Commemorative coins crafted from aluminum salvaged from the SS United States are being manufactured at Northwest Florida State College, the result of a collaboration between the college’s CNC department and Okaloosa County’s Natural Resources team.

• The coins, machined on campus in Niceville, feature the Destin-Fort Walton Beach logo on one side with the words “Home of the SSUS” and “Made from SSUS Aluminum.” The reverse side depicts the vessel alongside the phrases “World’s Largest Artificial Reef” and “990 feet long.” Each coin is individually serialized.

Assistant Professor Tyler Fothergill is leading production in the college’s CNC shop, where machines are programmed to etch the designs into aluminum blanks cut directly from the ship’s salvaged metal using a hole saw.

“It’s extremely humbling,” Fothergill said. “I think it’s so cool that we’re able to do this for the community and see this historical ship become something more than just an event that everyone is going to go to or watch. They get to take home something.”

The partnership grew out of an existing relationship between the college and the county. Natural Resources Coordinator Ryan Ashley had initially reached out to Fothergill about manufacturing tag applicator tips for a fish tagging program. That project went well, and when the idea for the challenge coins was proposed, Ashley discussed the concept with the college.

• “He told us that any other ideas we have, come to him and he’d love to be a part of it,” Ashley said.

The Destin-Fort Walton Beach design team developed the coin graphics and provided the files to Fothergill, who translated them into machine-ready programs. The design process took roughly two weeks, Ashley said, though getting the CNC machines calibrated for consistent production took several months of trial and error, beginning around September.

Each side of a coin takes about eight minutes to produce, with the potential to get that down to six minutes on a good day, Fothergill said. Friday marked the first full production day.

The coins are the latest piece of a broader effort by Okaloosa County to transform the SS United States into the world’s largest artificial reef.

The 990-foot ocean liner, launched in 1952, still holds the Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing by a passenger ship. Designed as part of a top-secret Cold War program, the vessel achieved speeds exceeding 38 knots during sea trials and carried four U.S. presidents during its years of service.

Okaloosa County purchased the ship from the SS United States Conservancy in 2024 and has since been overseeing its remediation by Coleen Marine, Inc. in Mobile, Alabama, in preparation for deployment in the Gulf. The ship is scheduled to be deployed approximately 22 nautical miles southwest of Destin East Pass, where it will become the largest intentionally deployed artificial reef in the world, surpassing the 888-foot USS Oriskany off the coast of Pensacola.

The project has drawn support from multiple partners, including a $1.5 million contribution from Visit Pensacola, a $500,000 donation from the Coastal Conservation Association and a $2 million contribution from the Fish and Wildlife Foundation of Florida. No property tax dollars are being used to fund the project.

• Deployment is targeted for spring 2026.

For Ashley, the coins represent a tangible connection between the community and the historic project.

“When you think about the whole project – going all the way back to how special the SS United States is as a vessel and how special it’s going to be as a reef,” Ashley said. “Just to be part of something this small of that overarching project is pretty cool.”

Coins will be provided to project partners and those helping with funding.  At this time, these items will not be available to the public.