119-455: RMS Celtic was an ocean liner owned by the White Star Line . The first ship larger than SS Great Eastern by gross register tonnage (it was also 9 ft [2.7 m] longer), Celtic was the first of a quartet of ships over 20,000 tons, the dubbed The Big Four . She was the last ship ordered by Thomas Henry Ismay before his death in 1899. The second liner of her name (
238-800: 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 ,
357-510: 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
476-509: 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
595-479: A black hull, white superstructure and two ocher-brown and black funnels. The ship was also provided with four masts which were not intended to receive sails (but served as support for the cables of the wireless telegraphy and the lookout's nest) Although slightly smaller, Celtic offered a luxury equivalent to her sister ships (although Adriatic benefited from new facilities such as her swimming pool). The ship had spacious cabins, supplied with electricity, as well as
714-419: A cargo of cotton in her hold. The ship was in mid-Atlantic when it was discovered that bales of cotton in one of her holds was alight. Steps were instantly taken to prevent the flames from spreading, and the hold was tightly closed to exclude all air, while steam was admitted to drown the flames which were eating their way through the inflammable cotton. The crew were set to work strengthening bulkheads but luckily
833-499: A combination passenger and livestock carrier and was designed with smaller engines capable of running the ship at more modest economical speeds. When this combination proved unpopular to travellers, Cymric was reconfigured as a full passenger vessel. The result of this was that although she was considerably smaller than the new Oceanic , her smaller engines and fewer boilers installation allowed more space for passenger accommodations. In September 1898 contracts were made for Celtic , and
952-530: 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,
1071-496: 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
1190-503: 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
1309-482: A cruiser, she was transformed into a troop transport, a mission favored by her large size which enabled her to embark a large number of soldiers and good quantities of equipment. Her first crossings, at the beginning of 1916, took her between Liverpool and Egypt . On 15 February 1917, Celtic struck a mine off the Isle of Man . Seventeen people on board were killed, but the ship survived. A number of passengers were rescued by
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#17328763217591428-437: A destroyer and local life-saving teams, arrived. Tenders from Cobh disembarked the passengers. Among the passengers were 25 survivors of the recently sunk SS Vestris . Seven thousand tons of cargo were scattered. A salvage team from Cox and Danks was provided to attempt recovery, but several men died after a hold loaded with grain and flooded with seawater was found to have filled with toxic fumes; due to structural failures it
1547-526: 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
1666-445: 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,
1785-458: 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
1904-549: A four-cylinder tandem steam engine, rated at 600 NHP . The ship had a Gross register tonnage of 3867 tons and a Net register tonnage of 2439 tons. Celtic was built by Harland and Wolff at their Belfast shipyard, and was launched on 8 June 1872. Celtic left Liverpool on her maiden voyage in October 1872. On 18 January 1873, Celtic struck floating wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean and lost her propeller blades. She
2023-425: 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
2142-517: A liner of the White Star Line throughout the history of the company. In addition to the other Big Four-class liners, her success inspired the construction, again by Harland & Wolff, of Amerika of the German company HAPAG , which copied her profile and her characteristics, while being slightly faster and above all more luxurious. In April and May 1907, while the White Star Line had been part of
2261-450: A majestic dining room topped by a glass roof, and a smoking room with stained glass windows. Passengers also had access to a library, promenade deck, lounge and veranda cafe. The liner was originally distinguished by her very large capacity, being able to carry 347 first-class passengers, 160 second-class and 2350 third-class. On one occasion, in 1904, she carried on board 2,957 passengers, the largest number of people embarked in peacetime on
2380-586: A mode of slower than usual rotations, but was also used for a long cruise in 1902 which met with some success. In 1907, she was briefly used for the American Line on the Southampton route, before White Star set up its own fast service on this route. From Liverpool, the Big Four-class ships provide a slow but more economical service, both for the company and for the passengers. When World War I broke out, Celtic
2499-566: 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
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#17328763217592618-634: 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
2737-484: A noticing of an opportunity to introduce a series of liners which would prioritise more on comfort rather than speed. This was accomplished in comparing the net tonnage (a measure of a ship's total enclosed space) between their two newest North Atlantic Liners; SS Cymric , which had entered service in February 1898, and RMS Oceanic , which was nearing completion at Belfast. Cymric had initially been designed as
2856-529: 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
2975-505: 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
3094-604: A ship of the White Star Line at the time. In 1920, however, her capacity was significantly reduced, offering places for 350 first-class, 250 second-class and, 1000 third-class passengers. Finally, from 1927, she was converted into a cabin class ship, at more advantageous rates, and could carry 2,500 passengers. 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
3213-516: 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
3332-552: 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
3451-418: 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
3570-452: 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
3689-481: 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
RMS Celtic (1901) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3808-523: Is recovered to supply Navy ships. On 31 March 1918, U-Boat UB-77 torpedoed Celtic in the Irish Sea , hitting her twice. Six people on board were killed, but again, Celtic remained afloat. Eventually, the damaged vessel was towed to Liverpool and repaired again. On 17 May 1919, the British government finally returned her to her owner, who sent her to Harland & Wolff shipyards to refit her for her return to
3927-666: 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
4046-612: 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
4165-450: 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
4284-623: The Celtic ' s captain Irvine was censured for failing to reduce speed whilst steaming through fog, whilst captain Perry of the Britannic was censured for failure to sound the ship's whistle before the collision. Another more far reaching recommendation was for the separate 'in' and 'out' shipping lanes be extended right across the Atlantic. In 1892 she was retired by White Star and put up for sale. In 1893, she
4403-677: The Celtic . The two ships remained together through the night, and the next morning were joined by the Wilson Line's Marengo and the British Queen of the Inman Line , and the four slowly made their way into New York Harbor . A subsequent Court of Enquiry held in New York in June 1887, found that the captains of both ships were guilty of 'not observing regulations for the prevention of collisions at sea';
4522-630: 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 . SS Celtic (1872) SS Celtic was an ocean liner built for the White Star Line by shipbuilders Harland and Wolff of Belfast . The Celtic , the first of two White Star ships to bear the name, was the last of six Oceanic-class liner commissioned by White Star; she and her older sister Adriatic were ordered following
4641-529: 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
4760-511: 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
4879-650: The International Mercantile Marine Co. for several years, Celtic was used for two round trip voyages by another company within the trust, the American Line , which used it to fill in for St. Paul on the Southampton to New York route. During this period, however, the liner kept the colours of its original company. During the following summer, it was the White Star's turn to open its own service from Southampton, with its express ships, Majestic , Teutonic and Oceanic , which were quickly joined by
RMS Celtic (1901) - Misplaced Pages Continue
4998-603: The London and North Western Railway ship Slieve Bawn . Celtic was towed to Peel Bay and repaired in Belfast . It was during these repairs that the ship was requisitioned as part of the Liner Requisition Scheme on 17 April 1917. She was assigned to missions to transport equipment from the United States. Her main task was to carry oil in her cargo hold, with her capable of carrying 700 tonnes per trip to Liverpool, where it
5117-733: The Mersey , when she accidentally rammed the Coast Line’s ship Hampshire Coast . Both vessels suffered only minor damage. The same year Celtic lost a propeller in Boston Harbor and had to return to the dock, forcing her passengers to leave by train for New York in order to take another ship. The second collision took place on 29 January 1927, when Celtic was rammed in thick fog by the American Diamond Lines Anaconda off Fire Island . That same year, as newer ships entered service on
5236-534: 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
5355-565: 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
5474-585: 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
5593-717: 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
5712-701: 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
5831-460: 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
5950-512: 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
6069-471: 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
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#17328763217596188-557: 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
6307-570: The New York route. In 1920, after work to restore her original decor was finished, Celtic resumed the Liverpool-New York route. To adapt her to new types of clientele and to the drop in the number of immigrants to the North Atlantic, her capacity has been greatly reduced to 350 first class, 250 second class, and 1000 third class passengers. She subsequently experienced several incidents. The first incident occurred in on 25 April 1925 while in
6426-498: The North Atlantic, the White Star Line refitted Celtic to carry 2,500 passengers, while her first class was converted to cabin class at cheaper rates, to keep up with account of her low speed. Her career ended prematurely in December 1928. On December 1, the liner left New York for Cobh , via Boston , with 300 passengers on board, 350 members of the crew, and a large cargo. The voyage proceeded without incident and in good weather under
6545-576: 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
6664-525: 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
6783-530: 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
6902-409: The White Star liner Britannic in thick fog about 350 miles (560 km) east of Sandy Hook, New Jersey . The Celtic , with 870 passengers, had been steaming westbound for New York City , while the Britannic , carrying 450 passengers, was on the second day of her eastward journey to Liverpool . The two ships collided at almost right angles, with the Celtic burying her prow 10 feet (3 m) in
7021-438: 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
7140-438: The aft port side of Britannic . The Celtic rebounded and hit two more times, before sliding past behind Britannic . Six steerage passengers were killed outright on board Britannic , and another six were later found to be missing, having been washed overboard. There were no deaths on board Celtic . Both ships were badly damaged, but Britannic more so, having a large hole below her waterline. Fearing that she would founder,
7259-438: 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
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#17328763217597378-579: 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
7497-566: The command of a captain of the Royal Navy assisted by its former civilian commander, Captain Hambleton. However, the British Admiralty quickly became aware of the uselessness of such ships, too large to ideally fulfill the missions entrusted to them. In January 1916, Celtic was therefore withdrawn from service. However, she did not remain inactive; immediately after the end of her service as
7616-519: The command of captain Gilbert Berry, until the night of the 9th to the 10th. As she approached Cobh, the weather became rough and it became impossible to embark the coastal pilot. Berry therefore decided to cancel the stopover and leave directly for Liverpool. Some time later, the weather seemed to improve, and the captain changed his mind and returned to Cobh to try to disembark the passengers and bags of mail that were to stop there. This required stopping
7735-515: 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
7854-471: 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
7973-567: 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
8092-420: 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
8211-409: 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)
8330-417: 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
8449-409: 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
8568-401: The fire was kept under control, and Celtic arrived at Liverpool where the fire was speedily extinguished by shore appliances. Remarkably none of the passengers knew until afterwards that it had occurred, for the captain and his officers went about among the passengers as if nothing unusual had taken place. On 25 December 1905, she encountered a rogue wave that hit the ship and caused damage to
8687-403: 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
8806-466: The first was completed in 1872) she was put into service in 1901. Her large size (she could carry nearly 3,000 passengers) and her low but economical speed (16 kn or 30 km/h, while her contemporary liners then sailed on average at 19–20 kn or 35–37 km/h) inaugurated a new company policy aiming to favour size, luxury and comfort, to the detriment of speed. Assigned to the route between Liverpool and New York , Celtic experimented with
8925-546: 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
9044-557: 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
9163-541: The keel was laid at Harland and Wolff on 22 March 1899. Celtic was the last liner ordered during Thomas Henry Ismay 's lifetime. On the death of Ismay, all the efforts of the Harland & Wolff yards in Belfast were turned towards Celtic . The liner met all new objectives: with it, the company definitively abandoned the race for speed and never again sought to win the Blue Riband , favouring comfort and economy. If this change
9282-439: The last Big Four- liner, Adriatic . At the start of World War I , Celtic was one of four White Star Line ships that were converted to auxiliary cruisers , along with Cedric , Oceanic and Teutonic . Intended for patrol missions in the North Sea , she was armed with cannons and joined the 10th Cruiser Squadron. Celtic was commissioned on 20 October 1914. She carried out her first patrol mission on 4 December 1914, under
9401-508: 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 :
9520-399: 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
9639-521: 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
9758-438: 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
9877-570: 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
9996-538: 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
10115-414: The off-season. While two new ships joined her in 1903 and 1904 ( Cedric and Baltic ), Celtic ' s career was only disturbed by a few incidents at that time. A collision occurred on River Mersey with the steamer Heathmore on 15 April 1903. The liner came out of the incident with a hole in her hull, which was quickly repaired. A few months later, she was also affected by a minor fire which destroyed
10234-403: 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
10353-606: 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
10472-439: The passengers on board began to panic and rushed the lifeboats . Britannic 's captain, pistol in hand, was able to restore some semblance of order, and the boats were filled with women and children, although a few men forced their way on board. After the lifeboats had launched, it was realized that Britannic would be able to stay afloat, and the lifeboats within hailing distance were recalled. The rest made their way over to
10591-465: 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
10710-404: 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
10829-527: 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
10948-408: The second class facilities, in particular, glass panels in the smoking room, taking with it a door, and frightening the passengers. Despite these incidents, Celtic was a resounding success. In September 1904, she set a record by carrying a total of 2,957 passengers (more than her normal maximum capacity) from Liverpool and Queenstown to New York, which was the absolute record of passengers carried by
11067-779: The ship made its way to Queenstown (now Cobh ) in Ireland by sail. In 1880, Edward Smith , who later became the Line's most celebrated Captain, and the Captain of the RMS Titanic, joined the crew of Celtic as her Fourth Officer. In November 1881, Celtic again rescued a shipwrecked crew, this time of the Brigantine Alice . On 19 May 1887, at about 5:25 in the afternoon, the Celtic (commanded by Captain Peter John Irving) collided with
11186-460: The ship offshore while waiting for the pilot to return. When his barge approached the ship, the weather became agitated again, and it was impossible to board. At 4:55 am, a stronger wave accompanied by a strong gust of wind precipitated Celtic on the rocks of Roche's Point early on 10 December 1928, and she became stranded on the Cow and Calf rocks. The Ballycotton Lifeboat T.P.Hearne 2 , along with tugs,
11305-409: The ships had a five week turnaround, five ships were needed to allow a weekly service, with the sixth ship acting as a spare). Celtic was a duplicate of Adriatic and like Adriatic , was larger than the first four ships. Celtic was 437 ft 2 in (133.25 m) long, with a beam of 40 ft 9 in (12.42 m). Twelve single-ended boilers fed steam at 70 psi (480 kPa) to
11424-427: 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
11543-665: 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
11662-476: The success of what was originally a series of four. The new ship was originally proposed to be named Arctic , but as the American Collins Line had a Paddle steamer with that name which sank in 1854 , the White Star managers changed their minds, and settled on the name Celtic . Celtic was one of six liners built for White Star to allow the line to operate a mail service across the Atlantic. (As
11781-463: 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
11900-454: 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
12019-664: 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
12138-435: 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
12257-488: 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
12376-402: 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
12495-487: Was first converted to an auxiliary cruiser . The Admiralty quickly concluded, however, that such a ship was not ideal for these functions, and transformed her into a troop transport. She struck a mine in February 1917, then was torpedoed in March 1918, but she was successfully repaired and salvaged both times. From 1920, and after having undergone a refit reducing her passenger capacity, she resumed her transatlantic service, which
12614-541: 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
12733-414: Was judged the ship could not be moved or salvaged, and was abandoned to the insurance company who declared the ship to be a total loss. Celtic was completely dismantled for scrap by 1933. Celtic was the first ship to exceed the tonnage record set in 1860 by SS Great Eastern . With a gross tonnage of 20,904 and a net tonnage of 13,449, she was the largest liner in service at the time, although she
12852-658: 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:
12971-457: Was one week, in order to allow the embarkation of coal, goods, and passengers. This combined with her average speed of 16 knots confirmed the exit from the race for speed in which the Cunard Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd were still in. In February 1902, the liner was sent to the Mediterranean Sea for a five-week cruise, with 800 passengers on board, which allowed the White Star Line to experiment with this means to make its ships profitable during
13090-461: Was only disturbed by a few collisions. However, this commercial career ceased on 10 December 1928, when, in stormy seas as she approached Cobh , Celtic grounded on the rocks. All the passengers were rescued, but the company considered it futile to attempt to salvage the liner so Celtic was scrapped on the spot. The shipbreaking operation lasted until 1933. Celtic ' s conception, as the other Big Four -class ships, came about in 1898 following
13209-600: 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
13328-400: Was quickly overtaken by her larger sister ships. she measured 701 feet (213.8 m) long by 75 feet (22.9 m) wide, which made her 5 feet shorter than Oceanic , which retained its record of length until 1904, but also 7 feet wider. Powered by triple expansion machines and propelled by two propellers, Celtic sailed on average at 16 knots. The ship's silhouette was similar to that of Oceanic , with
13447-420: Was really inaugurated by Celtic , it was already tested on a smaller scale a few years ago on Cymric . The success of the formula was enough for White Star to draw its new guideline for the next three decades, up until its demise. Celtic was designed to operate an average speed of 16 knots, which was what White Star ships already reached almost thirty years earlier, the liner, with its gross tonnage of 20,904,
13566-596: 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
13685-605: 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
13804-413: Was the first to exceed Great Eastern ' s tonnage, as well as the first ship in history to exceed 20,000 gross tons. She was the second and last White Star ship to bear the name Celtic , an earlier liner of that name had served the company thirty years earlier. Celtic made her maiden voyage on 25 July 1901 between Liverpool and New York . Her size was such that her loading time in each port
13923-400: 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
14042-565: Was towed in to Queenstown, County Cork on 20 January by Gaelic . On 24 January 1877, Celtic rescued the survivors from the American schooner Island Belle , which resulted in Celtic ' s Commanding Officer, Benjamin Gleadell being thanked by the President of the United States , Ulysses S. Grant . In early 1879, Celtic ' s propeller became detached from the driveshaft while at sea, and
14161-707: 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
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