A federal judge in Florida has refused to stop the sinking of the SS United States, denying a preservation group's emergency request for a temporary restraining order on Friday, November 6 and leaving the ocean liner's final schedule intact: tow-out from Mobile, Alabama on Monday, November 9, and sinking as an artificial reef off Destin, Florida on Thursday, November 12. U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers denied the motion “without prejudice,” which means the group may file again — if it can cure the defects the judge identified and move before the tow begins.

Source: The Maritime Executive

As Awaaz Punjab reported on October 26, Okaloosa County planned to sink the 990-foot liner in November to create the world's largest artificial reef. The legal fight arrived at the last moment: the SS United States Preservation Foundation and its co-founder Steven R. Perry filed suit on Tuesday, November 3 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, Pensacola Division — case No. 3:26-cv-05339 — and filed their emergency motion the next day, November 4, asking the court to block “the towing, deployment, and sinking” of the ship.

Source: The Maritime Executive

Why the judge said no

A temporary restraining order can be issued before the other side is heard, so federal Rule of Civil Procedure 65(b)(1)(A) requires specific facts in an affidavit or a verified complaint that clearly show immediate and irreparable injury will result. In a three-page order, Judge Rodgers found that test was not met. “The docket is void of a verified complaint and/or any affidavit attesting to the truthfulness of the facts set forth in the complaint and motion,” she wrote, according to AL.com reporting carried by Cruise Hive.

Source: Cruise Hive

The judge also flagged money. Any renewed request, she noted, must address the “obvious substantial expense” of keeping the ship docked — berthing, storage and related costs — and must propose a bond amount sufficient to cover those expenses, supported by a reasonable factual basis. As of the close of business Friday, no new filing had been recorded when Cruise Hive published; The Maritime Executive reported that the Foundation refiled an amended emergency motion later on Friday, setting up a final race against Monday's tow.

Source: The Maritime Executive

What the lawsuit claims

The complaint names the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, three Army officials and Okaloosa County, which owns the ship. It alleges — and these remain allegations the court has not ruled on — that the Corps approved the reefing project without adequately examining environmental risks or complying with historic-preservation requirements. The Foundation asks the court to set aside the Corps' permit modification and its finding of no significant impact, and to bar the tow and sinking until the Corps complies with the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act, including the mandated Section 106 review.

Source: The Maritime Executive

The Foundation says it does not oppose Okaloosa County's artificial-reef program — only its choice of vessel. The National Trust for Historic Preservation warned in March that the applicant was engaging in “anticipatory demolition,” which it argued required the Corps to deny the application; the Corps approved the project despite that objection, according to the Foundation's complaint reporting by The Maritime Executive.

Source: The Maritime Executive

The county's position

Okaloosa County has said it continues to move forward with the project. County spokesman Nick Tomecek said the county was aware of the Foundation's announcement of the lawsuit but had not yet been served as of Thursday, and the Army Corps had not commented. The Foundation's amended filing says county counsel opposes both a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction.

Source: The Maritime Executive

The ship and the schedule

The SS United States is a 990-foot ocean liner. Okaloosa County acquired her in October 2024 from the SS United States Conservancy, the nonprofit that had owned the ship since February 2011. Under the current plan, the hull is towed out of Mobile Bay on Monday, November 9, anchored temporarily at the deployment site, and sunk beginning at 10 a.m. on Thursday, November 12, weather permitting, about 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin-Fort Walton Beach and 29 miles from Pensacola, inside a one-nautical-mile exclusion zone.

Source: Cruise Hive

This is not the first preservation lawsuit Judge Rodgers has decided. In 2025, the New York Coalition to Save the Steam Ship United States sued to save the ship; Rodgers dismissed that case on August 6, 2025, ruling the group lacked standing and calling its claimed injury “manufactured and self-inflicted.”

Source: Cruise Chaos (court docket report)