A giant ship sunk off the coast of Florida yesterday—and the coast guard didn’t do a thing to stop it.

The SS United States is a retired ocean liner that was deliberately sunk on Wednesday to create the world’s largest artificial reef. After hours of slow descent, it finally disappeared beneath the waves at 10 p.m. ET last night. It now rests 180 feet beneath the surface at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in an upright position.

Measuring almost 1,000 feet from bow to stern, the giant ship is longer than the Titanic. After it’s settled on the ocean floor, the ship’s hundreds of rooms, corridors and elevator shafts will become a deep-sea playground for divers, fish and other aquatic life.

This transformation gives the SS United States the opportunity for a second life and a new species of passenger.

Susan Gibbs has mixed feelings about the ship’s final voyage to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico. She chairs the board of the SS United States Conservancy, and her grandfather, William Francis Gibbs, designed the ship more than 70 years ago.

“It’s a combination of grief, that I will be saying goodbye to her in her current form, but, gratitude and hope in terms of what she will continue to give to the world,” she told Morning Edition

The ocean liner took its maiden voyage in 1952, and it shattered the trans-Atlantic speed record, winning the coveted Blue Riband on her opening sail. It still holds the record more than 60 years later.

In the event of war, the SS United States could have been converted from a luxury liner to a military transport vessel able to carry 14,000 troops for 10,000 miles without refueling, though it was never used for this purpose, according to the SS United States Conservancy.

1952: Cheering crowds lining the quayside as the record breaking liner, SS United States arrives in Southampton. She crossed the Atlantic in record time on her maiden voyage. (Photo by M. Fresco/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

M. Fresco/Getty Images/Hulton Archive

hide caption

toggle caption
i

M. Fresco/Getty Images/Hulton Archive

By the end of her time on the water in 1969, the SS United States carried several notable passengers, including Harry Truman, Walt Disney, Marilyn Monroe, Walter Cronkite and a young Bill Clinton.