The SS United States is moving ever-closer to its watery resting place off Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Okaloosa County and Destin-Fort Walton Beach announced that the first smoke stack of the historic ocean liner was removed Monday, with the second one set to be removed soon.

The forward stack and its rear aft funnel — both 65 feet tall, about the height of a six-story building — will be a feature of the SS United States Conservancy’s land-based museum, along with the liner’s propellers, radar mast, a cocktail bar and items and memorabilia from the ship that the conservancy had gathered and preserved over the years.

The rest of the 990-foot-long ship is going to be sunk off the coast of Florida, converting it from the fastest-ever passenger liner to cross the Atlantic Ocean into the world’s

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