The SS United States, the fastest liner ever to cross the Atlantic, is about to be sunk off Florida as an artificial reef.

Okaloosa County plans to sink the 990-foot ship about 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach.

The sinking is expected on 13 November, weather permitting. Work at the site was due to start on 12 November.

Crews will open valves in the hull so the ship floods slowly and settles upright about 180 feet down.

Its upper decks will sit about 55 to 60 feet below the surface, close enough for recreational divers.

On her maiden voyage in July 1952 she crossed from New York to Europe in just under three days and 11 hours. That record still stands.

She is longer than the Titanic and once carried presidents, royals and even the Mona Lisa.

After decades docked in Philadelphia, the county bought her for $1 million. Its budget for the whole project is $13 million.

She will be the 21st wreck on the Florida Panhandle Shipwreck Trail, passing the USS Oriskany as the largest ship ever sunk for a reef.

A preservation group sued over toxic coatings, but a federal judge dismissed the latest challenge on 7 November.

The ship's two funnels have been removed and are expected to go on show at a planned museum near the dive boat dock.

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