Historic ocean liner to ‘live on’ beneath waves as world’s biggest artificial reef

The SS United States will sink off Florida coast to become an artificial reef, ending long-running wrangle over its fate

Final preparations were under way on Tuesday to sink the world's fastest ocean liner in the Gulf of Mexico as an artificial reef, concluding a decades-long wrangle over the fate of the transatlantic icon.

A fleet of five tugboats moved the rusting hulk of the SS United States from a quayside in Mobile, Alabama, on Monday for its short journey to 25 miles off the coast of Destin, Florida, where it will be scuttled in a precision operation on Wednesday afternoon.