The sinking had been planned for Thursday and was moved up a day because of bad weather in the area. A sendoff ceremony that had been scheduled was cancelled. Okaloosa County Board Chairman Trey Goodwin said the new timing allows for a "safe and smooth" deployment, adding that "safety is always a top priority." The site is about 25 miles southwest of Destin, in Okaloosa County between Panama City and Pensacola. The ship will rest in about 180 feet of water, with its top deck roughly 60 feet below the surface.

Federal rules bar the use of explosives, so crews will flood the ship by opening valves to seawater pipes and through 10-foot-by-10-foot holes cut into the decks. Maritime salvage expert Captain Joseph Farrell Jr. of Resolve Marine said that makes the job harder than it sounds. The ship has internal bulkheads designed to stop flooding, and he called it "built bulletproof" and a "challenging vessel to put down."

The S.S. United States Conservancy organized the project. Okaloosa County bought the ship for $10.1 million in October 2024, and it was then moved to Mobile, Alabama, for environmental remediation. Total project cost has been put at $13.5 million. Organizers say they want to "create a thriving habitat for marine life and ... a premier global diving destination," drawing divers and anglers and providing habitat for species such as tuna, marlin and swordfish. The reef joins about 500 others in the area, including the USS Oriskany, which was sunk off Pensacola in 2006.

A lawsuit seeking to stop the sinking was denied by U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers on Friday.

The ship was built in Virginia by more than 3,000 workers in 1950 and 1951. On its 1952 maiden voyage it reached a speed of nearly 41 mph, beating the record the Queen Mary set in 1938. It went on to cross the Atlantic more than 800 times, carrying passengers that included Grace Kelly, Elizabeth Taylor, President John F. Kennedy, King Edward VIII and a young Bill Clinton. At more than 100 feet longer than the Titanic, it was among the largest liners ever built.

The ship was decommissioned in 1969 and spent the next several decades docked in South Philadelphia, close to 30 years by some accounts. It was eventually towed to Florida by the tugboat Vinik No. 6, under Captain Mike Vinik. Before the sinking, its 65-foot smokestacks were removed to anchor a future museum, and more than 400 portholes were taken out.

Farrell said the reef is preferable to scrapping. In 2024, 324 merchant ships totaling 4.6 million gross tons were recycled. He described the sinking as "a wonderful, wonderful ending" and "a new beginning."