After decades of decay at a Philadelphia pier and a last-minute scramble by preservationists to save her, the SS United States is on the verge of a very different kind of comeback: sinking to the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico on purpose.

Okaloosa County, Florida, is targeting Thursday, November 12, to scuttle the storied ocean liner roughly 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach, according to PhillyVoice. Officials have cautioned the exact date could still slip because of weather and logistics, as it already has several times this year.

From fastest ship afloat to the world's largest reef

Built in 1952, the SS United States still holds the transatlantic speed record for an ocean liner, a title it has carried for more than 70 years. The ship ferried presidents, royalty and Hollywood stars across the Atlantic before being pulled from service in 1969 and left to languish, stripped of most of its interior, for decades at a Philadelphia dock. A nonprofit conservancy spent years trying to find the vessel a new home as a hotel, museum or redevelopment anchor before Okaloosa County struck a deal to give it an entirely different second life.

Once scuttled, the 990-foot liner will become the largest artificial reef on Earth, surpassing the ex-USS Oriskany, an aircraft carrier sunk off Pensacola in 2006, according to Cruise Hive. County officials have spent months stripping hazardous materials, fuel and debris from the ship to prepare it for its new role habitat for fish and a draw for divers.

SHE WILL BECOME THE WORLD'S LARGEST ARTIFICIAL REEF

The ship's journey to the seafloor has been anything but quick. Early plans floated a 2026 sinking as far back as the spring, with one target date pushed from April to midyear before settling on this November window, the Philadelphia Inquirer has reported. The delays frustrated some preservationists who had hoped a buyer might still emerge to save the liner intact, but no offer materialized that could match the cost of maintaining the deteriorating hull.

For Philadelphia, where the ship sat for nearly 30 years as a rusting fixture on the Delaware River waterfront, the sinking closes a strange chapter of civic limbo. For Destin-Fort Walton Beach, local officials are betting the wreck will become a signature dive destination, drawing divers and anglers from across the country once it settles on the Gulf floor.

A small flotilla of former crew members, maritime historians and conservancy supporters is expected to gather for the ship's final tow-out, organizers say, treating the sinking less as a disposal than as a funeral for one of American shipbuilding's most storied vessels.