A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that sought to prevent Okaloosa County from converting the SS United States into the world’s largest artificial reef, clearing a major legal hurdle for the project.

• U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers ruled on Aug. 6 that the New York Coalition to Save the Steam Ship United States Inc. lacked constitutional standing to challenge the county’s plan to sink the 990-foot vessel in the Gulf off Destin-Fort Walton Beach.

The county took ownership of the historic ocean liner on Aug. 27, 2024, and moved it to Mobile, Alabama, to begin preparations for its eventual deployment as an artificial reef. The county holds permits from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers authorizing the creation of artificial reef sites, court records show.

The New York Coalition formed in October 2024 specifically to prevent the county from dismantling and sinking the SS United States, according to court documents. The organization argued it had standing because the ship’s destruction would terminate the reason for its existence.

Judge Rodgers rejected this argument, calling it “manufactured and self-inflicted injury” that does not establish standing under Article III of the Constitution. The court found that the coalition’s interest in historic preservation was “too abstract” and not a legally protected interest.

• “The NY Coalition lays claim only to a widely shared interest in historic preservation, which is not a legally protected interest,” Rodgers wrote in the 12-page order.

The coalition had sought to delay preparations for sinking the ship and force the county to seek additional permits before dismantling the vessel’s superstructure, according to court documents.

The lawsuit claimed the county failed to seek review of its proposal to use a ship on the National Register of Historic Places as an underwater reef by appropriate federal agencies under the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, court filings state.

According to the court filing, the coalition wrote a letter to the President of the United States on Feb. 10, 2025, requesting that the Executive Branch institute eminent domain proceedings to take the ship for public use and preserve it as a historic site. The Executive Branch has not responded to the letter, court documents state.

The court noted that when the county took title in August 2024, “the ship’s fate as an artificial reef was already sealed.” Judge Rodgers wrote that the coalition “was formed two months later for the express purpose of interfering with the County’s intended and authorized use for the ship.”