa County.

The ship will be joining the hundreds of other artificial reefs in the northern waters of the Gulf, including former ships and concrete structures, said county spokesman Nick Tomecek.

It’s good for aquatic life and helps replace lost natural habit, he said, along with attracting divers. The county hopes to generate tourism and diving revenue from the ship turned reef.

The SS United States carried more than a million passengers over its career, including Marilyn Monroe, Salvador Dalí and Walt Disney, according to records. The 1962 comedy film “Bon Voyage!” used the ship as a major setting.

The ship was retired in 1969, amid the expansion of jet travel and the fall of transatlantic passenger traffic.

It spent several years laid up in Newport News and Norfolk, Virginia. Potential owners eyed it as a floating casino or hospital ship. A group bought it for $7 million in 1980 with plans to convert it into floating condos. All plans fell through.

A new owner took the ship to Turkey for several years, but it returned to the United States with a different owner in the 1990s. More owners followed as the ship sat docked in Philadelphia.

Then a group created to save the ship, the SS United States Conservancy, bought it in 2011. There was talk of anchoring the ship as part of a waterfront development in a major city. Nothing worked out.

By 2014, the conservancy was considering scrapping the grand old ship as it struggled to afford upkeep and mooring fees.

A decade later, after a court battle, the ship was evicted from its port.

That’s when Okaloosa County — home of Destin and Fort Walton Beach — came calling.

The county bought the ship for $1 million and, along with partners, spent nearly $13 million to tow it and get it ready to become a reef, along with helping fund a new ship-related museum.

The current titleholder of largest artificial reef is the USS Oriskany, a former aircraft carrier sunk in 2006 off the coast of Pensacola, Florida.

[Guns N' Coffee]

[kellyhound]

Originally Posted by Guns N' Coffee ↗

the 990-foot ship, which smashed the transatlantic speed record for an ocean liner on its 1952 maiden voyage.

In July 1952, she crossed the Atlantic from New York to Cornwall, UK, in 3 days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes at an average speed of 35.59 knots, winning the Blue Riband and breaking the long-standing record. The 35.59 knots record was her average speed over nearly 3,000 miles of open, unpredictable Atlantic ocean.

The captain never ran the engines at 100% capacity. Running turbines at maximum limit for days straight risks catastrophic mechanical failure or running out of fuel. The engineers kept a massive amount of horsepower in reserve just in case they encountered severe headwinds or storms and passenger comfort.

BUT: the ship was actually designed as a top-secret Cold War weapon disguised as a luxury ocean liner.

While the public saw a glamorous ship carrying movie stars and presidents, the Pentagon secretly funded roughly 70% of its construction. The U.S. government wanted a vessel that could instantly convert into a massive troop transport in the event of a war with the Soviet Union.

The navy kept the ship's true top speed a classified secret for decades. While official commercial records listed it at 38 knots (44 mph), declassified documents later revealed it reached a staggering 44.7 knots (over 51 mph) during sea trials.

Powered by the same steam turbines used on U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, it could outrun torpedoes and military submarines. It even went faster in reverse than the Titanic could go forward.

The ship's designer, William Francis Gibbs, was so terrified of enemy torpedoes causing fires that he banned almost all wood from the ship. Everything from the furniture and artwork to the walls and decorations was made of steel, aluminum, or fire-resistant fabrics.

The only pieces of wood on the entire ship were the butcher blocks in the kitchens and the Steinway pianos in the lounges, and even those pianos were made of a rare, specially treated fireproof mahogany.

To stop Soviet spies from photographing its revolutionary hull design and highly classified propeller blades, the ship was built inside a deep, enclosed drydock completely hidden from public view.

Fortunately, that war never came, and passengers got to enjoy the ultimate secret weapon as a floating palace.

In 1963, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa was smuggled onto the ship under extreme secrecy. The painting was returning to Europe after a high-profile exhibition in the United States requested by Jacqueline Kennedy.

To ensure its safety, the masterpiece was locked inside a specially temperature-controlled, watertight, and unsinkable state cabin.

Secret Service agents stood guard outside the cabin door 24/7.

Rumor has it that the painting was even issued its own individual first-class passenger ticket under a fake name to keep manifest logs clear of stolen art targets.

Surrealist painter Salvador Dalí was a frequent first-class passenger, and he never traveled conventionally. Dalí regularly brought his pet ocelot, Babou, on board the ship.

He walked the wild exotic cat on a leash along the promenade decks, terrifying wealthy socialites and when passengers complained about the dangerous animal, Dalí would calmly look them in the eye and lie, claiming Babou was just a normal domestic cat that he had painted over with an intricate geometric design.

The Duke and Duchess of Windsor (the abdicated King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson) were regulars on the ship and brought an entire entourage, including their beloved pugs.

The Duke was so demanding about his dogs' lifestyle that the crew had to install a custom-made, mock British lamppost on the ship’s dog-walking deck so the royal pups would feel comfortable doing their business.

The ship’s chefs also had to prepare custom gourmet meals for the dogs every day, which were served on silver platters.

[Mr.NoCredit]

Artificial reef is what they call it but they’re just dumping more trash in the ocean. A giant piece of it all at once. It’ll be great for fish and divers. Yep. Diving shipwrecks is dangerous. They say you shouldn’t. It’s too much work to dismantle so let’s just sink it in the ocean.