World's fastest ocean liner is sunk to break another record: largest artificial reef

The SS United States, without its smokestacks, at port in Mobile, Ala., before its sinking on Wednesday. Destin-Fort Walton Beach/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

The fastest passenger liner in the world crossed the Atlantic Ocean in less than four days. On Wednesday, it sank in five hours.

The SS United States, launched in 1951 and longer than the RMS Titanic, once transported four presidents, the Mona Lisa and a slate of 20th century movie stars. After decades spent rusting , and facing the scrap heap, its minders settled on a deal to turn the vessel into what's expected to be the world's largest artificial reef off the coast of Okaloosa County, Fla.

Crews removed plugs in the ship's hull, allowing it to fill with water without the use of explosives. After hours of delays, its final moments went quickly. The ship tilted onto its side and dipped below the waves.

The sinking marks a bittersweet coda to the era of gleaming behemoths that crossed the seas in elegant fashion. It is also the latest in an ongoing effort by coastal communities to lure thrill-seeking tourists away from international destinations, one that has so far generated surprising economic benefits.

"For those of us who love shipwrecks and love ships in general, it was way more tragic to see it sitting and rusting away at the dock," wreck diver and maritime enthusiast Karen Flynn told NPR.

American actor and comedian Milton Berle clowning around on the deck of the SS United States during an east-west crossing of the Atlantic Ocean on July 15,1952. Ingeborg Talliarek/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

Her diving club, the Maryland-based Atlantic Wreck Divers, booked tickets and a charter boat just days after a date for the ship's "deployment," as the sinking is diplomatically described, was set.