美国最大的客船、最快的远洋客轮“美国号”（SS United States），在佛罗里达州近海被人为沉没，成为世界上最大的人工礁石。
The SS United States, America’s largest passenger ship and fastest ocean liner, was deliberately sunk off Florida to become the world’s biggest artificial reef.
工作人员清除了燃油和其他不安全材料，然后在船体上开孔，使船只缓慢且保持直立地下沉，未使用任何炸药。
Crews removed fuel and other unsafe materials, then cut holes so the ship would sink slowly and upright, with no explosives used.
这艘于1969年退役并从报废中拯救下来的船只，是一项耗资1300万美元的项目的一部分，旨在在德斯廷附近创建一个主要的潜水地点。
The ship, retired in 1969 and saved from scrap, is part of a US$13 million project to create a major diving site near Destin.
AI生成 曾经驰名的远洋客轮“美国号”（SS United States），是美国建造的最大客船，也是世界上最快的远洋客轮，于11月11日驶向佛罗里达州近海的海底，这场人为沉没旨在将该船改造成世界上最大的人工礁石。
AI generated Famed ocean liner SS United States, the largest passenger ship ever built in America and the world’s fastest, headed for the sea floor near Florida on Nov 11 in a deliberate sinking designed to transform the vessel into the world’s biggest artificial reef.
为期一年的准备工作，让这艘船迎来了它的命运终点，距离其75年前下海已有75年。这一过程通过直播呈现，画面展示了这艘曾经辉煌的船只锈迹斑斑的船体，已拆除两根烟囱，漂浮在水面上，却正安静、缓慢地沉入墨西哥湾平静的水域。
The finale to a year-long process preparing the ship to meet its destiny, 75 years after it was launched at sea, was presented in a live stream showing aerial views of the once-grand vessel’s rusted hulk, stripped of its two smokestacks, afloat but quietly, slowly settling into calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
这艘船从船头到船尾长近305米，周围环绕着数十艘拖船和休闲船只上的旁观者与安全人员，这些船只护送这艘远洋客轮被拖出海，开始它的最后一次航行。
The ship, measuring nearly 305m from stem to stern, was surrounded by onlookers and safety crews aboard dozens of tugboats and recreational vessels that accompanied the ocean liner as it was towed out to sea for its final voyage.
到那时，工作人员已花费数月时间，清除了船上所有对环境不安全的材料，包括残留燃油、电线、玻璃、风管及其他非金属物品，以及任何可能对潜水员造成缠绕危险的物体。
By then, work crews had spent months removing all environmentally unsafe materials from the ship, including residual fuel, wiring, glass, ductwork and other non-metal items, as well as any objects that could pose entanglement hazards for scuba divers.
随后，工作人员在船体和甲板上战略性地开孔，以确保船只能够逐渐、平稳且均匀地下沉，这是项目组织者在网上发布的事实资料中所述的。未使用任何炸药。
The crews then cut holes strategically throughout the ship’s hull and its decks to ensure that it would sink in a gradual, level and uniform manner, according to a fact sheet posted online by project organisers. No explosives were being used.
船内还开辟了通道，以便海洋生物能在海底的船体内部及周围繁衍生息。
Passageways also were cut through the interior to allow for marine life to thrive in and around the ship on the sea floor.
如果一切按计划进行，这艘20世纪的老旧船只将直立沉坐在墨西哥湾海底，位于佛罗里达州德斯廷海岸外55米深处。德斯廷是一座度假小镇和休闲垂钓胜地，以白沙滩和碧绿海水闻名。组织者表示，上层甲板最终预计会位于水面以下约15米处。
If all goes as planned, the ageing 20th-century vessel will come to rest upright on the gulf floor at a depth of 55m off the coast of Destin, Florida, a resort town and recreational fishing haven known for its white sand beaches and emerald green waters. The upper deck is expected to end up about 15m beneath the surface, organisers said.
沉没过程于美国中部标准时间下午1点左右开始，但速度慢得几乎难以察觉，日落时分，这艘静止的船周围闪烁着附近船只的灯光，而船体的大部分仍远在水面之上。
The sinking process began at about 1pm Central Standard Time but was so imperceptibly slow that the majority of the ocean liner’s hull remained well above the surface as the sun set on the idle ship, surrounded by blinking lights of nearby vessels.
“美国号”邮轮是二战后远洋奢华与工程技术的奇迹，曾以至今仍无人能及的速度载着富豪名流横渡大西洋，后于1969年退役，当时商业航空旅行日益流行。
The SS United States, a marvel of post-World War II oceanic luxury and engineering that carried the rich and famous across the Atlantic at speeds still unmatched, was retired from service in 1969 amid the rising popularity of commercial air travel.
这艘船在费城停泊了近30年，似乎注定要被当作废料出售，后来佛罗里达州狭长地带的奥卡卢萨县当局介入，以1300万美元（1670万新元）的项目将其买下。
The vessel sat moored for nearly 30 years in Philadelphia, seemingly destined to be sold for scrap, before authorities in Okaloosa County, in Florida’s panhandle, stepped in to purchase the ship as part of a US$13 million (S$16.7 million) project.
“我们的目标是确保她不会永远消失，”将船卖给奥卡卢萨县的“美国号”保护协会董事会成员戴维·劳伦斯对公共广播公司表示。
“It was our goal to make sure that she wasn’t lost forever,” David Lawrence, a board member of the SS United States Conservancy, which sold the ship to Okaloosa County, told the Public Broadcasting System.
在获得美国海岸警卫队和其他机构的许可后，这艘船被拖到阿拉巴马州莫比尔的造船厂，在那里为海上处置做准备。
After obtaining permission from the US Coast Guard and other agencies, the vessel was towed to a shipyard in Mobile, Alabama, where it was prepared for disposal at sea.
计划是将这艘退役邮轮改造成奥卡卢萨县所宣称的世界上最大的人工礁。它是完全在美国建造的最大邮轮，也是横渡大西洋双向速度最快的邮轮。
The plan is to turn the decommissioned ship, the largest ocean liner ever built entirely in the US and the fastest to cross the Atlantic in either direction, into what Okaloosa County bills as the world’s largest artificial reef.
“美国号”将不乏同伴，加入由500多个较小水下站点组成的群落，这些站点由各种沉船残骸建成，构成潜水胜地“德斯廷-沃尔顿堡海滩人工礁”。
The SS United States will be in good company, joining a collection of more than 500 smaller underwater sites created from the remains of various sunken ships comprising a divers’ haven known as the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Artificial Reefs.