Okaloosa County sank the SS United States off Destin on bed tax and partner money

The liner went down Wednesday night

Okaloosa County paid $1 million for the SS United States in 2024, and on Wednesday night it sank the liner off Destin as an artificial reef. The county says the $13 million project ran on tourist bed tax and partner money, with no property tax. The ship, which still holds the transatlantic speed record, once carried Harry Truman and a young Bill Clinton.

Why it matters: Bed tax is tourist money the county says it cannot spend on roads or stormwater, and Okaloosa put it into one dive site. Its tourism director, Jennifer Adams, says reefs bring the county $10 million to $12 million a year. She expects the ship to pay back the county's investment in a couple of years.

The story so far: The SS United States Conservancy had owned the ship since 2011. In 2024 it was being evicted from the pier where the ship had sat for nearly 30 years. Okaloosa commissioners voted 4-1 on Oct. 1, 2024, to buy it and sink it as a reef.

Five hours to go down

Crews pulled plugs from the hull so the ship filled with water without explosives, NPR reported. After hours of delays, it tilted onto its side and slipped below the waves at about 10 p.m. Eastern, about 9 p.m. local time. The liner that once crossed the Atlantic in less than four days "sank in five hours," NPR wrote.

It now rests upright about 180 feet down in the Gulf of Mexico, just over 20 nautical miles off Destin's beaches, NPR reported. Its top deck sits about 60 feet below the surface, the AP reported. The sinking was moved up from Thursday because of expected strong winds, FOX Weather reported.

Crews filled 128 fuel and lubricant tanks with water so the ship would settle evenly, the AP reported. "It took longer than we thought," county public information officer Nick Tomecek said. Coleen Marine, a contractor that builds artificial reefs, led the work, which its president, Coleen O'Malley, said took more than 18 months. "We've maintained the actual hull. So she's very recognizable," she said.

The ship's funnels, radar mast and propeller were taken off months earlier. They are bound for a land museum in Destin-Fort Walton Beach being built with the SS United States Conservancy, Get the Coast reported. The wreck joins the USS Oriskany, an aircraft carrier the Navy sank off Pensacola in 2006, so the area now holds the world's two largest artificial reefs, NPR reported.

What the reef cost, and who paid

The Conservancy sold the ship to the county for $1 million in 2024, its head, Susan Gibbs, told NPR. On Oct. 1, 2024, the commission approved the project 4-1, with an estimated $10.1 million budget, WUWF reported. Commissioner Carolyn Ketchel voted no: "For us to take $10 million and sink it into the Gulf of Mexico, that's a hard sell."

The contract with Coleen Marine grew from $7,228,000 to $10,178,000 in December 2025, Get the Coast reported. In September the board added $1.242 million to hold a berth in Mobile, Ala., bringing the contract to $11,420,000, Cruise Industry News reported. The county said its core tasks stayed within about 10% of the original budget.

The county's own page puts the whole project at $13 million, counting towing, cleanup, the purchase and money toward the Conservancy's museum. It says the money is "tourism bed tax revenue collected from short-term rentals" and that "no general fund revenue is being used." Asked how much of the project comes from property tax, Alex Fogg, the county's natural resources chief, said "Zero," Get the Coast reported.

The county raised more than $4 million from partners, Get the Coast reported. WALA listed $2 million from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $1.5 million from Visit Pensacola and $500,000 from the Coastal Conservation Association, the largest single gift in that group's 40-year history. The county has not said how much bed tax went in.

Adams told NPR that reefs bring the county about $10 million to $12 million a year. She expects the county to recoup its "$10 million investment" in "a couple of years." In 2024 the county's tourism department said the ship "can potentially bring in $3 million a year from visitors," WUWF reported. Those are the county's forecasts.

The ship

The SS United States took its maiden voyage in 1952, broke the transatlantic speed record and still holds it, NPR reported. At 990 feet, it is 108 feet longer than the Titanic and crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, the AP reported.

Its passengers included Harry Truman and a young Bill Clinton, NPR and the AP reported. The AP adds Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor and Britain's former King Edward VIII. NPR adds Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe and Walter Cronkite. Clinton sailed in 1968 on his way to Oxford, the AP reported.

Their side

"Reefing was by far the more dignified solution" than a scrapyard, said Gibbs, the designer William Francis Gibbs's granddaughter. In 2024 her group said, "Reefing is not the Conservancy's preferred scenario," The Maritime Executive reported. "So essentially we saved it from being scrapped," Fogg said in December 2025.

The SS United States Preservation Foundation sued the Army Corps of Engineers and the county. It argued the Corps approved the project without a full environmental review and did not weigh contaminants in some coatings. It wanted another ship used. On Nov. 6, U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers denied its bid to block the sinking, WALA reported.

Critics ranged from preservationists to environmentalists to members of the New York City Council, WALA reported. County leaders said the ship was too far gone to restore.

What's next

What's next: The funnels, mast and propeller go to the land museum in Destin-Fort Walton Beach; we found no opening date. Adams told NPR the county has plans in the works for "five or six" more artificial reefs.

Sources we read

NPR, Nov. 11 and Nov. 12. FOX Weather, Nov. 12. WALA FOX10, Mar. 24, Nov. 7 and Nov. 11. ABC7 and 6abc (Associated Press), Nov. 12, and 6abc, Nov. 8. Okaloosa County, project page and FAQs. Get the Coast, Sept. 27, 2024, and Dec. 10, 2025. Cruise Industry News, Sept. 15. The Maritime Executive, Aug. 31, 2024. WUWF, Oct. 2, 2024.