An ocean liner that virtually rewrote the history books, the SS United States was the brainchild of William Francis Gibbs, a naval architect with a lifelong obsession with the idea of creating the world’s most perfect ocean liner. When the SSUS was completed, she was the largest ocean liner ever constructed by American hands, and she went on to deftly snap up the Blue Riband - an honorary title granted to the ship with the fastest transatlantic crossing time. Her record was never broken. As of today, she remains tied up in Mobile, AL, awaiting her ultimate fate - to be sunk for use as an artificial reef off the coast of Florida.

An American ocean liner whose demise is shrouded in mystery, Morro Castle was constructed in 1930 and led what was by all accounts a successful career, ferrying vacationers and those fleeing Prohibition between New York and Havana, Cuba. On September 8, 1934, the Morro Castle was caught in a storm and was later consumed by fire under unusual, even shadowy circumstances, spelling disaster for the ship and claiming the lives of 137 passengers and crew. Many mysteries surrounding the events of the sinking still remain to this day.

Commissioned by Germany’s Kriegsmarine during World War II, Bismarck and her sister Tirpitz were the largest German battleships ever constructed. On May 19, 1941, she joined with the Prinz Eugen as part of Operation Rheinübung - an eight-day German offensive intended to raid Allied shipping on the Atlantic. After sinking British battlecruiser HMS Hood and taking significant damage herself, Bismarck retreated, and the British gave chase. Ultimately, Bismarck was scuttled on May 27th after a three-day-long pursuit, bringing an end to the engagement. Over 2,000 men were lost.