According to the report, the $13.5 million project is intended to attract divers and fishing enthusiasts while creating habitat for tuna, marlin and swordfish. The vessel, once described as the fastest ship on the seas, was a former record-setting ocean liner.
Crews filled 128 fuel and lubricant tanks with water so the ship would settle evenly on the ocean floor, Fast Company reported, citing Nick Tomecek, identified as an Okaloosa County spokesperson. The sinking took longer than organizers had predicted and concluded at around 9 p.m., when the vessel leaned to one side and quickly submerged.
Fast Company identified Coleen O’Malley as president of Coleen Marine, the company sinking the ship. The report described the operation as a long-planned project that would give the former ocean liner a new life beneath the Gulf’s waters.