Excitement builds for sinking of SS United States

Story on Action News at noon is the final voyage of a historic ship that is about to be intentionally sunk in the Gulf off the coast of Florida. That's right. The S. S. United States. It's set to become the world's largest artificial reef in just a matter of hours and leaders moved up the sinking date by one day. Due to incoming inclement weather. That's right. My co-anchor, John Paul, joins us live from the waters beyond Destin, Florida, to help set the stage for the final journey of this storied ship. John, you're on the move. Sarah Christie, I'm coming to you from the Gulf right now. Behind me, that is Destin, Florida. We left just a few minutes ago, followed by several other boats and a whole lot of seagulls. We're heading about 22 miles south. We're heading over to see the SS United States. It is already out here in the Gulf and we're on a loaded boat and we've got media from all over the world on this boat to see what will be a historic day because they're going to sink. the SS United States right here in the Gulf about 22 miles south creating the largest artificial reef of all time now i want to show you some video this was just a few days ago it was towed out of Mobile Alabama now you might notice in the video the SS United States looks a little bit different you know those funnels those smokestacks on top those are gone they took those off because they will create a museum out of those they also had to strip the boat down to make sure that it was environmentally safe to sink this boat because they want to create this artificial reef down there and they want this to have the fish life they want sea turtles they want to create a habitat for the uh for the sea life so they had to make sure it was safe so that's why it looks so much different when it was being towed out and this is a boat with a long history and a long history in Philadelphia as well that is where it sat most people probably recognize it sitting up Pier 82. a lot of people thought hey is that the Titanic well believe it or not this is bigger than the Titanic and while there was a legal wrangling that went on for decades on what to do with this boat it still holds the record for the fastest crossing between New York and London to this day, well finally they decided this is what they're going to do. They're going to take it out to the Gulf and they're going to sink it instead of scrap it. And I'm on this boat right now with a lot of people from the Conservancy that fought this. But today they're saying, you know what, it's better than it going to the scrapyard. So I talked with them today. I also talked with the granddaughter of the ship's designer about what this day means. So it's mixed feelings, you know, obviously this is not the end that the Conservancy wanted. We wanted to repurpose the ship, you know, for mixed-use development, but it's comforting in a way that she won't be scrapped, and we did not want this ship scrapped. We tried to keep the ship afloat for decades, but now that this day is here, it is actually beautiful to see so many excited fans of this ship. Her legacy endures and she will live on, albeit in a different form, in a different place. We're back out here live on the Gulf. You see other boats that are coming out here, too. This really is a huge event. I counted a dozen boats, at least, that are full of people that are former passengers when it made its crossings in the Atlantic. A lot of people down from Philadelphia, the region, South Jersey, they all want to witness this moment. And we're going to bring it to you live. It's going to take us about an hour and a half to get to that boat site. It's already sitting there. It is ready to go. We're going to carry this live for you. We also were told we're going to get some drone footage of this boat going down. A lot of people have mixed feelings today, as you heard. So it should be interesting, as people say their final goodbyes to this historic ship. Carried four presidents, carried Marilyn Monroe. I mean, there's a lot we'll be talking about here today on Action News. For now, we're live. Somewhere in the Gulf, off of Destin, Florida, John Paul, Channel 6 Action News. Sarah? Yeah, even at one point, Carrie, the Mona Lisa, quite the ship there. This is a momentous, a historic day. John, we will see you a little bit later. John, we'll be there when the big moment happens later this afternoon. And when the ship does sink, John and I will be here to bring it to you live on 6 ABC and wherever you get your streaming content. Big day.