SS United States being sunk to become the world's largest artificial reef

An end of an era for a piece of Philadelphia history. The legendary SS United States, once the fastest ocean liner in the world, will soon be intentionally sunk to the bottom of the Gulf off the coast of Florida's panhandle as we take a live look right there on the left. The massive ship, which four presidents once sailed aboard, spent nearly three decades along Philadelphia's waterfront before being towed away last year. Do you remember that? This is the news at five. I'm Sheba Russell. We have been watching crews fill the ship with water for hours now, preparing it for its final descent. And now we are losing daylight. Let's get out to our Chris O'Connell. He's live at Penn's Landing. I know nowhere near this ocean liner here, Chris, but it was just February of last year where Thank you. It was pulled out of here, and you've been part of our coverage all day long, waiting for it to be sunk. Yeah, preparing for that new remarkable life underwater, Sheba, for nearly 30 years. It was a very familiar sight along the banks of the Delaware River as it berthed here in South Philadelphia. Well, now it is making its final voyage, not across the Atlantic, but to the bottom of the Gulf. The final voyage, 74 years in the making. The once mighty SS United States starting to disappear beneath the waters of the Gulf. The 990-foot ocean liner, longer than the Titanic, deliberately sunk off of Florida's panhandle today. Among those on hand to see the deployment, some of her original passengers. It's kind of unreal, almost. It's been a long journey, and we're on a boat right now to go view it being deployed as the world's largest artificial reef. We have some passengers aboard this vessel that were passengers on the SS United States. They wanted to see it as well. The ship will sit 180 feet deep, 25 miles offshore, officially becoming the world's largest artificial reef. For scuba divers and anglers, it will be a marine paradise. This is a great opportunity to really help. Native wildlife in this region, so there's going to be lots of different fish species, some recruitment of marine invertebrates and different corals that could even potentially recruit up that high. For three decades, the S.S. United States sat rusting along the Delaware River in South Philadelphia, once a symbol The ship set the transatlantic speed record of American pride in engineering. on its maiden voyage in 1952, a record that still holds. But after years of failed restoration plans, the ship was towed away in February of 2025. It spent months in Mobile, Alabama, where crews stripped away the hazardous materials, removed its iconic smokestacks, and prepared it for today's historic sinking. Now take a look at this. 3D animation showing what the ship is expected to look like resting on the gulf floor. It really is going to be something that... Generations of people can see divers from all over the world. This is really going to transform our tourism industry, just having her here, the world's largest artificial reef. And while the ship itself will remain underwater, part of its history will be preserved on land. Plans are underway for a museum in Fort Walton Beach featuring artifacts from the ship, including those massive smokestacks. Not everyone is going to be able to go out and visit this historic site on the water. Many will, but there'll also be those who can only honor her legacy through a land-based experience. And let's take you live now to the Gulf, about 25 miles southwest of Destin, Florida. You can see the operation of deployment of the SS United States live. Keep in mind, this was supposed to start at about 2 o'clock, these operations, and it was going to take about an hour to sink this ship, but it appears there's very little sinking right now. We're not sure of the operation. But we can say that waterboats have been pumping water into that steel hull in efforts to see the U.S. or the S.S. United States slowly sink. Now, Sheba, it won't be long before she's being put to use. Literally, tomorrow morning, divers are scheduled to go. To dive that wreck and start exploring what will hopefully be generations of use for a new legacy underwater of the SS United States. Yeah, a dream come true for scuba lovers to be able to check out all of the wildlife that moves into the S.S. United States. Chris, thank you. Can we just take another quick look at the S.S. United States, a live look here right now, just to bring people up to date. So again, as Chris mentioned, the sinking was supposed to happen at two o'clock today, and we have all been watching this every minute of every hour, waiting to see if there's been any progress with it. Did it start sinking yet? And I think a lot of us expected this ship to sink really quickly, sort of like an implosion. But what we're learning from the news outlets in Florida is that once this begins, it's supposed to take about 45 minutes. minutes. And so things have been a little bit delayed here or a lot delayed because, A, the sinking was supposed to happen. Tomorrow. So now it's happening today. It was moved up due to weather coming into the area. It's been moved up. So they are simultaneously working on preparing the vessel and then they will eventually sink it. And as Chris mentioned, crews have been pouring water into the tanks and the hull of this ship. And we had a reporter about a half hour ago during our four o'clock broadcast saying that Two tanks were supposed to be filled before two o'clock and that did not happen. Someone did not do that. So an emergency crew is on site as well, helping to fill the S.S. United States. So we'll keep an eye on it. This will definitely happen. The sinking after the sun has set because it is past sunset time there in Florida. You can see the sun making its descent right now, but we'll keep an eye on it for you.