A historic ocean lining will become the world’s largest artificial reef once it reaches its final resting place on the Coast of the Gulf of Florida. Competitive diving companies compete for the mass ship to approach them, while a group is demanding to prevent the ship from sinking at all.
The United States of the SS, a boat of almost 1,000 feet that broke the transatlantic speed record on its inaugural trip in 1952, is spending a month in the port of Mobile in Alabama.
Workers will empty and clean the 120 fuel tanks, as well as eliminate chemicals, wiring, plastic and glass.
“There are many nasties in boats that were built in the 50s,” said Okaloosa County Coastal Resources Manager Alex Fogg. “Basically, when ready to be deployed, it will be a steel and aluminum structure.”
The United States SS will join the more than 500 artificial reefs of Okaloosa County, which include a dozen shipwrecks of smaller ships. Officials expect to attract tourists and generate millions of dollars annually for loop, fishing boats and hotels, as well as providing habitat for critical species of fish and other lives to the sea.
“The goal here is to be the diving capital of Florida,” Fogg said. “We are even trying to overcome the Keys of Florida.”
Fogg said that the United States is sinking at the end of the year in one of the three allowed places, all more than 20 nautical miles of Destin, Florida. The three locations are the same depth, approximately 180 feet of water to the sand, but the container is so high that the upper covers will be about 60 feet from the surface.
“That is very within the beginner diver profile, and those deepest depths will certainly be attractive to those technical and advanced divers,” Fogg said.
Bay County officials agreed to offer $ 3 million to Okaloosa County to sink the United States closer to Panama City Beach.
Visit the president and CEO of Panama City Beach, Dan Rowe, said his area has one of the largest diving boat fleets along the northern coast of the Gulf. Bay County has a long history of technology development used in submarine exploration and the US Navy Diving School. UU. It is located in the Naval Support activity Panama Ciudad.
“Diving is part of our DNA,” Rowe said.
