The Okaloosa Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved partnership agreements Tuesday with Visit Pensacola and Coastal Conservation Association for the SS United States artificial reef project, bringing $2 million in combined contributions to the deployment and marketing of the world’s largest artificial reef.
- Visit Pensacola will contribute $1.5 million to the project, while CCA Florida will provide $500,000. Visit Pensacola is scheduled to review and approve the agreement at its December 2025 meeting.
“I applaud the energy that went into creating these partnerships,” said Okaloosa County Board Chairman Paul Mixon. “This collaboration will foster amazing adventures for generations of visitors and create a tourism economy that will benefit the state and the entire Northwest Florida region.”
Of Visit Pensacola’s contribution, $1 million will support deployment costs and $500,000 will fund a five-year joint marketing campaign with Destin-Fort Walton Beach to promote the artificial reef as a worldwide premier diving destination.
- “Visit Pensacola is thrilled to partner with Okaloosa County on this historic initiative,” said Visit Pensacola President and CEO Darien Schaefer. “With the addition of the SS United States and Pensacola already home to the USS Oriskany, Northwest Florida is becoming one of the world’s most extraordinary destinations for divers and marine exploration.”
CCA Florida’s $500,000 contribution represents the largest single donation in the organization’s 40-year history.
“This partnership demonstrates how coordinated efforts between public agencies and nonprofit organizations can effectively serve our communities while advancing the health and resilience of our marine ecosystems,” said CCA Florida Executive Director Brian Gorski.
The SS United States, a 990-foot iconic American ocean liner, holds the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing by an ocean liner, a record it still maintains. The vessel is currently docked in Mobile, Alabama, undergoing inspection following months of remediation for environmentally safe deployment.
SSUS deployment location (MAP)
The ship is scheduled to be deployed in early 2026 in the Gulf approximately 22 nautical miles southwest of the Destin East Pass and 32 nautical miles southeast of the Pensacola Pass.
- The proposed deployment location is 30° 07.244’N, 86° 46.932’W, though the actual location may vary by less than 1 mile due to bottom survey results and deployment day conditions.
Okaloosa County approved full project funding totaling $10.1 million on Oct. 1, 2024, covering all expenses related to the vessel’s purchase, transport, environmental remediation and offshore deployment. The amount also includes a contribution to support development of a future land-based museum exhibit.
In October 2024, the county finalized a purchase and sale agreement with the SS United States Conservancy and a remediation and deployment contract with Coleen Marine Inc.
The county has monitored the vessel’s status since 2022 to evaluate its potential for reef deployment.
Visit Pensacola’s partnership funding will be paid in installments, with $1 million due within 60 days of deployment and $100,000 annually for five years toward joint marketing efforts beginning in fiscal year 2026.
CCA Florida’s donation will be transferred over two years in two increments, starting Jan. 1, 2026, and ending Jan. 1, 2027.
The agencies say the partnership will help create essential habitat and benefit marine life while generating tourism and economic benefits for Northwest Florida. With the USS Oriskany off Pensacola’s shores and the SS United States in Destin-Fort Walton Beach waters, the region will be home to two of the world’s largest artificial reefs.
7 Responses
Yet another boat that will be sunk in waters too deep for the Recreational Dive Limits that 95% of PADI and NAUI certified divers have. This will NOT bring the dive tourism that these committees believe it will. What it will bring is a lot of unhappy divers when they are told by local Dive Shops they cannot dive this wreck because it exceeds their limits. Circling overhead looking down at it in gulf waters where surface currents are strong will not be any fun either. This will be a dive site for the advanced and dual gas divers only unfortunately. Guess the fishing tourism will benefit enormously. You’ll just have to get there the night before because the spot will look like Blues on the Beach everyday, all day throughout the fishing season. Way to go Destin! Fun for the few!
So at what depth would see deemed fitting for this wreck. By the looks of the map it will be resting around 160ish ft, give or take. Since the draft on this ship is 32.5′ and the waterline to the Promenade Deck is 55′. Combined height of 87.5′ approximately, that would put the deck at a depth of about 75ish ft deep. Do you really want the divers you speak about in your expert to have access to the bottom hull to penetrate into and get lost and stuck? Seems to me the safer of the 2 options is to keep that portion beyond recreational limits to detour ppl without those skills and training to get themselves in trouble. Having the deck and upper cabins already present many hazards and if ppl want to access those portions then they would also be OK to seek the proper training to access in a safer manner. Just my thoughts
With the stacks removed now and most of the deck structures also being removed or welded closed the surface to the top deck will still exceed most Rec divers certs. The “bottom” time would only be a few minutes of maybe some criss-crossing over the top of it. Gulf currents are strong at that depth when your just trying to loiter overhead. Think USS Oriskany, just not as deep. The challenge will be the multiple dive operators/business that will be risk adverse, not wanting to put their paying dive customers in any potential harm for fear of lawsuits. I do agree with you 100% on the danger that it poses with non-trained divers without proper technical dive certs. getting themselves into serious trouble if they enter the ship. There really is no easy answer here. Dive Safe!
Yet another example of County Commissioners throwing money away (into the Gulf no less) for the benefit of WHO? Why can’t they use this money to fix our horrendous roads? And these are the SMART people???
I cannot believe the commissioners settled to lose $10 million in the whole deal plus put it closer to Pensacola who will have all the major traffic and all the tourist attractions plus the diamonds too deep to be closer to the east coast east pass in Destin Fort Walton to be a littlebit shallow
I can’t believe the commissioners didn’t study this more
Any date on the deployment?
**This will be major environmental disaster if sunk in our gulf!** The SS United States contains approximately 1.5 million square feet of surface area covered in a yellow primer paint known as zinc chromate. The zinc chromate primer contains hexavalent chromium (Cr6), a heavy metal and known carcinogen. It’s the same chemical made famous in the Erin Brockovich film that contaminated groundwater and caused serious health issues and deaths in the residents of Hinkley, California.
A professor of biogeochemistry from a highly respected Florida university has calculated the SSUS contains upwards of 50 tons of zinc chromate! The Okaloosa board of county commissioners have been notified in a public format regarding the hexavalent chromium, and they have not publicly announced any plans or budgeted funds to remove the zinc chromate prior to sinking the iconic ocean liner. If the county sinks this ship they will be creating a legacy containment that will make for an unsafe diving location and do more harm to marine ecosystems than good. As a diver myself, I would never dive this site and recommend against anyone diving the site due to the health risks associated with the contamination.