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A National Icon at Risk
From Greatness to Graveyard: How Tourism Threatens America's Flagship
The SS United States is no longer safeguarded by a maritime institution or national trust. She is now under the control of Okaloosa County, Florida—a local government that already oversees more than 500 sunken wrecks and artificial reefs. But this time, they’re not targeting just another vessel. They’re targeting the last of her kind.
Just how many dive sites does one county really need?
Their plan? Sink her. Not as a monument. Not as a museum. But as a diving attraction—just in time for America’s 250th anniversary.
Using $10.1 million in taxpayer-funded tourism revenue, Okaloosa County intends to scuttle one of the most extraordinary engineering achievements in American history. The SS United States is:
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A National Register of Historic Places property (Ref. No. 99000609)
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The flagship of the United States Merchant Marine Academy
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The maritime equivalent of the Statue of Liberty
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And yet, they want to bury her beneath the waves—for the benefit of a niche hobby.
SS United States listing under the NRHP (#99000609)
Let’s talk numbers: only about 1.1% of Americans scuba dive annually. That means 99% of the nation is being ignored. The county isn’t asking what this ship means to our veterans, our mariners, our engineers, or our historians. They’re asking what it means to their tourism board.
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This isn’t preservation. It’s betrayal.
The SS United States is not a relic. She is a living monument to American ingenuity, still standing tall, still structurally sound, still carrying the name of our nation across her bow. She was built by all 48 states during a time of division, designed by William Francis Gibbs, and launched under the United States Maritime Commission to serve as a convertible troopship in times of war and a symbol of unity in times of peace.
This is not just a ship. This is a test of our national character.
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If we allow this to happen, we’re not just watching a vessel go under.
We’re watching a nation forget what greatness looks like—and choose profit over principle.
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Click below to read the bill proposal that can stop this. The America 250 Maritime Heritage Act is how we fight back—and how we finally put this ship where she belongs: above the waves, and in the hearts of the nation. She Is America. We Must Save Her.
