What Happened To The SS United States?

From Forgotten Machines · 00:22:08

Show by Forgotten Machines

Okaloosa County, Florida, plans to sink the SS United States on November 12, 2026, the day it set on October 26, and make her the world's largest artificial reef.Narrated with an AI voice. Written with AI help, fact-checked by the channel's editor.Russ Pryce in this story is invented. The ship, the dates, the events and every real person named are documented.How this was made- Research and script. Written with the help of an AI model (Claude, made by Anthropic), working from the sources listed below. Each factual claim is checked against those sources, and against a second source where one exists, in two separate AI fact-check passes and then by the channel's editor. Where sources disagree, the narration says so and gives each side.- Narration. A synthetic voice from ElevenLabs' built-in voice set. It does not imitate anyone in the story.- Approval. The channel's editor approves every episode before it is published.- This episode is the full narration of the video of the same story. The video, with the archival photographs and their credits, is on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Kf_nxnyvlMo- Corrections. If you find an error, please comment with a source on the YouTube video. Corrections are listed in its pinned comment.Chapters0:00 A reef off Destin, October 20261:44 William Francis Gibbs and the Navy4:14 Fog and a record, July 19526:24 The secret numbers, 1952 to 19778:30 The Big U, 1952 to 196711:07 Sealed gangways, 1969 to 201113:30 Pier 82, 2011 to 202416:03 The tow and the lawsuit, 202518:16 Mobile and the Gulf, 2025 to 2026Where sources disagree: the full list is in the pinned comment on the YouTube video.Sources (the first five; all 72 are listed on the YouTube video)1. Okaloosa County Board of County Commissioners, "Destin-Fort Walton Beach and the SS United States Conservancy take first step toward creating the world's largest artificial reef," press release, October 1, 2024. https://myokaloosa.gov/sites/default/files/Press%20Release%20-%20DFWB%20SSUSC%20Announcement%20-.pdf2. FOX10 (WALA), "Okaloosa County officials announce when SS United States will be deployed," October 10, 2026 (quotes the county's Facebook announcement). https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/10/10/okaloosa-county-officials-announce-when-ss-united-states-will-be-deployed/3. N. Kariuki, "SS United States gets date for its final voyage to the bottom of Florida's coast," Billy Penn at WHYY, October 12, 2026. https://billypenn.com/2026/10/12/ss-united-states-florida-gulf-coast-sinking-reef-okaloosa-county-conservancy-philadelphia/4. X. Conde and N. Vadala, "Various owners have sunk more than $40 million into buying, maintaining, and reimagining the SS United States during its time in Philly," The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 17, 2024. https://www.inquirer.com/news/ss-united-states-costs-philadelphia-20241117.html5. S. B. Ujifusa, "Vita: William Francis Gibbs," Harvard Magazine, June 15, 2012. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2012/06/vita-william-francis-gibbsSources 6 to 72 are in the description and replies under the pinned comment on the YouTube video.

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