SS United States, a historic ship will be sunk to create an artificial reef

NPR's Ayesha Rascoe talks to Alex Fogg, Natural Resources Chief of Okaloosa County, Florida, about efforts to deliberately sink the SS United States and create an artificial reef in its wreckage.

Transcript

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

A historic ship docked on the Gulf Coast is getting a second life by being put down, down as in the ocean floor. This Thursday, the SS United States will be sunk on purpose to create the largest artificial reef in the world near Destin, Florida. Joining me now is Alex Fogg, the natural resources chief for Okaloosa County, Florida. Thank you so much for joining us.

ALEX FOGG: Thanks for having me.

RASCOE: So first of all, tell us a little bit about the ship, its history and why it's so special.

FOGG: So the SS United States, it's huge. We've done a lot of artificial reef projects in the past, and this one really sticks out really 'cause of its size, but also its storied past. It's a vessel that was built back in the early 1950s, went back and forth to Europe. It was eventually retired in the late 1960s when air travel just became so much more efficient. But during that time, it carried all sorts of really famous people and was geared to be a troop carrier in the event of the United States getting involved in another world war.

RASCOE: My understanding is that it sat for decades in Philadelphia and made its way around the world, as you talked about. But then eventually down to Florida. How did it get down to Florida?

FOGG: Yeah. It was a very long tow. So we had to do a lot of checks and balances with our contractor, naval architects, U.S. Coast Guard, all sorts of different entities, to make sure that it was seaworthy enough to be towed from Philadelphia all the way down to Mobile, Alabama, where the full remediation was going to occur.

RASCOE: Well, let's talk about the big plans for the ship's new life. Like, why would you sink a nearly 900-foot ship intentionally in the Gulf of Mexico?

FOGG: We tried to talk about or tried to figure out ways that we could increase our artificial reef construction to benefit tourism, to benefit the environment. Came up with a whole plan to acquire a bunch of vessels to sink as artificial reefs 'cause when people come diving in a destination, they don't want to dive, you know, sand, or maybe don't want to dive natural reefs all the time. They want to be a bona fide wreck diver. So by deploying these wrecks, it started to put us on the map as a dive destination, and there was a plan that if a vessel of very large size or a very cool story comes along, we would pursue it. And the SS United States was that ship.

RASCOE: So the ship sinking is planned for this Thursday, weather permitting, but a nonprofit conservation group for the ship just filed a lawsuit last week to prevent this from happening, citing concerns about the environmental impact and potential harm to marine organisms and the food web, including that which would affect human consumption. Why do you think the ship is better suited at the bottom of the Gulf than restored and preserved?

FOGG: The SS United States has a really, really big following. There's a lot of folks who are very passionate about the ship, wanted to save it, wanted to see it become a museum or put back into service or some other purpose besides the scrap yard or besides an artificial reef. But the fact of the matter is, there were no other options. There was no viable plan, no funding to be able to accommodate a project to restore it. So essentially, Okaloosa County is saving the ship by acquiring it and giving it another life as the world's largest artificial reef.

You know, there's a lot of data out there to show that by putting structures in these areas that don't have reefs or don't have any natural features are a huge benefit to the environment. And there's a lot of guiding documents out there and regulatory agencies that oversee the cleaning of artificial reefs to make sure that they're meeting the federal standards, the state standards, and every other standard that may exist for a project like this. And all of those boxes have been checked.

RASCOE: You're also a diver. What is it like going down there and seeing a ship like this?

FOGG: Diving is an addiction that I don't think I'll ever be able to kick. So every time you get in the water, you never know what you're going to see. Every single dive is different. But you get down there and you're just - you're surrounded by all the fish, you're surrounded by, you know, all the different sites and things growing on these reefs. It's an incredible experience.

RASCOE: That was Alex Fogg of Okaloosa County, Florida. You can view the ship sinking online Thursday, November 12. Thank you for joining me.

FOGG: Thanks for having me.

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