Misplaced Pages

#154845

89-651: MS Vistafjord was an ocean liner that was built as a combined liner/cruise ship in 1973 by Swan Hunter , England for the Norwegian America Line . In 1983 she was sold to Cunard , retaining her original name until 1999 when she was renamed Caronia . In 2004 she was sold to Saga and sailed as Saga Ruby until sold in 2014 for use as a floating hotel and renamed Oasia . This never came to fruition. Her owners went bankrupt, and in April 2017 she arrived at Alang Ship Breaking Yard , India for scrapping. Vistafjord

178-800: A cargo liner or cargo-passenger liner. The advent of the Jet Age and the decline in transoceanic ship service brought about a gradual transition from passenger ships to modern cruise ships as a means of transportation. In order for ocean liners to remain profitable, cruise lines modified some of them to operate on cruise routes, such as the SS ; France . Certain characteristics of older ocean liners made them unsuitable for cruising, such as high fuel consumption, deep draught preventing them from entering shallow ports, and cabins (often windowless) designed to maximize passenger numbers rather than comfort. The Italian Line 's SS  Michelangelo and SS  Raffaello ,

267-510: A commerce raider . The torpedoing and sinking of Lusitania on 7 May 1915 caused the loss of 128 American lives at a time when the United States was still neutral. Although other factors came into play, the loss of American lives in the sinking strongly pushed the United States to favour the Allied Powers and facilitated the country's entry into the war. The losses of the liners owned by

356-512: A 31-day voyage to the Caribbean. While on her final cruise she was forced to change her itinerary to a Western Mediterranean cruise finally returning to Southampton on January 7, 2014. The cruise returned to Southampton late due to poor weather in the Bay of Biscay, eventually arriving on 9 January 2014, with passengers disembarking on 10 January. In January 2014 she was sold for $ 14M USD to Millennium View,

445-509: A U-boat when tugs tried to tow her to safety. Out of all the innovative and glamorous inter-war superliners, only the Cunard Queens and Europa would survive the war. After the war, some ships were again transferred from the defeated nations to the winning nations as war reparations. This was the case of the Europa , which was ceded to France and renamed Liberté . The United States government

534-487: A US$ 10 million overhaul as a hotel and museum ship. She was found in Thailand, awaiting tow to scrapping, after having US$ 20 million invested in her. Vistafjord was built with a very traditional ocean liner profile, with the funnel placed amidship and a notable sheer on her hull. The superstructure is terraced both at the fore and aft of the ship. In two refits during her Cunard Line career additional structures were added to

623-530: A competition between world powers of the time, especially between the United Kingdom , the German Empire , and to a lesser extent France . Once the dominant form of travel between continents, ocean liners were rendered largely obsolete by the emergence of long-distance aircraft after World War II . Advances in automobile and railway technology also played a role. After Queen Elizabeth 2 was retired in 2008,

712-496: A conflict rich in events involving liners. From the start of the conflict, German liners were requisitioned and many were turned into barracks ships. It was in the course of this activity that the Bremen caught fire while under conversion for Operation Sea Lion and was scrapped in 1941. During the conflict, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary provided distinguished service as troopships. Many liners were sunk with great loss of life; in

801-503: A cruise ship over the years and was in active service for Cruise & Maritime Voyages until operations ceased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In August, 2021 she was purchased by Brock Pierce to be transformed into a hotel along with MV  Funchal . These plans were ultimately abandoned and the ship was again made available for sale, never having left port in Rotterdam. Astoria

890-526: A dry berthed luxury hotel on Bintan Island , Indonesia. Post-war ocean liners still existent include MV  Astoria (1948), United States (1952), MV Brazil Maru (1954), Rotterdam (1958), MV  Funchal (1961), MS  Ancerville (1962), Queen Elizabeth 2 (1967), and Queen Mary 2 (2003). Out of these eight ocean liners, only one is still active and three of them have since been preserved. The Rotterdam has been moored in Rotterdam as

979-445: A few former ocean liners were still in existence; some, like SS  Norway , were sailing as cruise ships while others, like Queen Mary , were preserved as museums , or laid up at pier side like SS United States . After the retirement of Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2008, the only ocean liner in service was Queen Mary 2 , built in 2003–04, used for both point-to-point line voyages and for cruises. A proposed and planned ocean liner,

SECTION 10

#1732858722155

1068-458: A fixed schedule, so must be faster and built to withstand the rough seas and adverse conditions encountered on long voyages across the open ocean. To protect against large waves they usually have a higher hull and promenade deck with higher positioning of lifeboats (the height above water called the freeboard ), as well as a longer bow than a cruise ship. Additionally, for additional strength they are often designed with thicker hull plating than

1157-425: A large portion of the population of cities and built hulls, machines, furnitures and lifeboats. Among the other well-known British shipyards were Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson , the builder of RMS  Mauretania , and John Brown & Company , builders of RMS  Lusitania , RMS  Aquitania , RMS  Queen Mary , Queen Elizabeth , and Queen Elizabeth 2 . Germany had many shipyards on

1246-566: A museum and hotel since 2008, while the Queen Elizabeth 2 has been a floating luxury hotel and museum at Mina Rashid, Dubai since 2018. The Ancerville was refurbished as a hotel for use at the Sea World development in Shenzhen, China in 1984. The first of these, Astoria (originally the ocean liner MS Stockholm, which collided with Andrea Doria in 1956 ) has been rebuilt and refitted as

1335-634: A museum ship, since 1961. Queen Mary (1934) was preserved in 1967 after her retirement, and became a museum/hotel in Long Beach, California . In the 1970s, SS  Great Britain (1843) was also preserved, and now resides in Bristol , England as another museum. The latest ship to undergo preservation is MV  Doulos (1914). While originally being a cargo ship, it served as the Italian ocean liner Franca C. for Costa Lines from 1952 to 1959, and in 2010 it became

1424-504: A privately held company based in Singapore. The new owners planned to convert her into a floating hotel in Myanmar . In mid-February 2014 she sailed from Gibraltar as Oasia under Bahamas flag and management of FleetPro Ocean . In February 2017, it was announced that Oasia was being sold for scrap. This came as quite a surprise to many, as the ship, still SOLAS compliant, had recently undergone

1513-529: A screw propeller was SS  Great Britain , a creation of Brunel. Her career was disastrous and short. She was run aground and stranded at Dundrum Bay in 1846. In 1884, she was retired to the Falkland Islands where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship, and coal hulk until she was scuttled in 1937. The American company Collins Line took a different approach. It equipped its ships with cold rooms, heating systems, and various other innovations but

1602-505: A set route are called "line voyages" and vessels (passenger or cargo) trading on these routes to a timetable are called liners. The alternative to liner trade is "tramping" whereby vessels are notified on an ad hoc basis as to the availability of a cargo to be transported. (In older usage, "liner" also referred to ships of the line , that is, line-of-battle ships, but that usage is now rare.) The term "ocean liner" has come to be used interchangeably with "passenger liner", although it can refer to

1691-516: A speed of 27 knots. Their records seemed unbeatable, and most shipping companies abandoned the race for speed in favor of size, luxury, and safety. The advent of ships with diesel engines, and of those whose engines were oil-burning, such as the Bremen , in the early 1930s, relaunched the race for the Blue Riband . The Normandie won it in 1935 before being snatched by RMS  Queen Mary in 1938. It

1780-552: A steamship was capable of crossing the ocean, the public was not yet prepared to trust such means of travel on the open sea, and, in 1820, the steam engine was removed from the vessel. Work on this technology continued and a new step was taken in 1833. Royal William managed to cross the Atlantic by using steam power on most of the voyage; sail was used only when the boilers were cleaned. There were still many skeptics, and in 1836, scientific writer Dionysius Lardner declared that: As

1869-467: A swimming pool. In the 1920s, SS  Paris was the first liner to offer a movie theatre. The British and the German shipyards were the most famed in shipbuilding during the great era of ocean liners. In Ireland, Harland & Wolff shipyard of Belfast were particularly innovative and succeeded in winning the trust of many shipping companies, such as White Star Line . These gigantic shipyards employed

SECTION 20

#1732858722155

1958-452: A tonnage of 79,280. In 1940, RMS  Queen Elizabeth raised the record of size to a tonnage of 83,673. She was the largest passenger ship ever constructed until 1997. In 2003, RMS  Queen Mary 2 became the largest, at 149,215 GT. In the early 1840s, the average speed of liners was less than 10 knots (a crossing of the Atlantic thus took about 12 days or more). In the 1870s, the average speed of liners increased to around 15 knots

2047-481: Is found on cruise ships, as well as a deeper draft for greater stability, and have large capacities for fuel, food, and other consumables on long voyages. On an ocean liner, the captain's tower ( bridge ) is usually positioned on the upper deck for increased visibility. The first ocean liners were built in the mid-19th century. Technological innovations such as the steam engine, Diesel engine and steel hull allowed larger and faster liners to be built, giving rise to

2136-666: Is the only ocean liner still in service to this day. The category does not include ferries or other vessels engaged in short-sea trading, nor dedicated cruise ships where the voyage itself, and not transportation, is the primary purpose of the trip. Nor does it include tramp steamers , even those equipped to handle limited numbers of passengers. Some shipping companies refer to themselves as "lines" and their container ships , which often operate over set routes according to established schedules, as "liners". Though ocean liners share certain similarities with cruise ships, they must be able to travel between continents from point A to point B on

2225-582: The Quest for Adventure would move back into the fleet as Saga Pearl II . She sailed her final world cruise in the first months of 2013. However it was marred by technical difficulties which kept the ship in Southampton until late February, which led to the cruise being renamed the 'Grand Voyage' visiting South America and South Africa. It was reported that Saga Ruby would depart on her final cruise with Saga Cruises on 7 December 2013 round trip from Southampton on

2314-612: The Avro Lancaster and Boeing B-29 Superfortress , with their range and massive carrying capacity, were natural prototypes for post-war next-generation airliners . Jet engine technology also accelerated due to wartime development of jet aircraft . In 1953, the De Havilland Comet became the first commercial jet airliner; the Sud Aviation Caravelle , Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 followed, and much long-distance travel

2403-558: The Big Four of the White Star Line were the first liners to surpass Great Eastern as the largest passenger ships . Ultimately their owner was American (as mentioned above, White Star Line had been absorbed into J. P. Morgan's trust). Faced with this major competition, the British government contributed financially to Cunard Line's construction of two liners of unmatched size and speed, under

2492-666: The Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, which has built ships including RMS  Queen Mary 2 . France also had major shipyards on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea . FleetPro Passenger Ship Management Management and administrative services provided include deck and engine manning, maintenance, drydockings, inspections, conversions, upgradings and volume purchasing. FleetPro's fleet consists of mid- to small-size passenger vessels: FleetPro also operate over forty inland waterways cruise vessels. This article related to

2581-529: The Falkland Islands to recover the Falklands from the invading Argentine forces . The P&O educational cruise ship and former British India Steam Navigation Company liner Uganda was requisitioned as a hospital ship, and served after the war as a troopship until the RAF Mount Pleasant station was built at Stanley , which could handle trooping flights. By the first decade of the 21st century, only

2670-511: The Far East , India, Australia, etc. The birth of the concept of international water and the lack of any claim to it simplified navigation. In 1818, the Black Ball Line , with a fleet of sailing ships, offered the first regular passenger service with emphasis on passenger comfort, from England to the United States. In 1807, Robert Fulton succeeded in applying steam engines to ships. He built

2759-534: The SS  Andrea Doria , which later sank in 1956 after a collision with MS  Stockholm . Before the Second World War, aircraft had not posed a significant economic threat to ocean liners. Most pre-war aircraft were noisy, vulnerable to bad weather, and/or incapable of the range needed for transoceanic flights; all were expensive and had a small passenger capacity. The war accelerated development of large, long-ranged aircraft. Four-engined bombers, such as

Vistafjord - Misplaced Pages Continue

2848-565: The Titanic II , is a modern replica of the original RMS Titanic , which sank in 1912. The ship is owned by Blue Star Line and is bought by Australian businessman Clive Palmer , the ship is set to be launched by 2027. Four ocean liners made before the Second World War survive today as they have been partially or fully preserved as museums and hotels . The Japanese ocean liner Hikawa Maru (1929), has been preserved in Naka-ku, Yokohama , Japan, as

2937-585: The flagship of the company's fleet. Because all U.S. registered ships counted as an extension of U.S. territory, the National Prohibition Act made American liners alcohol-free, causing alcohol-seeking passengers to choose other liners for travel and substantially reducing profits for the United States Lines. In 1929, Germany returned to the scene with the two ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd, SS  Bremen and SS  Europa . Bremen won

3026-498: The 1983 movie Table for Five . Vistafjord featured in two 1985 consecutive episodes of “The Love Boat,” season 9, episodes 4 and 5 (The Spain Cruise). Ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships ). The Queen Mary 2

3115-717: The Allied Powers were compensated by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. This led to the awarding of many German liners to the victorious Allies. The Hamburg America Line's trio ( Imperator , Vaterland , and Bismarck ) were divided between the Cunard Line, White Star Line, and the United States Lines , while the three surviving ships of the Kaiser class were requisitioned by the US Navy in

3204-701: The Atlantic. Constructing large ships was therefore more profitable. Moreover, migration to the Americas increased enormously. These movements of population were a financial windfall for the shipping companies, some of the largest of which were founded during this time. Examples are the P&;O of the United Kingdom in 1822 and the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique of France in 1855. The steam engine also allowed ships to provide regular service without

3293-460: The Blue Riband for her company. This race for speed, however, was a detriment to passengers' comfort and generated strong vibration, which made her owner lose any interest in her after she lost the Blue Riband to another ship of Norddeutscher Lloyd. She was only used for ten years for transatlantic crossing before being converted into a cruise ship. Until 1907 the Blue Riband remained in the hands of

3382-512: The Blue Riband from Britain's Mauretania after the latter had held it for twenty years. Soon, Italy also entered the scene. The Italian Line completed SS  Rex and SS  Conte di Savoia in 1932, breaking the records of both luxury and speed ( Rex won the westbound Blue Riband in 1933). France reentered the scene with SS  Normandie of the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). The ship

3471-471: The British. From 1912 to 1914, Hamburg America Line completed a trio of liners significantly larger than the White Star Line's Olympic -class ships. The first to be completed, in 1913 was SS  Imperator . She was followed by SS Vaterland in 1914. The construction of the third liner, SS  Bismarck , was paused by the outbreak of the First World War. The First World War was a hard time for

3560-633: The Germans. In 1902, J. P. Morgan embraced the idea of a maritime empire comprising a large number of companies. He founded the International Mercantile Marine Co. , a trust which originally comprised only American shipping companies. The trust then absorbed Leyland Line and White Star Line. The British government then decided to intervene in order to regain the ascendancy. Although German liners dominated in terms of speed, British liners dominated in terms of size. RMS  Oceanic and

3649-576: The Second World War the three worst disasters were the loss of the Cunarder Lancastria in 1940 off Saint-Nazaire to German bombing while attempting to evacuate troops of the British Expeditionary Force from France, with the loss of more than 3,000 lives; the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff , after the ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, with more than 9,000 lives lost, making it the deadliest maritime disaster in history; and

Vistafjord - Misplaced Pages Continue

3738-525: The United Kingdom and the United States. Over time, the paddle wheel, impractical on the high seas, was abandoned in favour of the propeller. In 1840, Cunard Line's RMS  Britannia began its first regular passenger and cargo service by a steamship, sailing from Liverpool to Boston , Massachusetts. As the size of ship increased, the wooden hull became fragile. Beginning with the use of an iron hull in 1845, and then steel hulls, solved this problem. The first ship to be both iron-hulled and equipped with

3827-523: The United Kingdom. She continued service with Cunard until November 2004, when she was sold to Saga Cruises . Following a £17 million refit at Valletta , Malta Caronia reappeared as Saga Ruby in March 2005. In the Saga Cruises fleet she joined her former Norwegian America Line fleetmate Sagafjord (now named Saga Rose ). It was reported in 2012 that Saga Cruises would retire Saga Ruby in 2014 and

3916-530: The United States during this time. The year 1858 was marked by a major accident: the sinking of SS  Austria . The ship, built in Greenock and sailing between Hamburg and New York twice a month, suffered an accidental fire off the coast of Newfoundland and sank with the loss of all but 89 of the 542 passengers. In the British market, Cunard Line and White Star Line (the latter after being bought by Thomas Ismay in 1868), competed strongly against each other in

4005-438: The added amenity of large portholes, electricity and running water. The size of ocean liners increased from 1880 to meet the needs of immigration to the United States and Australia. RMS  Umbria and her sister ship RMS  Etruria were the last two Cunard liners of the period to be fitted with auxiliary sails. Both ships were built by John Elder & Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1884. They were record breakers by

4094-438: The cabin class and the steerage class. The passengers travelling on the former were wealthy passengers and they enjoyed certain comfort in that class. The passengers travelling on the latter were members of the middle class or the working class. In that class, they were packed in large dormitories. Until the beginning of the 20th century, they did not always have bedsheets and meals. An intermediate class for tourists and members of

4183-579: The coast of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea , including Blohm & Voss and AG Vulcan Stettin . Many of these shipyards were destroyed during World War II; some managed to recover and continue building ships. In France, major shipyards included Chantiers de Penhoët in Saint-Nazaire , known for building SS  Normandie . This shipyard merged with Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard to form

4272-515: The competition from Cunard Line, White Star Line ordered the Olympic -class liners at the end of 1907. The first of these three liners, RMS  Olympic , completed in 1911, had a fine career, although punctuated by incidents. This was not the case for her sister, the RMS ; Titanic , which sank on her maiden voyage on 15 April 1912, resulting in several changes to maritime safety practices. As for

4361-471: The condition that they be available for conversion into armed cruisers when needed by the navy. The result of this partnership was the completion in 1907 of two sister ships: RMS  Lusitania and RMS  Mauretania , both of which won the Blue Riband during their respective maiden voyages. The latter retained this distinction for twenty years. Their great speed was achieved by the use of turbines instead of conventional expansion machines. In response to

4450-567: The construction of the Queen Mary while progressively sending their older ships to the scrapyard. The Queen Mary was the fastest ship of her time and the largest for a short amount of time, she captured the Blue Riband twice, both off Normandie . The construction of a second ship, the Queen Elizabeth , was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War . The Second World War was

4539-420: The context of the conflict and then retained. The Tirpitz , whose construction was delayed by the outbreak of war eventually became the RMS  Empress of Australia . Of the German superliners, only Deutschland , because of her poor state, avoided this fate. After a period of reconstruction, the shipping companies recovered quickly from the damage caused by the First World War. The ships, whose construction

SECTION 50

#1732858722155

4628-409: The crowding of passengers, and faster ships, to reduce the duration of transatlantic crossings. The iron and steel hulls and steam power allowed for these advances. Thus, SS Great Western (1,340 GRT) and SS Great Eastern (18,915 GRT) were constructed in 1838 and 1858 respectively. The record set by SS Great Eastern was not beaten until 43 years later in 1901 when RMS  Celtic (20,904 GT)

4717-417: The dawn of the jet age . Such routes included Europe to African and Asian colonies, Europe to South America, and migrant traffic from Europe to North America in the 19th and first two decades of the 20th centuries, and to Canada and Australia after the Second World War. Shipping lines are companies engaged in shipping passengers and cargo, often on established routes and schedules. Regular scheduled voyages on

4806-409: The duration of a transatlantic crossing shortened to around 7 days, owing to the technological progress made in the propulsion of ships: the rudimentary steam boilers gave rise to more elaborate machineries and the paddlewheel gradually disappeared, replaced first by one screw then by two screws. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cunard Line's RMS  Lusitania and RMS  Mauretania reached

4895-403: The first auxiliary cruiser in history. In the time of war, ships could easily be equipped with cannons and used in cases of conflict. Teutonic succeeded in impressing Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who wanted to see his country endowed with a modern fleet. In 1870, the White Star Line's RMS  Oceanic set a new standard for ocean travel by having its first-class cabins amidships, with

4984-546: The first ship that was powered by this technology, the Clermont , which succeeded in travelling between New York City and Albany, New York in thirty hours before entering into regular service between the two cities. Soon after, other vessels were built using this innovation. In 1816, the Élise became the first steamship to cross the English Channel . Another important advance came in 1819, when SS  Savannah became

5073-557: The first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She left the U.S. city of the same name and arrived in Liverpool, England in 27 days. Most of the distance was covered by sailing; the steam power was not used for more than 72 hours during the travel. The public enthusiasm for the new technology was not high, as none of the thirty-two people who had booked a seat boarded the ship for that historic voyage. Although Savannah had proven that

5162-565: The last ocean liners to be built primarily for crossing the North Atlantic, could not be converted economically and had short careers. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution and the inter-continental trade rendered the development of secure links between continents imperative. Being at the top among the colonial powers, the United Kingdom needed stable maritime routes to connect different parts of its empire :

5251-399: The late 1860s. The struggle was symbolised by the attainment of the Blue Riband, which the two companies achieved several times around the end of the century. The luxury and technology of ships were also evolving. Auxiliary sails became obsolete and disappeared completely at the end of the century. Possible military use of passenger ships was envisaged and, in 1889, RMS  Teutonic became

5340-521: The liners. Some of them, like the Mauretania , Aquitania , and Britannic were transformed into hospital ships during the conflict. Others became troop transports, while some, such as the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse , participated in the war as warships. Troop transportation was very popular due to the liners' large size. Liners converted into troop ships were painted in dazzle camouflage to reduce

5429-438: The middle class gradually appeared. The cabins were then divided into three classes. The facilities offered to passengers developed over time. In the 1870s, the installation of bathtubs and oil lamps caused a sensation on board SS  Oceanic . In the following years, the number of amenities became numerous, for example: smoking rooms, lounges, and promenade deck. In 1907, RMS  Adriatic even offered Turkish baths and

SECTION 60

#1732858722155

5518-467: The most luxurious cruise ships in the world, sharing the top 5 in Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising , together Sagafjord and Royal Viking Line 's Royal Viking Star , Royal Viking Sky and Royal Viking Sea for several years. In 1999 the decision was made to rename Vistafjord with a more traditional Cunard Line name. On 10 December 1999 she was renamed Caronia and re-registered in

5607-570: The number of people crossing the Atlantic and at the same time reducing the number of profitable transatlantic voyages. In response, shipping companies redirected many of their liners to a more profitable cruise service. In 1934, in the United Kingdom, Cunard Line and White Star Line were in very bad shape financially. Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain proposed to merge the two companies in order to solve their financial problems. The merger took place in 1934 and launched

5696-538: The ocean liners came to an end. By the early 1970s, many passenger ships continued their service in cruising. In 1982, during the Falklands War , three active or former liners were requisitioned for war service by the British Government . The liners Queen Elizabeth 2 and Canberra , were requisitioned from Cunard and P&O to serve as troopships, carrying British Army personnel to Ascension Island and

5785-403: The only ship still in service as an ocean liner is RMS  Queen Mary 2 . Ocean liners were the primary mode of intercontinental travel for over a century, from the mid-19th century until they began to be supplanted by airliners in the 1950s. In addition to passengers, liners carried mail and cargo. Ships contracted to carry British Royal Mail used the designation RMS . Liners were also

5874-606: The operation was expensive. The sinking of two of its ships was a major blow to the company which was dissolved in 1858. In 1858, Brunel built his third and last giant, SS  Great Eastern . The ship was, for 43 years, the largest passenger ship ever built . She had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers. Her career was marked by a series of failures and incidents, one of which was an explosion on board during her maiden voyage. Many ships owned by German companies like Hamburg America Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd were sailing from major German ports, such as Hamburg and Bremen, to

5963-570: The owners of Cunard , purchased NAL and in October 1983 Vistafjord joined the Cunard fleet together with her fleetmate Sagafjord . She retained her original name and the grey NAL hull colour, but received Cunard Line funnel colours and was re-registered to the Bahamas. Despite the flag change she retained Norwegian command staff. During this time, both Vistafjord and Sagafjord , were considered to be amongst

6052-465: The preferred way to move gold and other high-value cargoes. The busiest route for liners was on the North Atlantic with ships travelling between Europe and North America. It was on this route that the fastest, largest and most advanced liners travelled, though most ocean liners historically were mid-sized vessels which served as the common carriers of passengers and freight between nations and among other countries and their colonies and dependencies before

6141-455: The project of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making the voyage from New York to the moon. The last step toward long-distance travel using steam power was taken in 1837 when SS  Sirius left Liverpool on 4 April and arrived in New York eighteen days later on 22 April after a turbulent crossing. Too little coal

6230-427: The rear and top of the superstructure. In Norwegian America Line service Vistafjord carried the traditional NAL livery, with a grey hull, white superstructure, yellow mast and a yellow funnel with red, white and blue (colours of the flag of Norway ) stripes. Following the sale to Cunard she retained the grey hull colour, but her funnel was painted in the red/black Cunard colours and her mast white. A red "Cunard" text

6319-527: The risk of being torpedoed by enemy submarines . The war was marked by the loss of many liners. Britannic , while serving as a hospital ship, sank in the Aegean Sea in 1916 after she struck a mine. Numerous incidents of torpedoing took place and large numbers of ships sank. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was defeated and scuttled after a fierce battle with HMS  Highflyer off the coast of west Africa, while her sister ship Kronprinz Wilhelm served as

6408-427: The sinking of SS  Cap Arcona with more than 7,000 lives lost, both in the Baltic Sea , in 1945. SS Rex was bombarded and sunk in 1944, and Normandie caught fire, capsized, and sank in New York in 1942 while being converted for troop duty. Many of the superliners of the 1920s and 1930s were victims of U-boats , mines or enemy aircraft. Empress of Britain was attacked by German planes, then torpedoed by

6497-665: The standards of the time, and were the largest liners then in service, plying the Liverpool to New York route. SS  Ophir was a 6,814-ton steamship owned by the Orient Steamship Co. , and was fitted with refrigeration equipment. She plied the Suez Canal route from England to Australia during the 1890s, up until the years leading to World War I when she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser . In 1897, Norddeutscher Lloyd launched SS  Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse . She

6586-463: The third sister, HMHS  Britannic , she never served her intended purpose as a passenger ship, as she was drafted in the First World War as a hospital ship , and sank to a naval mine in 1916. At the same time, France tried to mark its presence with the completion in 1912 of SS  France owned by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique . Germany soon responded to the competition from

6675-454: The use of sail. This aspect particularly appealed to the postal companies, which leased the services of ships to serve clients separated by the ocean. In 1839, Samuel Cunard founded the Cunard Line and became the first to dedicate the activity of his shipping company to the transport of mails, thus ensuring regular services on a given schedule. The company's vessels operated the routes between

6764-664: Was beached in Zhanjiang, China as a tourist attraction called Hai Shang Cheng Shi in 1998, though has been closed as of 2022. Funchal was purchased by Brock Pierce in 2021, with the intent of turning her into a hotel. Her future is uncertain as it was reported in July 2021 that no progress has been made since then. Since their beginning in the 19th century, ocean liners needed to meet growing demands. The first liners were small and overcrowded, leading to unsanitary conditions on board. Eliminating these phenomena required larger ships, to reduce

6853-435: Was commenced, and, with it, the tradition of the Blue Riband . With Great Western , Isambard Kingdom Brunel laid the foundations for new shipbuilding techniques. He realised that the carrying capacity of a ship increases as the cube of its dimensions, whilst the water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions. This means that large ships are more fuel-efficient, something very important for long voyages across

6942-545: Was completed. The tonnage then grew profoundly: the first liners to have a tonnage that exceeded 20,000 were the Big Four of the White Star Line . The Olympic -class ocean liners , first completed in 1911, were the first to have a tonnage that exceeded 45,000 and the Imperator -class ocean liners first completed in 1913 became the 1st liners with tonnage exceeding 50,000. SS  Normandie , completed in 1935, had

7031-402: Was done by air. The Italian Line's SS  Michelangelo and SS  Raffaello , launched in 1962 and 1963, were two of the last ocean liners to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Cunard's transatlantic liner, Queen Elizabeth 2 , was also used as a cruise ship. By the early 1960s, 95% of passenger traffic across the Atlantic was by aircraft. Thus the reign of

7120-541: Was followed three years later by three sister ships . The ship was both luxurious and fast, managing to steal the Blue Riband from the British. She was also the first of the fourteen ocean liners with four funnels that have emerged in maritime history. The ship needed only two funnels, but more funnels gave passengers a feeling of safety and power. In 1900, the Hamburg America Line competed with its own four-funnel liner, SS  Deutschland . She quickly obtained

7209-406: Was later added to her superstructure. Coinciding with her renaming into Caronia in 1999 the ship's hull was repainted black. As Saga Ruby her hull was repainted dark blue and her funnel yellow, with a dark blue top and a narrow white stripe separating the two colours. Vistafjord featured in the 1986 episode Countdown of MacGyver as the cruise ship SS Victoria . Vistafjord featured in

7298-685: Was launched on 15 May 1972 and delivered to the Norwegian America Line exactly a year later on 15 May 1973. She is the last cruise ship to have been built in the United Kingdom. On 22 May 1973, Vistafjord set on her maiden voyage, a transatlantic crossing from Oslo to New York . In early 1980, the vessel was famously chartered by car manufacturer British Leyland to internally launch the Austin Metro to its British dealer network. Although their ships were high-rated, Norwegian America Line had trouble making profit. In 1983 Trafalgar House ,

7387-658: Was not until 1952 that SS  United States set a record that remains today: 34.5 knots (3 days and 12 hours of crossing the Atlantic). In addition, since 1935, the Blue Riband is accompanied by the Hales Trophy , which is awarded to the winner. The first ocean liners were designed to carry mostly migrants. On-board sanitary conditions were often deplorable and epidemics were frequent. In 1848, maritime laws imposing hygiene rules were adopted and they improved on-board living conditions. Gradually, two distinct classes were developed:

7476-424: Was ordered by Norwegian America Line (NAL) from Swan Hunter , Newcastle , England. She was based on the company's 1965-built MS  Sagafjord , but with an enlarged hull, additional superstructure deck and improved interior layout. However, as the cost of building Sagafjord had put her builders, Forges et Chantiers de la Mediterranee , out of business, Vistafjord had to be built at a different shipyard. She

7565-600: Was prepared for the crossing, and the crew had to burn cabin furniture in order to complete the voyage. The journey took place at a speed of 8.03 knots. The voyage was made possible by the use of a condenser, which fed the boilers with fresh water, avoiding having to periodically shut down the boilers in order to remove the salt. The feat was short-lived. The next day, SS  Great Western , designed by railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel , arrived in New York. She left Liverpool on 8 April and overtook Sirius ' s record with an average speed of 8.66 knots. The race of speed

7654-596: Was reported to have been sold for scrap in January 2023, but this has been denied by the ship's owner. United States has been docked in Philadelphia since 1996, but following a legal dispute between the organization that owns United States and the pier owners, she was purchased by Okaloosa County , Florida to be turned into the world's largest artificial reef. There are plans for a land-based museum and several pieces of United States are planned to be preserved. Brazil Maru

7743-605: Was started before the war, such as SS  Paris of the French Line , were completed and put into service. Prominent British liners, such as the Olympic and the Mauretania , were also put back into service and had a successful career in the early 1920s. More modern liners were also built, such as SS  Île de France (completed in 1927). The United States Lines , having received the Vaterland , renamed her Leviathan and made her

7832-400: Was the largest ship afloat at the time of her completion in 1935. She was also the fastest, winning the Blue Riband in 1935. A crisis arose when the United States drastically reduced its immigrant quotas, causing shipping companies to lose a large part of their income and to have to adapt to this circumstance. The Great Depression also played an important role, causing a drastic decrease in

7921-658: Was very impressed with the service of the Cunard's Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as troopships during the war. To ensure a reliable and fast troop transport in case of a war against the Soviet Union, the U.S. government sponsored the construction of SS  United States and entered it into service for the United States Lines in 1952. She won the Blue Riband on her maiden voyage in that year and held it until Richard Branson won it back in 1986 with Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. One year later, in 1953, Italy completed

#154845