A Florida county’s plan to turn a historic ship into the world’s largest artificial reef hits a snag

Associated Press/Report for America

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida county is in talks to acquire a storied but aging ocean liner in a proposed deal that could create the largest artificial reef in the world. But the plan hit a snag Tuesday, after local officials in coastal Okaloosa County in the Florida panhandle postponed a vote on the plan to buy and purposefully sink the SS United States. Now the historic vessel is in a race against time to find a new resting place, after a court ordered the ship to vacate its current home at a pier in Philadelphia, following a yearslong legal dispute over rent.