This ocean liner was the world’s fastest. It’s being sunk to make the largest artificial reef.

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An ocean liner that is longer than the Titanic and was once the fastest on the seas is headed to a final home on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico.

DESTIN, Fla. (AP) — An ocean liner that is longer than the Titanic and was once the fastest on the seas is headed to a final home on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico as the world’s largest artificial reef.

The SS United States is scheduled to be sunk Wednesday off the coast of the Florida Panhandle, fulfilling a long-planned $13.5 million project aimed at attracting more divers and fishing enthusiasts to the area while creating a home for tuna, marlin and swordfish.

The project will keep what had been a technological marvel when it made its maiden voyage in 1952 from becoming scrap metal.

The SS United States crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times, carrying old Hollywood stars like Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor. Other passengers have included President John F. Kennedy and Britain’s former King Edward VIII. In 1968, a young Bill Clinton took it when he went to Oxford University, decades before he was elected president.

In preparation for the sinking, organizers removed the 65-foot (20-meter) smokestacks and plan to have them anchor a new museum that celebrates the ship. Once aboard, passengers were treated to dinners that included caviar, roast duckling, smoked ox tongue and Calf’s Head en Tortue.

“It was our goal to make sure that she wasn’t lost forever,” said David Lawrence, a member of the board for the SS United States Conservancy, which is dedicated to preserving the ship.

Federal environmental and explosives rules prevent Okaloosa County, Florida, and its contractor from using explosives to scuttle the ship, said Nick Tomecek, the county’s spokesperson. Concerns about inclement weather prompted officials to move up the sinking by a day.

The SS United States has pipes that pulled seawater into tanks as part of the system that cooled its boilers, he said, and those tanks have been removed so that once the valves are opened, water will flood the hull.

The ship is to sink in about 180 feet (55 meters) of water, with its top deck about 60 feet (18 meters) below the…

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