Contents tagged with Ocean_liners
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RMS QUEEN MARY turned 90 years old
On September 26, 2024 90 years ago, the mighty oceanliner QUEEN MARY - built to the order of the Cunard Line - was launched in Clydebank, Scotland, at the John Brown Shipyard.
We commemorate the anniversary with a tableau presenting the history of the ship in our exhibition "Oceanliners".
During the period between the two world wars, most nations were at a shortage of the great ocean liners. On the one hand, an extremely large number of ships were lost in the unrestricted submartine warfare, and on the other hand, due to the post-war shortage of raw materials and capital, as well as poor working conditions in shipyards, their replacement progressed much more slowly than in that pre-war period, which had promised uninterrupted development of the transatlantic traffic. In 1914, the world's 16 largest shipping nations had a total of 8,445 ships larger than 1,600 tons (suitable for ocean crossings) and 14,282 ships smaller than 1,600 tons - that is, a total of 22,727 ships - in operation, with a total of 42,416,000 tons. Of the 16 countries, 9 participated as belligerents, and only 7 remained neutral in the First World War, in which 375 German submarines sank a total of 7,671 ships with a displacement of 15,716,651 tons. This is about a 40% (37%) loss. The situation slowly began to change only in the second half of the 1920s:
1926-1928.: Sir Percy Bates, chairman of the British Cunard Line, raises the idea of building 2 new larger and faster ships to replace the company’s 3 obsolete ocean liners - MAURETANIA, AQUITANIA and BERENGERIA.
During this period, rival shipping companies will also enter with new ships into the North Atlantic rivalry. ROMA (1926) and AUGUSTUS (1928) are built in Italy. The pair of modern turbine steamers of Germany, the BREMEN and the EUROPA (1928) enters in service - BREMEN also breaks MAURETANIA's 20-year speed record, immediately on her first voyage. In France, the ILE de FRANCE (1926) is completed and the design of NORMANDIE (1928) is started. The British competitor White Star Line is laying the keel of OCEANIC III. (1928), which was planned to be the first ocean liner to exceed 300 m in length. In light of this international development, the design of the two new Cunarders capable of maintaining a weekly express service in the North Atlantic begins.
Size and speed are in the focus of the development (size increases comfort, as the larger the ship, the less it is affected by the elements, while the speed shortens the voyage). Switching to oil burning will reduce staying in ports to 18 hours (due to the shorter refuelling periode). Thus, by reducing the crossing time to 5 days, the work of the previous 3 ships can now be performed by 2. Cunard prescribed 112 hours of crossing time for new vessels (which required an average speed of 27.61-28.94 knots on different lengths of route used according to the season) and 11 months of continuous operation without repair and boiler cleaning, which required exceptional reliability.
Fig. 1: The process of designing the QUEEN MARY: above, the first preliminary design of the then-unnamed ship - for the time being called "super AQUITANIA" - after the latest ocean liner of the Cunard company, from 1928. In the middle is the second preliminary design from 1930 (compared to the first, with a larger superstructure, cruiser stern, and glass-enclosed promenades). And below is the final design (with funnels of decreasing height towards the stern and on the "B" deck without the promenade still visible from the third funnel towards the stern in the previous designs).
1930.05.28.: Ordering the first ship, the QUEEN MARY. Signalling to the Southern Railway Co. that construction of a new dry dock is necessary in Southampton (1,075 feet long, 124 feet wide and 40 feet deep) until 1933, for repair works of the two new vessels. According to the railway company, it is impossible to start construction of this size for another 8-10 years, and the construction of the planned dry dock will take 4-5 years. Sir Percy Bates replied, "No dry dock, no ship."
1931.01.01.: Agreement with the French and US authorities on the reception of new vessels. The French are offering Cherbourg, which has deeper waters and a larger port area, instead of Le Havre (this means a journey of 70 km and 30 minutes longer for passengers departing from Paris). Cunard leases a 1,000-foot-long pier from the New York Harbor Authority for £ 48,000 a year.
1931.12.11.: During the Great Depression, Cunard made a loss for the first time in many years. Construction of QUEEN MARY is suspended. The UK government is offering a loan to Cunard on the condition that it merges with the White Star Line, as the government says it is not desirable if two major UK shipping companies challenging each other in the North Atlantic trade, while there is a growing international competition.
1933.07.26.: Opening of the KING GEORGE V dry dock in Southampton. Final dimensions of the dock: 1,200-foot-long, 135-foot-wide, 48-foot-deep . 180,000 tons of water from the dock can be drained in 4 hours.
1934.03.07.: Cunard and White Star Line will sell vessels of their Atlantic fleets to the new Cunard-White Star Line shipping company. In return for the merger, the UK government will provide £ 3 million to complete QUEEN MARY and £ 5 million to build QUEEN ELIZABETH, in addition to providing an additional £ 1.5 million in working capital to the new company.
1934.09.26.: Launch of the R.M.S. QUEEN MARY.
Fig. 2.: The QUEEN MARY tableau of our traveling exhibition "Oceanliners". (archive images: Péter Könczöl, text and graphic design by Dr. Tamás Balogh).The future of the ocean liner has become uncertain several times since her withdrawal from active service. In 1970, with the involvement of the French marine explorer Jacques Ives Cousteau, they originally tried to create a spectacular museum presenting the wildlife of the deep sea on the site in her former boiler rooms from which all the boilers were dismantled, but the idea failed within two years due to the mass death of the fish introduced in the aquariums (however, it caused irreparable damage to the ship's power plant). Between 2006 and 2009, the condition of the underwater parts of the hull caused concern. And most recently - between 2016 and 2023 - the general neglect of the ship, which suffered from many changes of operators and a lack of sufficiently thought business concept, put the giant - which represents cultural heritage with outstanding universal value for the mankind - in danger. In 2016, the cost of the most necessary interventions to prevent the occurrence of an irreversibly declining state was estimated at 300 million dollars. Until 2018, 23 million dollars were spent primarily on fire protection works. In 2022, among the ship's 22 lifeboats (15 original and 7 from other ships), 11 lifeboats (4 original and 7 from other ships) deemed to be in the worst and most dangerous condition were destroyed due to non-governmental organizations planned to be involved in the preservation of the heritage could not fulfill the strict artefact management conditions prescribed by the owner municipality. At the same time, almost another 4 million dollars were spent on the renovation of the ship's plumbing and railing system, the repair of the original interior floor coverings (linoleum and carpets), and the improvement of the comfort equipment of the passenger spaces (WiFi, etc.). The ship, which reopened on April 1, 2023, has since generated a net profit of $3.5 million, which will hopefully be reinvested into the continued preservation of the ship, thus avoiding the sad end waiting for the s.s. UNITED STATES, which is the last Mohican of transatlantic passenger traffic.
We are confident that the QUEEN MARY will continue to satisfy the curiosity of those interested in the golden age of transoceanic passenger transport in a dignified condition for a long time to come and will continue to present visitors on board with unique experiences.
Fig. 3.: Profile of the RMS QUEEN MARY (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh).This profile is part of next book of Dr. Tamás Balogh, the "Liners - great pictorial encyclopedia of giant steamships" featuring the history of ocean-going passenger steamers from 1838 to 2003. More info - synopsis, some sample pages, an interview and a report - here.It would be great if you like the article and pictures shared. If you are interested in the works of the author, you can find more information about the author and his work on the Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners Fb-page.
If you would like to share the pictures, please do so by always mentioning the artist's name in a credit in your posts. Thank You!
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The beginnings of airmail from land to sea
On August 14, 2024, one of the greatest moments of civil aviation took place 105 years ago: the first time a mail sent from land was delivered to the deck of a ship navigating on the high seas by aircraft. With this experiment, a decade-long process has come to an end, and it has been proven that combined air-sea mail delivery by plane is possible. In my latest article, I recall the details of the successful experiment and the series of events that started the process leading up to it.
Fig. 1: White Star Line's ocean liner R.M.S. ADRIATIC - member of the famous "Big Four" - contributed to the first successful implementation of air-sea mail delivery. Depiction of the successful experiment carried out on August 14, 1919 on the front page of the "Scientific American" magazine (source).
Preface:
The American Wright brothers - small engine and bicycle mechanic Orville and Wilbur (both enthusiastic gliders, followers of the German Otto Lilienthal) - performed their first test flight on December 14, 1903, the 121st anniversary of Montgolfier's first hot air balloon flight and then three days later the first sustained flight with their heavier-than-air, guided aircraft, which they had been working on for years to develop. However, they managed to make the first full circle - 1.2 km long - only one year later, on December 20, 1904, with their perfected airplane. The American public was moderately enthusiastic about the invention, but the French Alero Club (which had been actively experimenting with the implementation of machine-powered aeronautics for some time) recognized the significance of the invention. In its own country, the airplane only gained more publicity in the context of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration held between September 25 and October 9, 1909, when a spectacular demonstration was organized for the various modes of transportation, and within this framework - as the latest achievement of steam navigation technology - the the British ocean liner LUSITANIA was also exhibited at the ceremony, which also included the public flight of Wilbur Wright, who gained world fame with his demonstration flights in Europe at the end of 1908 and the spring of 1909. As part of the celebrations, a demonstration flight from Governor's Island to the grave of General Ulysses S. Grant and back took place on September 29 and October 4. About one million New Yorkers were able to see the 33-minute flights and the LUSITANIA, although probably only a few of them suspected that they were witnessing the meeting of the past and the future, as fragile airplanes completely supplanted the celebrated mammoth ocean liners just 60 years later from transcontinental passenger transport. But until then, the two modes of transport existed side by side, and between the two world wars, their unique cooperation was also realized in the form of air-sea mail deliveries from land to ships and back.
Fig. 2: Pilot Wilbur Wright and mechanic Charlie Taylor prepare to fly around the Statue of Liberty using the Wright "A" Flyer (the Wright brothers' fourth aircraft design) using Governor's Island Airport on September 29, 1909. In the background, the mighty LUSITANIA, speed record-holder of the oceans. (Source)Introduction:
The beginnings of civil aviation can be traced back not only to the invention of aircraft before the First World War, but also to their develpoment during the war (i.e. for the spread of more and more reliable monoplanes, made of light metal - aluminum -, equipped with increasingly powerful engines, replacing older biplanes made of wood and canvas), and to the insatiable passion for flying of the trained pilots who survived the war. The experienced fighter pilots, who were left without a job due to the disarmament after the end of war, were happy to demonstrate their skills in public in order to earn money after their dismissal from the service, and at the same time indulge their passion. Many American pilots became members of various flying circuses (so-called "barnstorming"), which flew across the country in small and large cities, holding spectacular shows and entertaining paying passengers. The individual initiatives eventually turned into organized, group shows, and big airshows started all over the country, with air competitions, acrobatic stunts and imitation of aerial combat scenes (which also inspired Hollywood when filming movies about the First World War). In fact, the practice of today's Red Bull Air Race also has its roots in flying circuses. And one more thing: the continuous development. The aerial acrobats of the flying circuses also competed with each other for first place (who was more successful, faster, etc.), so their operation stimulated the development of controls, engines and airframes. The Schneider Prize, which was founded in 1913 and promised a reward of 1,000 pounds, and similar prizes led to a series of increasingly faster and slimmer monoplane designs: the pilots competing for the various prizes encouraged progress. One element of this was the expansion of civilian use of aircraft. Although transcontinental flight was the desired goal, it proved to be unattainable for a long time. On the other hand, the first, still isolated, attempts at airmail delivery took place before and during the First World War, namely in the United States.
Attempts to implement regular air and the first air-sea mail delivery:
1) The very first - unofficial - attempt was made before the invention of airplanes, on August 17, 1859, when John Wise tried to deliver 100 letters in his airship from Lafayette, Indiana, to New York. However, the attempt failed after a short flight of 60 km due to the lack of suitable wind, and after the forced landing, the mail was finally delivered by rail.
2) Had to wait for a good fifty years until the next attempt: A federal bill authorizing the US Postmaster General to investigate the practical applicability of airplanes in mail delivery was presented by Texas Representative Morris Sheppard on June 14, 1910. The proposal was not accepted, and the New York Telegraph mocked it like this: "Love letters will be carried in a rose-pink aeroplane, steered by Cupid’s wings and operated by perfumed gasoline. … [and] postmen will wear wired coat tails and on their feet will be wings."
3) Despite this, Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock - a great fan of aviation - personally undertook to be a passenger in a Blériot monoplane at the air parade held in Baltimore on November 1, 1910. After the landing, he declared: "It will not be long before we are carrying the mails this way, that is certain", and on the same day he authorized the first official airmail delivery attempt, from aboard the German KAISERIN AUGUSTE VICTORIA, an ocean liner traveling on the high seas from America to Europe. Based on an agreement between an American daily newspaper "New York World" and the Hamburg-America Line shipping company, the Canadian John Alexander Douglas McCurdy (son of Alexander Graham Bell's secretary) had to lift an American-made Curtiss airplane into the air, from a 100-foot (30.5 m) long platform, installed on the bow of the ship navigating in 50 miles (92.5 km) distance from the shore. The platform was built on the bow of the ship, because the speed of the ship and the plane going in the same direction were added together, which shortened the take-off distance and increased the chance of a successful take-off. However, the attempt scheduled for November 5 was canceled due to bad weather (a fierce north-easterly gale damaged all the aircraft in the air parade, including McCurdy's, so he could not carry out the task), even though - if successful - this would have been the first case in history for an aircraft to take off from a ship's deck.
Fig. 3: Contemporary newspaper articles in The New York Times about the KAISERIN AUGUSTE VICTORIA and the experimental flight to be carried out on her board (source: here and here, drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2020).4) Since the experiment also had a hidden military aspect - the Curtiss company, which provided the aircraft for the experiment, hoped to get a naval order due tot the demonstration of its efficiency: "an aircraft can be launched from the deck of a ship while the ship is in motion." – Curtiss had no intention of giving up the priority, so on November 7 it was announced that the attempt would be repeated 5 days later on board another German ocean liner, PENNSYLVANIA, which was about to set sail. However, this ship was not only significantly smaller and slower than KAISERIN AUGUSTE VICTORIA, but her design only allowed for an 85-foot (26 m) long launch platform to be built on the top of her stern superstructure instead of the ship's bow. This meant that the ship's engines, 8 miles (15 km) east of Fire Island, had to be put into reverse to allow McCurdy to take off safely in a 10-knot (18.5 km/h) headwind. The plane then had to follow a 50-mile (92.6 km) route along the coast of Long Island to Governors Island, New York, where it could collect a $500 prize offered by businessman John Barry Ryan. The tension was heightened by the fact that, on November 9, the US Navy also prepared for the first successful shipboard aircraft launch, when, at the suggestion of the other faction of the Curtiss company in direct negotiations with the Navy, preparations were made for the construction of a launch platform on board the cruiser USS BIRMINGHAM (At the initiative of Admiral George Dewey, who became famous in the Battle of Manila in 1898, the Navy purchased its first aircraft in June 1909, and from October 1909 it actively investigated the possibility of involving aircraft in the execution of the reconnaissance tasks of the fleet, for the first time in a period when the whole world was still 50 aircraft were in military service, but no one had ever managed to take off from a ship). On November 11 – one day before the scheduled date of the experiment – McCurdy crashed at an air show and, although not seriously injured, was unable to reach the Hoboken pier of the Hamburg-America Line in time, so Curtiss sent the 34-year-old James Cairn Mars, instead of McCurdy.
Fig. 4: The steamer PENNSYLVANIA and the launc platform installeed on her stern superstructure in Hoboken. Source: here and here.On November 11, one day before the test was scheduled to take place, McCurdy crashed at an air show, and although he was not seriously injured, he was unable to make it to the Hoboken pier of the Hamburg-America Line in time. So the 34-year-old James Cairn Mars co-pilot was alerted, who made a name for himself with his parachute jumps and as a pioneer pilot (he was the owner of the eleventh flying licence in the USA). The weather conditions turned out to be ideal this time, but a rubber tube – forgotten on the lower right wing of the plane – crashed into one of the wooden propeller wings in the vortex created after the propeller was started and broke off two smaller pieces, which flew out with great force and injured a sailor standing nearby, and they broke the steel wire leading to the aileron of the aircraft, making the plane uncontrollable and failing to take off. This is how it happened that the world's first successful shipboard aircraft launch finally took place 2 days later, when Eugene Burton Ely took off from the deck of the cruiser USS BIRMINGHAM, and then - in another attempt - made the first successful landing on the deck of the cruiser USS PENNSYLVANIA , on January 28, 1911, from which he took off again a few hours later that day.
Fig. 5: Pilots who were selected to be the first: J.A.D. McCurdy (1886-1961), J.C. Mars (1875-1944) and E.B. Ely (1886-1911), here were photographed together with his wife Mabel (source: here, here and here).
Fig. 6: Preparation of the cruiser USS BIRMINGHAM for the test, and E.B. Ely's first take-off from a ship (source: here, here, here, here and here).
Fig. 7: USS PENNSYLVANIA and E.B. Ely's first shipboard landing (source: here, here, here and here). As an interesting fact, in the second and third pictures you can see the sandbags placed opposite each other on the edge of the platform, which - more precisely, the ropes stretched between them - braked the landing plane. This type of cable brake system (together with the steam catapult shown in Fig. 9) is still a basic element of the operation of modern aircraft carriers.5) However, Postmaster General Hitchcock remained resolute. Pilot Earle Ovington was thus able to deliver the first airmail he had officially sent over a year later, on September 23, 1911 - but only on land instead of sea. Over the next few years, dozens of test flights were authorized at fairs, carnivals and air shows in more than 20 states. These flights convinced officials that airplanes could indeed carry mail. Beginning in 1912, therefore, postal officials petitioned Congress for the appropriation of funds to start an airmail service, which finally authorized the use of $50,000 in 1916 for this purpose. The government then issued requests for bids to contract providers in Massachusetts and Alaska, but received no acceptable responses. In 1917, the budget to establish an experimental airmail service was increased to $100,000 for the following fiscal year. So finally, in February 1918, the US Post Office issued a call for proposals for the purchase of airplanes, but the call was withdrawn a few weeks later, as the air mail service wanted to be operated by the Army Signal Corps in order to increase the number of flight hours and to improve training of its pilots. The scheduled air mail service finally started following the agreement of the postmaster general and the secretary of war on May 15, 1918, with planes and their pilots lent by the army.
Fig. 8: Postmaster General Frank Hitchcock hands pilot Earle Ovington the first official United States airmail shipment (top left), delivered by the pilot in his Blériot monoplane (top right). The first scheduled airmail shipment leaves Philadelphia (below left) and is picked up by local postmaster Thomas G. Patten from Lt. Tory Webb in New York (below right). Source: for all images here.The idea arise again:
Airmail delivery started and became regular on the continent, but the problem of airmail delivery from shore to ships on the high seas, and from ships to shore, remained unsolved. In the First World War, warplanes serving with the navies, but without on-board radios, were sometimes forced to drop important message to their own warships in battle, but this solution was considered more of a feat and a particularly lucky coincidence than a reliable technical solution. (In the naval battle at the Otranto Strait on May 15, 1917, for example, the Austro-Hungarian naval flying boat K-195 (piloted by Emmanuel Lerch and Béla Lenti) dropped a report in a tin box on the position of the cruiser NOVARA, damaged in the battle, barely from the altitude of 5 m onto board the armored cruiser SANKT GEORG, the lead ship of the relief forces, rushing to the scene of the battle with full steam. Thanks to the courage and knowledge of the pilots, the report reached its destination despite the strong wind blowing at the site.) The development and implementation of such a solution was made difficult by the fact that, although the very first airplane takeoff from a ship's deck took place in 1910, no one had yet taken off from a moving ship (the USS BIRMINGHAM was at anchor at the time of E.B. Ely's experiment). Nevertheless, the new world record did not have to wait long. Although the first Curtiss experiments which were planned with the involvement of German ocean liners already wanted to carry out the task of taking off from ships that were in motion, during the war, for understandable reasons, the Germans could not really be persuaded to do such a thing. The United States, on the other hand, did not have ocean liners large enough to continue the experiments independently. Thus, the cruiser USS NORTH CAROLINA became the first ship in history to launch an airplane while underway, using its onboard steam catapult, in Pensacola, Florida on November 5, 1915. Designed by Glenn Curtiss of San Diego, AB2 was piloted by Corvette Captain Henry C. Mustin. (Eugene B. Ely's takeoffs on November 14, 1910 and January 8, 1911 did take place from a ship deck launch platform, but his takeoff was not assisted by a catapult). The experiments carried out on the cruiser proved that with the help of platforms of suitable size installed on board ships, not only the launch of aircraft on the ship deck, but also their landing - thus the transport of passengers and/or goods (mail) by air and sea - can be ensured.
Fig. 9: Take-off assisted by a steam catapult from the deck of the USS NORTH CAROLINA. Although the airplane is an American invention, the domestic public was initially uninterested in it, and the Wright brothers were distracted from further development by the multitude of patent lawsuits. As a result, America entered the First World War without having its own planes that could be used reliably, it had to buy French planes, and they tried to make up for the backlog with military-initiated developments (source: here, here and here).The idea came from Waldemar Kaempffert, the editor-in-chief of Popular Science Monthly, the American science popularization magazine of the time, who turned to Postmaster General Albert Sidney Burleson, who had been in office since 1913. The postmaster supported the initiative and ordered his second deputy, Otto Praeger, to carry out the necessary organizational tasks. Praeger entered into a relationship with New York postmaster Thomas G. Patten, who proved to be an ideal partner for the attempt: he won the support of David Lindsay, executive of the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMMC) - the American-owned group that owns the White Star Line shipping company registered under British law - and Governor of the Maritime Transport Associationby. In the meantime, Kaempffert made an agreement with the famed American businessman of the time, Inglis Moore Uppercu, an investor in aircraft, car and motorcycle production, who founded the first regular passenger transport airline in 1919, Aeromarine Airways, and recognized the excellent advertising opportunity. The task of implementing the idea was given to Paul Gerhard Zimmermann (1890-1962), chief engineer of the Aeromarine company, and his brother, pilot Cyrus Johnston Zimmermann (1892-?), took the main role in the implementation. They both started in the automotive industry, and during the First World War they started working in aviation. In 1917 they were employed by the Curtiss Airplane and Motor Co., Buffalo, and in 1918 joined the Aeromarine Plane and Motor Co., where Paul became chief engineer and Cyrus became chief test pilot.
Fig. 10: The key figures of the experiment: Waldemar Kämpffert, editor-in-chief of Popular Science Monthly; Thomas G. Patten, Congressman, Postmaster of New York; David Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford, British Secretary of State for Transport 1916-1920; Inglis Moore Uppercu, Owner-CEO of Aeromarine; Chief designer Paul Gerhard Zimmermann and test pilot Cyrus Johnston Zimmermann (source: here, here, here, here, here and here).The big experiment:
To prepare the experiment, the stakeholders formed committee to determine the details of the implementation. IMMC undertook to involve White Star Line's steamer ADRIATIC (which was arriving in New York on her first civilian voyage after World War I) in the experiment, while the Aeromarine company offered one of its newest flying boats (8.8 m long, 14.8 m span, biplane model 40C equipped with a 100 HP Curtiss engine, which could fly 403 km at a speed of 114 km/h). The organizing committee finally decided on an action to be carried out with the cooperation of the ship and the aircraft. The essence of this was that the aircraft crew should not simply drop the mail bag onto the ship (since the almost 50 kilo mail bag could have caused serious personal injury if it fell onto a deck crowded with passengers), but attach it to a cable, and only connect the cable on the ship, and let the bag at the other end of the cable fall into the water near the ship, from where the ADRIATIC's crew will be able to take him on board easily by the cable attached to the ship. For the idea to work, it was necessary to design the cable in such a way that it could be attached to the ship, the mail bag had to be waterproof, and perfect timing also required from the pilots.
The proper design of the cable was ensured with two solutions: On the one hand, the free end of the cable was designed as divided into seven branches, and shot-filled 1 kg bags was attached to each branch as a counterweight. On the other hand, a strong rubber shock absorber was mounted on the other end of the cable attached to the mail bag. The idea was for the aircraft to fly across over the ship, while hangs the 60 m long cable down and tows it behind itself at a low altitude. As soon as the cable hits the rigging of the ADRIATIC, the seven branches of the free cable end with the attached counterweights, obeying the force effect resulting from the sudden stop - in the direction opposite to the plane's direction of travel - are wrapped around the ship's rigging, in this way creating the necessary connection between the ship and the mail bag attached to the other end of the cable on an airplane. As the plane flies further and further away from the ship, the cable entangled in the rigging tightens, and finally pulls the mail bag placed there from the chute-like container on the side of the plane, which falls under its own weight into the water next to the ship, from where the cable entangled in the rigging can be picked up by the ADRIATIC's crew. The shock absorber at the other end of the cable attached to the mail bag was used to prevent the breaking off the towed cable from the mail bag, during the suddenly stop when it hits the ship's rigging (or at the accompanying fast and strong jerk). For this purpose the shock absorber was made of solid rubber like the wheels of airplanes. This solution alowed the slight stretching of the cable without having to worry about breaking it off.
The integrity of the postal items was ensured by a waterproof pouch made of vulcanized rubber that could be closed with a buckle and a padlock, in which the mail bag was packed. The cable used for the delivery was attached to this pouch. The pouch was made in such a way that the thicker and heavier layer of rubber placed on the bottom served as a float to keep the pouch in a vertical position while floating in the water. In the floating position, two-thirds of the pouch was submerged and only one-third rose above the water level. Around 400 letters could be placed in the mail bag.
The functionality of the plan depended on the pilot, who had to descend so low with his plane that the 60-meter-long cable being towed behind it could come into contact with the rigging of the ADRIATIC. In other words, the pilot had to get dangerously close to the ocean liner without crashing his plane.
The experiment was carried out on August 14, 1919. ADRIATIC left New York half an hour late after the announced departure time of 12:00 noon. The Aeromarine 40C took off almost two hours after the steamer's departure, in strong gale, but overtook the ADRIATIC just as it was passing out of the Ambrose Channel. The plane made two circles above the liner, then decreased its altitude and when it approached the ocean liner to within 30 meters, pilot Zimmermann released the cable, which, during the flight across over the ship, wound itself on the ship's rigging as planned, pulling the mail bag packed in a waterproof pouch out from the chute attached to the side of the aircraft. The mail bag fell into the water next to the ADRIATIC, from where the ship's sailors fished it out and brought it to the bridge in front of the captain.
Fig. 11: Illustrations of the contemporary press (source: here).
Fig. 12: Devices designed for air-sea mail delivery: the waterproof pouch, the chute attached to the side of the airplane and the weighted branch rope (source: here)
Fig. 13: Illustration of the experiment: 6) A branch rope with a counterweight at the lower end is wrapped around the rigging of the ship, the force of the pulling of the 60 m long cable is eliminated by shock absorbers at the upper end of the cable, at the same time pulling the pouch containing the mail bag out of the chute-like container attached to the side of the aircraft (source: here).
Fig. 14: Illustrations of the contemporary press (source: here).
Fig. 15: The seaplane catches up and overtakes the ADRIATIC (source: here).Fig. 16. and 17: Above: The moment of the flight across over the ship and the release of the cable (source: here). Below: Illustration of the experiment in "Electrical Experimenter" magazine (source: here).
Fig. 18. and 19.: Above: Shots of the mail delivery (source: here). Below: A letter from the mail bag of the first air-sea mail delivery (source: here).
The Aeromarine company benefited from the success of the experiment according to the plans of the owners: on August 21, 1919 (a week after the successful completion of the experiment), its flying boats were already carrying out civilian passenger transport (a New York businessman in a hurry was transported from New York to Poughkeepsie along the Hudson River and back), they undertook the same thing in October, but already between New York and Havana, and by the end of the year they also opened the first New York city sightseeing flights. The company grew rapidly: in 1920, it acquired the Florida-West Indies Airlines, and then entered into a contract with the government to deliver airmail to Cuba (this was the very first international airmail contract in US history). Aeromarine developed the AM-1, 2, and 3 types of aircraft to take advantage of rapidly expanding opportunities (such as the night flights for mail delivery).
Following the success of the experiment, White Star Line put forward the prospect of making the solution regular on its ships. Seeing the significant difference in speed between a fast airplane and a ship that only trudges along in comparison, some expressed the possibility that airplanes could soon make passenger ships obsolete in intercontinental traffic (as soon as they become capable of transoceanic flight). However, more sober-minded professionals already warned that ships will always remain indispensable in the transport of large quantities of bulk goods. Although they could not predict when the transition in passenger transport would take place (when the very first long-distance aircraft, capable of flying across the Atlantic Ocean and carrying many passengers at the same time could be built), but they declared that seaplanes certainly will be useful additions to the equipment of ocean-going passenger vessels.
They were right: it really happened that way. However, this is another story.
Fig. 20: Cyrus Johnston Zimmermann flies his plane directly opposite the ADRIATIC after catching up with her and just before starting the turn that ended with the successful delivery of the mail (source: here).It would be great if you like the article and pictures shared. If you are interested in the works of the author, you can find more information about the author and his work on the Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners Fb-page.
If you would like to share the pictures, please do so by always mentioning the artist's name in a credit in your posts. Thank You!
Sorurces:
[1] Phillippa Stewart (2015): Barnstorming used to be way more dangerous…
https://www.redbull.com/gb-en/barnstorming-used-to-be-way-more-dangeros[2] Stephen Kochersperger (2018): Airmail – a Brief History, https://about.usps.com/who-we-are/postal-history/airmail.pdf
[3] Sz.n. (1910): To Fly Aeroplane from Ocean Liner [New York Times, 3 November 1910], https://www.loc.gov/resource/mss46706.05003463/?sp=1&st=image&pdfPage=1&r=-1.293,4.345,3.586,1.633,0
[4] Dr. Greg Bradsher (2020): The First Aeroplane Take Off from a Ship, November 14, 1910., https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2020/08/11/the-first-aeroplane-take-off-from-a-ship-november-14-1910-part-i/
[5] M. C. Farrington (2016): How One Piece of FOD Changed Naval Aviation History, https://hamptonroadsnavalmuseum.blogspot.com/2016/11/how-one-piece-of-fod-changed-naval.html
[6] John Hammond Moore (1981): The Short, Eventful Life of Eugene B. Ely, https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1981/january/short-eventful-life-eugene-b-ely
[7] Sz.n. (1919): Air mail delivered for First Time to Steamship at Sea, in.: The New York Tribune, August 15, 1919, Page 16, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030214/1919-08-15/ed-1/seq-16/
[8] Sz.n. (1919): Delivering Mail to Steamer After It Has Sailed, in. Scientific American Vol. CXXI. No. 8 August 23. 1919, https://ia802308.us.archive.org/7/items/sim_scientific-american_1919-08-23_121_8/sim_scientific-american_1919-08-23_121_8.pdf
[9] Paul G. Zimmermann (1919): The Aeromarine Aerial Mail Delivery System, in. Aviation and Aeronautical Engineering 1919.10.15, https://ia903404.us.archive.org/23/items/sim_aviation-week-space-technology_1919-10-15_7_6/sim_aviation-week-space-technology_1919-10-15_7_6.pdf,
[10] Sz.n. (1919): Seaplane delivers Ship Mail at Sea, in. Electrical Experimenter, 1919.10., https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Electrical-Experimenter/EE-1919-10.pdf,
[11] Sz.n. (1920): The Log of an Aeromarine. A Modern Adventure in Pathfinding, https://www.blindhorsebooks.com/pages/books/16340/aeromarine-plane-motor-company/the-log-of-an-aeromarine-a-modern-adventure-in-pathfinding-aviation-history
[12] Sz.n.: Aircraft Journal 1919 August 23, https://www.reddit.com/r/Oceanlinerporn/comments/zml4t9/information_about_rms_adriatics_air_mail_delivery/#lightbox
[13] Waldemar Kaempffert (1919): How the Popular Science Monthly dropped Mail on a Liner’s Deck, in.: Popular Science Monthly, October, 1919, https://archive.org/details/sim_popular-science_1919-10_95_4/page/84/mode/2up
[14] Sz.n.: Photos of Aeromarine aircraft, https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aerompha.htm#miami
[15] Biographies of Aeromarine personalities, https://www.timetableimages.com/ttimages/aerombi1.htm#czim
[16] Sz.n. (1919): A Pioneering Experiment in Shore-to-Ship Mail Delivery, https://transportationhistory.org/2023/08/14/1919-a-pioneering-experiment-in-shore-to-ship-mail-delivery/
[17] 1919 first airplane delivery, shore to ship at sea cover,
https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e3-c560-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 -
R.M.S. AQUITANIA - story of World's Wonder Ship
110 years ago, at the beginning of the summer of 1914, the R.M.S. AQUITANIA - which later proved to be an ocean liner with probably one of the most interesting careers in maritime history - performed her maiden voyage. This study gives an overview of her unique story.
Introduction:
AQUITANIA was an ocean-going passenger steamship of the British Cunard Steamship Company, which was built after the speed record ships of the company, LUSITANIA and MAURETANIA, as their half-sister (using the experience gained during the design, construction and operation of previous ships). “She was one of the queens of the transatlantic fleet. She was in two wars, a troopship, an armed merchant carrier, a hospital ship, a great transport, a ferry for war brides, and, finally, a ship of hope for displaced persons." praised The New York Times in its issue of December 17, 1949.
Indeed: The AQUITANIA, launched in April 1913 and scrapped in February 1950, left behind an incredible legacy. During its 582 (430 civilian transatlantic) voyages, it sailed more than 3 million miles (5,556,000 kilometers) (of which 500,000 miles, 926,000 kilometers during World War II alone) and carried 1,200,000 people (11,208 passengers in 1914, 90,000 soldiers between 1914-1918, more than 500,000 passengers between 1919-1939, more than 400,000 soldiers between 1939-1945). And her 36-year career almost doubled the average service life of ocean liners built up to that point.
Her owners called her the "Ship Beautiful", passengers called her the "World's Wondership", and her sailors - especially with regard to the ship's war performance - called her the "Old Irrepressible". She owes her fame to several factors:
1. Size and elegance: AQUITANIA was one of the largest and most luxurious ocean liners of her time. Due to her large dimensions, spacious interior and elegance, she was a popular ship for transatlantic travelers.
2. Longevity: AQUITANIA has had a long and successful career. She was in active service between 1914 and 1950, so she was one of the longest-serving ocean liners of the 20th century.
3. Versatility: Due to her versatile applicability, AQUITANIA has played various roles during her long career (acting as ocean liner, armed merchant cruiser, troop transport and hospital ship).
4. Popularity: AQUITANIA was a popular ship among passengers due to her comfort, luxury, elegant appearance and amenities, speed and reliability.
5. Survivability: AQUITANIA served in both world wars and – outliving many of her contemporaries – in the 20th century. she operated as a passenger ship until the middle of the 20th century, as the world's last four-funnelled ocean liner
The present study reviews and takes these circumstances into account, and based on them reconstructs the unique history of this great ship.
From the idea to the order:19/04/1902: The American financier and venture capital investor John Pierpont Morgan - after buying 7 large American and European shipping companies between 1886 and 1902 with the aim of monopolizing North Atlantic shipping routes – also makes an official takeover offer to the British Cunard Line, which, however, requests the support of the British government to preserve its independence and exclusively British ownership structure.
30/09/1902: The British government - for which, in the naval arms race initiated by the Germans, it is vital to have a sea transport capacity of sufficient size that can be used at any time in the event of war - enters into an agreement with the Cunard Line, in which, in addition to providing a loan with extremely favorable interest rates and an annual maintenance grant, it commits itself tocover the construction and operating costs of two new speed record ships, in the event that Cunard remains a purely British enterprise and undertakes to place its ships at the disposal of the British government in case of war.
16/06. and 08/08/1904: On the basis of the government-Cunard agreement, the construction of steam-turbine ships LUSITANIA (1906-1915) and MAURETANIA (1906-1935) with a size and speed superior to all previous passenger ships in the world begins. The ships traveling at a speed of 25 knots (46.3 km/h) cross the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and America in 5 days - shorter than ever before.
04/30/1907: The British White Star Line shipping company belonging to the J.P. Morgan empire - Cunard's main British competitor - commissions the Harland and Wolff Shipyard in Belfast to prepare for the construction of three large ocean-going passenger steamships - the OLYMPIC, the TITANIC and GIGANTIC - and to start developing their detailed plans based on the customer's specifications. The White Star Line intends to establish a regular weekly service on the Atlantic Ocean with the three giant steamers that can be departed every 5 days, thus maximizing the financial benefits expected from passenger transport.
23/04/1908: The first public news report in the British daily paper The Daily News that "the White Star Line Company intend to build one or two large vessels to surpass in size any other ship in the world."
16/12/1909: After the laying of the keel of the OLYMPIC (23.04.1908) and the TITANIC (31.03.1909), copying the business plan of the White Star Line, the Cunard Line also decides to build a third running mate next to the LUSITANIA and the MAURETANIA, and entrusts the task of planning to the naval architect Leonard Peskett, who also designed the already completed sister ships.
Fig. 1: Key figures: the great rival American John Pierpont Mogran (1837-1913), George Arbuthnot Burns (1861-1905), 2nd Baron of Inverclyde, chairman of the Cunard Line from 1902-1905, and Leonard Peskett (1861-1924) From 1884 until his death, worked for the Cunard shipping company, and from 1905 he was the chief constructor and designer of the company's most important ocean liners.The preparation of the concept plan is influenced by several circumstances:
Cunard cannot count on government support for the construction of the new ship, as in the case of LUSITANIA and MAURETANIA, so it has to manage the expected costs from its own revenues. The new ship is therefore designed for more economical operation - more moderate fuel consumption and lower speed - but much larger size and lavish equipment, compared to fast steamers (which could only be operated at a loss without a substantial subsidy from the government). According to Scottish maritime historian John Kurtz Maxton-Graham (1929-2015), therefore called the new ocean liner as the "Cunard's White Star Liner". Indeed: on the decision of Cunard's managing director, Alfred Allan Booth, and the board of directors, the new ship was designed to accommodate 3,500 people (750 first-class, 600 second-class, 2,000 third-class passengers and 900 crew members) and must be designed for average speed of 23 knots (42.5 km /h).
Thus, while the design of LUSITANIA and MAURETANIA was dominated by the German naval threat, the design of the third ship had its roots in the market competition between Cunard Line and White Star Line: White Star Line's OLYMPIC and TITANIC were built 15,000 tons larger than the LUSITANIA and the MAURETANIA, and - despite the fact that the Cunard ships were the fastest - the popularity of the White Star ships grew so quickly during their construction due to the success of the marketing-efforts emphasizing the spacious interior and the luxurious equipment, that there was a reason to worry: when the three ships of the White Star Line enter service, Cunard will be at a competitive disadvantage. That is why the third ship was needed, with which the Cunard Line can also afford to maintain the weekly transatlantic fast service. On the other hand, due to the lack of further British government support, it was decided to focus on the factors that ensure profitable operation in the design of the third ship - i.e. the large size and high luxury, that ensure the sale of more tickets, instead of the high speed that is too expensive. This was a great satisfaction for Cunard, since even the founder of the company, Samuel Cunard, dreamed of a sustainable Liverpool-New York service with three ships in 1838, but - based on the performance of the ships at that time - he could only plan for a two-weekly schedule. Now, however, ships can turn around on a weekly basis.
Fig. 2: The rival oceanliner-trios of Cunard Line (top), White Star Line (middle), and Hamburg-America Line (bottom). Although the LUSITANIA and MAURETANIA were 12% faster than the OLYMPIC class, they were also 30% smaller, so if Cunard wanted to be at the forefront in all respects, the AQUITANIA could not be quite the same as her older sisters. But while the British companies were competing with each other, the Germans quietly overtaken them: the size of the IMPERATOR class, built between 1912-1914, exceeded the size of the LUSITANIA by 40%, and that of the OLYMPIC by 13%, and their speed reached 24-26 knots (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2024).23/03/1910: Leonard Peskett's first meeting with Lloyd's representatives. Based on the consultation, double bottom built in the full length of the hull with 41 separate watertight compartments for proper trimming and 16 watertight transverse bulkheads spanning the full width of the vessel are proposed, rising 19ft (approx. 6m) above the waterline of the loaded vessel. 6 of these were traversed bylongitudinal bulkheads located 18 feet (5.5 m) inboard from the ship's outer shell to protect the boiler and engine rooms from the sides, and additional transverse bulkheads are proposed to be installed into the spaces between the transverse and longitudinal bulkheads, with 27-33 feet (8-10 m) spacing, so that the resulting spaces serve as longitudinal coal bunkers. Considering the length of the ship, in addition to the longitudinal coal bunkers, transverse coal bunkers can also be placed in front of and behind boiler rooms No. 1, 2 and 3 (the turbo generator is located in the space behind boiler room No. 4).
Fig. 3: Development of AQUITANIA plans 1909-1914, using earliest contemporary depictions (left) as basis for the reconstruction (right)(sources here, here, here and here; reconstruction and drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2024).In parallel with the design, the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank, which was selected to the construction makes the necessary preparations for building the new ship as follows:
1) As the new ship's large size and weight far exceeds any ship built at the shipyard up to that point, the preparation for construction requires consideration of extraordinary circumstances and measures of a magnitude not previously required on the banks of the River Clyde. The necessary investments will change the image of the entire factory. The slipway space for the construction of the ship (on which the LUSITANIA was also built) receives a special reinforcement - new piling. Steel plates is placed on the cross beams laid on pilings, on which concrete is spread, thus ensuring that the extended slipway cannot sink or become uneven anywhere. The extended and widened slipway area is equipped with a special crane system for lifting heavier building materials.
2) Then, 7 Derrick-type (named after Derrick, London's hangman) column or mast cranes were installed on both sides of the new slipway (their plans are above left), which were designed, produced and delivered by Sir William Arrol and Co. Ltd. of Glasgow (the same company designed a large-scale electric crane system in Belfast for the series production of the OLYMPIC class trio). Due to their great height and jib-extension, these cranes proved to be particularly important during construction. "Their load capacity in the extreme radius of 16.76 m was 5 tons (the smallest extension of the jib was 3.5 m). The total height of the mast was 41.15 m, and the height of the lift was 33.8 m above the berth level. With the help of a slewing gear, the jib could turn at an angle of 205 degrees. The mast was built from rolled-steel sections, well riveted together, provided with a suitable foundation plate and a top plate, to which the guys (tension stiffeners) were attached. The jib consisted of rolled-steel sections and plates, with two rolled-steel channels in the bottom boom, which formed the track for the trolley (which transmitted the load horizontally). The latter was constructed of steel plates and mounted on four single-flange wheels, and moved by a four-part rope, which was wound around a cast-iron drum driven by an electric motor. Suitable stairs and platforms are provided to give access to all parts requiring attention. The driver's cabin is situated immediately under the slewing gear, where the man has complete control of the operations and a clear view. The motors are of the totally-enclosed reversing type, especially designed for crane service in such a way that their operating temperature did not rise above the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere at 32 degrees Celsius even after half an hour of running at full load. The motors were equipped with a tramway-type reversing controller, having the vertical contact barrel mounted on ball-bearings to ensure ease of operation. The jib-slewing motor drives a spur-wheel, attached to the jib foot-bearing through reductions of gearing. The load is lifted on a single-part best plough-steel wire rope, winding on to a cast-iron drum, driven by a motor, through the medium of three reductions of spur-gearing. A double set of gear is provided for the last reduction in order that the two specified speeds of hoisting may be obtained. Change of gear is effected by means of a claw-clutch. The hoisting-drum is of large diameter, turned and grooved to take the full amount of rope in a single lap. Two breakes are provided: one is an automatic electric brake, operated by a means of a solenoid magnet connectedin such a manner that the brake is released directly the motor is started, and is applied directly the current is cut off, or fails for any reason. A foot-brake is fitted on the hoisting-motor spinfdle, so that the event of failure of the solemnoid brake, this brake may be applied by the opartator. The speeds of working are: Hoisting: 18.3 m/min for a 5 ton weight, 30.5 m/min for a 3 ton weight. Racking: 10.7 m/min for a weight of 5 tons. Slewing: 200 degrees/min for a weight of 5 tons." AQUITANIA's hull grew larger and larger with the help of these cranes on the slipway.
Fig. 4: The John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank in West Dunbartonshire (on the map, the ocean is on the left, and the city of Glasgow is on the right). A significant development in the shipyard was necessary to start construction. To the east of the fitting out basin ("Dock"), which divided the site, there were six old slipways, on which all the large ships were built, while the new slipways to the west of the Dock were used for construction of lightcruisers, canal steamers and other similar smaller vessels. In order to lay the keel of the AQUITANIA with minimal intervention, the areas occupied by two previous slipways were combined, so that five of the six slipways remained. At the same time, the service buildings at the front of the two former slipways (which housed the ship design and painting departments) were demolished, but the sheet metal, assembly and machine tool workshops continued to operate at the head of the rearranged slipways. The organization of the shipyard is praised by the fact that the AQUITANIA, largest British merchant ship up to that time, the HMS TIGER, the largest British battlecruiser, and the HMS BARHAM, the newest QUEEN ELIZABETH-class battleship, were built at the same time in the rearranged slipways. These were uniformly directed to the mouth of the River Cart, a left bank tributary of the River Clyde, as ships longer than the width of the Clyde could only be launched if they were admitted into the River Cart.
Fig. 5. and 6.: The new Derrick-type cranes (left) and foundation for the new slipway (right). As AQUITANIA's keel formed a sharper angle with the River Clyde than LUSITANIA's, new piling was required, particularly at the lower end of the slipway area, to secure the hull at the moment when the cradle supporting the ship's stern leaves the slipway and the stern of the ship is already held by the water. Based on experience in launching long ships, careful calculations were made to determine the moment at which the stern begins to float and the point at which the weight of the moving hull exerts a downward pressure on the slipway. Accordingly, piles were placed close to each other under the keel blocks supporting the keel and the area occupied by the slipway area, which were fixed with heavy stone scattering and finally concreted all around (source for both pictures: here).
Figs. 7. and 8.: Above: AQUITANIA's keel layed down. Below: the finished double bottom. (Source: here and here.)06/05/1910: The keel-laying of the new ship at the John Brown Shipyard, Clyde Bank with yard number 409.
10/09/1910: The Cunard Line writes a letter to the John Brown Shipyard about "General conditions of the Proposed new Steamer. The hull, outfit, equipment, engines, boilers, auxiliary machinery, etc. are to be constructed of the very best materials, finished complete in a first-class style of workmanship to the entire satisfaction of the Owners, without any charge owing the contract price, unless previously agreed in writing."
08/12/1910: Official order of the ship (six months after the start of construction). By this time, the framing of AQUITANIA was nearly completely finished.
Fig. 9. and 10.: AQUITANIA's hull is completely framed in the background. In the foreground is the cruiser HMS SOUTHAMPTON under fitting out. On slipway betwen the cruiser and the oceanliner is the passenger steamship RMS NIAGARA, nearing her completition. The presence of the two other ships dates the picture between to May 1911 and August 1912. (source: here and here).
From construction to the handover:10/02/1911: Official announcement of the new ship's name in the press: "The Cunard Company has decided to name the new 50,000-ton vessel which is now building for it at Clyde Bank the Aquitania."
10/05/1911: Finalization of the steel structural plans for the new ship.
14/06/1911: The inaugural voyage of the OLYMPIC. 8 days earlier in the paper Liverpool Journal of Commerce, the first guess appears, and 2 days later the official announcement is published in The Shipping Gazette and in the Lloyd's List that a third ship is being built next to the OLYMPIC and the TITANIC.
26/08/1911: Since Cunard wants an ocean liner capable of surpassing the OLYMPIC, which is considered to be its main rival - of huge size and lavishly decorated spacious interior - Leonard Peskett, Cunard's chief designer, goes on a study-tour on OLYMPIC as one of the passengers of the ship's third voyage, and returns home to submit his report about his experiences. His observations range from the ship's main dimensions, load capacity, general arrangement and propulsion to the smallest details of the equipment.
Regarding the vessel's draft conditions, for example, he states: “The center of the disc is 34 feet 0 inch above the bottom of the keel: The load line was, therefore, submerged 17 inches, allowing the density of the water to be 1020 kg/m3 the draft would be about 15 inches too much.".
Among the passenger comfort services, he was impressed by the spacious spaces: "One cannot help being impressed - even with a large number of passengers on board - with the superabundance of promenade deck space."
Figs. 11, 12. and 13.: Based on the experience gained at OLYMPIC, Peskett designed a two-level promenade for the AQUITANIA "B" deck, more spacious than ever before. This not only satisfied all the needs of passengers using the promenade deck (the raised upper section was reserved for deck chairs, the lower section was reserved for those who would like to promenading), but secure natural light and fresh air for the internal cabins (on deck "C", without direct access to the sea) at the same time. In this way, Peskett created a type of "inside-outside" cabins that was not known until then, which further enhanced the magnificence of AQUITANIA compared to other ships.Peskett also noticed which room is the most visited: "The reception room serves as a meeting place before ans as a lounge after meals. The band plays here after lunch at afternoon tea and after dinner, the room is full, but after dinner the lace is crowded all the surplus chairs an settees have been moved out of the en suite rooms and placed there. Chairs are brought out of the saloon, and every available space - main stairway included - is occupied by passengers as ceases (21:15) they disperse to their cabins and to the promenade and public rooms on "A" deck. There seems to be no doubt that if the band played in the reception-room until 23:00 o'clock the passengers would remain there, as only those who could not secure seats had moved away until the music had ceased."
He also recorded the schedule of the band: "10-11 AM, band plays in 2nd class companion. 11-12 do 1st, boat deck companion, 5-6 do 2nd class companion, 8-9.15 do reception room, 9.15-10.15 do 2nd class companion."
Figs. 14.-15. and 16.-17.: The first-class lounge aboard OLYMPIC (left) and AQUITANIA (right) looking towards the bow (above) and looking from the starboard side to the port (below).He paid special attention to the a la carte restaurant: "The restaurant is run by the owners, under the superintendence of a manager, the department is entirely separate from that of the chief steward, having an independent staff, galleym strore-rooms, etc. Owing to the great demand fro seats in the restaurant the tables have been increased from 25 to 41 (merely providing 33 additional seats), the introduction of the restaurant appears to be creating a new class. The restaurant certainly finds a place for that class of passenger who is always dissatisfied with the catering on every ship in which he may travel. The question, however, is whether, after having to pay a restaurant account for one voyage, he will not be more content to take, without demeur, his food in the saloon passage money for taking meals in the restaurant is stated to be £5. Judging from reports, this amount would scarcely suffice for one day's patronage. An objection to the restaurant is that the windows open out onto the 2nd class promenade."
In the first-class dining room, he made the following observations: „As regards the planning and general seating arrangements, very little fault can be found. It is in the ventillation of the room that an apparent error of judgement has been made. There is no operating or well in the centre. At first, there was no provision made for exhausting the vitiated air from the saloon, but while the ship was in southampton two small fans were fitted over gratings in the ceiling in a position about midway between the machinery casings and some 16 feet out from the middle line. Ordinary fans have also been fitted in all convenient positions, owing to the great beam and the difficulty at thet depth of providing natural light. […]The inner part of the window is made up of leaded glass. When these windows are closed one cannot detect the outline of the ports the light being well diffused over the whole surface of the inner glass. Inside the window and on each side of the frame theres is a strip of linolite fitted which proves vry effective at night. […] A number of restaurant menus are attached upon which are given the prices for the various dishes. The minimum rate per head for a dinner for three or more persons is 12 shilling 6 pennies. In the matter of time occupied in the execution of passengers' orders, nothing better could be desired. The two sides of the saloon are separately served, i.e. the port side is served from the port pantry, and the starboard side from the starboard pantry. At luncheon and dinner, port is served from tureins pleased on sidetrarts in the saloon. Regarding the standard of quality, method of serving the food, napery, cutlery and general service, the is much higher in the Cunard then in White Star - an opinion expressed several times by passengers on the OLYMPIC who have evidently travelled by both liners. It was noted that all saloon stewards uniforms has light blue facings, while those employed elswhere wore the ordinary uniform without anydistinctive markings. The 1st and 2nd class galleys and pantries appeared to give satisfaction to all concerned. The galleys are warm in the neighbourhood of the ranges.”
Figs. 18.-19. and 20.-21.: The first-class dining room and the a la carte restaurant on OLYMPIC (above and below left), and the first-class dining room and grill restaurant on board AQUITANIA (above and below right).Regarding the fourth dummy-funnel, which contributes the most to the famously elegant, balanced profile of the OLYMPIC-class, Peskett noted that: „The dummy funnel from which so much in the way of ventilation was expected has not proved a success. There are so many currents of air being driven in at the bottom of the funnel which are colder than that in the compartments below, that an air-lock is formed at that particular place, and the heat on the top platforms of the reciprocating engine room and between the top of the turbine and bottom of the funnel is excessive. The theory of the cool air coming down the engine hatch and the hot air going up the dummy funnel seems feasible, but in then case it does not work, as ado sated, to the colder air from other compartments being exhausted into the base of the funnel. The writer went to the top of the funnel, but could feel no great rush-of air going out. The whole of the inside of the funnel was at a moderate temperature, and there was nothing to indicate that the funnel was exhausting hot air from the machinery spaces. The air from all lavatories and pantries is exhausted by powerful fans, the inlet of fresh air being by the entrances to the lavatories and by side ports only. All first, second and third-class public rooms also second class, third class and crew's quarters, are heated and ventils by the thermotank system.”
He also examined the Turkish bath with an expert eye: „The turkish bath is open to ldies at various hours as advertised a charge of 4 pennies (which includes the use of swimming bath) is made, the bath, as far as fittings, ventilation, and hot-air supply are concerned, is not a success. In the steam and hot rooms the sides are covered with "emdeca", the enamel on which is all peeling off and the zinc going to powder (samples taken from walls submitted). The cooling room os stuffy and needs more fans to exhaust the vitiated air, altogether a considerable alteration is required.”.
Regarding the other sports facilities available on board, he noted: „The gymnasium was fairly well patronized, and seemed at no time to be unoccupied, but it is too far away from the swimming bath, raquet court, etc.”
Figs. 22.-23. and 24.-25.: Swimming pool and gym on board OLYMPIC (left) and AQUITANIA (right).In the case of the AQUITANIA, Peskett tries to overcome the deficiencies experienced on the OLYMPIC by incorporating those innovative solutions tested on board FRANCONIA and LACONIA, (Cunard's medium-sized experimental ocean liners built in 1911-1912) into the ship's passenger-comfort services - namely (1) the shipboard-gym used for the first time by the company, (2) the bathrooms with running water introduced in the first-class suites (instead of the previous wash stands equipped with fall-front ceramic wash basins, hiden behind cabinet doors), (3) the movable chairs used in the first-class dining room (instead of the swivel chairs bolted to the floor before), and (4) all of these novelties are also planned for the second-class restaurant at AQUITANIA. Furthermore in order to moderate the AQUITANIA's rolling and to prevent inconveniences experienced in the swimming pool of the OLYMPIC, both caused by the characteristic movements of large ships in strong sea waves (heaveing, swaying, surgeing, rolling, pitching and yawing), it is decided to use of U-shaped anti-rolling tanks, recently developed by the German Hermann Frahm (patented July 15, 1908).
The invention was developed to reduce the considerable rolling of the German steamer YPIRANGA (built in 1908) by the German inventor Hermann Frahm, who suggested to install onboard a tank, having two lateral reservoirs connected at the bottom by a water duct, and at the top by an air duct. In some later designs the air duct was removed and the tanks vented to atmosphere. The water oscillation in each reservoir could be controlled by the air pressure, thus giving rise to the anti-roll U-type tanks steamers YPIRANGA and CORCOVADO and gained significant roll reduction by using tanks having a mass of 1.3 to 1.5 % of the ships displacement. He noted that the best location to place the tanks is above the center of gravity of the ship, located one on port and. one on starboard. The principle of operation of anti-roll tanks is that as the ship rolls, the fluid inside the tank moves with the same period the ship moves, but lagging a quarter of the period of the rolling of the vessel weight of the mass of fluid produces a moment that opposes the roll motion. This moment attains its maximum values when the ship passes through its vertical position.
Fig. 26.: Illustrative drawing of the operating principle of the Frahm anti-rolling system (source).Although Peskett studied the OLYMPIC, he ultimately did not follow her proportional appearance created by her designer - Alexander Carlisle (although both ships were built with 9-9 passenger decks), and instead of to follow the use of split superstructure of the OLYMPIC (consisting of a raised forecaslte and poop deck and a higher middle superstructure between them), he takes over and develops further the design of the sisterships LUSITANIA/MAURETANIA, as well as the CARMANIA/CARONIA and FRANCONIA/LACONIA. The lack of a raised forecastle deck made the main superstructure in the middle appear taller. Therefore, and due to the usual design of all Cunarders, (i.e. the superstructure covers most of the entire length of the deck - this is the so-called "full-superstructure"), the main and only superstructure remains large compared to the hull, with a "boxy" appearance, and this cannot be mitigated even by tilting the funnels and masts at 9 degrees.
30/11/1911: Laying of the keel of the third OLYMPIC-class ocean liner, the GIGANTIC, now called BRITANNIC.
15/04/1912: The disaster of the TITANIC.
10/06/1912: Leonard Peskett testifies as an expert witness before the british wreck commissioner investigating the circumstances of the sinking of the TITANIC. The tragedy of the TITANIC also affects the construction of the AQUITANIA, insofar as the already approved steel structural plans are modified. As a result, the watertight deck designed in the ship's hull is extended, and at the level of deck "G" (in front of and behind the boiler and engine rooms) and deck "F" (above the boiler and engine rooms) they are extended to the entire length of the hull, at the same time all deck-drains, doors, holes and hatches are made watertight. The special precautions ensure that the ship remains afloat even if the forward or rear 5 adjacent compartments are flooded by the sea (provided that the portholes are all closed), and is not in danger even if 5 of her longitudinal compartments (next to the boiler and engine roomes) will be opened to the sea or flooded.
Fig. 27. and 28.: AQUITANIA's watertight interior subdivision by highlighting the watertight bulkheads/decks in side and top views, as well as in the ship's cross-section (left). Non-watertight elements of space demarcation are not visible in these drawings. Havaria analysis and flooding diagram (right) in case of flooding of the fore five and aft five adjacent compartments (first and second figures), as well as damage to the aft five compartments and the lower watertight deck in the stern (third figure), and when flooding all longitudinal compartments simultaneously (fourth figure). The vessel remains afloat in the event of all suspected damage.26/03/1913: Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, announces in the British Parliament the intention of the British government to arm all British merchant ships in case of war.
21/04/1913: Launch of the ship (by Alice Stanley, Countess of Derby) in the presence of about 100,000 onlookers. Originally, King George V was invited to launch the largest ship in the country, but due to his other commitments, he was unable to participate in the ceremony. The ship glides onto the water in 1 minute 31 seconds, at an average speed of 10 feet per second (3.05 m/s). Fitting out for 13 months begins.
Figs. 29.-30. and 31.-32.: The invitation card and a postcard issued for the ceremonial launch of AQUITANIA with the moment of touching the water first and the portrait of the godmother (source: here, here, here and here).12/05.-21/07/1913: Simultaneously with preparing the LUSITANIA for war (following the decision regarding the armament of merchant ships), the fittings suitable for mounting the ship's artillery are also placed on the deck of the AQUITANIA, which is being fitted out: i.e. (1) plating that strengthens the gun mounts and the deck "C" - to compensate the tensile force that occurs when the cannons are fired - and (2) the conversion of cargo spaces under the guns into ammunition storage.
12/11/1913: Following the sinking of the TITANIC, an international conference is convened in London in order to create international minimum safety rules for civilian ships.
10/11/1913-10/01/1914: Installation of boilers and turbines, as well as of funnels. Instead of the narrower vertical rectangular windows originally planned for the deck "B" (which resulted a denser window arrangement), windows of the same size as the large square windows on deck "A" are also installed in the glass-enclosed central part of the "B" deck peromenade (the frame-segments are not installed, instead of narrow, vertical sliding windows, large square, horizontal sliding windows are built in).
Figs. 33. and 34.: Above the Babkock & Willkox luggage crane with a load capacity of 1.5 tons on the "B" deck. Next to the starboard parapet, the two lighter bands visible on the deck indicate the reinforced base necessary for the installation of the 15.2 cm quick-fireing naval gun. Below is the AQUITANIA next to the quay of the fitting out basin, after hoisting in the turbines and funnels, during the finalizing the window-arrangement of the "B" deck promenade (source: here and here).20/01/1914: The international convention "Safety of Life at Sea" (SOLAS) adopted at the London conference, which, among other things, lays down mandatory regulations for the ships construction (distribution of interior space) and their rescue-equipment (for lifeboats, etc.), comes into force. As a result of the changes in the regulations, the appropriate redesign of the AQUITANIA's lifeboat arrangement will be carried out. This is the latest modification to affect the plans, making AQUITANIA the first ocean liner to be equipped lifeboats with enough capacity for all the people on board.
Figs. 35.-36., 37.-38. and 39.: The number of 16 and then 24 boats originally planned in November 1910 was then increased to 84 (1-1 collapsible lifeboats are placed under the boats hanging on the davits in the 12-12 lifeboat-stations on both sides of the boat deck, and other 8-8 collapsible lifeboats placed on the deck in a row, parallelly to the boats hanging on the cranes, while 10 further collapsible boats are placed on the top of the second-class superstructure). Costs total £1,400 for the lifeboats and £2,100 for the lifeboat-cranes. This is barely 0.2% of the total cost of shipbuilding. It is interesting that while only 16 boats were expected, the purchase of the easier-to-handle but more expensive Welin-type boat cranes was considered permissible, but due to the expansion of the number of boats in connection with the TITANIC tragedy, more cranes were needed, therefore the cheaper traditional radial davits were bought (source: here, here, here and here, drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2024).
Fig. 40.-41.: The AQUITANIA in the fitting out basin nearly to her completition. Note the warship (the battlecruiser HMS TIGER) right below (source: here and here).02/01/1914: It is announced that the first captain of the AQUITANIA will be William Thomas Turner (1856-1933).
10/05/1914: Sea trials of the ship. Compared to the planned speed of 23 knots, the ship performs a whole knot more.
Figure 42: AQUITANIA's machinery spaces (above). 21 double-ended boilers were placed in the ship's 4 boiler rooms (18 in the first three, 3 in the fourth), which operated at the pressure of 134.6 bar (137 kg/cm2), produced during the transatlantic crossing for the main propulsion (to secure maximum revolution of the screws), steam required for energy production and other tasks for auxiliary machines. Each double-ended boiler had 4 stokeholds on each side, which were feeded with coal from the longitudinal (wing-) bunkers situated along the ship's sides and transverse (cross-) bunkers, situated between the boiler rooms. The necessary air flow in the combustion chamber of the boilers was provided with draft-increasing fans.Figs. 43. and 44.-45.: Side view of AQUITANIA's 3rd and 4th boiler rooms (center above), and inner (center left) and outer (center right) engine rooms. The engine room configuration differed from the solution used on the LUSITANIA and the MAURETANIA, as three pressure stages were installed instead of two: the high-pressure turbine drove the portside-, the medium the starboardside-, and two low-pressure turbines the two middle shafts, while a reverse turbine unit was placed directly behind the forward units on each shafts.
Fig. 46: The steam entered the engine room through two main steam lines running along the length of the boiler rooms, where it reached the forward or reverse high-pressure turbines through different maneuvering valves, from which it left into the medium-pressure turbine and then into the two low-pressure turbines. The exhausted steam coming out of these was condensed into feed water in the vacuum condensers behind the turbine space and pumped back to the boilers. In case of emergency, any turbine could be disconnected from the steam circuit.
Figs. 47. and 48.: Side views of the AQUITANIA during sea trials (source: here and here).24/05/1914: Official handover of the ship.
Following the successful sea trials, the ship will proceed to Liverpool where she will go into the Gladstone graving dock for an inspection. After everything is found to be in order, the ship will be handed over officially to the owner.
Technical data:
Length: 274.9 m (901 ft)
Width: 29.2 m (97 ft)
Propolsion: 4 direct drive Parsons steam turbines, 4 propellers,
Power: 59,000 HP
Speed: service speed: 23 knots (42.6 km/h),
maximum speed: 24 knots (44.4 km/h)
Fig. 49.: AQUITANIA in Gladstone graving dock (source). The need to build a dry dock capable of accommodating 300 m long ships was formulated in 1901, but – necessary due to the frequent changes in industry needs – it was only opened in February 1913 after several redesigns, when it became obvious that if the dock was not completed urgently, then the a new Cunard liner will not be able to be repaired in Liverpool either. The design and construction of the Gladstone dry dock was therefore not determined by a profession, nor by a major operator, but ultimately by a single ship. The 320 m long, 37 m wide and 13 m deep dry dock was named after Liverpool merchant Robert Gladstone - the second-nephew of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone. Until 1927, the surroundings of the dry dock were expanded with a harbor basin (including 4.8 km of wharf and extensive warehouse buildings), which was connected to the Mersey River by a lock due to the frequently changed water level. The 330 m long, 40 m wide and 13 m deep lock is larger than the lock of the Panama Canal at the time of its delivery, and is still one of the most important engineering work of the Liverpool container port.
Fig. 50.: Captain William Thomas Turner (1856-1933), commander of several Cunard ships, including the ill-fated LUSITANIA, wearing gala uniform of the Royal Naval Reserve during the ceremonial handing over of AQUITANIA on the ship's flying bridge (source).
With the commissioning of AQUITANIA, Cunard Line is the first to realize the plan to provide a weekly service across the Atlantic Ocean with three ships. What's more: in the time since LUSITANIA was handed over in 1907, the tonnage of the Cunard fleet increased by 70% with the construction of 8 new ships (FRANCONIA/LACONIA, ALBANIA, AUSONIA, ASCANIA, ANDANIA/ ALAUNIA, AQUITANIA) - they means 141,021 tons alltogether -, while its biggest competitors, the American majority-owned British White Star Line, as well as the German Hamburg-Amerika Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd, only increased their fleet by 20-20 and 24% respectively in the same period (without taking into account the sunken TITANIC and BRITANNIC, and the COLUMBUS, which are still under construction - taking TITANIC into account, the increase of the White Star Line would have reached 30%).
From commissioning to the First World War:30/05/1914: The ship departs Liverpool for New York on her maiden voyage on Saturday at 14:30. The occasion was overshadowed by the commissioning of the German VATERLAND 14 days earlier and the tragedy of the EMPRESS of IRELAND the previous day.
The press coverage of the tragedy re-intensifies the interest in the watertight subdivision of passenger ships, which became the focus of interest two years ago on the occasion of the TITANIC tragedy. Although Cunard Line emphasizes that AQUITANIA has the most sophisticated bulkhead system ever and the most detailed internal subdivision to minimize the effects of intruding water, passengers are not reassured by this.
Table 1.: The largest ships in the world at the time AQUITANIA was entered service.
Fig. 51.: Comparison of the main features of the two brand new giant ocean liners most awaitied by New Yorkers in June 1914, the British AQUITANIA and the German VATERLAND, in a drawing by George Horace Davis for the magazine 'The Sphere'. (source).
Fig. 51.: Elevation and general arrangement of the ship. Note that the distance between the first three funnels was the same, but slightly smaller between the third and fourth funnels (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2024.).31/05/1914: The Liverpool correspondent of The New York Times reports on her departure for American readers: “The Cunard Line's new leviathan Aquitania sailed on her maiden voyage for New York this afternoon. Although only 7,000 tons smaller than the Vaterland, she sits much lower in the water than her German rival, and fails to give the same impression of size. British admirers, however, say that she looks more like a ship."
01/06/1914: The New York Times informs its readers of the ship's first day's performance based on a radio message relayed from AQUITANIA to America with the help of MAURETANIA: "ON BOARD THE STEAMSHIP AQUITANIA, via the Mauretania and Crookhaven, May 31. -- With scarcely a trace of vibration, the Aquitania made twenty-five knots, averaging twenty-three for the first day's run. She is passing tramps which roll viciously in the Atlantic swell, but the Aquitania is as stiff as a lighthouse. Passengers say it is a pity billiard tables were not provided."
05/06/1914: At 09:00 on Friday, the AQUITANIA arrives in New York with 1,055 passengers on board (after the TITANIC disaster, many people are still afraid to buy tickets for the very first voyage of a new ship), which is about a third of her capacity. She made the 3,181 nautical mile (5,891 km) journey from Liverpool to the AMBROSE light-vessel at 23.1 knots (42.8 km/h) with a 5 hour layover due to the proximity of icebergs and fog. Nevertheless, there was a period of the voyage when the ship was traveling at 25.1 knots (46.5 km/h). The New York Times, published on the day of her arrival, informs its readers about the the AQUITANIA's performance on the day before: "According to a wireless telegram received last night from Captain Turner, the Aquitania, the new Cunarder, continues to run excellently. In the twenty-four hours that ended at noon yesterday, she again reached 602 miles, giving an average speed of 24.24 knots.”
Fig. 52.:Maiden arrival of AQUITANIA in New York (source).10/06/1914: Wednesday at 10:00 the ship leaves New York via Fishguard for Liverpool. 2,649 passengers bought tickets for the return trip. This also establishes the regularity of the ship's service. AQUITANIA is assigned to the Liverpool-New York-Fishguard-Liverpool route, which departs from Liverpool on Saturday and New York on Wednesday, where it connects with LUSITANIA and MAURETANIA, and with CAMPANIA, CARMANIA, CARONIA, FRANCONIA and LACONIA (they goes alternately to New York or to Boston). From the maiden voyage in May until the end of the year, a total of 8 crossings (16 trips) are planned according to the schedule compiled for her (from Liverpool on May 30, June 20, July 11, August 15, September 5 and 26, October 17 . and December 5, and from New York on June 10, July 1, 22, August 15, October 7, 28 and December 16).
20/06/1914: Saturday, at 2:30 p.m., the AQUITANIA departs for her second crossing from Liverpool following minor modifications suggested by the ship's guarantee group and her manager, designer Leonard Peskett, based on the experience of the first crossing. Based on complaints received in connection with ventilation, portable fans are being added to the installation of passenger spaces (all first- and second-class inner cabins on the "C" deck) and some operational areas (the first-class pastry shop and the second-class galley).
28/06/1914: Gavrilo Princip, a Serbian national and Austro-Hungarian citizen, murders the heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in Sarajevo.
21/07/1914: According to the schedule published at the beginning of the year the scheduled departure of the ship on her third crossing back to Europe on Wednesday, July 22 at 10:00 a.m. will be moved 18 hours earlier, so the AQUITANIA therefore departs New York at 16:00 on Tuesday the 21st. During her first 3 crossings (i.e. her first 6 voyages), the ship carries 11,208 passengers. Due to the tense European situation threatening war, the ship will have not been prepared for the next crossing due on August 15.
23/07/1914: The charge d'affaires of the Austria-Hungary in Belgrade hands over a ten-point demand to the Serbian government, and leaves a 48-hour reprieve for the fulfillment of that. European diplomacy is set in motion, secret negotiations begin from Paris to Moscow in order to localize the conflict and prevent a larger international conflict. England offers itself as a mediator.
25/07/1914: Serbia announces that it accepts all but two of the ten Austro-Hungarian demands unconditionally, and wants to negotiate the fulfillment of the remaining two. However, the Monarchy insists on unconditional acceptance of all demands, and therefore orders a partial mobilization against Serbia at 10:00 p.m. that same evening.
28/07/1914: The Danube Monarchy declares war on Serbia. The hostlities begin that evening.
29/07/1914: Russia - which previously promised support to Serbia - partially mobilizes the tsarist army and fleet against Austria-Hungary due to the attack on its ally.
30/07/1914: The order for general mobilization is issued in Russia. Germany then demands an ultimatum to stop the Russian general mobilization, and in the event of failure to do so, threatens a declaration of war.
31/07/1914: The German government calls on the French government to make a statement on whether it would remain neutral in the event of a war between Germany and Russia. In response to the Russian mobilization, Austria-Hungary replaces the partial mobilization aimed only against Serbia with a general mobilization.
01/08/1914: At 16:45, France also decides in favor of general mobilization. At 5:00 p.m., the order for general mobilization is issued in Germany.
02/08/1914: The Germans ignite hostilities by publishing fake news that French army soldiers have breached the Belgian-German border and launched air raids on German cities from Belgian airspace. At 20:00 in the evening, the German ambassador in Brussels gives the Belgian government an ultimatum with a 12-hour deadline, in which he asks Belgium to agree to the presence of German troops, since it cannot defend its neutrality against France on its own. The Belgian government rejects the demand.
The Admiralty announces its demand for military use of the AQUITANIA. At Liverpool's Gladstone docks, they begin arming the ship and converting it into an auxiliary cruiser that raiding against enemy commercial shipping. However, only 6 of the 12 15.2 cm naval guns that can be installed according to the plans will be installed (cannons that can only be installed at the cost of opening the side of the superstructure - i.e. a more extensive conversion - will be waived), so they will be placed on the open bow and stern decks 2-2, and 1-1 guns. On the windows of the bridge, cover boards are placed to protect them from bullets, and on the open promenades, rope curtains made of thick ship's rope to catch shrapnels are placed (the ship will only be painted blue-grey later).
Figs. 53.-55.: AQUITANIA as an armed merchant cruiser. A postcard dated August 3, 1914 (above, owned by Steve Anderson) about the armament of the AQUITANIA survives, the sender of which reported on the modifications taking place: "Dear Aunt Yanny: I hope you are both well, we are very well at present, and are staying here for a week. Have just been to see this large ship they are getting her ready -- for the war. Liverpool, seems very busy it is a very nice place. Love from all, L. Dennis”. The postcard shows not only the removal of AQUITANIA's collapsible boats (which can be seen unloaded alongside the ship on the wharf), but also the placement of the 6-inch quick-fireing naval guns without armor shields on the bow deck. The mounted guns are clearly visible on the bow deck in a photograph (below) taken of the ship when she was going to her first patrol (source). The ship still wears its civilian colors, as the crew undertook to repaint her themselves during the patrol to the blue-gray navy coat.08/03/1914: The German ambassador in Paris announces a state of war between Germany and France.
08/04/1914: The German offensive against France through Belgium begins. Belgium begins armed resistance and at the same time asks the great powers that guarantee its neutrality - England and France - for military assistance. An English ultimatum arrives in Berlin with a midnight deadline.
05/08/1914: The deadline expires without results, and at 11:00 a.m. the state of war is established between England and Germany as well (so Great Britain is the only power that itself declares war on Germany, not the other way around). The British ALERT cable laying ship cuts the submarine telegraph cables connecting Germany to the world, and at the same time the British take control of the international mail and telegraph traffic passing through their territory. Austria-Hungary declares war on Russia at the instigation of the Germans who affraid of the two-front war. Europe is at the status of war.
In the First World War:08/08/1914: The ship was commissioned as an armed merchant cruiser (H.M.S. AQUITANIA). The cost of the conversion is £40,000. The ship's task is to protect the west coast of England, primarily Liverpool as an auxiliary vessel of the Navy. Its commander is E. K. Loring, a naval officer, and the ship's commander is Captain William Thomas Turner (later commander of the LUSITANIA on the last voyage of the ship). The AQUITANIA is sent on her first armed patrol in the southern part of the "Western Approaches" (a roughly rectangular area in the Atlantic Ocean west of the British Isles, extending north-south from Scotland to Cornwall).
22/08/1914: Nearing the end of her patrol, the AQUITANIA bound for Liverpool collided with another ship in thick fog near the Old Head of Kinsale on the south coast of Ireland. The force of the impact pushes the bow of the ship back 15.24 meters (the entire structure directly below the line of the anchors), the stem bends and the starboard side of the bow also suffers further severe damage. According to the damage-report recorded by Lloyd's on August 25, 1914, the other ship damaged in the accident is the Leyland Line's 9,000 ton CANADIAN. According to the lease agreement, the entire cost of the repair must be borne by the Admiralty, so only the most necessary interventions to restore seaworthiness will be carried out.
30/09/1914: The Admiralty determines that costs of coaling large liners are too high (plus there is not enough coal) to operate as auxiliary cruisers. AQUITANIA will therefore be decommissioned and returned to the Cunard Line after her repairs completed on 14 September.
17/05/1915: Captain Daniel Dow (1860-1931) is appointed as the ship's second commander.
18/05/1915: The British government announces that it intends to use the ship for the purpose of troop transport (H.M.T. AQUITANIA) in return for a monthly rent of 30,000 pounds in the operations against the Osman Empire on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
21/05/1915: AQUITANIA runs aground in the Mersey Estuary while approaching Liverpool. The 7th Battalion of the Royal Scots Army, which had been ordered to embark, was supposed to leave its station on this day to be transported by rail to Liverpool, but due to the news of the AQUITANIA being scuttled, their embarkation was delayed. Only at night comes the news that the ocean liner has been towed off the reef.
22/05/1915: On Saturday, at 03:45 a.m., the first train will set off, with the battalion command and companies A and D. At 06:49, the southbound train collides head-on on the main line at Quintinshill - just north of Gretna - with the northbound local passenger train waiting on the open track, which was stopped so that the faster express behind, could overtake it (normally, the passenger train would be stopped on one of the storage tracks of the station, but both tracks were already occupied by a freight train). The wagons of the military train, which overturned in the collision, fall onto the adjacent main line track, where a minute later the express train to Glasgow runs into it, crashing into the wreckage. Wrecked railway cars catch fire (most old cars are made of wood and are lit by gas in the tank below them), which makes it difficult to rescue people trapped in overturned and damaged cars. 216 of the 498 soldiers and 12 of the civilians lost their lives in the accident (mainly from the express train). It is Britain's worst rail disaster.
5,000 soldiers of the 13th Division eventually arrive on board the AQUITANIA. The ship leaves for Mudros, Turkey on the same day.
Figs. 56.-58.: Site map of the Quintinshill tragedy (above), and photoes of the wrecked railway vehicles (source: here, here and here).18/06/1915-01/12/1915: AQUITANIA, as a troop transport, carries 6,000 troops per voyage (about 30,000 in total) for the operation against the Dardanelles from Liverpool to Gallipoli in 3 rounds.
Table 2.: Troop transport routes of AQUITANIA during operations at Gallipoli.
Figs. 59.-61.: AQUITANIA as a troop transport in Mudros, Greece, May of 1915. Note that the front of the superstructure still wears the original white paint (source: here, here and here).
Fig. 62.: AQUITANIA as a troop transport. Painting of Norman Wilkinson (source).
21/06/1915: The new commander of the ship is Charles Appleton Smith (1864-1928), one of the legendary captains of the First World War British merchanst marine (after the war he will be the first commander of BERENGARIA).25/06/1915: AQUITANIA sets sail from Liverpool. In addition to his own crew of 1,000 men, 6,000 soldiers (of the 32th brigade assembled from the 9th West Yorkshire, 6th Yorkshire, 8th West Reading, 6th Yorkshire and Lancaster Regiments) to Suvla Bay on the Gallipoli operational theatre. During the World War, this was the largest troop transport operation carried out by a single ship on a single route (this performance will be surpassed only by the JUSTICIA ex-STATENDAM, when on 06.12.1917 she transported 12,000 Chinese workers on board, who recruited for work behind the front, this however, does not count as wartime troop transport record, since the Chinese workers are not combattants).
03/07/1915: AQUITANIA leaves Liverpool for Mudros with 5,000 soldiers on board. On July 5, she narrowly avoids the attack of the German submarine UB-8, whose torpedo passes barely fifty feet (15 m) behind the ship. AQUITANIA will fortunately arrive in Mudros on 10th of July.
30/08/1915: After the troops disembarked, the ship returned to England, where she was converted into a hospital ship (H.M.H.S. AQUITANIA) following an urgent call from the orders of the British forces at Gallipoli. The £63,000 worth of work will be carried out by the crew in 18 hours without sleep or stoppages (they only break for meals), thus preparing the ship to transport up to 2,500 wounded to England at a time.
Soldiers wounded in the various theaters of operations in the Middle East are transported by smaller passenger ships to Mudros on the island of Lemnos, Turkey, from where the large transatlantic ocean liners - AQUITANIA, BRITANNIC and MAURETANIA - take them to England. The extremely coal-hungry ships can coal only if absolutely necessary and only at a military base (typically in Malta). As coal supplies at Mudros are reserved specifically for the Navy, the hospital ships are refueled before the ourward leg of the journey (when they are still largely empty), so that the wounded and sick can return to the UK as quickly as possible after embarking. (For troop transport ships, they follow the reverse logic. Since the ships are usually empty on the homeward leg of the journey, speed is not a matter of survival after they leave the immediate danger zone in front of the Strait of Otranto - in the mouth of the Adriatic Sea, controlled by the Austro-Hungraian Navy -, so they can also refuel on the homeward bound).
Table 3.: Voyages of the hospital ship AQUITANIA.
Figs. 62.-64.: Above left: AQUITANIA during repainting as a hospital ship (source). The Ocean liner in the background is the MAURETANIA. Above right: the British submarine E11 in front of the hospital ship AQUITANIA (source). Below: The hospital ships H.M.H.S. AQUITANIA and H.M.H.S. MAURETANIA photographed from Quarr Abbey of the Isle of Wight (source).
Fig. 65.: "The mighty and the strong" - H.M. Hospital Ship Aquitania being escorted by a torpedo boat destroyer.Painting of Will Jeneway from 1917 (source).15/03/1916: The AQUITANIA anchored in Naples on its way from Mudros to England takes over wounded from the hospital ship NEURALIA.
28/03/1916: Captain Edgar Theophilus Britten (1874-1936) takes command of the ship.
10/04/1916: The ship is decommissioned (the operation against the Dardanelles ends on 9 January 1916, but the island of Lemnos, located only 50 km from the operational area, remained under British control until the end of the war). Cunard orders a complete renovation at Harland & Wolff. A small, closed wheelhouse is built on top of the command bridge.
10/09/1916: AQUITANIA at Liverpool.
21/11/1916-30/01/1917: To replace the BRITANNIC, which ran into a mine and sank, the government again uses the AQUITANIA as a hospital ship, which - after expanding her capacity - is made suitable for the transport of 4,100 wounded.
A total of twenty-two British or Empire merchant vessels were employed as hospital ships at some time during the Gallipoli campaign, among them the three 'great liners', the AQUITANIA, BRITANNIC and MAURETANIA. The AQUITANIA was, in fact, the longest serving of these large hospital ships at the Dardanelles, continuing in this role until December 1917.
23/12/1916: AQUITANIA at Southampton.
30/11/1917: After the entry of the United States into the war on April 6, the conversion of the ship into a troop transport was again raised in order to carry the American Expeditionary Force to Europe.
01/01/1918: The ship is re-entered into the naval register, but it will only start its actual military service (the first troop transport voyage) after another suitable conversion, in March.
07/03/1918: A meeting is held under the chairmanship of Vice Admiral William Sowden Sims (1858-1936), Chief of Staff of the US Navy, Commander of the US Naval Forces operating in European waters Tasker Howard Bliss (1953-1930) Commander of the Army General and US Ground Forces John Joseph With the participation of General Pershing (1860-1948), the commander of the American Expeditionary Force sent to Europe, and Secretary of War Newton Diehl Baker (1871-1937) in the matter of transporting the American army to Europe. At the meeting, the Minister of Defense determines the purpose and method of further use of AQUITANIA:
„Two divisions per month will be dispatched commencing April 1st. Dispatching of two divisions per month is dependent upon full utilization of all commercial space used heretofore also upon use of AQUITANIA, MAURETANIA commencing early in April. All American cargo-tonnage will have to be withdrawn for use in maintaining this increased force. It is important that English and French understand that for America to furnish two combatant divisions per month will require an increased number of troops to be dispatched through England, also the handling of troops and convoys promptly in ports of disembarkation.”
„Arrange for schedule of regular direct sailing U.S.S. LEVIATHAN, MAURETANIA, AQUITANIA, and OLYMPIC. These ships to run on four-week complete turn-around carrying each minimun of 5,000 troops and sailing on schedule similar to that of American Liners, destination Southampton, to be furnished destroyer escort, running regardless of the moon in order to keep schedule, routed and running like U.S.S. LEVIATHAN. Owing to extreme urgency getting troops to Front, War Department, while expecting every protection it is reasonably possibly to give the matter (of) escorts, it is willing (to) assume every increased risk to personnel resulting from running and routing these ships on schedule to destination Southampton.”
07/03/1918-31/01/1919: AQUITANIA makes a total of 9 troop transport trips, during which it transports about 47,867 soldiers to Europe. He broke the record for the wartime troop transport, which he also set, in 1918, when he transported 8,000 soldiers from America to Europe at the same time.
Table 4.: Transatlantic troop transport voyages of the AQUITANIA in the First World War. Table data based on the sources of book series "American Expeditionary Forces: General Headquarters, Armies, Army Corps, Services of Supply, and Separate Forces." and other publications.
Figs. 66.-69.: AQUITANIA troop transport with geometric - so-called dazzle - paint coat after the US entry into the war (source: here, here, here and here).
Fig. 70.: AQUITANIA under escort of the American destroyers. Painting by Burnell Poole (source).
The so-called "dazzle painting" developed in the First World War was a unique solution to reduce the effectiveness of attacks against ships. From the records of Vegetius, we know that Julius Caesar already painted his scout ships blue-green off the coast of Britain, during the Gallic Wars, thus making it difficult to perceive. This practice prevailed until the First World War: ships embarking on open sea operations were painted in the colors of the sea and sky (blue-green or gray-blue depending on the season and climate), and coastal defense ships in the colors of the coastal background (white and straw yellow in the foreground of rocky shores, olive green in the foreground of the shores covered with woody and bushy plants), even though they knew that it was impossible to hide the ships perfectly. However, after the naval battle of Jutland in 1916, the Germans gave up hope of achieving success in naval warfare with surface ships, and therefore renewed unrestricted submarine warfare, which had been suspended due to international outrage over the sinking of the LUSITANIA. In the first quarter of 1917, more than 500 merchant ships were sunk, in April alone 13 ships were destroyed every single day! When there was barely enough bread grain left for the population and the army throughout Great Britain, it became clear that a change had to be made. The change was the dazzling painting, which was the result of the work of several people. In 1892, the American painter and nature diver Handerson Thayer Abbott was the first to describe the phenomena , later named after him asThayer's law, the effect of the color schemes of the animal world (the light undercoat and the dark upper coat), according to which disruptive (disturbing, breaking up, disrupting) coloring has a high contrast with patterns cover the inner features or break up the contours (make them more difficult to perceive) of the animal (especially the "softening" of the edges creates an illusion based on a false sense of depth). In the Spanish-American War of 1898, Thayer was already looking for the possibilities of using this for military purposes, but only the British naturalist Sir John Graham Kerr, who knew his work well, found the opportunity to do so, when he proposed in a letter to Winston Churchill - the first lord of the admiralty - on September 24, 1914 introducing advantages of disruptive coloring (breaking up the contours with patches of strongly contrasting tones) for the protection of warships, "completely breaking the continuity of their contours with white bands" in order to make artillery spotting from a long distance impossible. Although Kerr's ideas were used on several ships, he was unable to exert lasting influence as an outsider, and his proposals were discarded after Churchill's resignation in 1915. They were brought back to the public consciousness only in 1917 by the British naval painter Norman Wilkinson, a volunteer lieutenant of the Navy, who was able to represent his own interests much more convincingly (claiming that Kerr wanted to make the ships invisible, while he was only trying to deceive the enemy). The purpose of the painting proposed by him was actually exactly the same as that of Kerr and Thayer, that is, not to hide the ship in the background (camouflage), but to deceive (confuse, dazzle) the attacker regarding the details, namely the type, size and speed of the ship, as well as its direction. The bold shapes used on the bow and stern of the ship broke the shape of the ship, shortened it, or swapped the two ends. The slanted bands and lines painted on the superstructures suggested that the characteristic funnels sloped in the other direction. The curves painted on the hull imitated a false stern or the bow wave created by fast moving ships. In the London building of the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, a special Dazzle Section was set up for Wilkinson, where the many, many visual artists assigned under his supervision developed a total of hundreds of disturbing patterns painted on small wooden models, which were then spuned around on a record player and tested through a periscope. The proven patterns were finally used between May 1917 and October 1918 on about 4,000 merchant ships and 400 warships. The procedure has also been adopted by the United States, France and Italy. In 1918, the Admiralty analyzed shipping losses, which showed that ships with dazzling paint were attacked more often than unpainted - 1.47% versus 1.12% - (suggesting that their gaudy colors increased their visibility), but fewer of the ships attacked in this way sank than unpainted ones - 43% against 54% - (that is, the targeting was really confused and disturbed). The Admiralty investigated the question of precedence after the war, but Kerr argued that the principle was created by nature, he had only observed it, so finally Wilkinson was recognized as the inventor of the method, and then he was awarded a £2,000 reward.05/03/1918: Captain James Thomas Walter Charles (1865-1928) takes command of the ship.
09/10/1918: After the ship leaves Portsmouth for Brest, one of AQUITANIA's American escort ships, the destroyer USS SHAW's rudder fails during the mandatory zigzag maneuver, and the warship drifts to the right in front of the ocean liner within the braking distance, which wades through the destroyer, cutting about 27 m-s long section off the bow of the 96 m long ship. The destroyer remains afloat, however, 14 of its 99 crew lose their lives and the others are evacuated. With AQUITANIA under strict orders not to stop under any circumstances, the destroyer returned to Portsmouth, 40 miles away, under her own power, sailed by a skeleton crew of 21, for repairs until the end of May 1919.
Figs. 71.-78.: On the left top, center and bottom the USS SHAW and her wreck (source: here, here and here), on the right top USS SHAW in Portsmouth after the accident (source: here and here), on the right center the wreck in the dock during repairs (source: here and here), and on the right bottom the destroyer with her new bow after the reconstruction (source).
Fig. 79: Collision between AQUITANIA and USS SHAW (source).
In the Interwar Period:19.02.1919: On her first voyage after the armistice, AQUITANIA contributes to the repatriation of American troops from Liverpool, England and Brest, France to New York. In this service, she makes three round-trips until July 1919.
28/02/1919: AQUITANIA sinks the cargo ship LORD DUFFERIN in New York.
After sailing from Brest to New York in six days (at a speed of 22 knots) with 5,800 soldiers and many prominent American civilians on board, the AQUITANIA collides east of the Statue of Liberty with the 4,664-ton Canadian freighter LORD DUFFERIN, built in 1898, which is carrying sugar to the city of St. John, New Brunswick, Canada. In the collision, the ocean liner sheared off an approximately 64-foot (19.5 m) long section of the cargo ship's stern, causing the rear hold to fill with water and the cargo ship to sink in 11 m of water in 15 minutes. One person loses his life (George Eperus, a 40-year-old greaser from New York, who was seriously injured by the metal structure that collapsed when the stern came off, bent back and forth, so he could only move slowly, and when he fell into the water, he drowned). Several members of the cargo ship's 44-person crew are also injured, but only slightly. 27 people are taken by the tugs and guard ships accompanying the ocean liner, the others remain on the superstructures of the ship sitting on the bottom of the water.
The captain of the AQUITANIA, James Thomas Walter Charles - who, after the war months, had resumed command since February 19, 1919 - told the press that "The LORD DUFFERIN anchored just in the fairway on the starboard side of the ocean liner's bow, turning with her stern towards the big ship, which was just trying to avoid another cargo ship, so as not to run over it, while trying to leave the stern of the DUFFERIN free, but the strong tide pushed the bow of the AQUITANIA towards it, so it was impossible to avoid a collision", at whose danger the African American soldiers crowded on the foredeck tried to draw the attention of the crews of AQUITANIA and DUFFERIN by shouting loudly - useless. The AQUITANIA, which was traveling at a speed of 6 knots, was not damaged in the collision, and most of its passengers only realized that their ship had been involved in a collision when the turbines were switched into reverse.
Judge Julius Marshuetz Mayer, the chief judge of the Court of the Southern District of New York (who 6 months earlier had ruled in the lawsuit against Cunard Line due to the sinking of the torpedoed LUSITANIA in 1915) only on 12.06.1920 gives authorization to the charterer of the freighter, for Gaston, Williams & Wigmore, to initiate a $1,700,000 damages action against Cunard.
The damaged DUFFERIN is refloated by the salvage company Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation with the help of floating caissons and taken to the Todd Shipbuilding and Repair Company in Robins Dry Dock, Brooklyn, where, in the absence of the original plans, a completely new welded stern section is designed and built on the riveted steel ship (since the old stern section, which was wrecked and cut off, cannot be saved). All in all, the job, which took just under 18 days, was the largest welding job ever completed at the factory founded in 1916 (for this reason, it also made it into the newspapers, as the work was also visited by a Japanese delegation in America on a study tour investigating the applicability of new welding processes in shipbuilding).
Figs. 80.-86.: On the left is the map of the accident and its surroundings. On the right above is the profile drawing of LORD DUFFERIN (source), middle is the half-sunk LORD DUFFERIN (source), and below the freighter after being towed to the shipyard (source: here, here, here and here).
Figs. 87.-92.: On the left above, the AQUITANIA after leaving the quarantine port - photographed next to the ROCHAMBEAU repatriating American soldiers who also fought in Europe - preparing to dock, less than a minute before she ran over the Canadian freighter LORD DUFFERIN, which cannot be seen in the picture due to the cover of the French ocean liner (source). On the left below left is the reverse of the image showing the arrival of the AQUITANIA, shown on the right above, with a reference to the African-American soldiers returning home on the ship (source). On the left below right the officers of the 377th Infantry Division—left to right: Lt. C. L. Abbot, Capt. Joseph L. Lowe, Lt. A. R. Fisher (with the Distinguished Service Cross—the second highest military honor in the United States) and Capt. E. White—aboard the AQUITANIA in New York (source). On the right above and below, AQUITANIA immediately after the accident, the visible discoloration on the bow is a sign of the collision (source: here, here and here).
Figs. 93.-95.: The damaged LORD DUFFERIN at the site of Robins Dry Dock és Repair Co. (source: here, here and here).14/08/1919: The ship is transferred to the Southampton-Cherbourg-New York route.
1919.11.-1920.06.: Extensive renovation at the Armstrong-Withworth Shipyard in Newcastle. The boilers and coal bunkers will be converted, the Midland Bank will open a branch in first class, in the "D" deck lobby, where an Information Point will also be placed. On the navigating bridge, an IV. type Sperry gyrocompass is installed, which was then used for the first time on a commercial ship.
The gyrocompass is a device that uses the law of conservation of momentum instead of the magnetic principle, and consists of three high-speed flywheels suspended on cardan shafts, in which the axes can rotate freely while maintaining their original direction. Since the freely suspended rotating bodies try to ensure that the torque of the Coriolis force acting on their axis (resulting from the rotation of the Earth) is zero, the gyroscope turns in the north-south direction, so it can also be used for direction determination. On ships built with a large amount of metal, magnetic compasses are unreliable, so there was a great interest in gyroscopes, which was first satisfied by Hermann Anschütz-Kämpfe from Kiel, the creator of the first commercially available, functional gyroscope based on his patent registered in 1908. The American Elmer Ambrose Sperry also used Anschütz-Kämpfe's results to start the production of a gyroscope in 1910. Its were regularized by the American Navy, but in May 1914 it also sold a model to the German Navy. Upon learning of this, Anschütz decided to sue Sperry for patent infringement. The lawsuit was initiated before the Berlin court, which appointed a local expert experienced in both physical-technical and patent matters in the person of Albert Einstein, a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences from 1914, an expert of the Swiss Patent Office between 1902-1907. In the lawsuit, Sperry argued that Anschütz-Kämpfe's patent contained nothing new compared to a similar invention in 1885 by Marinus Gerardus van den Bos, who, however, did not have a valid patent. However, Einstein proved in the trial that the stabilization system included in the Anschütz patent was an improvement over the original van den Bos mechanism, and he even came to the conclusion that Sperry's system was essentially the same. Based on Einstein's opinion, on November 16, 1915, the court ruled in Anschütz's favor and fined Sperry 300,000 marks, and at the same time forbade him to sell devices using any element of the Anschütz patent. Sperry ignored the ruling and sold his equipment widely to the Entente Allies.
25/12/1919: During the renovation, at a cost of £400,000 (£22.5 million at today's exchange rate), AQUITANIA's boilers were transformed from coal- to oil-burner ones, and the coal bunkers are converted to store fuel oil. While 350 people served with coal-burner boilers, 50 people are sufficient for the oil-burners.
Figs. 96.-98.: AQUITANIA on the River Tyne in April 1920 (looking downriver), moored to the wharf of the Walker, Armstrong and Whitworth Shipyard. The upper left picture shows the lower bridge windows removed in that stage of restoration (source) and the upper right picture shows an 'M' class submarine next to the liner, fitted with a 30.5 cm battleship gun (source). It is interesting that the plates of the liner's breakwater can be seen painted white on the tip of the bow, which was only painted black again in 1920, before the first post-war voyage to America. Due to the narrowness of the Tyne river, it was not possible to turn the AQUITANIA into the opposit direction, so it was only possible to take her to the sea by towing backwards (source).19/07/1920: The first post-war civilian voyage on the Liverpool-New York route. On this first voyage, 2,433 passengers bought tickets for the ship, whose arrival in New York is filmed and shown in the movie "Manhatta".
25/07/1920: AQUITANIA's first arrival in New York after the war, now as an oil-burner ship. Shortly after her departure, an accident occurred in one of the boiler rooms off the coast of Ireland: a shut-off valve exploded from one of the boilers, killing the sixth engineer, Seymour Bannerman Barkway of Liverpool, a Scotsman. One of the heaters, James Curran, suffered minor injuries. Barkway was buried at sea immediately after the incident. This is the third (and last) time that the ship has been involved in a fatal accident (the first was the collision with the destroyer USS SHAW, the second was the cargo ship LORD DUFFERIN).
Figs. 99.-101.: The AQUITANIA arrives in New York in November 1919 on its last voyage as a coal-burner (courtesy of Peter Könczöl). Pictures of the old coal and the new oil-burner boilers of the AQUITANIA in the report on the conversion in Scientific American (source). After an eight-month absence, AQUITANIA arrives in New York for the first time, on that very day when the 13th America's Cup sailing race is scheduled to start. However, the yachts RESOLUTE and SHAMROCK cannot start due to the stormy weather at Sandy Hook. The photograph below was taken of the race committee boat after the two yachts had departed behind the AQUITANIA towards the lightship. The picture clearly shows that the ocean liner runs with its characteristic firmness in the rather strong sea waves (source).26/07/1921: Fire on board MAURETANIA, Southampton. They can control the flames only after 12 hours. 50 cabins are completely burned out, the first class saloon, the library and the smoking room are badly damaged. AQUITANIA will remain Cunard's only fast steamer on the North Atlantic route during the months-long extensive repair. Consequently she crossed the ocean 30 times by the end of the year (making 15 round trips) and set an annual passenger transport record: in 1921 she carried a total of 60,587 passengers (26,332 of them in third class), i.e. an average of more than 2,000 passengers.
11/08/1921: Captain William Robert Duncan Irvine (1868-1933) takes command of the ship.
19/10/1922: AQUITANIA breaks through a storm wave 24.4 m high in the North Atlantic Ocean.
Figs. 102.-103.: Storm on the ocean. Portrayal of the ship and photography from AQUITANIA's deck (sources: here and here).30/04/1923: Judge Willis van Devanter of the United States Supreme Court rules in a review case brought by the Cunard Line in connection with the confiscation of liquor stored for the eastern voyage in sealed store rooms of Cunard's ships in connection with the Prohibition.
The precedent for the lawsuit was the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution (the Volstead Act), which entered into force on January 16, 1919, which - as a result of the success of the temperance movement, which had been fighting alcoholism for decades, which was recognized as one of the root causes of poverty - became general from January 17, 1920 prohibited the manufacture, importation, transportation and sale of alcoholic beverages within the territory of the USA and within 3 miles (5.5 km) of the coast.
Non-US flagged ocean liners (registered abroad) were not subject to the law on the high seas, but upon entering the territorial waters of the United States, they had to comply with American laws on board, including rules about the ban on the production, import, transport and sale of alcoholic beverages.
Foreign shipping companies initially tried to comply with the restrictions when they reached American territorial waters by that the ships crew closed and stamped with the seals of the British Customs the liquor stock of the ships that ensures the service of the passengers during the return leg of voyages (back to Europe), but the American authorities ban this practice - under the pressure of the American shipping companies, which could only operate "dry" ships so they were constantly losing passengers due to the "wet" ships of the European companies. From October 6, 1922, the official seals protecting the locked stock were reviewed and broken, the entire stock was confiscated, and fines were even imposed on shipping companies, which appealed to the court, which, however, rejected their request.
The Supreme Court proceedings took place as a result of the shipping companies' appeal against the decisions of the New York District Court rejecting a hearing on the merits in the case of confiscation and fines imposed on 10 foreign and 2 American ships (travelling outside US territorial waters). In the case of the 10 foreign ships, the Supreme Court upheld the first-instance court's decision to reject a hearing on the merits, but changed it in the case of the 2 American-flagged ships.
The Supreme Court had to decide two questions:
1) Based on the legislator's intent and the grammatical interpretation of the law, can it be ruled out that the amount of liquor on board a foreign ship arriving at an American port is considered as an import if the liquor is neither taken off the ship, nor sold while the ship is in the port? The court answered this question in the negative (that is, it is not excluded that such case is also considered as an import from the point of view of the application of the law). In justifying its judgment, the court emphasized that the October 6, 1922 amendment to the implementing rules of the Volstead Act was intended to have the exact effect of ending the sale of intoxicating liquor to American citizens on foreign ocean liners as well, therefore it is illegal if a foreign vessel brings intoxicating liquor into a United States port even if the stock of liquor is sealed and the importation is for the sole purpose of using the liquor on the return leg of the voyage.
2) Does the Prohibition Act apply to US-flagged ships on the high seas (areas not under the jurisdiction of any state)? The court - contrary to the logic of its own answer to question 1) - gave a negative answer to this question as well. According to the court, therefore, while foreign-flagged ships arriving at American ports are prohibited from having alcohol on board, American ships are not prohibited from doing so in international waters (saying that it is only a "metaphor" that the ships are in the territory of the flag state would qualify). This part of the judgment was in complete contradiction with the Volstead Act, according to which the captain of a ship under the supervision of the United States Shipping Board cannot legally possess alcoholic beverages even on the high seas, and with the statement of the Attorney General that the law applies to persons traveling on American ships, whether they are in American waters, or on the high seas, or in foreign ports.
02/06/1923: As a result of the Devanter judgment, the stock of spirits locked on board the AQUITANIA bound for America is released, which is distributed free of charge to the passengers rather than being confiscated by the American customs authorities. The ship's captain, James Thomas Walter Charles - who had been in command again since August 30, 1921 - later remembered the incident in his diary: "We are doing the best we can ... A thousand passengers are drinking beer as fast as they can, but their capacity is unequal to the supply and so we are throwing overboard 20 barrels." Since there was no alcohol left on the ship that could be offered on the return leg of the voyage (only alcohol for medical purposes), the passengers got used to carrying the amount they needed in their luggage (there was a passenger who had no less than 40 bottles of whiskey packaged), and the result was the development of the practice of private cocktail parties held in the cabins... The purpose of the Devanter judgment was obviously not to enforce the principles of law, but to favor the American shipping companies, which demanded support from the state because they were constantly lose passengers to European competitors. However, the arbitrary judicial decision that violates the law and flouts all its legality was not able to mitigate the problems caused by the ban, so finally in 1933 President Roosevelt relaxed the law and allowed drinks with an alcohol content of less than 4% - beers, light wines - distribution and consumption in the USA. And by the end of 1933, the general prohibition on alcohol for the entire United States was abolished.
21/09/1923: Papyrus, a British thoroughbred racehorse and breeding stallion, Derby winner, goes to New York aboard AQUITANIA against Kentucky Derby winner Zev. The special train carrying the horse stops next to the ship. The animal is shipped in together with his stablemate Bargold, the stable cat Tinker, and jockey Steve Donoghue. It is the first time a British horse has been sent across the Atlantic for a single race. The ship has never had such a special "passenger". To accommodate Papyrus on board, a separate "cabin" must be built with specially fitted, padded wall covering. The bizarre story reaches the press. An Australian newspaper reports: "A wireless message from the Cunard liner Aquitania, says the racehorse Papyrus was not disturbed by the heavy weather. He is being exercised around a padded cabin, ridden by a stable boy." A month later, on October 20, 1923, Zev finally won the $100,000 race at Belmont Park by five lengths. The race was later considered a farce by many, as Papyrus was not properly shod on the wet ground, while Zev was also wearing mud caulks. The owner of Papyrus nevertheless admitted defeat.
Figs. 104.: Papyrus boards a ship. Boarding the racehorse in the third class (source).…/03/1924: Two fractures are discovered on hull plates between the portholes of "E" and "F" decks, fore of the ship.
26/05/1924: American President Coolidge signs the Johnston-Reed Act, with which the United States re-regulates immigration and establishes yearly quotas for each ethnic group on the number of foreigners that can be admitted annually, with a maximum of 2% of the number of people belonging to the given ethnic group according to the 1890 census data. All this has a drastic effect on emigrant traffic: while the number of third-class passengers carried on board the AQUITANIA exceeded 26,000 in 1921, by 1925 their number had dropped to less than a third, to 8,200. As an immediate measure, the number of crew is reduced (from the original 1,200 to 850), but it becomes clear that the function of the ship's interior and the assignment of each department must also be thoroughly redesigned.
.../02/1925: They notice that the rivets of the plate doubling used there have become loose in a previous repair place.
The use of plate doubling - double plates, or doublers - became routine in temporary ship repairs until it became the preferred method for repairing plate corrosion structural damage on ships, as it was a relatively simple and low-cost solution, versus the more expensive permanent plate-insertion repair. However, evaluations of the different stresses, buckling strength, corrosion types and rates, seam types, and fatigue and fracture properties affecting the double plating were never performed, so due to the lack of performance data, repairs with doublers were considered only a temporary solution throughout. Against them was the fact that the water inevitably seeping between the overlapping plates caused aggressive rusting, which could not be prevented, since it was not possible to de-rust or paint between the two plates.
1926: Sir Percy Bates, director of the Cunard Line, proposes the idea of building 2 new larger and faster ships to replace the company's 3 aging ocean liners - MAURETANIA, AQUITANIA and BERENGERIA. The main direction of development is increasing size and speed (size increases comfort, as the larger the ship, the less vulnerable due to elements, while speed shortens the journey time). Oil burning shortens the stay in port to 18 hours. Thus, by reducing the crossing time below 5 days, the work of the previous 3 ships can now be done by 2.
1927: The ship is remodeled: accommodations are created for first-, second-, and tourist-third-class passengers on board. On decks "B" and "C", several first-class cabins are combined to create larger, more comfortable suites. In connection with this, the 246 m2 "B"-deck raised promenade (the deck-chair terrace) will be built in, in order to increase the floor space of 24 "B" deck cabins by extending them towards the sides of the ship. The 131 original first-class suites of the "B" deck (2 private dining rooms and 4 private verandahs have also been eliminated) will be combined into 97 suites. In connection with this, overhead lights, providing natural light and direct ventilation for the interior (windowless) cabins of deck "C" will be eliminated on the deck "B" raised promenade. However, this will not be a problem, as the innermost row of cabins on deck "C" will be eliminated (the deck's 263 original suites will be consolidated into 139 cabins).
Table 5.: The berths of the ship after the conversion, according to classes.…/03/1928: Weakened rivets are again detected in the bow of the ship near the location identified in 1925.
16/07/1928: Captain James Thomas Walter Charles dies as AQUITANIA arrives at Southampton.
According to the rules of the Cunard Line, he would be retire in two weeks - after his 63rd birthday... Passengers and officers notice that he spends most of the journey on the bridge. At first, he explains this with his obligations due to the short turnaround time in New York and the sea fog, but he becomes more and more sensitive at dinners and other social programs, and for the last two days he doesn't even come down, he stays on the bridge all the time. Before leaving New York with the AQUITANIA, he vowed to the journalists inquiring about his retirement that he would be happy when he could finally settle down on the mainland and enjoy the blessings of the secure income he had created (in addition to his £4,000 a year pension, he also owned handsomely profitable copper mine shares, which he purchased on the advice of Simon Guggenheim, regular passenger of the AQUITANIA). The ship's doctor also warns that he needs rest, yet he does not allow second captain Dolphin to take the ship to Cherbourg on the last leg of the voyage. Instead, he spends an extraordinary amount of time on duty, and at the urging of his officers, he only agrees to rest when the pilot is arrived to steer the ship to Southampton. But even then, he does not go to his cabin, only to the chart room adjacent to the wheel house, where there is only one couch available. He spends barely a few minutes inside when an urgent bell ring from the map room alerts the officers that something is wrong. Two officers rush into the room, where they find Captain Charles lying on the floor in great pain from hemorrhage. During the crossing of the channel, he receives medication for pain relief, and his wife is informed about what happened by radio, so that when the AQUITANIA docks, she is already there. However, the captain is unable to recognize her or speak to her. He is immediately taken to the Southampton hospital by ambulance, but there they can only confirm his death. The flag of the AQUITANIA is lowered to half-mast, while the passengers are still busy with things related to boarding out.
Captain Charles spent 48 of his 62 years at sea and made 726 transatlantic crossings aboard various ships. In March 1918 he was appointed captain of the AQUITANIA. She transported almost 48,000 American troops for the rest of the war. He was knighted in 1920, and from 1921 he was commodore of the Cunard Line. Out of the ship's 31 captains, he served for the longest period.
Figs. 105.-107.: Death news of Captain James Thomas Walter Charles (sources: here, here and here)..../01/1929: Weakened rivets are again observed in the bow
22/07/1929: The new German ocean liner BREMEN conquers the Blue Ribbon from Cunard's MAURETANIA, leading to further decline in popularity.
24/10/1929: The New York Stock Exchange crash. This burst the financial bubble of the "roaring twenties". 11,000 of the 25,000 banks in the USA bankrupted, all the savings of the depositors were lost. By 1933, all stock market investments lost 92% of their value (the stock market index fell back to the value of 1896 when stock market trading began). In 1932, 273,000 families were evicted, and by 1934, the farms of more than 1,000,000 families were auctioned off due to their debts. In the country with 126,000,000 inhabitants, 13,000,000 were unemployed and 34,000,000 people lived without a fixed income. All this lasted until the American government, following the principles of the English John Maynard Keynes, absorbed the mass of the unemployed with a large public demand-stimulation program (significant government investments) called the New Deal, and generated new demand in order to stimulate the economy. Until then, however, AQUITANIA carries fewer and fewer passengers, and its transatlantic voyages become unprofitable.
25/03/1930: The new German ocean liner EUROPA (sister ship of BREMEN) conquers the Blue Ribbon from her running mate, which will once again become the in-house trophy of German ocean liners for a while
12/05/1930: AQUITANIA gets new propellers and rudder.
The new rudder will be forged and assembled in Darlington in the north of the UK, and when it is finished it will be loaded onto a open rail car on May 8 to be transported by train to Middlesbrough and then by ship to Southampton. Its 19 x 28 ft (6.0 x 8.5 m) rudder plate weighs 54 tons, and due to its size, extends more than 13 ft (4 m) beyond the edge of the rail car, with its farthest point even on the far side of the adjacent track. For the duration of the transport, both tracks, as well as the loading ramps and the passenger platforms next to the overhanging part of the rudder plate, must be closed to traffic, and the signal poles between the tracks must be removed along the entire railroad. In order for the rudder plate to rise high enough above the ramps and platforms, it must be raised 12 feet (3.7 m) on the rail car. This raises the center of gravity of the huge piece of steel so high that any swaying of the rail car can increase the overhang of the rudder plate or overturn the car, threatening to derail the train.
Figs. 108.-110.: The preservation of the ship's operable condition over such a long period of time was due to persistent and professional maintenance. The two images above were taken when the train carrying the rudder passed through Eagles Cliff station in Stockton-on-Tees, where measurements taken along the entire route before the journey began showed that there was barely a 3 cm gap remained between the signal post and the overhanging rudder (source: here and here). The screw exchange carried out on May 12, 1930. In the foreground, a dismantled and severely damaged screw (with a chipped blade) laid on the floor plate of the floating dock, behind it is the new one currently being installed (source).28/05/1930: The first of the two new ships proposed by Sir Percy Bates in 1926, the QUEEN MARY, is ordered (with a delay due to the Great Depression).
10/09/1930: AQUITANIA survives a strong sea storm - hurricane - in the Atlantic Ocean unscathed.
19/12/1930: The ship arrives at Southampton after another crossing in an extremely violent sea storm. Upon inspection, it turns out that several "B" deck supports are broken on both the starboard and port sides, necessitating welding and plate doubling. During the repair, it was determined that the stress on the supports was increased by the new walls that were installed on the edge of the original elevated section of the promenade deck during the expansion of the first-class suites in 1926. Signs of material fatigue are observed on the superstructure near the expansion joints.
04/30/1931: A crack is discovered in the shell plating starting next to one of the portholes near the "F" deck plate doubling, which eventually gradually extends to the entire frame-space from frame 235 to 242.
21/10/1931: The second class is abolished.
20/11/1931: AQUITANIA arrives at Southampton after another crossing in very bad weather. After her inspection, it was determined that the hull was damaged in several places: the hull structure was severely strained in the area of the fore and aft peak tanks, as a result of which 900 rivets had to be replaced, and two shell plates on the starboard side were broken, and the bilge keel "requires attention".
Fig. 111.: AQUITANIA's bow cuts through storm waves (source).11/12/1931: During the Great Depression, Cunard was unprofitable for the first time in many years. Construction of the QUEEN MARY is suspended. The British government is offering Cunard a loan on the condition that it merges with White Star Line, which is in irretrievable financial crisis, as the government says there is no room for two major British lines competing against each other in the North-Atlantic trade, during the growing competition from foreign liners.
From 1932: Due to stagnant passenger traffic, the ship makes cheaper Mediterranean excursions in the winter times to maintain financial balance. Cunard's "Big Three" (AQUITANIA, BERENGARIA and MAURETANIA) are slowly became obsolete, the company is planning to build more modern, newer, bigger and faster ships - QUEEN MARY and QUEEN ELIZABETH - but the protracted crisis is delaying construction, thus (while her running mates are gradually dismantled) the AQUITANIA gets a little more respite (until the launch of the QE originally planned for 1940).
From 1933: In addition to the Mediterranean excursions, the New York-Bermuda route is added.
In November, all the communal spaces will be renovated and a completely new theater will be added to the ship's services.
During the annual inspection, a break is identified on both sides directly under the port- and starboardside wing of the bridge, 30.5 cm next to the opening of the forward boarding door. On the port side, a large 76.2 cm long break is also discovered on the plate doubling and on the upper plate row of the hull. On the right side, a similar fracture is observed, affecting the upper plate row, but not the plate doubling. Broken plates are replaced, and the affected doors are permanently removed and closed by plates to strengthen the hull.
The damage seen at that location is related to the ship's accident in 1915 (according to other sources, 1919), when the AQUITANIA ran aground on the Mersey River. A Board of Trade surveyor recalls that the ship was then "very badly damaged to the bottom...and no doubt severely strained near the bridge". AQUITANIA's structure at this point "showed signs of weakness for a long time", although it is debated whether the spanking exacerbated a pre-existing problem or caused a weakening of the structure that did not become apparent until years later.
Figs. 112.-114.: The AQUITANIA's Mediterranean routes (source: Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2024). The liner in Egypt (source). A casual dance party on the promenade deck somewhere in the Mediterranean (source).15/04/1933: After the first private screening held on January 5, Fox Studio presents the movie "Cavalcade", based on Noel Coward's play of the same name. The film presents the most important events of the 33 years between 1899 and New Year's Eve 1932 through the lives of the members of a fictitious British family, including the Boer Wars, the death of Queen Victoria, the TITANIC tragedy and the First World War. AQUITANIA serves as a model for the construction of the mock-up and scenery created to personify TITANIC in the film (between 0:57:30-1:01:45).
24/01/1934: AQUITANIA runs aground in the Solent, but is refloated the same day.
26/09/1934: Launching of QUEEN MARY. MAURETANIA departs New York for her final crossing. After return home she is withdrawn from the service, and in May 1935 she is sold for demolition (OLYPIMIC is taken out of service on April 12 and dismantled by the end of 1937). This makes the AQUITANIA the world's last four-funnelled ocean liner.
10/04/1935: AQUITANIA's biggest accident: during approach to Southampton on the end of a Mediterranean cruise, she runs aground in the Solent, at the Thorn Knoll buoy, which marking one of the outcrops of the Bramble Reef, which is mainly made of the logs of the ancient underwater forest and buried in sand, and she remains there for 26 hours, until finally she is pulled off the reef with the combined power of eleven tugboats. Despite the fact that the hull was standing on its own bottom for more than a full day, the AQUITANIA survives the incident almost unscathed and will soon be back in service (contemporary film newsreels: here and here).
15/05/1935: A storm with strong gusts of wind hits Southampton. The MAJESTIC, bound for America, is towed out of the dock without incident by tugs, but mooring cables on the rear, securing the AQUITANIA to the shore, break away and the ship, fixed at her bow, obeys the pressure of the wind, turns sideways in the dock, almost colliding with the ATLANTIS standing there. The accident can only be prevented by the quick intervention of nearby tugs.
Figs. 115.-116.: AQUITANIA on the reef (above). After the failure of the first attempt, the tugs change strategy and gather at the stern of AQUITANIA. In the high wind, the AQUITANIA, tearing its port ropes, swings out (source: here and here).30/08/1935: The plates of the 28-meter rear section of the portside bilge keel require renovation (the damage was caused by the strain in January 1934 or April 1935, but remained unnoticed until then).
22/04/1936: The participants of the North Atlantic Shipping Conference decided that the first class of all passenger ships plying the North Atlantic Ocean would be called "cabin class" in the future.
North Atlantic shipping companies entered into various bilateral or multilateral agreements in the 19th century, depending on the circumstances. On a German proposal, permanent cooperation was established in 1908, creating the first North Atlantic Shipping Conference, in which most of the British, American and continental passenger shipping companies (except of the Cunard Line) were represented. The conference participants agreed on minimum first- and second-class fares and conditions, and at the same time concluded an agreement on the consolidation of third-class traffic in a common pool. The conference based in Jena (Germany) was dissolved at the outbreak of the First World War, but during the war some of the former members revived it in a narrower circle with its headquarters in Paris (France).
27/05/1936: Order of QUEEN ELIZABETH, second of two new ships proposed by Sir Percy Bates in 1926. AQUITANIA is planned to be scrapped when the new ship is handed over, which is predicted for 1940.
Fig. 117.: AQUITANIA departing from New York in 1937, photograph taken by David J. Kreines (sources). A contemporary color footage with the scene available here.
20/09/1938: During the inspection following the arrival of the AQUITANIA in Southampton, it was noticed that a fracture had developed in the upper row of stiffening plates, near the place of the 1931 repair, on the "B" deck amidships, crossing the line of riveting.
07/11/1938: Scrapping of BERENGARIA.
31/12/1938: The AQUITANIA, which left New York for a Christmas cruise to the West Indies, arrives at the American Virgin Islands with 674 passengers on board, where it drops anchor in the deep-water anchorage behind Hassel Island, where all the larger ships are able to station.
Figs. 118-120.: AQUITANIA in the Virgin Islands (sources: here, here and here).
In the Second World War:05/09/1939: AQUITANIA arrives at Southampton (news of the outbreak of war received at sea on her way to England). Although she would have been scrapped in less than three months, she was still one of the three fastest British ships available for war duties (for ammunition- and troop transport), so the Admiralty intended to protect her by not allow to remain in Southampton, within range of German long range bombers, so they ordered her return to America. Hundreds of American citizens trapped in Europe apply for his journey.
10/09/1939: AQUITANIA leaves Southampton. Her superstructures and funnels are painted grey. A lot of furniture will be removed from the ship, which is usually suitable for transporting 3,230 passengers, so that 400 more passengers can be accommodated in the additional berths accommodated in their place. Since the Germans sank the passenger ship ATHENIA on September 3, dinner is served between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. so that it is completely dark on the ship in the evening. Even the windows were painted black, but it was still forbidden to turn on the lights after sunset.
Figs. 121-122.: As part of the extraordinary precautions due to the submarine threat, an escape ladder was installed in the well of the two-story high 1st class restaurant to speed up possible emergency evacuation (left), and 2 pieces of 15.2 cm guns against surface targets were placed on the stern deck (right). Sources: here and here.23/09/1939: AQUITANIA leaves New York for Europe. She is photographed 50 miles east of Sandy Hook zigzagging toward the open ocean at high speed. She maintains a speed of about 24 knots during the journey and makes the crossing without any incident.
21/11/1939: AQUITANIA's second wartime military service begins with her transformation into a troop transport. After removing the furniture reminiscent of Victorian salons, the ship will be adapted to accommodate 7,400 soldiers, and then she will be sent to Halifax to transport Canadian troops to Europe.
During this crossing, an old destroyer from the reserves came out to meet her and signalled with an Aldis lamp, “FOUR FUNNEL SHIP PLEASE INDICATE.” On the bridge of the AQUITANIA, Captain George Gibbons turns to his own morse lamp operator in disbelief: “We are the only damned four-funnel ship in the world and that so-and-so wants our name. Tell him to read ‘The News of the World.’ ” But before the answer can send, another message received by light signals from the destroyer's zealous commander, in which he asking, “DO YOU REQUIRE AN ESCORT”? On board of the AQUITANIA, which is one of the fastest ships on the Atlantic, Gibbons, who is now really angry, signalls back only this short answer: “CAN YOU KEEP UP”? Then the propellers of the LUSITANIA's and the MAURETANIA's running mate rev up, and with huge waves, they propel the AQUITANIA forward, so that she quickly leaves the obsolete destroyer behind, which, as a farewell, lets out one last message: “YOUR FINE SPEED REQUIRES LITTLE PROTECTION.”
10/12/1939: AQUITANIA leaves Halifax for the Clyde estuary, arriving there on 17 December. On her subsequent troop transport voyages, she transported thousands of soldiers from Australia and New Zealand to the South-Eastern Asia and North Africa, then from America to Europe. Between December 1939 and June 1945, she completes a total of 105 crossings (72 in convoy, 33 independently).
Table 6.: Troop transport voyages of the AQUITANIA in 1939-1940.03/09/1940: AQUITANIA at Southampton. Equipped with new 6-inch (15.2 cm) dual-purpose anti-surface and anti-aircraft armament, the ship then heads to Sydney, Australia to transport Australian and New Zealand troops to Egypt which is under German and Italian attack, and then to Singapore, New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) which are under Japanese attack.
19/04/1940: AQUITANIA anchors in Cape Town, where she takes on fuel oil again after being pumped out the previous day, in an effort to make her easier to be raised from a mud bank on which she ran aground 2 days before. The incident delayed her departure from Cape Town by 2 days, but did not prevent her from reaching Sydney in time to begin her next mission.
02/05/1940: AQUITANIA goes to Europe with the New Zealand convoy marked US.3., consisting of the oceanliners EMPRESS of BRITAIN, ANDES and EMPRESS of JAPAN. The convoy will be joined a few days later by the ocean liners MAURETANIA (II), QUEEN MARY and EMPRESS of CANADA with Australian troops. The 28th Maori Battalion, 5 ambulances, divisional supply and reinforcements and other units - 3,600 people including the crew - will be embarked on board of the AQUITANIA. They make use of every space, even accommodating soldiers two decks below the waterline (above the firemen's corridor, which is also filled with ammunition and engineering equipment). Fresh air only enters the windowless rooms through the upper deck vents. The northbound convoy is diverted to Cape Town before reaching Ceylon on 15 May due to the Nazi victory in Europe and the attacks on Suez.
16/05/1940: The "Million Dollar Convoy" arrives at the Clyde Estuary and anchors at Gourock. The soldiers were originally sent to supplement the British Expeditionary Force fighting in France, but they arrived too late: the Dunkirk evacuation had already been completed by the time they entered the port.
15/06/1940: The convoy arriving in British waters is met on 15 June by 6 destroyers, the aircraft carrier ARGUS and the battlecruiser HOOD. In the afternoon, one of AQUITANIA's lookouts reports a torpedo fired from a long distance, which just misses HMS HOOD's stern and slips between QUEEN MARY and AQUITANIA, then sinks at the end of its run. The warships of the convoy make a sharp turn and move away at full speed, but the destroyers regroup at one point and begin fierce bombardment with dept charges. The convoy runs into Greenock unharmed the next day.
31/08/1940: AQUITANIA, carrying 2,780 troops, joins to the convoy BN.5A formed by the EMPRESS of JAPAN, ORION and ORMONDE in the Great Australian Bight.
19/11.-24/11/1940: The German auxiliary cruiser KORMORAN, hunting the AQUITANIA in the Indian Ocean, is sunk by the Australian cruiser H.M.A.S. SYDNEY, which is so badly damaged in the action that she sinks as well. On her way from Singapore to Sydney five days later, the AQUITANIA rescues the 26 surviving members of the German ship's crew, no survivors are found from the SYDNEY.
28/12/1940: AQUITANIA leaves Sydney for Colombo with 3,350 men.
12/01/1941: Arrival in Colombo.
02/04/1941: The ocean liners AQUITANIA (3,345 people) and QUEEN MARY (5,718 people) carrying Australian troops join the US.9 convoy gathering in front of Sydney. MAURETANIA (II) (3,927) joins in Bass Strait. After reaching Fremantle, the QUEEN MARY leaves the convoy for Singapore.
04/28/1941: AQUITANIA, carrying units of the 14th Light Anti-Aircraft Division, departs from Singapore, via Colombo, for Port Tewfik, Sudan, where she arrives on May 13.
27/06/1941: AQUITANIA, carrying more units of the 28th Maori Battalion, a dental crew of 20 and 370 firemen, for a total of 4,020 men, leaves Wellington, New Zealand, calling at Sydney and Trincomalee for Port Tewfik, Sudan, arriving on 28 July. On June 30, QUEEN MARY (5,723 people) and QUEEN ELIZABETH (5,807 people) will join to the ship under the cover of the heavy cruiser H.M.A.S. AUSTRALIA.
15/09/1941: AQUITANIA, carrying new units of the 28th Maori Battalion, a total of 3,296 men, leaves Wellington, New Zealand, calling via Melbourne, Freemantle and Colombo for Port Tewfik, Sudan, where it arrives on 20 October.
Table 7.: Troop transport voyages of the AQUITANIA in 1941.04/03/1942: Following the entry of the United States into the war, the AQUITANIA makes two trips between Pearl Harbor and San Francisco.
19/04/1942: The retirement of John Charles Townley (born 12/06/1880), former Captain of the AQUITANIA with effect from 01/01/1943 is announced.
30/04/1942: AQUITANIA, carrying units of the 34th Infantry Division, leaves New York for Greenock, Scotland, along with 7 other ships.
11/12/1942: The AQUITANIA, carrying a total of 5,505 people, departs from Wellington, New Zealand, via Freemantle and Aden calling for Port Tewfik, Sudan, where it arrives on January 5, 1943.
Figs. 123.-125.: Magazine printed aboard the troopship AQUITANIA, for the Eighth Reinforcements of the 2nd N.Z.E.F. (New Zealand Expeditionary Forces) The ship departed from Wellington on 10th December 1942 and arrived at Port Tewfik, Egypt, on 5th January 1943. This copy of the magazine has its original owner's name at the top of the front cover: Trooper W.M. Francis (sources: here, here and here).
Table 8.: Troop transport voyages of the AQUITANIA in 1942.01-02/1943: AQUITANIA takes part in the redeployment of Australian troops who fought in Africa and Southeast Asia to the defense of Australia, i the so-called Operation Pamphlet.
.../09/1943: In the line of the navigating bridge, a long-standing but non-contiguous crack is also identified on deck "C", which is probably related to the damage observed on deck "B" during 1924, 1925 and 1930. As part of the renovation the end walls of all boilers will be replaced.
30/11/1943: Physicist Niels Bohr and his son, Aege, who escaped from occupied Denmark (as Nicholas and James Baker) leave for the USA aboard the AQUITANIA departing from Gourock, where they arrive on December 6.
Table 9.: Troop transport voyages of the AQUITANIA in 1943.29/01-05/02/1944: AQUITANIA transports 1,000 sailors and 7,000 soldiers from New York to Greenock, Scotland in preparation for the Normandy landings.
21-28/02/1944: AQUITANIA transports 12,000 troops from New York to Greenock, Scotland. On the way back to America, the ship will make a detour in Iceland to disembark 150 members of the 237th Signal Squadron.
15-22/06/1944: AQUITANIA transports soldiers of the 106th Infantry Division from New York to Gourock.
08/10/1944: During the inspection carried out for the maintenance of the ship, it is determined that the "interior surfaces of shell plating and bulkheads, where stripped for conversion to troop accommodation, is in an excellent state of preservation".
20-28/10/1944: AQUITANIA transports soldiers of the 422nd Infantry Division from New York to Greenock.
31/10.-11/08/1944: AQUITANIA carries replacement units from New York to Greenock.
15.-22/11/1944: AQUITANIA transports the command of the 15th Army and special formations (239 officers, 25 non-commissioned officers, 778 soldiers) from New York to Gourock.
Table 10.: Troop transport voyages of the AQUITANIA in 1944.21-28/05/1945: After the European victory on May 9, the AQUITANIA sails from Gourock, Scotland to New York as part of the repatriation of the American and Canadian troops who fought in Europe and their wounded. There are 3,500 military men and 32 civilian women on board. The latter are guarded by an armed guard the entire way.
25/07-01/08/1945: Repatriation of American troops who served in Europe (soldiers of the 179th and 180th Divisions of the 7th Army, as well as the 99th and 130th Field Hospitals and the 828th Infirmary Center), a total of 7,866 people on board of the AQUITANIA, sails from Le Havre in France to New York.
Table 11.: Troop transport voyages of the AQUITANIA in 1945.
Figs. 126.-129.: The AQUITANIA as troop transporter in 1939 (above), in convoys (middle) in 1940 and 1942, and in 1944 (below) (sources: here, here, here and here).
The final years:11/12/1945: The AQUITANIA, with a capacity of 3,236 people, repatriates 4,700 interned persons, prisoners of war and children (the latter evacuated from the British islands under bombardment during the Blitzkrieg to safer remote parts of the empire), from Sydney via Cape Town to Great Britain, where she arrives at the end of a 28-day voyage on January 7, 1946. A Christmas party is organized for the children on board on December 24, the evening before arrival in Cape Town, for which special invitation cards are printed in the ship's printing office. It takes a special effort by the staff to keep the soldiers away from the adolescent girls. Upon returning home, many children (especially the little ones) find it difficult to recognize their parents and return to their old lives, which had been forced to left behind, since by then they have already integrated into the new families offered by their fosterparents overseas.
Figs. 130.-131.: AQUITANIA enters Cape Town, 25th December of 1945. In the insert is the invitation card to the celebration on Christmas Eve for children, travells on board from Australia back to home, England. Although the hull and superstructures still wear the wartime gray paint, the funnels have already returned to the original Cunard-livery (sources: here and here).04/01/1848: The AQUITANIA sailed a total of over 500,000 nautical miles and transported around 400,000 troops in World War II. At the end of the deployments, the ship is returned to Cunard, which then transports war brides and their children (family members of men fighting in Canadian units deployed in Europe) to Canada based on a contract with the Canadian government. During this last service, the AQUITANIA is held in high esteem in Halifax, the destination of such voyages.
15/04/1948: overhaul and maintenance after war service are completed. During the inspection of the ship, the following findings are made:
- The crack discovered in September 1943 on starboard shell-plating of deck "C" "has continued to extend" and "substantial repair" required, in a similar and typical way to the repair of the damage detected in 1933.
- On the other hand, the repair of the "B" deck supports, which were broken in December 1930, "remained in satisfactory condition".
- Stiffeners on "C"-deck’s number 2 hatch cover have to remove and replace.
- On the "A" deck, the deformed parapet plates of the promenade need to be repaired.
- Before the second expansion joint, 4 cracks are discovered, which are repaired by welding and plate doubling.
- On deck “B”, in front of the uptake of the third funnel, a local fracture of the deck plates is identified, which is also repaired by doubling.
- All side doors will be renewed and a slight leak detected in the fuel oil tanks will be calked "or injected as required".
20/05/1948: After the completion of her first major overhaul after the Second World War and the withdrawal from government service, the AQUITANIA backs out of the King George V. dry dock in Southampton, moors next to the western docks, where the crew re-installs the furnishing that was taken to warehouses during the war. The ship then also gets back its civilian colors. AQUITANIA will then go to sea through Southampton waters for a short trial run to see what speed she is capable of after her second boiler room is closed.
Figs. 132.-133.: The AQUITANIA returns to civilian life - preparations in the dry dock "King George V." in Southampton (above) and the sea trials (below). Sources: here and here.
Table 12.: During her exceptionally long active career between 1914-1950, the AQUITANIA was forced several times to be transformed in order to adapt to the changed needs. Moreover, the ship is one of only about 30 ocean liners that served in both world wars. The changing needs of military use (auxiliary cruiser, troop transport, hospital ship) meant from the outset extraordinary use that was different from the usual, but the restoration of civilian use after military service could not be imagined without the continuous development of passenger comfort services. This certainly resulted in a series of smaller or larger reconstructions of the ship. The table above provides an overview of these.01/01/1949: The contract for the repatriation of wives and children of Canadian soldiers deployed in Europe is extended for another year.
.../05/1949: The annual inspection identified only a few loose rivets, which will be replaced, and it is determined that the bilge keels need to be repaired by welding. All of the previous year's repairs are in "good condition". The navigation certificate and the passenger transport license of the liner will be extended until the end of the year. Rumors about the steel of funnels, bulkheads, and decks becoming so thin that the ship is permeable like a sieve in wet weather, or that a piano crashed through the deck during a business dinner, are without any foundation.
11/24/1949: The AQUITANIA makes her last arrival in Halifax, where Henry Bruce Jefferson of the local information service takes an extensive series of photographs of her. The closing of the ship's second boiler room silenced the mechanical steam whistle on the second funnel, hence electric fog horns attached to the foremast, just below the crows nest.
14/12/1949: End of her career: at the start of the scheduled service of the QUEEN MARY and QUEEN ELIZABETH, the continued operation of the ship is deemed uneconomic, so she is taken out of service.
09/01/1950: Hampton & Sons Ltd. auctions the ship's furniture and other fittings.
13/02/1950: Sale of the ship (buyer: the British Iron and Steel Co.). Cunard Line makes few stipulations: they only insist on the return of the ship's steering wheel, the largest ship's bell and the teak used in the interior, everything else that is still on board when the AQUITANIA arrives at the scrap yard is the property of the scrapping company. The wheel of the ship was eventually placed in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax, where it remains on display today.
18/02/1950: Formal decommissioning of AQUITANIA, lowering of the company flag. The chairman of Cunard, Frederic Alan Bates (brother of Sir Percy Bates, head of the company between 1946-1953) asks Captain Richard Bernard Gilbert Woollat, the commander who accompanied the ship on her last voyage, to read the following message for her during the decommissioning : “I cannot leave today without expressing my sadness at the final separation from Aquitania. Through peace and war, fair weather and foul, she has done her duty as unsurpassed by her other sisters who have helped to build up the long history of the company. It can honestly be said that she performed well until the end.”
Figs. 134.-135.: Termination of official relationship with Cunard: Emptying the ship and lowering of the flags (source: here and here).
Left: Removal of furniture and equipment from AQUITANIA on 8 January 1950. The vans delivered the furniture and equipment to Pier 108, where it was then sold at an auction starting the following month. The crew was also tasked with removing door locks and wall-mounted stops throughout the whole ship. However, the doors themselves remained on their hinges, so reporters on the last voyage to Faslane with the ship noted that all the doors swung open and closed again and again during the entire trip, as they could not be secured.
Right: Since the Cunard Line and the White Star Line merged in 1934 due to the financial difficulties of the latter (the ships operating on the Atlantic routes of the White Star Company became the property of the Cunard-White Star Line, a joint company with Cunard), the two companies that had been rivals until then, started to use their symbols - the rectangular red flag of the Cunard, decorated with golden lion holding a globe in its paws and the swallow-tailed red flag decorated with the silver star of the White Star - simultaneously on the ships of the joint venture.19/02/1950: AQUITANIA left Southampton for the last time to be scrapped, after nearly 36 years in service. The thick fog in the morning delays the departure of the ship by three hours or so, but when it finally sets off at noon, the thousands standing on the piers wave goodbye. She responds to the flag signals hoisted on the ship's foremast as a farewell, responded by the shore station with the following flag signals: "We say goodbye with sadness!"
21/02/1950: The AQUITANIA approaches the scrap-yard at Faslane, Scotland. Just off the Rhu Narrows to Gareloch - near Rosneath - however, she have to wait until the tide comes in and there is enough water under the ship's keel to be able to complete the last 5 miles of her final journey. At the news of the arrival of the big ship, the children from the public schools in Rosneath are let out early that day, and they gather on the shores of the Gareloch to witness the passage of the AQUITANIA. The 36-year-old ship will reach her final port of call in Faslane at around 16:00 that afternoon.
.../10/1951: A fire breaks out in the ship while it is being dismantled.
.../11/1951: Completion of demolition.
Her significance: R.M.S. AQUITANIA is the longest-serving Cunard ship was in service during 36 years between 1914-1950, making 443 transatlantic crossings. She is the only giant passenger steamer that fought in both world wars, and the last four-funnelled ocean liner in operation. During its 36 years of service, it sailed 3 million miles and carried 1.2 million passengers on 450 voyage.
Figs. 136.-137.: Departure for the last voyage from Southampton and the end of the journey in Faslane (sources: here and here).
Left: coverage of AQUITANIA's last voyage from The Illustrated London News. magazine on February 25, 1950.
Right: after the funnels and masts have been removed, and the superstructures have been dismantled, the hull is being cut by flame cutters. It is clear from the image that the last 'A' letter of the ship's name was cut out separately (probably as a souvenir).
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Sources:
Books and archival sources:
Monographs:Chirnside, Mark: RMS Aquitania: The Ship Beautiful. The History Press, 2008.
Diggle, E. G.: The Romance of a Modern Liner, 1930.
Hawthorne, Daniel: Ships of the Seven Seas, Garden City: Doubleday, Page & company, 1925.
Hurd, Archibald: A Merchant Fleet at War, Cassell and Company, Ltd. London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne, 1920
Layton, K.; Fitch, T.: The Unseen Aquitania, the ship in rare illustrations. Stroud, 2016.
Peskett, Leonard: The design of steamships from the owner’s point of view, in.: "The Shipbuilder" Vol. X., January-June, 1914. Newcastle-on-Tyne, The Shipbuilder Press, 1914. pp. 272-284.
Warren, Mark D.: Aquitania – The Quadruple-Screw Turbine-Driven Cunard Liner. Patrick Stephens, 1988.
Author Unknown: The Aquitania – latest addition to Anglo-American Fleet, in.: Scientific American Magazine, Vol LXXV. No. 1947., April 26., 1913. pp. 458., 264-265.
Author Unknown:New Cunarder Aquitania – Another Ocean Liner over 900 Feet long reaches the Port of New York, in.: Scientific American Magazine, Vol CX. No. 23., June 6., 1914. pp. 458., 461-462.
Author Unknown: The Aquiatnia as an Oil Burner – The Advantages in Economy and Operation of Oil over usual Fireing, in.: Scientific American Magazine, Vol CXXIII. No. 7., Au-gust 14., 1920. pp. 150., 166.
Author Unknown: The Cunard quadruple- screw Atlantic liner, "Aquitania" – Souvenir number of "The Shipbuilder". Newcastle-on-Tyne, England: The Shipbuilder Press, 1914.
Author Unknown: United States Army in the World War 1917-1919 – Policy-forming Documents of the American Expeditionary Forces, Vol. 2, Center of Military History, United Sta-tes Army, Washington. D.C., 1989.
Structural and other Plans:Aquitania fonds of the Lloyd’s Register Foundation
Aquitania structural plans at Archive.org, the Internet Archive
Sources from the Internet:
Story of the AQUITANIA (text and pictures):https://edwardianliners.weebly.com/twentieth-century-travel.html
https://edwardianliners.weebly.com/construction-of-the-aquitanias-hull.html
https://edwardianliners.weebly.com/aquitanias-ventilation-system.html
https://thegreatoceanliners.com/articles/aquitania/
https://www.greatoceanliners.com/rms-aquitania
https://gracesguide.co.uk/RMS_Aquitania
https://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=aquit
https://www.rmslusitania.info/related-ships/aquitania/reprieve-and-glory/
https://www.northpalmbeachlife.com/cunards-aquitania.html
https://exploreuk.uky.edu/catalog/xt7bg7371619_79#page/1/mode/1up
https://www.lindahervieux.com/the-320th-blog/2015/9/10/the-aquitania
https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/results/r?_q=Aquitania&_ser=BT%20100&id=C3141
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Aquitania
Interior and machinery of the AQUITANIA (text and pictures):
http://ssmaritime.com/Aquitania.htm?ref=anart4life.com
https://www.britisharmedforces.org/pages/nat_troopships.htm
https://www.worldofcruising.co.uk/editors-corner/cunards-rms-aquitania-origins-ww1
https://huntington.org/verso/stories-aboard-aquitania
https://theesotericcuriosa.blogspot.com/2010/12/ship-beautiful-cunards-last-four.html
https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/photos/item/BL28780/018
Story of the Liverpool dock-system (Gladstone-dock, etc.):
https://www.benjidog.co.uk/Geoff%20Topp%20Postcards/northdocks.php
Starting AQUITANIA from cold:
https://earlofcruise.blogspot.com/2016/09/starting-rms-aquitania-from-cold.html
https://www.academia.edu/33502096/RMS_Aquitania_1913_Rev_1
Wartime service, 1914-1918 (text and pictures):
https://www.naval-history.net/WW1Book-RN1a.htm
https://birtwistlewiki.com.au/wiki/HMHS_Aquitania
https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/176424-hms-aquitania/
https://archives.novascotia.ca/photocollection/archives/?ID=2085
https://2nd4thmgb.com.au/story/24th-machine-gunners-on-java-awol-blackforce/
https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/community/threads/ss-aquitania.29475/page-2
https://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/community/threads/ss-aquitania.29475/page-2
The Quintinshill railroad accident:
https://www.theroyalscots.co.uk/quintinshill-train-crash/
https://www.lifeandwork.org/features/features/view/146-the-quintinshill-firestorm
https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/research/learning/first-world-war/quintinshill-disaster
The USS SHAW incident:
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1926/november/shaw-aquitania-collision
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1918/december/international-notes-naval-war-notes
Refitting and conversion in 1919:
https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/51621/
The Sperry-gyroscope:
https://www.sperrymarine.com/corporate-history/sperry-marine
Menue cards from the 1920’s:
https://nypl.getarchive.net/media/rms-aquitania-3e66c7
The Prohibition:
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/262/100/
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1065814
https://www.jstor.org/stable/2187900
https://olh.openlibhums.org/article/id/4645/
https://www.dramdevotees.com/liquor-laws-listed-from-1676-1935/
The grounding in 1935:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbqAqpK5AfA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nt0dK9NfQQA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhsHf2JoljQ
https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/media/aquitania-aground.164828/
The cruise to the Virgin-islands in 1938:
https://valeriesims.com/blog/rms-aquitanias-christmas-cruise-to-the-us-virgin-islands-1938
Wartime service, 1939-1945 (text and pictures):
http://ww2troopships.com/crossings.htm
https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-136714643/view
Famous captains of the AQUITANIA:
https://navyleague.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/The-Navy-Vol_12_Part2-1950-Apr-May-1950.pdf
https://search.lma.gov.uk/captains-registers-pdfs/captains-registers-i.pdf
https://www.noonans.co.uk/media/auction_catalogues/Medals%20Strong%2018%20May%2011.pdf
Others:
https://www.shipsnostalgia.com/search/606280/?q=Aquitania&t=xfmg_media&o=relevance
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Docu-series "Secrets of the Lost Liners" continues
On the night of April 14 to 15, 2024, 112 years ago, the TITANIC sank. In commemoration of the anniversary, we publish the longitudinal section of the ship, which was prepared by the president of our association, Dr. Tamás Balogh, for the second season of the documentary series "Secrets of Lost Liners", which will be broadcast on April 29, 2024 in Great Britain, on the program of the History Channel. Among the six episodes of the season, the episode presenting the story of the TITANIC will be the first. Below, we present to those interested the latest drawings made for the series and a short overview of the new season.
Fig. 1: Longitudinal section of the TITANIC (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh, 2023)
Six episodes of the second season of the documentary series "Secret of the Lost Liners" commissioned by the British History Channel will be broadcast from April 29, 2024. In the preparation of this series Dr. Tamás Balogh, president of the Hungarian Society for Maritime History, Modeling and Tradition, participated at the request of Max Barber, the producer-director of the series, as the creator of the technical drawings and as a specialist for historical and engineering analysis, among others together with renowned researchers of the history of ocean liners such as Mark Chirnside, Richard M. Jones, or Dr. Stephen Payne, the designer of the world's only real ocean liner currently in circulation, the QUEEN MARY 2.
Fig. 2: Season Two TX (Programme Transmission date and time) card.
Secrets of The Lost Liners is a maritime documentary series that takes an in-depth look at the design, service and loss of the world's largest and most famous ocean liners. From the golden age of floating palaces to art deco icons to national symbols, this six-part documentary series showcases the most extravagant ships spanning almost 100 years; those that once pushed the boundaries of planning, but eventually came to a tragic end one by one as a result of war conflicts, accidents, or various human errors. Featuring technical experts and historians, the series presents "The Secrets of the Lost Liners" with unprecedented expertise and never-before-seen footage. The episodes of the first season, broadcast in 2022, are CAP ARCONA, REX, NORMANDIE, QUEEN ELIZABETH, AMERICA and ANDREA DORIA, and the 6 new episodes of the second season, which will be broadcast on April 29, 2024, are TITANIC, ILE de FRANCE, EMPRESS of BRITAIN, ACHILLE LAURO (ex-WILLEM RUYS), OCEANOS (ex-JEAN LABORDE) and COSTA CONCORDIA are presented.
For the series, a set of four drawings was created for each presented ship: 1) side and top views showing the external appearance, 2) general arrangement showing the position of the decks and rooms in relation to each other, 3) color schemes showing the livery and 4) a colored longitudinal section. The number of drawings varied for ships that were significantly rebuilt during their career. In the case of these, drawings showing the results of the rebuilding had to be prepared too, since the original and final state are both included in the documentary series, which covers the entire service history of the ships.
Fig. 3: Overview of the drawings made by Dr. Tamás Balogh.
The first season was broadcast on July 27, 2022, and the first "pitch" about the content of the next season, intended to convince the customer, was already prepared in November. After the channel gave the "green light", the draft of the script was completed by April 3, 2023, and by May 25 the drawings of TITANIC and ILE de FRANCE had already been completed. Half a year later, on September 6, 2023, all the drawings were ready.
Then came the expertise work and consultancy necessary to finalize the screenplay. Among other things, this covered details such as the use of onboard mail planes and their types, or the secrets of disaster film production (in connection with the ILE de FRANCE episode), and development of the location, design and lowering mechanisms of the lifeboats after the tragedy of the TITANIC (in relation to the ACHILLE LAURO, ex-WILLEM RUYS episode).
It was a great feeling when Max Barber, the producer-director of the series, expressed his gratitude for the cooperation in a reference letter with an appreciative tone similar to the one issued in connection with the first season:
Fig. 4: Reference letter written by Max Barber.
In the meantime, the other members of the crew produced the external shots and recorded interviews with the experts who spoke. Between December 20, 2023 and February 29, 2024, post-production, adding graphics, effects and subtitles, and the work to be done in the recording studio (grading, sound design and mixing, voiceover & tech-spec delivery) took place at Directors Cut Films in London. The finished series was handed over to Sky-History on 28 March, which will broadcast the first episode, which will be about TITANIC, on 29 April 2024. Thanks to the entire team at Content Kings, Bossanova Media and Directors Cut Films, and of course the contributors and crew who helped make the second series.
The presentation of the series and the overview of the content of each episode given by the producer-director, Max Barber, can be viewed on his YouTube channel here: Ep1, Ep2, Ep3, Ep4, Ep5, Ep6.
TX dates are the next:
Episode 1 - TITANIC - Monday 29th April 2024, 9pm
Episode 2 - COSTA CONCORDIA - Monday 6th May
Episode 3 - ACHILLE LAURO - Monday 13th May
Episode 4 - OCEANOS - Monday 20th May
Episode 5 - EMPRESS of BRITAIN - Monday 27th May
Episode 6 - ILE de FRANCE - Monday 3rd June
It would be great if you like the article and pictures shared. If you are interested in the works of the author, you can find more information about the author and his work on the Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners Fb-page.
If you would like to share the pictures, please do so by always mentioning the artist's name in a credit in your posts. Thank You!
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The "Big Four" liners and chronology of the RMS CELTIC
The CELTIC, the first unit of the ‘Big Four’ of the White Star Fleet, ran aground on December 10, 1928, off Queenstown (today: Cobh). On December 10, 2023, it was 95 years ago. In commemoration of the anniversary, we recall the history of the design, building and service events of the type of ship immediately preceding the famous OLYMPIC-class, with the help of CELTIC's chronology.
Fig.1.: The R.M.S. CELTIC in an Atlantic storm (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh).18.01.1868.: The British Thomas Henry Ismay (1837-1899), director of the National Line shipping company, shareholder of the English shipping company, White Star Line (WSL), founded in 1845, buys the name, symbols and goodwill of the company for 1,000 pounds, and then founds his own company under the name Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (OSCN). OSNC is financially supported by Gustavus Schwalbe, a German banker and shipowner from Liverpool, if the company orders its ships exclusively from the Harland & Wolff (H&W) shipyard in Belfast, where Schwalbe's nephew, Gustav Wolff, is a co-owner. Ismay accepts the deal if H&W also undertakes not to build ships for WSL rivals.
30.07.1869.: OSNC's first order from H&W for the construction of the company's first ship, the later OCEANIC (I.). In order to operate the OSNC, Ismay partners with William Imrie, the owner of the Imrie and Tomlinson Company (this company is William Imrie's paternal legacy, and together with Ismay both trained here as aprentice) and William Samuel Graves, and together they create the Ismay-Imrie and Co., which continues to operate as the parent company of OSNC. OSCN, led by Ismay, will be responsible for steamships, and North West Shipping Company (NWSC), led by Imrie, will be responsible for operating sailing ships.
Fig. 2.: Builders of a shipping empire: Thomas Henry Ismay (1837-1899), Gustav Christian Schwalbe (1813-1897), Gustav Wilhelm Wolff (1834-1913) and Sir Edward Harland (1831-1895).
27.08.1870.: With the launch of its steamship OCEANIC (I.), the WSL shipping company led by Thomas Henry Ismay begins building its fleet of new passenger ships. The first unit will be followed in the next two years by three more identical ships (ATLANTIC, BALTIC, REPUBLIC) and two more ships of slightly increased size (ADRIATIC, CELTIC) built according to the same plans. Thomas Henry Ismay's goal is to create a fleet that provides the best - the most elegant, the most comfortable, the safest and the fastest - service in the North Atlantic traffic.
Fig. 3.: OCEANIC and her sisters were the very first ocean-going passenger ships in which the "box-like" hull shape with flat bottom, developed by Sir Edward Harland in 1867 (and used only on cargo ships until then) was used, abandoning the semicircular or its approximate segmental arc shape, which was considered indispensable for the continuous recovery of the balance of the ship tossing and swaying by the waves in the transverse direction. White Star ships were long and narrow, with a completely flat bottom in the middle, connected to the vertical sidewalls only by an curve of a very small radius. Their critics called them "coffins" because of their box-like shape and were convinced that they could not withstand the storms during the ocean crossing. However, Harland also made the decks out of iron, adding internal reinforcement to the box girder (the hull), formed by and assembled from the side-frames. Contrary to the claims of the skeptics, the flat bottom of the ship would not have reduced it, but actually increased the stability, since by the angularization of the previously strongly curved bottom increased the storage and the load capacity of the ships on underwater parts, which kept the center of gravity low, reducing the rolling to a minimum. Moreover, the new ships not only had a larger transport capacity than their rivals, but were also faster. The not-so-flattering epithet "coffin" was thus soon replaced by the amazed expression - mixed with wonder and respect - of "greyhound". In particular, the increased stability by increasing the volume of the underwater parts allowed the installation of larger windows on the upper decks, so that all the interior spaces on the ships of the White Star Line were spacious and bright. The general arrangement of the ships was subordinated to the needs of the first class, insofar as the first class accommodations and communal rooms were designed in the middle of the ship, the farthest from the vibrating and noisy machines, and at the same time the most balanced place, while the third class accommodations were placed in the bow and stern of the ship - with accommodation for single men at the bow, single women and families at the aft. In first class, for the first time, they could create a large dining room in which there was no need for rotating catering: all passengers could take a seat at their own table at the same time and call their stewards by ringing an electric bell to their staterooms and suites, based on the comfort and impressive appearance of which, according to the press of the time, the OCEANIC was "more of an imperial yacht than a passenger ship", which "inaugurated the White Star Line as the arbiter of comfort in the North Atlantic". (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh)02.03.1874.: BRITANNIC (I.) and her sister ship GERMANIC, built a few months later - the first two-funnelled ocean liners of the WSL - continue to enhance the excellence introduced by OCEANIC and her sisters.
Fig. 4.: On the ships, not only the well-known hull shape, increased stability, spacious and bright interiors, and lavish furnishings increased the comfort of the passengers, but also the ventilation system operated by a steam-powered fan, which provides hot or colda air to all parts of the ship as needed. Although, like the ships of the time, even the ships of the White Star Line were propelled by only single screw (therefore they were equipped with four masts of auxiliary sails to avoid unmanevourability due to engine failure), the ships crossed the Atlantic at record speeds (the speed record for the westbound crossing was held by the BRITANNIC until 1877, and by GERMANIC until 1882, and both kept the speed record of the eastbound crossing until 1876). BRITANNIC served until 1899, when she was used by the British government for troop transport purposes in the Boer Wars, and was scrapped in 1903, while the GERMANIC remained in the WSL fleet until 1910, when she was sold to Turkey, where she served until 1950. (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh)
19.01.1889.: Launching of the first unit of the TEUTONIC class, a new type of ocean liners ordered to replace the OCEANIC class - which was gradually becoming more and more obsolete - and replace the two ocean liners lost from the class, the ATLANTIC and the BALTIC.
Since Thomas Henry Ismay tried to obtain government support for the construction of the new ocean liner by negociating with the Admiralty: in case of governmental support, the ship will be built in accordance with the needs of the navy (this offer and its acceptance lead to the signing of the so-called British Auxiliary Armed Cruiser Agreement), TEUTONIC takes part in the fleet review equipped with guns, making deep impression to Kaiser Wilhelm II., who declares at the end of his visit: "we must have some of these" ships. TEUTONIC thus become the incentive of the German ocean liner construction program.
Fig. 5.: "The Emperor's visit to the TEUTONIC - Inspecting the 6-inch quick-fireing gun." – illustration from the Sunday issue of a British illustrated magazine, 'The Graphic' of August 10, 1889.The start of the British armed merchant cruiser program was hastened by the practice of arming ocean liners, ordered in Great Britain to supplement the units of the Tsarist Russian Navy (i.e. the establishment of the Russian Volunteer Fleet in 1878), since Great Britain, under such circumstances, felt it necessary to protect its maritime commerce from the Russian commercial raiders by putting similar vessels into service. As a consequence of this, the offer of Thomas Hery Ismay was favorably received by the British government and, from 1889, the mail transport contracts concluded with civilian shipping companies were supplemented with the provisions of an auxiliary cruiser construction and operation agreement.
Fig. 6.: While the displacement of the OCEANIC-class ships was only 3,807 tons, and that of the BRITANNIC-class ships was 5,004 tons, the displacement of the TEUTONIC and her sister, the MAJESTIC (I.), reached 9,984 tons. In parallel with the increase in size, the machine power (number of boilers, space for of engines and coalbunkers) had to be increased as well. The ship's plans were drawn up with a view to winning back the "Blue Ribbon", honorary award for the fastest Atlantic crossing for the WSL by setting a speed record, and at the same time she was made suitable to act as an armed merchant cruiser to join the navy in case of war. When her plans were presented to the Admiralty, they enthusiastically described them as "the best ship design ever made". The ship's designer, H&W engineer Alexander Carlisle, would prove his ability many times later. (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh)
17.05.1895.: Scrapping of OCEANIC. The WSL's North Atlantic fleet is once again in need of additions. Preparations begin for the construction of another large class of ships. The development is influenced by several aspects.
On the one hand, by the end of the 1890s, WSL's highly prestigious TEUTONIC-class ocean liners were challenged by competitors: the British Cunard Line introduced the sister ships CAMPANIA and LUCANIA in 1893, and Germany's Norddeutscher Lloyd presented the plans for KAISER WILHELM DER GROßE, the first of its four new KAISER-class ocean liners to be built based on the experience of Kaiser Wilhelm II's visit to the Spithead naval review. To compete with these ships, the WSL needed a new flagship.
On the other hand, shipowners primarily wanted a return on their investment when they placed an order for the construction of a new ship. But the profitability was precisely that which had to be sacrificed on the altar of speed records at that time: a single knot of speed increases already required such an amount of extra fuel, machinery and personnel (trimmers and firemen) that the budget could no longer be based only the income from ticket, postal and freight charges. Especially since the increase in space requirements for coal and engines took away the space from the commercially important passenger and cargo spaces.
Moreover, for the majority of passengers, arriving at their destination a few hours earlier than the ships of the rival company had less and less appeal, especially if the powerful vibration of the engines, which were running at full power, made the journey miserable for them. And by this time, the world's public is used to the fact that shipping records don't last forever, only for a few months, before building another liner which will be bigger and/or faster.
The result of a sober calculation was thus a preference for size and comfort over speed, which resulted in new ship designs that (although not the largest in the world) were larger than the TEUTONIC and MAJESTIC, or the CAMPANIA and LUCANIA , but they are not faster than those.
01.09.1897.: Laying of the keel of the first WSL steamer, CYMRIC, built according to the new concept.
Fig. 7.: The ship was originally designed as a combined passenger and cargo ship that would have accommodated only first class passengers, with all other space reserved for the transport of live animals (cattle). However, the idea of the joint transport of passengers and livestock proved to be too unpopular already during the planning period, so third-class accommodations were planned instead of the cargo spaces without making any modifications to the relatively moderate-performance machinery. Thus, using the large interior provided by the previous cargo holds and the relatively small engine room, a ship was created that was relatively slow compared to speed-oriented fast passenger liners, but had much more interior space and, as a result, an unusually high level of comfort. In addition, the machines with lower power generated less noise and vibration, which on the one hand reassured the passengers, and on the other hand resulted in much lower operating costs. (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh)Cymric introduces the 'luxury over speed' strategy. White Star Line is pursuing this strategy as it places another order with Harland & Wolff Shipyard to design new ships after all but one of the line's first six ships (the OCEANIC class) have left the WSL-fleet. From the beginning, the design follows two directions:
On the one hand, they decide that the new strategy will be adapted to the new class of ships designed by further developing the plans of the TEUTONIC class, in which (as in the basic type) two more ships will be built, which will be named OCEANIC (II) and OLYMPIC, with only 21 knots (39 Km/h) service speed (which is advantageous for a schedule-planning, because in this way they can keep up with TEURONIC and MAJESTIC, which are capable of the same speed, and they will also be able to fulfill the conditions of the auxiliary cruise agreement), but they do not increase their speed more than that, since they are not expected to set a speed record.
On the other hand, specifically by further developing the plans of CYMRIC, four other ships will be built, optimized for the rather average speed of 16 knots (30 Km/h), but with uniquely large dimensions, large cargo spaces and lavishly furnished, spacious staterooms. For now, this type is only known as: the "Big Four".
With this, according to the plans, four fast steamers (TEUTONIC, MAJESTIC, OCEANIC (II), OLYMPIC) and four cobined (passenger and freight) steamships of moderate speed but extremely high capacity would make up the WSL's North Atlantic fleet.
The customer specification handed over to the designers is determined by Thomas Henry Ismay, based on the "luxury over speed" strategy for both types: "Nothing but the very finest!" In the case of the OCEANIC (II) class, all of this means the construction of the longest ships in the world, and in the case of the "Big Four" the world's largest (displacement) ships. According to his calculations, this means that the British will continue to claim primacy in terms of all the characteristic performance of shipbuilding, since the fastest, longest and largest ships in the world would be built by British shipyards and operated by British companies. And WSL enjoys the glory of not having to participate in the rather expensive sport of building and operating high-speed ocean liners in the future (since it is relinquishing that glory to rival British shipping company Cunard Line in order to operate financially sustainably).
18.03.1897.: Keel laying of OCEANIC (II) at H&W in Belfast.
05.04.1897.: Launching of the German ocean liner KAISER WILHELM der GROßE.
04.03.1898.: KAISER WILHELM der GROßE conquers the Blue Ribbon at a speed of 22.29 knots (41.3 Km/h) from the Cunard liner LUCANIA. It is the first time that the largest and fastest ship in the world is not British, but German. From then until October 1907, the honorary award for the fastest Atlantic crossing was exclusively held by various German ocean liners. The "German decade" of transoceanic passenger traffic begins. The hurted British national pride is looking for satisfaction, so the planned WSL ships - the OCEANIC(II) class under construction, and the Big Four to be built immediately after - suddenly become the center of interest, since they have to regain at least the distinguished title of world's longest and largest ships from the Germans.
09.10-12.1898.: Exchange of letters between the White Star Line shipping company and the Harland & Wolff Shipyard regarding the conclusion of the contract confirming the order for the first unit of the Big Four.
14.01.1899.: Launch of OCEANIC (II) at Belfast. The 215 m long new WSL steamer is the first ocean liner to surpass the 211 m length of the famous GREAT EASTERN giant steamer built 40 years earlier.
Fig. 8.: The 17,274-ton OCEANIC (II) required 15 boilers to maintain her non-record speed of 21 knots. In comparison, the 12,552 ton CYMRIC needed only 7 boilers and much less coal (6,996 tons compared to 8,123 tons) to maintain its speed of 15 knots (27.8 Km/h), while much larger passenger and cargo space was available, due to the limited extent of the boiler- and engine-rooms. In other words, even though the OCEANIC (II) was a larger ship, the CYMRIC could be used better for the profitable transport of passengers and goods despite her smaller dimensions. The 21 January 1900 issue of The Graphic magazine nevertheless gave an enthusiastic account of the launching: "On Saturday there was launched from Messrs. Harland and Wolff's Yard, at Queen's Island, Belfast, the new twin-screw steamer OCEANIC, which has been built for the White Star Line. The event will mark an era in the history of shipbuilding as a feat of engineering, for the Oceanic is the largest vessel ever built.” For its construction, a new gantry crane was needed at the H&W shipyard, and hydraulic riveting was used for the first time. (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh)After launching the OCEANIC, Thomas Henry Ismay complains of chest pains. Since he was rarely sick throughout his life, his doctor takes his complaints very seriously, despite this, Ismay's condition slowly but steadily worsens. The order for OCEANIC's sister ship is delayed.
12.02.1899.: OCEANIC (I)'s sister ship ADRIATIC scrapped (and broken up at Thomas W. Ward's shipyard, Preston). This completes the decommissioning of the WSL's first class of ships (ATLANTIC sank in 1873, BALTIC and REPUBLIC were sold to the Netherlands in 1888/1889, CELTIC to Denmark in 1893, OCEANIC was demolished in 1895).
22.03.1899.: The keel of the first unit of the Big Four laid with yard number 335. Thomas Henry Ismay's health is beginning to improve. He travels with his wife to Windermere, where he is again ill. His wife calls a doctor, who prescribes morphine. After six days, Ismay feels better and they return to Dawpool.
26.04.1899.: After six weeks of intense pain - which the doctor diagnosed as gallstones - Ismay feels well enough to work again.
30.08.1899.: Ismay collapses and is forced to bed. He is operated on the next day, but the operation is unsuccessful.
01.09.1899.: The bottom frames of the hull No. 335 is completed up to the height of the double bottom.
04.09.1899.: Ismay's second operation.
05.09.1899.: Ismay insists that his daughters take part in the OCEANIC's maiden voyage starting the next day, and asks his wife to arrange for the local church to pray for her.
14.09.1899.: Ismay has a heart attack.
23.11.1899.: Ismay dies at the age of 62. He was succeeded as president of the White Star Line by his eldest son, Joseph Bruce Ismay (1862-1937), who returned to the UK in 1891, after 10 years in New York as an agent for the company. The order of OLYMPIC is cancelled. J. Bruce Ismay devotes his full attention to the construction of the last class of ships ordered by his father, the Big Four.
Fig. 9.: The hull No 335 is the same 680 feet (211 m) length as the GREAT EASTERN with a beam of 75 feet (22.86 m), making her displacement well above that of the largest ship to date (20,904 GRT compared to 18,915 GRT). With this, after OCEANIC (II) - which exceeded its length - the displacement of GREAT EASTERN is also exceeded, but the length-to-width ratio of the hull is greater compared to the OCEANIC (II) as well (9:1 compared to 10:1). The displacement of the Big Four is thus 21% larger than the displacement of the OCEANIC (II), and her interior spaces can be used much better, as she is built with only half as many (8) boilers compared to the 15 boilers of the OCEANIC (II). The large dimensions of the hull require special care during construction in order to ensure resistance to the torsional and shearing stresses caused by ocean waves (to avoid splitting the hull resting on two wave crests, floating above a wave valley in the middle, or a hull resting on a wave crest in the middle, floating above a wave valley at both ends). For this purpose, the lateral row of plates along the upper deck of the ship's hull and the plating of the middle section of the ship's bottom are doubled, and the deck frames are supported with columns. While in the case of the OCEANIC (II) the general arrangement was created based on the plans of the TEUTONIC class, and the navigation bridge was integrated with the superstructure (giving the ship an elegant, continuous appearance), in the case of the "Big Four" it was divided according to the plans of the CYMRIC (resulting a split superstructure called with the contemporary terminology an "island" superstructure), on which the superstructure containing the navigation bridge and the officers' quarters are separated from the other parts of the superstructures available to passengers. (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh)01.24.1900.: The complete framing of the hull No 335 is completed.
13.10.1900.: The second unit of the Big Four (yard number 337) is laid.
04.04.1901.: Launch of hull No. 335 under the name CELTIC.
11.07.1901.: Official handover of the ship to the WSL.
Fig. 10.: Information on whether CELTIC really had been equipped with sail.
26.07.1901.: CELTIC takes her inaugural voyage to New York.
04.08.1901.: At 07:00 in the morning the ship arrives in New York. The average speed measured under the voyage is 17 knots (31.5 Km/h), a full knot above the maximum speed prescribed in the specification.
To heat the 8 double-ended boilers located in the ship's two boiler rooms, only 2,400 tons of coal are needed during the entire journey to maintain a speed above 16 knots, while in the case of OCEANIC II, 6,000 tons are needed for crossing by 21-knots (CELTIC's daily coal consumption is 235 tons, OCEANIC 450). A total of 2,859 people (347 first-, 160 second- and 2,352 third-class passengers) can be accommodated in the ship's three classes, next to the crew of 335 (64 deck crew and officers, 92 engine room and stokehold crew, and 179 stewards).
Since most passengers can travel in third class, special attention is paid to the accommodation of the third class too: Separate cabins are created for almost two-thirds of all third class passengers, breaking with the previous practice of accommodation in large shared dormitories (although for the poorest single male passengers, there are 2 large sleeping compartments for 300 passengers each is maintained). In the aft part of the superstructure standing on the upper deck (on the saloon deck) there is a third-class smoking room and general room, and one deck lower there is a large dining room on the port- and starboard side of the hull. The rooms in the superstructure have the same seating furniture as the dining rooms, so they can also be converted into a dining room if the third class is fully booked. The third-class rooms are also equipped with electric fans, just like the other classes.
Although the hull can be loaded to a maximum draft of 36 feet 6 inches (11.25 m), it will only be allowed to fill to a draft of 31 feet (9.44 m) until the fairways of New York Harbor are dredged at a suitable depth to fit with the ship's maximum draft.
Fig. 11.: Issues of the contemporary press in Europe (left) and America (center and right) covering the birth of CELTIC, timed to the launch of the ship and her first arrival in America, detailing the ship's unique dimensions and equipment, as well as her cost-effectiveness. A typical excerpt from the August 17, 1901 issue of the scientific journal 'Scientific American': "The CELTIC can stow away 18,500 tons of cargo, including 2,400 tons of coal, passenger accommodation of an exceptionally spacious character is provided for 2,859 passengers. [...] An interesting comparison of the CELTIC and the OCEANIC is that based on the coal consumption as compared with the passenger accommodation. The OCEANIC carries 1,284 fewer passengers, and her maximum displacement is smaller than the CELTIC by 5,200 tons. Yet, to secure her additional speed of four knots an hour she burns double the amount of coal requires 115 more men in her crew." The image can be enlarged by clicking on the double arrow icon in the lower right corner. The image can be enlarged further into a readable size by selecting the "open image in a new window" command in the dialog box that appears when the mouse is placed over the enlarged image and click then with the right mouse button.22.10.1901.: The CELTIC arrives in New York at the end of a voyage of 7 days, 12 hours, 41 minutes under the command of Captain Henry St-George Lindsay on her third voyage to New York.
31.12.1901.: CELTIC - which has completed 6 westbound Atlantic crossings since entering service - starts its 6th eastbound crossing, with a low occupancy typical of the winter period (only 233 passengers).
23.01.1902.: CELTIC's first arrival in New York that year.
02.08.1902.: CELTIC departs from New York on a 74-day Mediterranean cruise from New York to the Holy Land and back via Madeira, Gibraltar, North Africa, Malta, Egypt, Turkey, Greece Italy, the rench Riviera and England, with 826 American "Bible-students" in first class.
The "bible students" are members of the millennialist-restorationist Christian movement founded in 1881 by Pittsburgh Unitarian minister Charles Taze Russel (1852-1916), who believe that the original teachings and practices of Christ have been forgotten/distorted over the centuries and therefore require restoration, and the coming golden age will occur after the millennium.
The earliest history of the use of scheduled ocean liners for leisure cruises dates back to the operation of a British shipping company, the Peninsular & Orient Line (P&O), which first sold tickets for cruises in 1844 for its ships from London to the Mediterranean region. A similar service was first provided in America in 1867 by the s.s. QUAKER CITY, a wooden paddle-wheel steamer, whose passengers visited the ports of France, Italy, Greece, Turkey (the Holy Land) and Egypt (Mark Twain, who was on the ship, later wrote the novel "Innocents abroad" based on his experiences on board). The very first ship designed specifically for cruises (rather than be a scheduled ocean liner) - the British s.s. CEYLON - built in 1881, by which the Regent Street Polytechnic School offered affordable, educational leisure cruises to its working-class students. At that time, other organizations and shipping companies mostly offered cruises only with older ocean liners or ships that were not necessary for their other business activities in the off-season periods suitable for ocean crossings. Finally, in 1900, the director of the German company H.A.P.AG, Albert Ballin, ordered the first ship - the PRINZESSIN VIKTORIA LUISE - which was specifically designed for leisure shipping (until then, H.A.P.AG also used its reserve/out-of-service ocean liners for excursions). WSL also tried to catch up with this initiative by organizing the cruise, trying to use the ship economically in the off-season.
19.04.1902.: The American investment banker John Pierpont Morgan, who has been trying to monopolize the North Atlantic shipping market for years by buying shipping companies operating on both sides of the ocean, buys the majority of shares of the White Star Line for 10,000,000 pounds. Joseph Bruce Ismay will remain as president and CEO, while James Ismay and William Imrie will retire. As WSL's largest shareholder until then, the owner and director of the Harland & Wolff Shipyard, William James Pirrie, hastened the acquisition, not by chance: part of the deal is that all shipping companies owned by Morgan will then have all their ships built at the Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast. As a result of the agreement, the shipyard builds more than 13 ships a year - i.e. one a month - and thus becomes the largest shipyard in the world.
05.03.1902.: CELTIC arrives in New York after returning to North Atlantic service following her Mediterranean cruise.
07.06.1902.: The keel of the third unit of the Big Four (yard number 352), is laid.
21.08.1902.: Launch of the second unit, No. 337, under the name CEDRIC.
Fig. 12.: CEDRIC moored in the fitting out basin after launching, in company with BRITANNIC (I). The displacement of the CEDRIC exceeded her predecessors' by four times. (photo: Robert Welsh, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, National Museums of Northern Ireland)
Fig. 13.: Development of White Star Line ships. Above left are half-models of OCEANIC (I), TEUTONIC and OCEANIC (II), while above right of CEVIC, RUNIC and CELTIC. (photo: Robert Welsh, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, National Museums of Northern Ireland, 1st image, 2nd Image)
23.08.1902.: Order of the fourth unit of the Big Four (yard number 358).
18.11.1902.: The keel laying of the No. 358.
31.01.1903.: Official handover of CEDRIC.
15.04.1903: CELTIC collides with steamer HEATHMORE off Liverpool on the River Mersey. There is a small tear on the side plates of the hull above waterline, which needs to be repaired.
21.11.1903.: Launch of hull No. 352 under the name BALTIC.
26.11.1903.: A fire in the hold of the CELTIC destroys the cargo of cotton on board.
23.06.1904.: Official handover of BALTIC.
09.24.1904.: CELTIC arrives in New York with a crew of 2,957. So far, this is the highest number of people carried by White Star Line on a single voyage. In the same month, CEDRIC transports 2,723 passengers and BALTIC transports 2,890 passengers, i.e. the three units of the Big Four together transport 8,570 passengers across the Atlantic Ocean within three weeks. The correctness of the concept underlying the construction of the ships is thus clearly confirmed. So much so that following the success of the ships, the rival German shipping companies, H.A.P.AG and Norddeutscher Lloyd, decide to build similar ships (KAISERIN AUGUSTE VICTORIA, AMERICA and GEORGE WASHINGTON). Among the German ships, the AMERICA is built in Belfast at Harland & Wolff. This is spectacular evidence that William James Pirrie now considers the earlier agreement between Sir Edward Harland and Thomas Henry Ismay that the shipyard would not build ships for WSL rivals to be null and void.
12.03.-30.12.1905.: CELTIC makes 12 Atlantic crossings during the year under the command of Captains Joseph Barlow Ranson and Bertram Hayes. On her last trip to America that year, on December 25th, a giant rogue wave struck the ship, damaging the second-class facilities (the wave smashed the windows of the smoking room, tore a 4-ton boarding door from the hull, and swept away a 30-meter section of the deck railing, seriously scaring the for passengers).
A rogue wave – in contrast to a tsunami that is almost imperceptible in deep waters – is an episodic wave phenomenon that exists for a short time and is more than twice the height of the significant wave, which is formed when a normal - so-called: non-linear - wave gains energy from the surrounding waves as a result of the interaction of certain environmental factors like wind, currents, etc. (i.e. it is a result of linear superposition) and increases to many times its previous size for a while, posing a particular danger to shipping.
31.01.-07.12.1906.: CELTIC crosses the Atlantic 11 times during the year under the command of Captain Joseph Barlow Ranson.
20.09.1906.: Launch of the hull No. 358 under the name ADRIATIC.
25.04.1907.: Official handover of the ADRIATIC.
Fig. 14.: The ships of the Big Four look completely identical only at first glance. In fact, the first two units and the last two units are more similar to each other than to any member of the other pair. BALTIC and ADRIATIC, for example, with their displacement of 24,570 tons, are 17% larger than CELTIC and CEDRIC with her 20,904 tons. In the case of the ADRIATIC, the engine performance is also increased in order to increase the ship's speed above 17.5 knots (32.4 Km/h): so 4 extra single-ended boilers are also installed in addition to the 8 double-ended boilers. The above drawing shows the differences between the ships of the first and the second pairs (drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh) as follows:- The red circle shows the relative position and different installation of the three islands of the split-superstructure, formed at the rear of the ship (i.e. the presence or absence of rooms under the boat racks, bounded by side walls, and the different heights of the superstructure-islands), as well as shows the postion of deck cranes (where relevant - i.e. on a ship without such a marking, the arrangement is the same as on the previous ship).
- Red dashed lines mark the changes in the length of the middle part of the split-superstructure and the rear superstructure-group (which is formed by three islands), as well as the distance between them, in case of each ship (where relevant - i.e., on a ship without such a marking, the arrangement is the same as on the previous ship).
- The numbers 1-2-3-4 indicate the design and length of the parapets of the superstructures, which are different for each ship and deck (solid plate parapet or guardrails) (where relevant - i.e., on a ship without such a marking, the arrangement is the same as on the previous ship).
30.04.1907.: White Star Line commissioned Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Belfast to prepare for the construction of three large ocean-going passenger steamships (the later OLYMPIC class) and to start developing the detailed plans based on the customer's specifications.
20.10.1911.: Deck Steward Robert MacGuffie disappears (probably washed overboard by a giant wave). Passengers raise $500 to help his widow and children.
14.04.1912.: The BALTIC, which had set sail from New York three days ago, signals ice for the TITANIC on her maiden voyage to New York, and at dawn the next day, she tries to save her fleetmate that collided with an iceberg during the night.
18.04.1912.: Joseph Bruce Ismay wants to send home the surviving crew of the TITANIC aboard the CEDRIC, but due to the Senate hearings ordered in the meantime, the ship will return to Europe without them.
02.05.1912.: Joseph Bruce Ismay arrives in Liverpool aboard the ADRIATIC after the conclusion of the Senate inquiry (the surviving crew members of the TITANIC are transported back to England by the Red Star Liner LAPPLAND).
31.12.1912.: Joseph Bruce Ismay confirms that, in accordance with his January decision, resigns with effect on 6/30/1913. His decision was accepted on 01.02.1913. White Star Line's new president and CEO is the former vice president Harold Sanderson.
23.01.-05.12.1913.: CELTIC makes 11 Atlantic crossings during the year under the command of Captains Frank Ernest Beadnell and Alexander Elvin Sherwin Hambelton.
The economy of transoceanic passenger transport is unbroken despite the tragedy of the TITANIC: while in 1912 the ships of the Big Four transported a total of 68,000 people back and forth between the two sides of the ocean, in 1913 no less than 77,000 people, and by the end of 1914 the combined performance of the four ships, projected on the entire time since they were enter into service, meant a total of 850,000 people.
Fig. 15.: Despite her moderate speed, the CELTIC was one of the most popular ships of the period before the First World War. One of the reasons for this can be found in what Scientific American c. magazine summarized as follows: "At one time the transatlantic merchat steamers were divided sharply into two classes - one intended primrily for the carriage of passengers and mails, and tha other for carrying freight only. The demand of late years for passenger acommodation that shopuld be cheaper and not so luxurious as that of the mail steamers led the companies to provide, on the faster of the freight steamers, a certain amount of passenger accommodation; and the new departure has proved so successful that an entirely new type of steamer has been produced, of which such ships the CELTIC is the largest and most popular" (photo: Robert Welsh, Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, National Museums of Northern Ireland, 1st image, 2nd image).08.01.-25.05.1914.: During the first half of the year, CELTIC makes 3 crossings between New York and Alexandria (Egypt), via Naples and Madeira under the command of Captain Alexander Elvin Sherwin Hambelton.
11.06.1914.-08.10.1914: CELTIC completes 5 Atlantic crossings between Liverpool and New York for the remainder of the year - including the period following Britain's entry into the First World War on 08/04/1914 - under the command of Captain Alexander Elvin Sherwin Hambelton.
01.11.1914-02.08.1915.: CELTIC is requisitioned by the Government: the ship is armed according to the contract between the shipping company and the British government (the ship is equipped with 8 6-inch quick-fireing naval guns) and is used as an auxiliary cruiser of the fleet during the war, under the command of Captain Oswald McDonough English, with the task of acting for the British fleet in the Pacific.
02.08.1915-04.01.1916.: CELTIC in military service under the command of Captain Christopher Russell Payne. The ship is in dry dock from 23/08/1915 to 07/09/1915 in Simonstown, South Africa, where the maintenance of her underwater parts will be carried out, and then she will remain in the bay until 12/1/1915, so that boiler and engine work can also be carried out.
19.04.-03.12.1916.: The CELTIC is discharged from the navy as armed merchantmen, and for the rest of the year, she is in service as a troop transporter, she completes 7 crossings of the Atlantic Ocean between Liverpool and New York and back under the command of Captain Alexander Elvin Sherwin Hambelton, who is appointed as the commander of the ocean liner JUSTICIA (ex-STATENDAM) at the end of the year.
Fig. 16.: CELTIC as armed merchant cruiser in dry dock at Simonstown (above). The picture shows the quick-fireing naval guns installed on the edge of the bow deck and on the well decks between the superstructure-islands (source). Center and bottom shows the dazzle paint camouflage used to confuse submarine commanders after the ship was discharged from AMC-service (source).
03.01.-21.04.1917.: CELTIC makes two voyages between Liverpool and New York under the command of Captain John Bradshaw.
14.02.1917.: CELTIC hits by a naval mine off the Isle of Man. 17 people on board die, but the ship remains afloat and is towed by the steamer CANADA to Peel Bay, from where she is later towed to Belfast, where she is completely repaired and then converted to transport fuel oil for naval vessels.
13.05.1917.: Unsuccessful torpedo attack against the ship by the German submarine U-57 (the torpedo misses its target).
11.06.-26.12.1917.: After the repair works, CELTIC completes 5 more Atlantic crossings between Liverpool and New York and back under the command of Captain Hugh Frederick David.
27.02.-17.12.1918.: CELTIC completes 3 Atlantic crossings between Liverpool and New York and back under Captains Hugh Frederick David and Alexander Elvin Sherwin Hambelton.
31.03.1918.: The submarine U 77 torpedoes the ship in the Irish Sea. Six die, but the CELTIC remains afloat this time as well (according to the sailors, this is because the submarine torpedoed her from both sides, so that, despite being flooded, the cargo did not moves away). She is managed to be towed to Liverpool, where she is repaired again.
17.05.1919: CELTIC is returned by the British government to the White Star Line, which sends her to Belfast for renovation.
01.01.-29.12.1920.: CELTIC completes 9 crossings of the Atlantic between Liverpool and New York under the command of Captain Richard Owen Jones.
08.01.-26.12.1921.: CELTIC completes 12 Atlantic crossings between Liverpool and New York and back under the command of Captains Frank Briscoe Howarth, Frank Ernest Beadnell and John Roberts.
24.04.1921.: The collier EVERETT nearly ramms with the CELTIC in dense fog near the lightship NANTUCKET. The collision is avoided at the last moment, but CELTIC's side dents, where the collier scour along it.
Fig. 17.: Damaged side-pates of CELTIC after the collision. (photo: Leslie Jones, Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection)
18.02.-11.12.1922.: CELTIC completes 11 crossings of the Atlantic between Liverpool and New York under the command of Captains John Roberts and William Marshall.
25.04.1925.: CELTIC accidentally collides with the Coast Liner HAMPSHIRE COAST on the River Mersey. Both ships only sustain minor damage. That same year, the CELTIC loses a propeller in Boston Harbor and must return to dock, so her passengers take a train to New York to transfer to another ship.
01.11.1926.: Lord Kylsant, the owner and CEO of the British Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. and H&W, buys the majority of the shares of the White Star Line back from its American owners, who announce that they will terminate the contract with the Harland & Wolff Shipyard. The White Star Line changes from American to British ownership and joins the conglomerate led by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.
29.01.1927.: American Diamond Lines ship ANACONDA collides with CELTIC near Fire Island in heavy fog. The post-accident refit will be used by White Star Line to remodell the ship, so that CELTIC can keep up with the latest intermediate ships entering service in the North Atlantic. The previous three-class system will then be abandoned, and the ship will be equipped for 2,500 cabin class passengers.
14.04.1927.: Laying of the keel of BRITANNIC (III), a modern medium-sized cabin motor ship ordered to replace the aging Big Four.
01.12.1928.: The CELTIC sets sail from New York to Boston, where it takes on board the European survivors of the steamer VESTRIS, which sank on November 12, and then begins her Atlantic crossing to Cobh, Ireland, and Liverpool, England, under the command of Captain Gilbert Parry. The ship is expected to arrive in Cobh between 03:00 and 04:00 a.m. on December 10th.
10.12.1928.: CELTIC runs aground.
Approaching Cobh, the weather worsened, threatening to make it impossible to pick up the pilot, whose presence is necessary for a safe approach to the anchorage in front of the harbor. Captain Gilbert Berry therefore decides that if the weather does not improve, he will skip the stop in Ireland and go directly to Liverpool. The pilot who is prepared to welcome the CELTIC, sights the lights of the liner at 03:00 AM, a few miles away south-east of the entrance to Cobh harbor. Although the strong south-westerly wind is increasing to a gale in the meantime, Captain Berry believes that he will be able to pick up the pilot during the predicted high tide of 04:11, so he slowly approaches the harbor entrance with the CELTIC. She is almost in safe water, when at 04:55 a strong gust of wind drove her onto the Cow and Calf rocks off Roche's Point with a loud crash. As a result of the powerful impact, the porcelain and glass in the dining room falls from the tables onto the deck and breaks, several passengers lose their balance and fall, while CELTIC's hull swaying from side to side on the waves, and trembling as the still rotating propellers try to propel the ship stucked on the rock.
Fig. 18.: CELTIC on the rocks. (Source)Captain Berry blows six short blasts on the CELTIC's steam whistle to signal to nearby vessels that he is requesting rescue, and the stewards walk through the cabins calling for passengers to put on their life jackets and assemble on the boat deck. Among them is steward Albert Knill, one of the 13 survivors who escaped in VESTRIS lifeboat No. 13, who was rescued from the sea on the 13th of November, the day after the ship sank, in his 13th year of service at sea. Although this is the second shipwreck in a short time, it feels like a real picnic compared to what he experienced on board the VESTRIS, since barely ten minutes after the collision, the CELTIC's stewards are already serving hot coffee to those gathered on the boat deck. The lifeboats are swung out ready to be lowered and passengers are prepared to board the boats, but the operation, which was considered too dangerous in stormy weather, was soon called off when it became clear that the ship was not in immediate danger of sinking, so the passengers were guided back inside the ship, and at the usual time, 06:30 AM., they were served breakfast in the dining room, where the tables were set as usual, as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, the rescue ships - the Dutch tug GELEZEE and the local tug MORSECOCK - try to get close to the CELTIC without success. They only manage to take over the towing ropes well after breakfast, and then they attempt to pull the ocean liner off the rock, but after several hours of attemts, they finally give it up, as the tide recedes, making the task impossible. In order to lighten the ship, the passengers and luggage are taken out with the help of tugboats, and the passengers are taken by train to Belfast, from where they arrive in Liverpool at 06:00 AM the next morning. Only the officers, engineers and deck crew remain on board, knowing full well that every minute spent on the rock, brings CELTIC's final destruction closer and closer. At 15:30, the destroyer HMS SEAME of the British Royal Navy tries to tow the ocean liner off, which tries to help the success of the operation with running engines. At 17:00 p.m., however, the attempt is abandoned, as the flooding inside the CELTIC begins to rise. At 17:30 it is already 12 ft (3.7 m) deep in No 3 holds, 11 ft (3.4 m) deep in No 3 and 5 stokeholds, and 3 ft (0.9 m) deep in the engine room, above the tank top, and one of the tanks built into the double bottom is completely full. In such circumstances, further operation of the engines is impossible, and towing into deep water threatens to sink the ship.
11.12.1928.: The water level rises to 25ft (7.2m) in No 3 hold, but the situation worsens in the other compartments affected by the flooding as well. Using hand pumps, the crew are trying to reduce the amount of about 6,000 tons of water that broke in, and at the same time keep the situation under control. Charles Alfred Bartlett, chief marine superintendant of the White Star Line (last commander of TITANIC's younger sister, the BRITANNIC (II) at the time of her sinking in 1916) arrives on the scene, and after inspecting the CELTIC, he makes it likely that the rock supports the ship just forward of the navigating bridge, so in the midship area accumulates a lot of tension, as the strong waves hit the ship's hull again and again. Negotiations with the Chief Marine Inspector of Cobh, the representatives of the Harland & Wolff Shipyard and the insurance companies begin in the ship's dining saloon, the result of which is that even if it were possible to tow the ship off the rock and keep her afloat, even then it is questionable where she could be repaired. They finally decide to beach her at Whitebay, a few miles away, where they can carry out the most necessary repairs to get the ship to Belfast, where she can be completely repaired. The rescue ships already on the scene will be joined by the German SEEFALKE and the British RESTORER tugs. Four tugboats are now trying to free CELTIC - to no avail.
14.12.1928.: With the exception of the fore and aft peaks (trim tanks) at the bow and at the stern, as well as No 1 hold, the entire ship is flooded of flooding fore and aft. The cargo - vegetables and grain - can only be unloaded from the starboard side of No. 1 and No. 2 cargo holds.
18.12.1928.: Intensive pumping in the engine room reveals extensive damage to the ship's bottom. Since the leak cannot be approached, it cannot be closed either, so rescuing the ship is impossible.
28.12.1928.: The removal of the several thousand tons of cargo left in the ship begins.
03.02.1929.: Last attempt to towing off the CELTIC. The operation, timed for the peak of the tide, has to be interrupted due to the wind intensifying into a gale.
29.07.1929.: WSL sells the wrecked ship to the Danish shipbreaking company Peterson & Albeck of Copenhagen, who offer a 50% share to Hills of Dover Shipbreakers, who begin dismantling the wreck in situ.
First, the funnels will be removed, as they prevent the light signals of the lighthouse at Roche"s Point from being clearly visible from the sea, then three of the 4 masts will be removed, and finally all the superstructures will be demolished up to the level of the upper deck. According to the original plans, the remaining hull would be towed to Rotterdam, but when it turned out that it was still not possible to tow her off the rocks, they decided to cut her up in situ. The transportation of the dismantled material was originally planned to be carried out by help of a floating crane moored on the seaward side of the ship, but due to the weather it was not possible to secure the crane, and on the shore side, due to the conditions of the sea bed, only a crane with a much smaller load capacity could be placed next to the ship on a tied pontoon, so finally another crane is built on board the CELTIC to carry out the demolition with the coordinated work of the two cranes. The process is hindered by the toxic gases released during the rotting of the perishable goods left in the holds - bacon, grain - and the soggy coal left in the coalbunkers, from which they try to protect the breakers with the use of gas masks, who finally managed to finish the breaking of the ship's hull by 1933.
Fig. 19.: The progress of the demolition in 1932. (Source)
Sources:
Chirnside, Mark: The ‘Big Four’ of the White Star Fleet: Celtic, Cedric, Baltic & Adriatic, The History Press 2017. ISBN-10 0750965975
de Kerbrech, Richard: Ships of the White Star Line. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3366-5
Eaton, John; Haas, Charles: Falling Star, Misadventures of White Star Line Ships. Patrick Stephens Ltd. 1989. ISBN 1-85260-084-5
Norway Heritage: The emigrant ship database, CELTIC (II)
Othfors, Daniel: CELTIC (II), in.: The Great Ocean Liners
The famous Big Four: brochure of the White Star Line, 1909.It would be great if you like the article and pictures shared. If you are interested in the works of the author, you can find more information about the author and his work on the Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners Fb-page.
If you would like to share the pictures, please do so by always mentioning the artist's name in a credit in your posts. Thank You!
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Further secrets of the LUSITANIA in the National Geographic Magazine
The remains of the British giant steamer LUSITANIA, resting in the Atlantic Ocean, were visited again between July 13-21, 2023 by the the international expedition, which began in 2022, and was the first which had that most important task is the internal research of the areas affected by the explosion of the torpedo that sank the ship, and which for the first time in the history of the research of the wreck, included Hungarian members. On this occasion, the president of our association Dr. Tamás Balogh, who participated in the expedition by evaluating the underwater photoes and footage made by the divers, wrote an article, which can now be read on the website of the Hungarian edition of the National Geographic Magazine.
Fig. 1: LUSITANIA is on the cover.
An article summarizing the latest research results is available
in Hungarian here
in English here.
By comparing all of this with a similar report on the 2022 research, readers can get a complete over-all picture of the wreckage of the LUSITANIA.
Below we share some drawings made by hand on site during the expedition, which show the state of the ship's bow section in 1915, immediately after the sinking of the wreck, and today, in 2023, which was in the focus of the 2023 expedition.
Fig. 2: The bow of the LUSITANIA on the seabed as seen from the bow deck in 1915 (above) and in 2023 (below). Created by Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2023.
Fig. 3: The bow of the LUSITANIA on the seabed as seen from the bottom of the ship in 1915 (above) and in 2023 (below). Created by Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2023.
Fig. 4: The hull-section of the boiler room No 1. of LUSITANIA viewed from the top of the wreck (covered by the plates of the former port side) in 2023 (above) and the boilsers inside, "looking in" under the plates (below). Created by Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2023.
Fig. 5: An overview of the wreckage of the LUSITANIA seen from the bow in 2023. Created by Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2023.
Fig. 6: Tamás Balogh presents his images made of the LUSITANIA ocean liner and its wrecks to Shannon Forde, director of the Lusitania Museum & Old Head Signal Tower (owner o the wreck), in the company of the expedition leader, Stef Teuwen (left), and the ceremonial handing over of the images together with the members of the expedition in front of the ticket office of the Museum (right).
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The largest liner never built - Design and design variants of OCEANIC (III)
White Star Line's last major effort was the design and construction program of the ocean liner OCEANIC (III), which was planned to be built between 1926-1929 but ultimately left unfinished. The ship would have been an unparalalled masterpiece if she had been built and - thanks to her unique propulsion system - she would have been such a huge advance for her time that she would not have been surpassed until the ocean liner QUEEN MARY (II) was entered into servie in 2004. This article is dedicated to her story.
I.) "Twilight of the Gods" - The TITANIC disaster, and the IMMC., the WSL and the H&W, 1912-1927
The majority of the shares of the British White Star Line shipping company, founded in 1867, were bought in April 1902 by the American financier John Pierpont Morgan, who announced the establishment ot the International Mercantile Marine Co. (IMMC) in October of the same year, that combined 7 shipping companies he owned. IMMC's fleet of 106 vessels accounted for 7% (30% including ships of the 2 partners and 1 joint venture) of the fleet of 1,555 vessels operating worldwide. 82 of the 106 ships belonged to the White Star Line, which was the only member of the group of companies that operated profitably in every year of the decade between 1904-1914 (in view of this, from 1904 the task of managing the entire IMMC was performed by the managing director of the White Star Line). The tragedy of the TITANIC occurred during the boom in passenger transport (the construction of the ship was also a result of it), which continued unabated despite the disaster: in 1913, more than 2.6 million passengers were transported across the Atlantic Ocean between Europe and America. This kind of traffic had never been achieved before, and it was never even approached again in peacetime. The White Star Line then carried 191,838 passengers compared to the Cunard Line's 199,746. White Star steamers completed 183 crossings, i.e. they transported an average of 1,048 passengers per trip, while Cunard completed 177 crossings, which means 1,128 passengers. The two British companies accounted for 7.3% of the total traffic, while the German HAPAG alone transported 244,661 passengers on 197 crossings (so an average of 1,242 passengers per trip), thereby obtaining 9.4% of the traffic. Although progress seemed unbroken despite the loss of the TITANIC, everything changed with the sinking of the flagship of the IMMC fleet. In addition to the human and material loss, the tragedy also affected the organization of the trust: As he had already decided before the sinking of the TITANIC - in January 1912 - J. Bruce Ismay retired from the position of president of the IMMC in 1913, where he was succeeded by Harold Sanderson. John Pierpont Morgan died in the same year, and in 1924 William James Pirrie, the owner and general manager of the giant shipyard serving the IMMC empire, Belfast's Harland & Wolff, succeeded him. The trust, in the form it had been known until then, had been declined.
As for Ismay, he was labeled a coward and ostracized by London society despite the fact that, according to the commission investigating the circumstances of the tragedy, he helped many other passengers before finding a place for himself in the last lifeboat that left the starboard side of the ship. On December 31, 1912, Ismay therefore confirmed that, in accordance with his decision in January, he would resign from the post of president of the IMMC with effect from June 30, 1913. His decision was accepted on January 2, 1913, but his request to remain general manager of the White Star Line was rejected. He was succeeded in both positions by former Vice President Harold Sanderson. And Ismay remained a member of the board of directors of IMMC for another 4 years (in the British Commission chaired by Edward Charles Grenfell, the first baron of Saint Just, alongside William James Pirrie and Harold Arthur Sanderson), but when he finally gave up all hope of being elected to head the White Star Line again, he also resigned from this position in 1916. He never recovered from the shock caused by the TITANIC disaster and the subsequent American press campaign against him. Even before his trip on the TITANIC, he was emotionally insecure, but the tragedy pushed him into a deep depression from which he never truly recovered. Most of his work was then given to the cases of The Liverpool & London Steamship Protection & Indemnity Association Ltd (the insurance company founded by his father): Hundreds of thousands of pounds were paid out as compensation to the relatives of the TITANIC victims. Ismay handled the plight of the applicants with great fortitude, despite the fact that he could have easily shied away from responsibility and resigned from the board of directors of this company. Still, he persevered with the difficult task, even though during the remaining years of his presidency it is difficult to find even a single page in the papers of the company that did not mention the TITANIC. What's more: he donated £11,000 from his private fortune to create a relief fund to support the relatives of the many shipwrecked survivors, and in 1919 another £25,000 to support merchant seamen who served in the First World War. Although his wife, Florence, consistently made sure that the TITANIC was never discussed in the family again, it still haunted Ismay, who tormented himself with useless speculations about how he could have avoided the disaster.
Fig. 1: J. Bruce Ismay in front of the US Congressional Commission of Inquiry and in the US press as "J. Brute Ismay". (Source: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. digital ID cph.3b15542, file no. LC-DIG-hec-00933, New York American)
At Christmas 1936, at a family gathering, one of his grandchildren, Evelyn, who had learned that Ismay had also worked in shipping, asked him if he had ever been shipwrecked. Ismay then broke his quarter-century silence about the tragedy that ruined his life and replied: "Yes, I was once on a ship that was thought to be unsinkable." On October 14, 1937, Ismay, who had already been suffering from diabetes for several years (whose right leg had to be amputated below the knee in 1936), suffered a stroke on October 14, 1937, as a result of which he lost consciousness, became blind and mute. He died three days later.
Morgan died in his sleep in his hotel room on March 31, 1913, during a trip to Rome. Corpse stake in s.s. FRANCE transported him back to New York, where the flags were lowered to half-mast and the stock exchange closed for two hours. His company empire was taken over by his son, John Pierpont ("Jack") Morgan, Jr., who did not have nearly as much influence as his father. Based on the antitrust laws, the company empire had to be divided into three smaller companies in 1933, but the shipping interests were no longer among them. IMMC was an over-leveraged company that borrowed too much money compared to its solvency (it also bought up the debts of its member companies), so it went bankrupt, when the news of the outbreak of the First World War caused prices to collapse and the group's solvency was shaken: in September 1914 the directors of IMMC announced that the October 1 interest payment on the 4.5% bonds would be postponed due to the disruption and uncertainty caused by the outbreak of war. The bond foreclosure stipulated that the six-month deferral would not constitute default, but by the spring of 1915, IMMC was bankrupt with $3.3 million in interest debt, and on April 3, a receiver was appointed in a person of Philip Albright Small Franklin, the White Star Line's representative in New York at the time of the TITANIC tragedy. After the years of bankruptcy trusteeship in 1915/16, he succeeded Sanderson as president of IMMC and was determined to save the group of companies. Under his leadership, the IMMC was able to recover when the war economy boosted shipping again (and despite the losses it suffered, the IMMC, which still had the largest fleet, was able to benefit the most from this, since its steamers accounted for a quarter of the entire American expeditionary force and nearly 15 million tons of munitions were delivered to France). By the end of the war, future trade conditions had become unpredictable, as North Atlantic liner shipping was affected by two circumstances that no one would have considered before the war. One was the elimination of the German ships confiscated as war reparations from the competition, and the other was the huge increase in the tonnage of American merchant shipping through the Emergency Shipbuilding Program and the seizure of German ships (the latter represented approximately 300,000 gross register tons of passenger space). For the first time since the dawn the Age of steam, the United States was in a position to challenge Britain's world dominance of maritime commerce, at least in terms of carrying capacity. However, IMMC found itself in an awkward position. After all, although he wanted to share in the expected renaissance of American shipping, most of his income came from the income of British ships it owned.Fig. 2: The news of the death of J.P. Morgan - the "uncrowned king" of the stock market - in the American newspapers and Morgan at the White Star pier in New York at the arrival of the OLYMPIC on her maiden voyage in 1911. (Source: Morgan Library)
In the atmosphere of fierce nationalism that developed in the United States after the war, Morgan's promise in 1903 that he would "not pursue a policy injurious to British merchant shipping or injurious to British commerce" was effectively used to prevent the trust from purchasing ships in the United States. Thus, the paradoxical situation arose that the only American company that had enough capital, management experience, and agent network to manage European traffic, essentially could not participate in it. The IMMC was thus still maintained by the White Star Line, which, with the exception of 1917, maintained its Atlantic voyages throughout the war years (102 in 1914, 61 in 1915, 44 in 1916, 41 in 1918, 1919 and 47 passengers arrived to America on board of the company's ships). The scheduled Southampton-New York service was reopened in 1920 with OLYMPIC and ADRIATIC, for which they completed 37 crossings, carrying a total of 60,120 passengers - an average of 1,624 per voyage. At the same time, Cunard's steamers MAURETANIA and AQUITANIA completed 57 crossings with a total of 88,295 passengers (an average of 1,549 per voyage). Taking advantage of the respite to avoid another insolvency, the IMMC Act sold its foreign subsidiaries in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1920, they first bought all the ordinary shares of the Leyland Line that they did not yet own, then the steamers of the Red Star Line were also transferred to the property of the Leyland Line (they no longer operated under the Belgian but the British flag), while the names of the Dominion Line and the Red Star Line were kept for commercial purposes only. By 1924, the White Star Line - which was still the second largest passenger carrier on the North Atlantic - was already making a loss. This was related to the United States re-regulating immigration in 1924 and established quotas per ethnic group on the number of foreigners that can be admitted each year, the number of people who can still be accommodated in a given ethnic group in one year, which was maximized at 2% of the number of people belonging to the given ethnic group, according to the 1890 census data. All this had a drastic effect on emigrant traffic, so in 1926 the shareholders of IMMC accepted the British offer to buy back the White Star Line for the equivalent of 33.9 million dollars. The buyer was the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., which took over in January 1927.
Pirrie and Harland & Wolff could not escape their fate either. Lord Pirrie was really in his element during the war years, as the Royal Navy heaped the shipyard with orders, but with the end of the war, the orders also dried up, and with this Pirrie felt that his position within the company was shaken. He tried to demobilize disobedient workers with social measures - the establishment of recreation parks - and the higher-ranking workers were still fairly regularly given gifts by his wife every Christmas. The first signs that all was not well came when they discovered that the directors were holding their own event in 1920, separate from the Pirrie couple's Christmas party. Pirrie didn't want to stay away from the affairs of the shipyard even for a minute, so he kept putting off taking the advice of his doctors, who had been recommending long-term rest for a long time. He finally gave in in the spring of 1924, when he agreed to go on a tour of South America and Europe with his wife to assess whether the infrastructure of the ports of the countries concerned was developed enough to serve the ships of the yard's largest partners, the Royal Mail Line, Pacific Steam Navigation Co. and Lamport & Holt Line companies, and can also take a summer and winter trip, combining the comfortable with the useful. On March 21, they left for Buenos Aires on board the ARLANZA Royal Mail liner built by Harland & Wolff and from there they extended the trip to Valparaiso, Chile by going around Cape Horn. While they were waiting for the connection in Valparaiso, Pirrie caught a cold, and the cold soon turned into pneumonia. They sailed from Antofagasta on board the EBRO towards the Panama Canal. Pirrie was already convalescing when they reached the canal, and against the advice of his doctors, even on his sickbed in his usual dictatorial manner, he ordered to be taken on board because he wanted to see the canal. It was a fatal decision. Despite the heroic struggle of the ship's medical and nursing staff, the 78-year-old shipbuilder died on the night of June 7, 1924, at 11:30 p.m. When EBRO arrived in New York, his embalmed body was transferred aboard his masterpiece, the OLYMPIC, which took him to Europe (he was given what Morgan was not, whose powder pod was only transported as a piece of cargo in the refrigerated hold of a ship that didn't even belong to the huge ocean-going fleet he created). He was laid to rest in Belfast on June 23, 1924, the day he joined the company's workforce 62 years earlier. He did not make any preparations for his retirement or his death, so the members of the board of directors did not even know what new tonnage construction he was discussing before the trip started. He took his secrets, if any, to the grave, as his ambition and exclusive management style blinded him to training his directors in the methods he used to acquire business and manage the company. He surrounded himself only with people who tried to imitate his lifestyle, but were weak to contradict him: George Cuming was dead, Edward Wilding was suffering from a nervous breakdown (Pirrie took back direct control of the drawing office tasks at his expense in February 1924), and Robert Crighton was also ill; John Westbeech Kempster was a nice old gentleman who spent more time in the university cloister than in the business world, J.P. Dickinson, the manager of the Govan site, was incompetent and weak, and Charles Payne from Belfast was a showman. Among the directors, only F. E. Rebbeck had the necessary skills, but he was regularly voted out by his senior colleagues. Apart from him, only William Tawsee, the chief accountant, and John Phillip, the chief executive's secretary, had any idea of what and how Pirrie was doing. In any case, all directors agreed that the position of president and CEO held by Pirrie would be abolished and the management of the factory would be taken over by the board of directors. Having only a sketchy knowledge of the factory's finances and knowing nothing about which of the oral negotiations on new constructions had led to results, the members of the board of directors could not rise to their responsibilities. Harland & Wolff, the largest shipyard in the world, was left without effective leadership on the brink of its biggest economic crisis...
Fig. 3: 'Lord Pirrie's Book' – a gift from the shipyard workers to Pirrie on his 1921 ennoblement (left), Pirrie and his wife at the start of the fatal voyage on the steamer ARLANZA (centre) and Pirrie's tombstone in Belfast (right). (Source: Maritime Belfast Trust, Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images, J146580607, Find a grave/Paul Fryer)
II.) Lord Kylsant, the new favorite:
However, the Harland & Wolff Shipyard soon had a new owner. Namely, the same man who was behind the repurchase of the White Star Line into exclusive British ownership: Owen Cosby Phillips (1863-1937), 1st Baron of Kylsant.
Owen Phillips was born in the rectory at Warminster, Wiltshire, the third of five sons of Rev. Sir James Erasmus Philllips - 12th Baron of Picton Castle - and his wife Mary Margaret Best. After his schooling in Devon, in 1880 he entered the Dent & Co. Shipping Company in Newcastle upon Tyne as an apprentice, and in 1886 he joined the Allen Line in Glasgow. In 1888, he founded his own shipping company under the name Phillips & Co. with the financial support of his eldest brother, John Phillips. Their first ship was purchased in 1889, but by 1900 the two brothers owned two shipping companies (the King Line and the Scottish Steamship Co.), an investment company (the London Maritime Investment Co.), and the London and Thames Haven Petrol Port. In 1902 - when J.P. Morgan bought the majority of shares in the White Star Line - taking advantage of the low share prices, the Phillips brothers also acquired a dominant share in the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. (RMSPC), of which 39-year-old Owen Phillips became the president and managing director.
RMSPC was founded in 1839 by the Scotsman James MacQueen, and originally transported mail and passengers to the ports of the Caribbean and South America with the firm intention of supporting the abolition of slavery in the British colonies of the Caribbean by launching the first steamship in the region. The government trying to master political and social instability through British economic hegemony in achieving its goals. The support was generously rewarded by the government - with a subsidy of £240,000 per annum - which provided ample funding for RMSPC to grow into one of the leading companies in British shipping, both financially and technically (a convincing example of the latter being that RMSPC was the first British shipping company to equip its ships with compound steam engines developed by John Elder in the 1850s and perfected since then in the 1870s). Between 1902 and 1922, under the management of Owen Phillips, the RMSPC acquired a decisive share in more than twenty other shipping companies, including those such as the Union-Castle Line, which ran to the British colonies in Africa, or the Peninsular & Orient, which maintained maritime links with the Far East and Australian colonies. (P&O).
Owen Cosby Phillips was also a Member of Parliament between 1906-1922 (between 1906-1910 for the Liberal Party for Pembroke and Haverfordwest, and between 1916-1922 for the Conservative Party, as a delegate for Chester). In 1922, he received a knighthood (he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George), and in 1923 he was ennobled, when the king made him the first baron of Kylsant, and awarded him with the Commander's Cross of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. From then on, Phillips participated in the legislature as a member of the House of Lords. Owen Cosby Phillips did not meet William James Pirrie for the first time here, as they had been in contact since he first ordered ships for his company from Harland & Wolff as the President and CEO of RMSPC. Between 1904 and 1916, 17 ships of the company were built in Belfast, while only 15 ships were built for the White Star Line (Oceanic Steam Navigation Co. - OSNC) in the same period[1]. This made Phillips Pirrie's most important customer. It is therefore hardly a coincidence that already in 1914 Pirrie stated as part of a private conversation with Edward Holten that according to his plans after his death "Phillips will be in charge of everything".
Apart from the fact that Kylsant owned the majority of Harland & Wolff's shares from 1919 onwards, the similarity of the two men's uncompromising, violent and autocratic characters, which made him appear much more suitable from the beginning, therefore made him more sympathetic in the eyes of Pirrie, who perhaps saw him as a first-generation "empire builder" similar to himself (as Pirrie liked to see himself, generously forgetting that his shipyard, of which he was so proud, was created by Sir Edward Harland's engineering knowledge and Gustav Wilhelm Wolff's financial prowess). Bruce Ismay, who was born with a silver spoon and inherited his business empire from his father, was not respected by Pirrie, which is clearly shown by the fact that he did not let him know when he started negotiations with J.P. Morgan about the sale of White Star Line behind his back. (Perhaps it was precisely for this reason that he later prevented his return to the head of the White Star Line, as he was able to personally see that Ismay was a man from whose hands even the family company had been wrested out. He apparently did not care that this could not have been done without him.)
It is not known how seriously Lord Pirrie thought about having Lord Kylsant manage the Harland & Wolff Shipyard after his death, as he did not shared the content of his conversation with Edward Holten to either the vice-president, Robert Crighton, or to his lawyer, Charles Crisp. At the meeting of the board of directors of Harland & Wolff Shipyard held three days after Pirrie's death, something happened however, because Pirrie's London office with all its accessories was available to Kylsant within days, where he declared himself the new president and CEO of Harland & Wolff Shipyard. We are hardly disappointed if we guess the fear of responsibility of the largely incompetent board members selected by Pirrie in the background. As Crighton (himself reluctant to take on the chairmanship) reminded the board members: 'hitherto Lord Pirrie has been approached individually to do certain works, to adopt certain policies, or to authorize various expenditures, but in future all must consult the with others because of the shared responsibility". Of course, Lady Pirrie must have known of her husband's intention (if he had such an intention), but in any case she was in no hurry to confirm it, as she disliked the lord of Kylsant. He found her arrogant and aloof, although she believed that this had more to do with Phillips's extraordinary height of more than 2 meters, his maypole appearance and his stammer, rather than his deliberate attitude towards her. At the same time, she steadfastly avoided being seen in the company of either Kylsant or his wife.
Despite this with a generous gesture, Kylsant offered Lady Pirrie the position of chairman of Harland & Wolff for the entire period of her life. Nevertheless, Lady Pirrie wanted Lord Inverforth to be elected as president (mistakenly thinking that as administrator of the Pirrie estate and her husband's heir, she also had a decisive say in corporate decision-making, which had not been the case since 1919, since, the majority of the shares were owned by Kylsant). Kylsant's first task was to investigate the shipyard's finances. While Pirrie was first and foremost an engineer with a thorough knowledge of every sub-process of shipbuilding, who had the attitude that "whether for profit or loss, it doesn't matter, just let the shipyard produce", Kylasnt was primarily a financial specialist who (even though he worked with shipping companies) did not have a similar background knowledge in shipbuilding, but - perhaps influenced by the upbringing of his father, who held an ecclesiastical profession - he threw himself into the business with an almost missionary zeal, seeing it as his moral obligation to give work to people (who respected him for this in the midst of the ever-increasing unemployment situation). However, he quickly saw through the disastrous finances of Harland & Wolff: Pirrie's generous way of life almost brought the company to financial ruin. He overdrawn his line of credit with the Midland Bank, for which he offered the Witley Court estate as collateral, worth some £325,000, and undertook to personally buy back £473,260 worth of Harland & Wolff preference shares from members of the Colville family. His most important financial assets were the shares he owned in the Harland & Wolff Shipyard and in the Elder Dempster shipping company. However, Kylsant knew full well that these would not provide any serious dividends to shareholders in the near future (not even the annuity due to Pirrie's testamentary heirs could be paid from them). The company's finances looked so bleak that Kylsant's first reaction was to suggest to the estate's trustees that they file for bankruptcy (which would also have allowed them to ignore Pirrie's will, which was to take the privately owned shipyard public—that is, shares for public trading on the stock exchange - and stipulated the mandatory continued employment of the directors for that case). Kylsant was only willing to desist from this intention at the persuasion of Pirrie's two closest friends - Lord Inchcape and Lord Inverforth.
Fig. 4: Lord Kylsant (painting by Philip Tennyson Cole in Carmarthenshire County Museum).
Inchcape reasoned that surely Kylsant didn't want the bankrupt widow to cause him various inconveniences as she traveled around London. Kylsant thus finally persuaded the boards of directors of the companies previously owned by Pirrie to combine the annuities for Lady Pirrie and the other beneficiaries of the will. However, the biggest concern was not Lady Pirrie, but Harland & Wolff's finances, which were in an shocking state.
As an experienced investor, Kylsant was horrified by the shipyard's fragile financial situation, as he clearly saw that the demands for repayment of unsecured loans would not be met if the creditors demanded them at the same time during a possible crisis. The danger was not just a theoretical possibility at all, since the John Brown Shipyard had already submitted a claim for unpaid debts worth 252,000 pounds, but before the end of the financial year there was no other option than to cover up the serious situation. In particular, Harland & Wolff actually made a loss with every ship it delivered. With the steamers KATHIAWAR and INVERBANK recently built in Govan, £160,000, but even after the ocean liners MOOLTAN, MALOJA and MINNETONKA, the income was only 4% of the total purchase price, which was also taken into account in the previous year's closing accounts. The payment of the depreciation provision of £224,013 was again deferred, bringing the total shortfall to £643,173. The repayment of the interest on the loans was also postponed, while the nearly £262,000 in dividends could only be paid by borrowing another £360,000. This increased the company's total loan stock to nearly £3,000,000. All this was shown in the annual financial statement presented to the shareholders under the heading "Miscellaneous creditors, including bank overdrafts" together with a further £240,000 which was shown as a reserve under "Miscellaneous extraordinary accounts and pending sums". However, Kylsant knew exactly that he could not be smart forever, and the misery of Harland & Wolff could bring the entire Royal Mail empire to ruin.
Fig. 5: Lord Kylsant (centre), Duchess of Abercorn (left), Charles Payne (right) and Lady Kylsant (far right) in company on July 7, 1925, at the launching ceremony of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. ocean liner ASTURIAS, in Belfast (Source: Moss and Hume, p. 246.).
Kylsant therefore tried to run forward and, terminating the private nature of Harland & Wolff Shipyard, decided to take it to the stock market in order to stabilize the company's finances, which had been shaken by the abnormal management of the previous period, by involving publicly available investor capital. However, the share subscription that started on July 4, 1924 did not bring the expected results: out of the 4,000,000 pounds worth of 6% preference shares issued (with a face value of 1 pound) - as a result of the devastating news about other shipyards and machine factories - only 750 000 pounds of shares were subscribed (just under 19% of the total stock package). After the failure, the board was left with no other option than to introduce new operating and tender procedures to reduce overheads and boost competitiveness (as virtually no one knew the full details of the previous negotiation and pricing procedures introduced by Pirrie). Meanwhile - between the beginning of February and the end of August 1924 - Harland & Wolff received orders for a total of 10 new ships, but the construction of only 1 of these ships, Belfast Steamship Co.'s 9,000-ton steamer APAPA, did not result in a loss. During this period, the shipyard practically only received orders to retain workers. Kylsant held the first meeting of the board of directors between January 8-10, 1925. Revealed that the directors leading individual departments had handled the general and development costs with excessive carelessness until now. When Kylsant asked, for example, how the construction of the two large ocean liners for P&O (the MOOLTAN and the MALOJA) could have been unprofitable, he was met by the directors only to blame Pirrie's high quality expectations. After that, it was decided to explore all indispensable expenses, to reduce or freeze wages, and to reduce stocks by 25%, but no one could draw the conclusion that the Queen's Island site might have to be closed for a while. The cost reduction also resulted in a saving of only 25,000 pounds per year, the 1924 closing accounts had to be cosmeticized in this way: the annual income of 307,392 pounds on paper was then supplemented with 380,000 pounds transferred from the published company reserve, which thus hid the factory's 600,000 important loss. Despite Kylsant's best efforts, the final accounts were also evaluated by Price Waterhouse & Coopers, the shipyard's auditor, and stated the following: "depending on the adequacy of the reserves, we believe that the balance sheet has been properly drawn up to give a true and fair view of the state of the company's affairs give a correct picture”. This meant some respite…
It turned out to be an encouraging turn for both Kylsant and Harland & Wolff when, in August 1925, the White Star Line came forward with an order for the construction of a new, large ocean liner. Back in 1922, Pirrie suggested to Kylsant that he buy back the patina shipping company (who knows, maybe it hurt his British pride that Harland & Wolff could only become the world's largest shipyard by American capital, and by the transfer from British to American majority ownership of its biggest customer, White Star Line, of which it was the main shareholder, what might have disturbed his conscience, so he wanted to retrieve his honour). However, Kylsant's purchase offer at the time was personally vetoed by US President Warren G. Harding. In 1926, the British shipping company Furness Withy & Co. also came forward with a purchase offer. (Sir Cristofer, the first baron of Furness, the owner of Furness Withy & Co., founded in 1891, requested government support in 1900 in order to establish a British counter-combinate against the Americans initiated by J.P. Morgan, without success. After his death in 1912, the Furness family sold their interests in the company in 1919 to a consortium led by the former managing director, Frederick Lewis.) The agreement was reached, but the contract contained a stipulation that the contract was invalid if a general strike breaks out in Great Britain before the sale is completed. Although the biggest work stoppage of the 1920s - which was announced by the unions due to the continuous deterioration of the situation of coal miners and in order to stop the reduction of wages - only held between May 4-12, 1926., thwarted the hopes of the Furness company. Kylsant then re-entered the scene and by November bought all the shares of the White Star Line, together with all its financial and other assets, for which he paid a total of 33.9 million dollars, i.e. 7 million pounds at the 1926 exchange rate. Taking into account the financial deterioration that had occurred in the meantime, this means that the company was bought back for less than half of its 1902 purchase price (J.P. Morgan paid £10 million for the White Star Line in 1902, which was worth 20 million pounds at the exchange rate of 1926).
III.) New ocean liner designs in the 1920s and their impact on the White Star Line
When Harland & Wolff, taken over by Lord Kylsant, began to design the latest ocean liner of the White Star Line, which returned to exclusive British ownership, its construction has been on the agenda for more than a decade (with technical content redefined and redefined periodically according to the ever-changing needs), as the White Star Line had been considering the construction of a large new ocean liner since 1914.
What's more, on July 9, 1914, the giant steamer for the Liverpool-New York route, considered the second most important in the company's business policy, began to be built at the Harland & Wolff Shipyard, with production number 470. The ship was first named GERMANIC, after a successful ship built for the White Star Line in 1875 (sistership of BRITANNIC I), which left the company's fleet during the construction of the TITANIC (when it was also sold to the Ottoman Empire, where it was entered into service as GÜLCEMAL), so her name became usable again. Since this was the first ship to be built for the White Star Line after the loss of the TITANIC, many people think that its task was to replace the lost TITANIC, but this is contradicted by its technical data and intended use, which the IMMC's 1913 annual business report and IMMC director Harold Sanderson's June 1914 press statement make it clear beyond any doubt. According to the report: "Directors have authorized the construction of a steamer of about 33,600 tons and 19 knots speed for the New York-Liverpool service of the White Star Line, to be named GERMANIC, and to be of the ADRIATIC type, with such alterations and improvements as experience has suggested and as are made possible by her greater size. It is expected that the GERMANIC will be completed in time to enter the service in 1916, and that she will be an exceedingly attractive steamer” more spacious than before - equipped with private bathrooms, with finer furnishings - first-class accommodations and a larger swimming pool. Sanderson's statement went into further detail: "She will be a larger ship than the ADRIATIC but would be smaller than OLYMPIC." Her length overall would be about 746 feet and 88 feet wide (that is, her gross tonnage would have exceeded that of the LUSTIANIA and MAURETANIA), and she would have been fitted with three propellers, the two extremes of which would have been driven by reciprocating steam engines, the middle by a low-pressure steam turbine, that is, the In all likelihood, the ship was planned to be built based on the first preliminary design for the OLYMPIC-class, but nothing came of the plans: The name of the ship was changed from GERMANIC to HOMERIC at the outbreak of the First World War, and then at the end of 1914 the double bottoms completed until then dismantled to make way for urgent naval orders on Falcon Square. On May 27, 1916, the ship's keel was laid down again, but on May 13, 1917, the construction was interrupted for the second time - this time for good - and at the end of August 1917, they began to dismantle the hull that had been completed until then.
Fig. 6: The first draft of the OLYMPIC class from June 1907. Perhaps this design - which also evokes the main characteristics of the ADRIATIC - was considered as a basis for the design of GERMANIC. (Drawing by Dr. Tamás Balogh).
The second occasion took place already after the First World War, when Philip Albright Small Franklin, president of the IMMC, announced in 1919 that, as part of the White Star Line's post-war construction program, a new 35,000-ton ship would be built at Harland & Wolff " with a speed of 21 knots, and each cabin on the two upper decks has its own bathroom". Since the features mentioned in the announcement are very similar to those of the HOMERIC (ex-GERMANIC II.) built during the war and then abandoned (35,000 tons compared to 33,600 and first-class cabins with private bathrooms), it is hardly an exaggeration to assume that In 1919, they did not announce a brand new ship design, but that they would start again and this time try to complete the project, which had been forced to be interrupted in 1917. Soon, however, this plan also failed, this time due to war reparations.
Fig. 7: The R.M.S. HOMERIC (ex-COLUMBUS), 1913-1935 (drawing by Dr. Tamás Balogh).
Due to the sinking of the TITANIC and then the GIGANTIC (later BRITANNIC II.), the new express service planned by White Star Line with the OLYMPIC trio could only be realized after the First World War, when the German ocean liners MAJESTIC (ex-BISMARCK) and HOMERIC (ex-COLUMBUS), seized as war reparations, replaced the sunken ships. The size of the 34,000-ton COLUMBUS just matched the size category of the previously designed ships, but it was driven by only two propellers, which were moved by piston steam engines (making COLUMBUS the world's largest ship powered by a conventional steam engine). As the ship was still half-finished in Danzig, Germany (now Gdansk, Poland) when it was handed over to the White Star Line, its completion could only take place a year later, at the end of 1921, and the first voyage could not be started until February 15, 1922. The White Star Line's biggest rival, the British Cunard Line, was also needed seized tonnage to able to maintain its three-ship service with seized ship - the BERENGARIA (ex-IMPERATOR) - which was put into service alongside MAURETANIA and AQUITANIA to compensate for the loss of LUSITANIA. While MAJESTIC surpassed BERENGARIA's speed (23.9 knots against 20.4 knots) and OLYMPIC competed relatively successfully with AQUITANIA (21.4 knots against 23.1 knots), HOMERIC's 18.1 knots speed was far below the MAURETANIA's average speed of 23.9 knots typical of the 1920s, so even though she was a newer and larger ship, fewer passengers bought tickets for her. By 1926, the differences became obvious: in the MAJESTIC-OLYMPIC-HOMERIC trio, MAJESTIC carried 50% of all passengers, OLYMPIC 33%, HOMERIC 17% (MAJESTIC transported as many passengers in its first 4 years of its service as HOMERIC did during its entire service period up to 1935). On the Southampton-New York route, the HOMERIC competed in a service for which, compared to her competitors, she was not suited, so it became clear to White Star Line that they needed another new ship of at least comparable performance to the OLYMPIC but more to the MAJESTIC.
What this new ship should be like, it was defined by the design starting points of the era. In the period between the two world wars, three circumstances had a fundamental impact on the design and construction of ocean liners: 1) the transition from burning coal to burning oil, 2) the entry into force of American immigration laws and the corresponding change in travel habits, and 3) the use of diesel-electric motors as the main engine of large ocean liners.
1) Transition from coal to oil burning
The liquid fuel that was first used to generate heat in ship boilers was petroleum produced by distilling crude oil, either in its original crude form, but more often in its syrupy (viscous) black tarry form after refining (so-called: "C-type bunker oil"). The calorific value of the fuel is characterized by the amount of heat that can be extracted from 1 kg of fuel (without the heat of vaporization of the amount of water leaving in the form of steam together with the flue gases), its unit of measure is MJ/Kg (Megajoule / kilogram). While the calorific value of coal used for ships was 14.24 MJ/Kg, that of contemporary heating oils was 19.51 MJ/Kg (5.4 kWh/kg).
The first ships equipped with oil-burning boilers - made by Spakovsky - (on which oil was injected into the combustion chamber of the coal-burning boilers as a combustion accelerator and heat enhancer), the cargo ships IRAN and CONSTANTINOPLE, were put into service in Russia on the oil-rich coast of the Caspian Sea in 1870 in , and then the vessel KHIVENYEC of the Caspian Sea fleet of the Tsarist Russian Navy was converted to oil-burner in 1874. They also burned a low-quality crude oil derivative that was left over as a by-product of oil refining - called mazut - but available in large quantities and cheaply (15 oil refineries were operating on the Abseron Peninsula near Baku, so mazut was an easily accessible fuel). The first ocean-going ship to be equipped with boilers available for oil-burning as well was the British tanker S.S. BAKU STANDARD sailing between Newcastle and New York in 1894, and the first ship equipped exclusively for oil-burning was the destroyer HMS SPITEFUL after she converted to oil burning in 1904. The very first ocean liner to cross the Atlantic using oil was the American-Belgian Red Star Line ocean liner KENSINGTON, created to transport American crude oil to Europe, in 1903.
Oil-burning in shipping had several significant advantages compared to coal-burning. On the one hand, the hydrogen content of oil is 11% higher than that of coal, which results in a much higher calorific value. On the other hand, liquid oil can also be stored in places on the ship where coal is not (e.g.: in the double bottom, in the narrowing space in the underwater parts of the bow and stern, etc.). In addition, the continuous oil injection kept the combustion of the oil (and thus the vapor pressure) constant and provided uninterrupted heat development throughout the journey (unlike the combustion of coal, which had to be interrupted while the resulting ash was removed). The handling of the oil involved much less time, noise and pollution, and required a much smaller staff. After all, while on a coal-fired ship 1 heater could attend to a maximum of 3 furnaces (i.e. 1 boiler), on an oil-burner ship 12 (i.e. 4 boilers), with much less physical work (on an oil-fired ship, all the work processes of fuel handling are 75% compared to a coal-fired ship)! With this, an average of around 200 members of the crew of a large ocean liner became dispensable.
The savings in labor and fuel costs more than covered the costs of the conversion investments. The conversion of coal-burner ocean liners to oil-burner ones primarily required the conversion of boilers and former coal bunkers. In the latter, the convex-headed rivets had to be replaced with smooth-headed ones in order to create a completely leak-free space, in which heaters had to be installed in order to prevent the oil from thickening due to cooling. In addition, the walls of the tanks had to be modified in such a way that they could withstand the hydraulic shock that might occur with the drop in the liquid level. However, there was no need to build new storage facilities, since much less oil was needed to travel the same distance compared to coal. The average time required for such a transformation was about 8 months.
Fig. 8: Stokers and trimmers in the boiler room of a coal-burner ocean liner in 1910 (left) and the boiler room of NORMANDIE in 1936 (right). The often illiterate members of the coal-dusted "Black Gang" were replaced by fuelmen, trained mechanics in white (!) overalls. The engine and boiler room personnel were reduced to a tenth and hundreds of thousands of people were lost their job and put on the streets in the course of a few years. (Sources: Richard P. de Kerbrech, Gamma-Keystones/Getty Collection, K006377-A4)
The solution therefore had many advantages, despite this, it had to wait from the 1870s until the 1920s before it became widespread. There were several reasons for this: on the one hand, obtaining oil outside the Caspian Sea was expensive at first (until the discovery of the American oil fields), and on the other hand, the efficiency of early burners remained low for a long time. Oil as a general fuel for commercial shipping thus only really spread with the development of marine diesel engines. By the second half of the 1920s, however, most ocean liners were converted to oil-burning. As a result, many of the masses (the former stokers and trimmers) who went out on the streets and were left without jobs and their ability to pay (the disappearance of the demand they generated) were later considered by many to be a sign and one of the causes of the Great Depression of 1929...
2) Changes in travel habits
In 1926, Major Frank Bustard, director of passenger traffic for the White Star Line, gave a lecture at the Liverpool Commercial School on the six classes of service offered on North Atlantic passenger ships, adapted to the identified needs of passengers. According to this, the services of ocean liners are usually used by passengers with the following needs:
„a) First class by the express steamers from Southampton, used particularly by businessmen and others to whom time is of monetary consideration; also by members of the theatrical profession and film industry who, for publicity purposes, cannot afford to travel other than in the ‘monster’ steamers.
b) Some of the companies are still running similar steamers, though not quite so large or fast and at slightly lower rates, from other ports, especially Liverpool. Their patrons atre mainly business travellers and the American tourist class, to whom time is not of primary importance and who have learnt by experience the estimable sea-going qualities that prevail on the type of steamer of 20.000-30.000 tons making the passage to and from New York in just over a week.
c) Cabin class. This class is supported by mainly passengers who formerly travelled First class, but who desire to combine economy with their travels, and there are also many travellers who previously crossed Second class in the three-class ships, who prefer Cabin accommodation because in no better class above them on the ship. The Cabin fares are only slighter higher than the Second class rates.
d) Second class retains its popularity, particularly on the 'monster' steamers.
e) Tourist Third Cabin is an entirely new class, and it is to this particular traffic thet the steamship lines look to take the place of the reduced emigration movement brought about by the US Quota Restrictions (United States Immigration Act, 1924). The Tourist Third Cabin quarters afford most comfortable accommodation to passengers to whom economy in travel is the primary consideration; and the development of this travel since 1925 shows clearly the possibilities of an increase in this movement of Americans desiring to visit Europe. Efforts are also being made to encourage the Tourist Third Cabin movement from Great Britain and Ireland to the United States, but it is expected that the bulk of this traffic will emanate from America.
f) Third class continues to be maintained more particularly for the emigrant type of passenger, and the worker in the United States or Canada when returning home on seasonal or occasional visits.”
3) Application of desel-electric motors as main power plant of ocean liners
Diesel engines with compression ignition (i.e. igniting the liquid fuel with the increase in temperature occurring during the mechanical compression of the air in the cylinder space) are the most efficient types of internal combustion engines due to the simplicity of their operating principle, as well as their size and fuel economy. The first commercial ship powered by a diesel engine was the Russian oil carrier VANDAL, launched in 1903, whose diesel-electric drive train enabled a shallow dive in contrast to the space requirements of earlier long-stroke piston steam engines, therefore, the ship could travel in the Volga River waterway system, from the Caspian Sea to the Baltic Sea. However, after their first use in 1903, marine diesel engines operated with a lower power/space ratio for several years, and only the appearance of turbocharging in 1907, which ensured higher power density, accelerated their spread, as they could now operate with greater efficiency than steam turbines. From 1911, the new power source was installed in submarines, and from 1912 in ocean liners. The first diesel-powered ocean liner was the Danish SELANDIA. The possible prospects of the development were discussed by several engineers, including Dr. Ernst Förster, the designer of the largest ships of the time, the LEVIATHAN (ex-VATERLAND) and the MAJESTIC (ex-BISMARCK), whose study entitled "Big and Fast Liners of the Future" was published on April 23, 1923 in a technical journal 'Scientific American'. Förster also analyzed the issues of the main dimensions and propulsion and came to an interesting conclusion, insofar as he saw the solution in increasing the height instead of the length and width, without increasing the draft, but the diesel propulsion was strangely not considered seriously and the steam turbines counted on its long-term survival as the main engine of large ocean liners:
„With respect to the modern and most economical design of turbines and boilers, as well as maximum passenger accommodation and maximum dimensions of the vessels, the Majestic and the Leviathan have to be regarded as marking the hight level of development in the North Atlantic trade, distinctly showing the extreme limit under present conditions in the way of further progress. The draught being almost 39 feet may not be increased for the next 10 or 15 years by much more than one foot, the draft being controlled by the depth of the main entrances to New York harbor as well as to Plymouth, Southampton and Cherbourg. The length of the biggest vessel being 954 feet over all, cannot reasonably be increased by any considerable amount; for it is limited by the present length of the piers in the North River. Furthermore, any increase in length, draft, and size will increase the difficulties of handling and navigation. Even stronger is the argument against much larger and aster ships on the grounds of economy.
[…] The most important technical question bearing on progress is that of the propelling machinery. The promising development o the internal-combustion engine (on the Diesel-principle) has in some quarters created illusions with respect to future possibilities, which, in the direction of Diesel reciprocating engines, do not appear to be based upon sufficient grounds. As to the gas turbine, there is nothing in the success so far achieved in experimental work to warrant the conclusion that this type can be applied for many years to come as a drive or large and fast Atlantic liners. However, the development of the geared steam turbine has reached a point where it would be possible to build a Mauretania, a Majestic, or a Leviathan that would show an economy of operation far superior to the existing vessels that carry those names. The saving in weight and space, as well as the smaller consumption of fuel oil on account of the far higher speed of revolution of the main turbines, has established, without any doubt, the wisdom and practicability of applying the geared drive to the big liners of the future.
Profiting by the advantages of the reduction gear, there are two diverging directions for future development: one aiming at a higher speed, the other economizing the management to the highest possible degree. In considering the question of higher speed, the question is, how far may this be carried; what will be the saving of time accomplished; and will this shortening of the passage justify the far greater cost of construction and operation? Adopting a maximum possible speed of 29.12 knots and an average ocean speed o 28.35 knots, we get the following results: On the Winter Course, the passage between Ambrose Channel and Cherbourg would be made in 4 days 15 hours; between Ambrose Channel and Plymouth in 4 days 13 hours. On the Summer Course the AMbrose Channel-Cherbourg course would be covered in 4 days 12 hours, and the Ambrose Channel-Plymouth course in 4 days 10 hours. Going eastward in summer time it may be desirable to leave New York for Plymouth (or Cherbourg) one, (or three) hours later, in order to utilize the day o departure as a whole working day. In this case the average speed would have to be increased to 28.6 or 29.12 miles an hour.”
The article included a diagram showing the features of the planned "improved MAJESTIC".
Fig. 9: Design (top), cross-section (bottom left), side and top view of the boiler and engine room (bottom right) of the "improved MAJESTIC". Captions are as follows: “Above: Although the ship shown above would be of 6.900 tons less displacement and 11.000 less horsepower than the MAJESTIC, and would require 1.135 tons less oil each trip, she would carry 1.146 more passengers at the same sea speed of 23 knots. Bottom left: Midship section showing the bulges at the waterline, which afford sufficient stability to permit the use of one deck more for passengers (shown shaded) than there are in the MAJESTIC. By this means the passenger accommodation is raised from 3.100 in the MAJESTIC to 4.246 in the proposed ship, the speed (23 knots) being the same. Bottom right: Elevation showing engine and boiler rooms necessary to drive an enlarged MAJESTIC at 28.35 knots sustained sea speed. (For plan view see below). Plan view of the engine and boiler plant necessary to drive an enlarged MAJESTIC across the Atlantic at 28.35 knots. To supply steam for the turbines of 165.000 horsepower would require 64 water-tube boilers.” (Source: Scientific American)
Fig. 10: The arrangement of the superstructure in the "improved MAJESTIC", which at first seems unusual, is not without precedent. The White Star steamer CALGARIC, launched in 1917 at the Harland & Wolff Shipyard, had a similar one. (Source: Dr. Tamás Balogh)
IV.) Design-variants of the OCEANIC (III):In June 1923, the still American-owned White Star Line asked Harland & Wolff to begin designing a new ship to replace the HOMERIC. However, due to US immigration restrictions in 1924, Harold Sanderson, Chairman of the IMMC Board of Directors, withdrew from the investment. In August 1925, following the introduction and acceptance of tourist class, the White Star Line requested a new offer from Harland & Wolff. Following this, the shipyard prepared several sets of plans[2] for the company between 1926 and 1928, which wanted to name the new ocean liner after OCEANIC (I) built in 1871 – the very first ship of the company – and OCEANIC (II) built in 1899. Both ships were harbingers of great changes: the first OCEANIC introduced the hull form with an almost square cross-section in the middle, which later became common at White Star Line, and the second OCEANIC introduced the corporate business policy of prioritizing comfort over speed. From the third OCEANIC by comparison they expected a rebirth after the great losses – the TITANIC disaster and the World War. The OCEANIC (III) was partially built between 1928-1929, but finally she remained unfinished and her completed parts were dismantled. If completed, she would have been the world's first ocean-going passenger ship longer than 1,000 feet (300 m) and, until 2004 - the launch of the QUEEN MARY 2 - the largest diesel-electric powered ocean liner (moreover, she could have claimed the title of the most powerful diesel-electric powered ship to date).
Of the several plans that were completed, the drawings of only three have surfaced, to varying degrees.
The first among them was completed on January 28, 1926. This first version of the design featured only a conventional steam-powered, 904-foot (276 m) long, four-stacker ocean liner (essentially a fourth OLYMPIC-class ship) that deviated from the traditional WSL outlines in only one respect: she got the so-called "cruiser stern", which was already common in the design of the 1920s. German engineer Jochann Schütte already proposed the use of this stern-shape - typical of cruisers - in 1900, during the design of the german greyhound KAISER WILHELM II., but the first ocean liner with a cruiser stern, the ALSATIAN, was only built in 1913. In any case, Harland & Wolff used this structural element on its ocean liners since the launching of BELGENLAND (1914) and WINDSOR CASTLE (1921) due to its beneficial properties (increasing the waterline length affecting stability and speed and the deck surfaces that can be used for accommodating passengers).
Apart from that, the number and arrangement of the ship's decks - the whole appearance of the ship in general terms - basically reflected to the OLYMPIC class (as far as can be judged from the surviving partial documentation). However, compared to the TITANIC, which was considered as a model for the design, some things have still changed:
Fig. 11: RMS WINDSOR CASTLE, the ship used as a starting point for the concept design (the RMS OLYMPIC shown in the background). (Source: Wikipedia)
First of all, the front end of the superstructure was changed following the angular form of British Art Deco villa architecture (the curved parapet on wings of the navigating bridge on OLYMPIC and TITANIC was replaced by a more simple parapet, similar to that was used in WINDSOR CASTLE which was completely straight and flat rom top view). The glass-enclosed section of the forward end of the "A" deck first-class promenade was shortened on the model of WINDSOR CASTLE (this design-element derived from the plans of the unfinished liner NEDERLAND of 1914), and most of the deck was thus occupied by the open promenade. Only at the aft end of the "B" deck was a larger, open promenade created for the second class and a glass-closed one for the first class passengers on the territory belonged to the Café Parisien. On deck "C" in the front (where the forward well deck had been situated on the TITANIC) an open promenade was designed for the third class, while at the end of the ship, a glass-enclosed promenade was created for the second- and behind that an open promenade for the third class passengers.
The planned passenger-carrying capacity of the ship was 792 in first class, 380 in second class, and 1,240 in third class, but there were also 326 berths in first class that could be used both for the first or for the second class, and 318 berths in second class that could be used both for the first or for the third-class, and with 126 berths that could be sold as second- or as third-class berths when needed. All in all, the number of places was sufficient for 2,066 people. The plan of the first-class suites was generally similar to the arrangement of the first-class suites on board of the OLYMPIC (decks B and C would have been occupied by luxury suites in the same way as on the TITANIC and on the OLYMPIC after she was transformed due to the loss of the TITANIC). Perhaps that is why Philip Albright Small Franklin - the president of the IMMC - mentioned in the first public communication about the start of the design work, in August 1926, that "The White Star Line is considering the construction of a gigantic ocean liner with a speed of 25 knots to replace the HOMERIC. The new ship will be superior and will have the best qualities of MAJESTIC and OLYMPIC and will show a family resemblance to the latter.” However, at the time of this announcement, new preliminary plans for the ship were ready...
Fig. 12: The first known concept design of OCEANIC (III) (below), and the sample ships BELGENLAND (above) and WINDSOR CASTLE (middle). (Drawings: Dr. Tamás Balogh)
Fig. 13: General arrangement drawing of the first known concept design of OCEANIC (III). (Drawing: Dr. Balogh Tamás, on the basis of the original plans, publiched by the TITANIC Historical Society)
Fig. 14: Profile and longitudinal section of the first remained proposal made for the OCEANIC (III). (Drawing: Dr. Tamás Balogh
Such a reconstruction is an ideal tool to better understand certain elements of the ship's design. With the help of this, it also turns out, for example, that some parts of the plan come from other, earlier ships.1) The appearance of the ship (hull shape, superstructure design, number of masts and funnels) is an improved version of the OLYMPIC class - OLYMPIC, TITANIC and BRITANNIC.
2) The proportion of the glass-enclosed and open part of the upper promenade on the "A" deck (below the boat deck) and the cruiser stern (which had not been used on White Star Line's superliners until then) are clearly comes from the plans of the NEDERLAND and the ARUNDEL CASTLE, both designed by the Harland & Wolff Shipyard on the basis of the TITANIC.
3) The general arrangement of the interior spaces - the "floor plan" - comes from two sources: On the one hand, the designers adopted several elements of the OLYMPIC-class (e.g. the Café Parisien and the a la carte restaurant on deck "B", or the 1st class dining saloon and reception room on deck "D", the location and size of which are exactly the same as their prototypes designed for TITANIC). On the other hand, the HOMERIC (ex-COLUMBUS), which was taken over from the Germans as war-reparation, was also one of the ships taken into account in the design, insofar as this ship provided the model for the design of the two-deck high public spaces of the "A" deck (the maximum headroom on White Star Line's ships was only one and a half decks, but HOMERIC's spacious interiors proved to be very popular).
4) At the same time, the reconstruction above reveals that the main characteristics of the planned ship not only reflects the shape of other ships built earlier, but also introduced innovations that later gave an inspiration for the designers of other ships: The terraced-design of the aft end of the superstructure and the cruise stern, as well the cabs placed on the wing's ends of the navigation bridge, for example, later reappeared on the designs of the QUEEN MARY.
The second set of the plans which can still be known today, dated 9 March 1926, shows a 935-foot (285 m) long, 52,000 BRT three-stacker ocean liner, also built with a cruiser stern, roughly the size of the later German BREMEN and EUROPA. This ship has already differed significantly from the previous design in several points, and adopted more of the structural solutions used in the case of MAJESTIC (II) – the former German BISMARCK: for example, used split funnel uptakes, and the interior height of the large communal rooms in the boat deck superstructures reached 13 feet (4 m). The height of the hull from the keel to the bridge is 105 feet (32 m). Ship designers clearly aimed to create a modern exterior (the front view of her superstructure, for example, is clearly reminiscent of the facade of Villa Stein, also designed by Le Corbusier in 1926).
Fig. 15: Model of the ship made by Richard D. Edwards in 2006 based on the second known preliminary design of OCEANIC (III) (M=1:350).
The general arrangement of the hull and the design of the superstructures were essentially the same as the previous design version, since the only significant modification was the relocation of the navigating bridge from the boat deck to the top of the officers' quarter, as well as the shortening of the "A" deck promenade and the moving of the mainmast forward. The fundamental difference between the second version of the design and the first one, lay in the propulsion of the ship, in that the combined system of piston steam engines and low-pressure steam turbine was planned to be replaced by a turboelectric drive system on the new ship, which is clearly indicated by the characteristic three, large-diameter, squat funnels.
The combination of diesel engines and electric motors enabled a more flexible distribution of the machines inside the ship and, thanks to the flexible axle connections, considerably dampened the significant vibrations that had been continuously occurring until then, while moving forward at a high speed. Another version of the electric drive chain is the turboelectric drive, in which steam turbines are used to drive electric generators, and they convert the kinetic energy into electrical energy, which is then used to drive the electric motors that turn the ship's propellers. The extraordinary advantage of this solution is the safe connection (without complicated gearboxes) between the fast-rotating main engines and the slow-rotating propeller shaft in the water, as well as the operation of all the other electrical systems of the ship without a separate power generator. Frank V. Smith, an employee of the Federal and Shipping Department of the American General Electric company, summarizes the technical novelty of this in terms of the design of the OCEANIC (III) in the January 1929 issue of the technical journal "Pacific Marine Review", in an article describing the propulsion system of the American ocean liner VIRGINIA:
„High-speed, modern transportation is still of the utmost commercial and competitive importance in the seeking of mail contracts, the dispatch of valuable cargo, and in catering to first- class passenger traffic, and means are now being sought to increase again the power and speed of ships. In 1913. United States naval engineers, in cooperation with W. R. L. Emmet, consulting engineer of the General Electric Company, saw the tremendous advantage which electric propelling equipment would have for ships. Through their concerted efforts this type of propulsion was tried out on the collier Jupiter as an experiment. It was an unqualified success—so much so, in fact, that all of the later battleships were so equipped.
Our great background of electrical experience now stands us in good stead; we have a power in our hands which can be carried to any limit desired. Electric drive was installed on the airplane carriers Saratoga and Lexington, and, in a recent trial, the latter developed the unprecedented power of 210,000 horsepower at the propeller shafts; this amounts to 262 per cent of the greatest power ever applied on a North Atlantic liner and 131 per cent that which had ever been applied to a naval vessel of any type whatsoever. Our merchant marine was slow to adopt this new form of drive, until in 1926 the International Mercantile Marine Company, with great vision into the future, decided to build three electric liners for its Panama Pacific Line. This company had the utmost confidence that such a project would stimulate trade between the east and west, and that the traveling public would give its unanimous support to ships that provided both speed and the ultimate in comfort to its passengers.
The steamship California was a brilliant success, and in its one year of service has become one of the most popular ships afloat. Its passenger accommodations have been booked ahead for as much as five months. Its economies usher- ed in a new era in ship propelling machinery' which made it possible to give high speed service at reasonable rates. The fuel rate was but from 60 to 70 per cent of that existing on the large ships of the North Atlantic. The eyes of Europe were turned westward, and the far-reaching effect of the California's performance can hardly yet be fully visualized. The Peninsular & Oriental Line contracted for the building of a similar ship for its India and Australia trade route; this ship, named the Viceroy of India, is now nearing completion, and will soon be placed in service, Lord Kylsant recently announced that the new 1000-foot passenger liner now being built by the White Star Line is to be electrically driven. Other European lines are also thoroughly investigating the new possibilities which have been opened up because of the unlimited and economical power which can now be produced electrically on ships.”
Fig. 16: Contemporary depiction of the OCEANIC (III) turboelectric propulsion system in the Popular Mechanics Magazine by S. W. Clatworthy (Source: Research by Eric Okanume). The caption to the picture was as follows:„Giant liner to be driven by electric motors – When the White Star Line puts its first big post-war liner into service, it will be not only the biggest ship ever built - 1.050 feet in length and displacing 60.000 tons - but also the biggest electric-driven ship. This type of drive, pioneered by the American navy in battleships some years ago, has been applied to the 17.000-ton liner California and the Virginia, now building, both under the American flag, and in the new 19.000-ton P & O liner Viceroy of India, recently launched in England. The White Star ship, on which work has been started at Belfast, will have four boiler rooms, the aftermost of which is shown in the foreground of the artist's drawing. Oil fuel, with automatic firing, will be used. High-pressure water-tube boilers will be fitted with forced draft of supreheated combustion air. In the main engine room, seen beyond the boiler room, the steam will drive turbo-generators at about 3.000 revolution per minute to generate the electricity for the driving motors, directly connected to the propeller shafts and revolving at about 100 revolutions per minute. The electric drive has many advantages, including ease in maneuvering, quickness of reversing power, and the fact that the propellers cannot race when thrown clear in heavy seas.”
The performance achieved with turboelectric propulsion is typical of the fact that the American aircraft carrier LEXINGTON, mentioned in the quoted article of the Pacific Marine Review, after its launch in 1925 and commissioning in 1927, in the turn of 1929-1930 - for almost a month - supplied the city of Tacoma in Washington State with electricity. During the dry summer of 1929, the western part of the state was drought-stricken, resulting in low water levels at the first dam of Lake Cushman. Since the hydroelectric plant there was the city's primary source of energy, but by December the water level had dropped below the dam's intakes, the city asked for help from the United States federal government, which sent the LEXINGTON to the scene, where the ship's engines - the 4 4 47,200 HP (35,200 KW) generators feeding a 22,500 HP (16,800 KW) electric motor were connected to the city's power grid. The generators provided a total of 4,520,960 kilowatt-hours between December 17, 1929 and January 16, 1930, until melting snow and rain raised the reservoir's water again to a level sufficient to provide the city's entire electrical power supply. This case was an excellent demonstration of the potential of turboelectric propulsion. Although this example was not yet known at the time the OCEANIC (III.) was designed, the propulsion system of the new British ocean liner was modified to introduce turboelectric propulsion, and this change was clearly influenced by the Americans.
However, the implementation of the plans was forced to be suspended in the fall of 1926, when Harland & Wolff's supply of raw materials suffered a serious shortage, and when Lord Kylsant bought the White Star Line from IMMC in November of that year. Kylsant was the champion of (diesel and turbo) electric propulsion in Great Britain, since until then only shipping companies belonging to the interests of Royal Mail Lines built ships with such a drive chain in Great Britain. Since 1920, Harland & Wolff has gained experience in building various motor ships (their first diesel ship was the freighter GLENOGLE built for the Glen Line, launched on 15 April 1920 at Govan, near Glasgow, and their first diesel ocean liner was the Royal Mail Lines ASTURIAS (II.) built for ocean liner launched on 15 Sep 1928 at Alexander Stephen and Son's Shipyard in Glasgow). For OCEANIC (III), Kylsant therefore proposed a diesel-electric drive train instead of the American turbo-electric technology, which presents a fundamentally new design and production challenge.
Kylsant also changed the main dimensions of the ship: he added a deck to its height (which increased the tonnage from 60,000 to 65,000 tons), and he also increased its length, although regarding the exact dimensions of the ship - as the final shipyard blueprints and the builders model were lost - only estimates, oral communications, and recollections are known (the shipyard had to be remodeled in any case, just as it was before the construction of the OLYMPIC-class). C.J. Slater, an employee of Harland & Wolff, who began his career as an architect and civil engineer in 1928 (taking over from his father, who was a consulting civil engineer at the factory), later wrote that he was the "innocent junior" to whom the abolition of labor was entrusted after the decision to dismantle the finished parts of the ship was made. Prior to the laying of the ship's keel, he was also responsible for the extension of slipway 14 established at Harland & Wolff's new, northern building site, the so-called Musgrave yard. This extension alone consisted of driving more than 1,000 40- to 60-foot piles, each 15 inches in diameter, and reinforcing ("wrapping") the pre-existing concrete piles. In his memoirs, he states that "the contours of the ship were always marked as 1,001 feet long on drawing of the slipway." However, some sources (such as the author of the article cited in Figure 13) mention a total length of 1,050 feet.
The concepts of length between perpendiculars (LBP) and length over all (LOA) must be clarified here. The length between the perpendiculars is the value of the distance between the vertical stern post (column in front of the rudder) and the stem (column between the keel and the upper deck, erected at the very forward end of the hull). Compared to this, the total length is the value of the distance between the farthest points of the structural elements extending beyond the bow and stern (the tip of the bow that leans forward and the stern that bends over the rudder).
Fig. 17: The construction site of the OCEANIC (III), at Harland & Wolff's northeastern (Musgrave) yard, which was expanded in the 1920s.
Fig. 18: The original slipway No 9. – after the expansion, slipway No 14. – on which the keel of the OCEANIC (III) was laid. Since the ship would not have been able to dock in the available docks, the construction of a 1,500-foot (460 m) long dry dock was started on March 24, 1928, simultaneously with the preparation of the construction site.
On later large liners of the era, the difference between LBP and LOA ranged from 40 to 70 feet. For the French NORMANDIE, the overall length was 1,029 ft (313.6 m), the length between the perpendiculars was 962 ft (293.2 m) (67 ft - 20.5 m - the overhang), and for the QUEEN MARY LOA 1 019 (310.7 m) to LBP 975 (294.1 m) with an overhang of 44 ft (13.4 m). Based on this, it cannot be ruled out that OCEANIC (III)'s planned length between perpendiculars of 1,001 feet (306.3 m) was accompanied by an overall length of 1,050 feet (320 m), while its width was 120 feet (36.6 m), its draft and was determined to be 38 feet (11.6 m).
Fig. 19: Artist's rendition of OCEANIC (III), as seen on the cover of the book "Damned by Destiny", from 1982. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
The third version of the plans to resurface - dated from 1927 and finally accepted by the White Star Line - accordingly shows a giant of 80,000 GRT built with three squat funnels and a cruiser stern, with a height of 144 feet (44 m) from the keel to the bridge. Unfortunately, the information has remained about this design is the least detailed.
Fig. 20: Princess Mary - the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary - visits the keel of OCEANIC (III) in the Harland & Wolff Shipyard, in October 1928. This is the only known surviving photographic representation of the ship. (Source: British Pathé, 746.22)
The White Star Line ordered the ship on June 18, 1928, and the keel was laid ten days later. It is typical of the level of public interest surrounding the event that even the heir to the throne visited the Motherwell Steel Works, the manufacturer of the ship's keel plates, where he took part in the producing of one of the them. However, work soon slowed as OCEANIC's propulsion system had to be completely redesigned again, this time with performance in mind. The frenzy for size and speed that revived after the First World War necessarily led to an increase in the performance of ship machines: after all, the White Star Line wanted to build not only the largest but also the fastest ship in the world with the new OCEANIC, when it decided to recapture the Blue Ribbon lost in 1892. While at first it seemed that it would be enough "only" to break the MAURETANIA's speed record of 26.06 knots (48.26 km/h) set in 1909, for which a sustained speed of at least 27, but even more 30 knots (50-55 km/h ) needed to maintain speed, until the time of the keel laying of OCEANIC (III), the situation changed, as new rivals appeared on the horizon: In 1926, Cunard Line announced its brand new ocean liner to replace the AQUITANIA built in 1913 - the later QUEEN MARY – the beginning of its design, while in France they started to design a new mammoth ocean liner, the later NORMANDIE, capable of surpassing all previous competitors. In addition, it was already under construction in Germany since June 18, 1927, and were launched on August 15 and 16, 1928, the pair of ships EUROPA and BREMEN, which were also constructed to win the Blue Ribbon. Construction was therefore suspended on 23 July 1929, immediately after BREMEN had captured the Blue Ribbon from MAURETANIA on 16 July at a speed of 27.83 knots (51.54 km/h), as it became apparent that OCEANIC (III), knowing the new developments, it is necessary to design a machinery that provides really convincing performance, which was made difficult by the fact that the main dimensions of the ship had previously been considerably increased.
The president of White Star Line and the CEO of Harland & Wolff continued to argue in favor of modern diesel-electric propulsion: "Lord Kylsant told in his recent speech in connection with the power plant of the new "super-leviathan", being built for the White Star Line, will be electrically driven, and that preliminary investigation figures indicate diesel-electric drive is the most economical power plant for a ship," as he quoted by the contemporary press. However, Harland & Wolff, in view of the demands for increased performance, accepted this argument with difficulty, as both the procurement and own production of exceptionally high-performance and reliable diesel engines were a serious challenge, so the shipyard proposed to build the huge ship with the usual steam turbine propulsion like EUROPA and BREMEN. In any case, in addition to the unique dimensions, the diesel-electric drive chain advocated by Kylsant would have been the real specialty of the OCEANIC (III), since this drive method has never been used anywhere on such a large scale. Now, however, it was precisely this (and the complexity of the solution) that set back the construction of the new White Star liner for a long time. When the order was accepted in 1928, Harland & Wolff calculated another 2-3 years of planning and construction time and a construction cost of 7,000,000 pounds. The redesign to increase the performance of the drive train, however, meant an additional half-year delay.
Fig. 21: Reports on the suspension of the construction of OCEANIC (III) (Source: Pacific Marine Review).„Although a great many rumors are in circulation as to the intentions of the Cunard and White Star lines to build four mammoth record breakers or the transatlantic service, no definite announcement has as yet been made by either company. The White Star has, however, placed an order with its regular builders, Harland and Wolff, for a 60.000-ton liner to be called OCEANIC; but this vessel has long been projected; in fact. P. A. S. Franklin, president of the International Mercantile Marine Company, stated before the control of the White Star Line passed out of American hands that the order was under consideration even then. Very little has been made public regarding the ship except that she is to be equipped with electric drive, and it was recently announced in the British daily press that all work had been suspended as the design was being altered with a view to increasing the speed owing tot he initial success of the North German Lloyd new liner BREMEN. […]”
„The White Star Line has recently issued an official statement to the effect that all work on their new 60.000-ton liner OCEANIC is to be suspended as no decision has as yet been made regarding the ultimate design or type propelling machinery to be installed. It has been definitely started that electric drive is to be employed, but whether high speed airless injection diesel sor high pressure watertube boilers and turbines are to be adopted for generating purposes is apparently still under consideration. The keel plates will, however, remain undisturbed in Harland & Wolff’s Belfast shipyard […]”
The details of the final engine arrangement of OCEANIC (III) were first reported in September 5, 1952 by Dr. Denis Rebbeck - son of Frederick E. Rebbeck (who was a chief executive officer of Harland & Wolff from June 1930.) - later director of the shipyard, enhancing that “The Musgrave Shipyard will also be long remembered by the people of Belfast as the yard where the keel of a 1000-ft. Diesel-electric passenger liner was laid down for the White Star Line in the late 1920’s …” and “the total power of the ship was designed to be 200,000 shaft horse-power on four screws, and there were to be 47 six-cylinder super-charged four-stroke Diesel engines, coupled in pairs. [...] the fact that such a bold design was ever contemplated suffices to prove how far Harland and Wolff had by then progressed along the path of diesel engine development for marine propulsion [...] and nailed the flag of the oil engine for ships of the highest power to the top of the mast.” Mr. Cuthbert Coulson Pounder, Director and Chief Technical Engineer of Harland & Wolff after World War 2, gave a less pathetic, but more useful description of the machines in his book "Diesel Engine Principle & Practice" published in 1955: "The propulsive power was 200,000 shp total for four screws, and there were 47 exhaust turbo-charged, 4-stroke single-acting trunk engines each having 6 cylinders 670 mm (26,38 in) bore, 930 mm (36.61 in) stroke delivering 3,400 bhp at 260 rev/min. Most of the engines were arranged end-to-end, in pairs, forming 12-cylinder units with the dynamos at the ends. The propulsion motors were 24 ft in diameter, the engine dynamos and the propulsion motors being direct-current machines. The total installation weight was 17,000 tons." In other words, in the case of the OCEANIC (III), the weight of the machinery alone exceeded the total weight of a traditional steamship! Denis Rebbeck attached to his presentation an original drawing illustrating the final engine arrangement of the ship. It can be clearly read from this that in the five engine rooms connected to the ship's three funnels (the first two funnels had 2 each, the last one had 1 engine room) the diesel engines would have been placed in 5 rows: in the first engine room three in one row, in the second two rows a total of eight, and in the three engine rooms after that, a total of twelve in two rows per engine rooms, so a total of forty-seven diesel engines. In addition to the 200,000 hp allocated to the ship's propellers, the engines provided an additional 75,000 hp for the operation of the heating and lighting, as well as for the operation of other on-board electrical equipment (cranes, winches, etc.).
Fig. 22: The machinery of OCEANIC (III) with the diesel engines and the electric generators driving the propellers. (Source: research by Eric Okanume). According to Eric Okanume: "This was likely the design used when ordering the ship on 06/28/28. Included in Mr. Rebbeck’s September 5th 1952 paper read on the history of H&W (the drawing was included in the Sept 15/16 1952 issue of the 'Engineering' magazine). It was labeled as dating from 1927, and although it gives us a good idea of the diesel power plant layout that was proposed (which was the main purpose of the sillouette drawing anyway), that date also adds further validity to the claim that the silhouette may not have been 100% representative of Oceanic’s final design (given the possible 1928/1929 changes to the design)."
In other respects, no credible representation of the third design version has survived in 100%. Nevertheless, several people have attempted to reconstruct the general arrangement of the ship in recent decades.
The British captain John H. Isherwood (merchant mariner and maritime historian) first made a profile drawing of the ship's exterior and final appearance in the early 1950s, which then served as the basis for E.W. Bearman's painting in 1966 and also was published by Roy Andersson's in his 1971 book "White Star".
In addition to the uncertainty of the details, the reconstruction proved to be a more difficult task than average, since according to some sources Harland & Wolff no longer kept the plans after 1939, so only the highly sketchy first two design versions and the fragmentary surviving details of the third (the final) version (it was possible to start from the 1928 side view of the engine arrangement - the "engine room profile" - and the painting for advertising purposes based on the final plans).
So it is no wonder that the creator himself wrote the following about the profile drawing he created:
"This drawing is not authentic. It is merely based on a sketch published in a contemporary shipping magazine, which I filled in with details based on my own imagination and a study of Harland & Wolff's general shipbuilding practices at the time. It contains everything that might seem quite good and reasonable when creating such a general arrangement drawing, but most of it is the product of my own fantasy".
Isherwood's reconstruction must therefore be treated with reservations and can only be accepted with respect to those details where no other information is available.
Fig. 23: Reconstruction drawing of OCEANIC (III) by Captain John H. Isherwood. (Source: Research by Eric Okanume)
Fig. 24: Model made by Richard D. Edwards in 2013 based on the third preliminary design of OCEANIC (III) (M=1:350).
The third attempt was made by the American Eric Okanume for the reconstruction of the external appearance of OCEANIC (III) between 2014-2020. He used both the Isherwood and Edwards reconstructions for his work, but he also made a thorough collection of contemporary newspaper reports about the ship, which enriched the sources of the reconstruction activity with additional information. These sources contain several references to the fact that between 1929-1930 - as a result of the success of BREMEN - the square superstructures originally designed for OCEANIC (III) were streamlined, the traditional sharp bow were replaced by more streamlined one, and the originally round cross-section of the funnels, designed by T.C. Tobin, was replaced by a teardrop-form. These changes in the overall design actually resulted in a possible fourth variation of the plans.
In August of 1929, it was reported by the New York Times that "White Star's new vessel [had] been entirely redesigned as a response to Bremen's remarkable performance during her maiden voyage one month earlier. This new design was to be larger than the previous as the decision to increase the length of the Oceanic is in conformity with the view of naval architects that length is an essential factor when the speed of great liners is of paramount importance." In January of 1930, an article on the Saturday Evening post stated that "eighty feet were added" to the 1,000-foot figure, and while other changes were kept secret, "in her wind and water resistance features she will strongly resemble Bremen." Additionally, "whether turbo electric or propelled by electricity produced by internal-combustion engines [...] the Oceanic will go in for high speed in an attempt to regain the blue ribbon of the Atlantic for Britain."
Fig. 25: Digital model created by Eric Okanume between 2014-2020 based on the third preliminary design of OCEANIC (III) (in the foreground), compared to Richard D. Edwards' model (in the background).
Fig. 26: The OCEANIC III. (1928) and II. (1899) comparison (Eric Okanume, 2020).
Fig. 27: Images of the digital model created by Eric Okanume between 2014-2020 based on the third design of OCEANIC (III).
Fig. 28: Images of the digital model created by Eric Okanume between 2014-2020 based on the third design of OCEANIC (III).
Fig. 29: Preliminary plans of OCEANIC (III) January 1926, March 1926, June 1928, January 1930 (left), and models built according to the plans of March 1926 and January 1930 and photo manipulations to aid visualization (right). (Drawings by Eric Okanume)
Fig. 30: First and last preliminary plans for OCEANIC (III) (January 1926, January 1930). (Drawing by Dr. Tamás Balogh)
Fig. 31: The general arrangement of the OCEANIC (III) and the reconstruction of its steel structure drawings according to the preliminary plans of January 1930, reconstructed by Ander Mägi in 2020.
Fig. 32: Visual plan for the intended equipment of OCEANIC (III). (Source: research of Eric Okanume). Eric Okanume said: "This Image made by Daniel Adamson, and has been claimed to have panelling and decorative furnishing planned for the OCEANIC (III). There is very little evidence to back this up, however, it is a possibility nonetheless. Only evidence is the word “Oceanic” written on the back of the panels. To story also states that panelling intended for the OCEANIC was also used on the QUEEN ELIZABETH."
As for the interior spaces, based on the third version of the design, OCEANIC would have had spacious interiors, which were to be furnished in the popular Art Deco style, based on the example introduced just a year earlier by the French ILE de FRANCE, which introduced the style in ocean shipping.
Fig. 33: Artist's rendering of OCEANIC (III) (source: Anton Logvinyenko, 2020).
V.) Abdication and aftermath - the end of the White Star Line
When construction was suspended in late July 1929, Harland & Wolff workers oiled the keel plate to protect it from the elements. The work did not progress significantly, since even the holes required for riveting were not perforated along the plate edges. No one expected a long, let alone a permanent shutdown. At the same time, by the time all parties agreed to use diesel engines in the fall of 1929, the Great Depression broke out...
The New York Stock Exchange crashed on October 24, 1929. This burst the financial bubble of the "roaring twenties". 11,000 of the 25,000 banks in the USA bankrupted, all the savings of the depositors were lost. By 1933, all stock market investments lost 92% of their value (the stock market index fell back to the value of 1896 when stock market trading began). In 1932, 273,000 families were evicted, and by 1934, the farms of more than 1,000,000 families were auctioned off due to their debts. In the country with 126,000,000 inhabitants, 13,000,000 were unemployed and 34,000,000 people lived without a fixed income. All this lasted until the American government, following the principles of the English John Maynard Keynes, absorbed the mass of the unemployed with a large public demand-stimulation program (significant government investments) called the New Deal, and generated new demand in order to stimulate the economy.
The "Black Thursday" in New York in 1929 also felt its influence in Europe the following week, when on the "Black Tuesday" of October 29, 1929, the London stock market also faltered, which also seriously affected the shipping industry. To avoid collapse, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, which owns the White Star Line, has asked the Treasury to extend the term of government loans to the company. The Ministry of Finance made the fulfillment of the request subject to a preliminary audit of the company's accounting, and asked Sir William McClintock to prepare a report on the financial situation of the RMSPC. The report then revealed that the company had not made a trading profit since 1925 but continued to pay dividends from reserves. The group showed a profit of £439,000 in 1926, but deducted £750,000 from reserves and falsified accounts to make it appear as if the money came from trading. In 1927, the loss was £507,000, but again the reserves were used to cover the deficit to make it appear as if the company had made a profit of £478,000. The report also revealed that a false prospectus was issued in 1928 in which customers were persuaded to buy shares by claiming that the company had made an average profit of £500,000 a year in the previous decade. In 1929, the deficit realized up to the preparation of the report reached almost £300,000. Arrest warrants were then issued for Kylsant and his accountant, John Moreland.
The trial of the criminal case known as the Royal Mail Case began on July 20, 1931. In the lawsuit, Philips stood before the court on three charges: 1) for falsifying the 1926 annual report with the intention of deceiving the shareholders, 2) for falsifying the 1927 annual report with the same purpose, 3) for the 1928 share issue information for falsification with the intention of damaging future shareholders. Moreland stood trial for aiding and abetting in charge 1) and as an accomplice in charge 2). As a result of the trial, charges 1) and 2) were dropped, but in charge 3) Phillips was sentenced to one year of imprisonment and deprivation of his titles, despite the fact that the court admitted: "although the statements in the information are all true, the document as a whole is false because of what it concealed, omitted or implied". As a result of the financial problems experienced in management, lending and control of companies' accounting were tightened by law. The RMSPC was liquidated and re-established with government support as The Royal Mail Lines. The completion of OCEANIC (III), which was also planned to be built with a loan from the government, was cancelled.
A common assumption is that, under pressure from the British government, it was then decided that two smaller sister ships should be built from the loan and the construction material accumulated in Belfast for OCEANIC (III). However, the construction of BRITANNIC (III) and GEORGIC - the last ships of the White Star Line - was decided much earlier, in January 1927, to replace the outdated "Big Four" (CELTIC, CEDRIC, BALTIC, ADRIATIC), and the construction of the first of the two ships, the BRITANNIC (III), began on April 14, 1927, and was launched on August 6, 1929, just a week after the OCEANIC (III) construction was suspended. GEORGIC's keel was also laid on November 30, 1929, and she was unceremoniously launched on November 12, 1931, shortly after the OCEANIC (III) keel and the frames assembled but finally not installed on the keel were completely dismantled.[3]
In the 4 years following 1929, maritime trade fell to a third. The vaults of the Bank of England operating in London keep valuable files that are also important for historians researching the history of ocean liners. They also provide important data about the last few years of the White Star Line. The files cover the years 1928-1935. Their interesting piece is the report of certified public accountant Thomas McClintock dated April 15, 1930. This is a preliminary report on the Kylsant Shipping Companies, collectively known as the "Royal Mail Group". The detailed report spans dozens of pages and exhaustively describes all incoming and outgoing data. Data for 1929 were apparently not available at the time the report was compiled. However, the report notes in the section devoted to shipping that on December 31, 1928, the company had 35 vessels in operation, in whole or in part, with a total tonnage of 434,747 gross register tons. The value of the ships was £15,150,513, which after adjusting for depreciation was reduced to £8,624,805. Within the corporate empire, the position of White Star Line was not enviable either: it could not pay dividends to its shareholders and its balance - with bank debt of 1,239,382 pounds - showed a loss for the first time in its 61 years of existence: in the amount of 379,069 pounds.
Passenger traffic also showed a dramatic decline:
Source: Paul Lee: The TITANIC, White Star Line and Bank of England.
When the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. acquired the White Star Line in 1926, it became the largest shipping group in the world, so during the Depression of 1929 the knowledge that Kylsant's empire might crumble filled quite a few caused deep concern in British shipping circles, so much so that even the Cunard Line offered to help. On October 15, 1930, Percy E. Bates, chairman of Cunard, wrote a letter to Walter Runciman, MP and vice-chairman of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, the umbrella company that included the White Star Line, offering on behalf of Cunard to buy the MAJESTIC, OLYMPIC and HOMERIC and 50% ownership of ADRIATIC, ARABIC, BALTIC, BRITANNIC, CEDRIC, DORIC, LAURENTIC and MEGANTIC for £1,595,000 and would assume responsibility for BRITANNIC (III) and also for loans in the amount of 1,655,000 pounds taken out for the construction of LAURENTIC. However, Runciman politely declined the offer. Despite this, Cunard persisted, and in a letter sent to the governor of the Bank of England in July 1931, he wrote that in view of the declining passenger numbers, there were only two options: either a single shipping company would be formed under Cunard's management, or Cunard would buy out the White Star Line. The governor preferred the second option. The rest of the story is well known: The Atlantic fleets of Cunard and White Star Line were merged, and the former was the dominant partner in the forced marriage, which eventually absorbed the smaller entity.
Owen Cosby Phillips - William James Pirrie's best student - was released from Wormwood Scrubs prison in August 1932, where he had been serving his sentence. He died on June 5, 1937, at the age of 74. The Times, which reported on his death, wrote of him: "Lord Kylsant bore his trial with great dignity, cast no blame on any colleagues, and on return to ordinary life retired to his residence in South Wales. On his return to Coomb he was given a warm welcome and his car was drawn by 40 men at a running pace for about a quarter of a mile to the entrance of the house, and passed under an arch of laurel and evergreen which had been built over the gates. All who knew him acquitted him of any desire to act criminally, and they laid the responsibility on the assumption of duties beyond the power of any individual to bear and on a certain financial recklessness and a belief in the future which events showed was unjustified."
Fig. 34: The enthusiastic crowd towing Phillips' car home in Wales, at the reception of the tycoon coming from prison (Source: Encyclopedia Titanica).
OCEANIC (III) was the last giant ship of the White Star Line. After the decision to abandon the project was made, the construction material accumulated in Belfast for its construction was transferred to the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank during the merger of the White Star Line and the Cunard Line (where most of it was used for the current repair work, but it is possible that the building materials even found their way into QUEENs later). After her nearly completed keel was quietly dismantled, the ship was slowly forgotten, depriving the workers of the Harland & Wolff Shipyard of the glory of fulfilling the goal set by the factory's founder, Sir Edward Harland: the construction of the first 1,000-foot ocean liner. Cuthbert Coulson Pounder wrote of it in 1955: "Thus was a history-making engineering achievement lost for the nation." He was right: the first ocean liner over 1,000 feet was finally built in France in 1932.[4]
V.) Chronology:
04/15/1912: The TITANIC, flagship of the IMMC and White Star Line, sinks.
12/31/1912: Joseph Bruce Ismay confirms that, in accordance with his decision in January, he will resign as President of the IMMC effective June 30, 1913. His application was accepted on January 2, 1913, but his request to remain president of the White Star Line was rejected.
03/31/1913: John Pierpont Morgan, the founding owner of IMMC, dies in his sleep while on a trip to Rome.
05/20/1918: The USS NEW MEXICO, the world's first warship with turboelectric propulsion, enters service.
1919: Philip Albright Small Franklin, the new president of IMMC and White Star Line, announces in 1919 that the White Star Line will build a new 35,000-ton ship at Harland & Wolff as part of its post-war construction program. Owen Cosby Phillips, president of the British Royal Mail Steam Packet Co., acquires the majority of shares in Harland & Wolff Shipyard.
04/15/1920: The Harland & Wolff Shipyard launches its first diesel-powered ship, the freighter GLEOGLE, built for the Glen Line, in Govan, near Glasgow.
1921: William James Pirrie, CEO of Harland & Wolff, is knighted.
1922: William James Pirrie suggests to Owen Cosby Phillips that he buy back British ownership of the White Star Line, but this is thwarted by the veto of the President of the United States.
04/23/1923: Ernst Förster, the designer of LEVIATHAN and MAJESTIC, talks about future ocean liners in the Scientific American magazine. According to him, the main dimensions (length, width, draft) do not change, the height can be increased, and the speed must be increased with efficient, oil-fired boilers. The profitable operation can be ensured by the thus reduced operating costs and the increased passenger capacity and ticket revenue with an extra deck.
06/1923: The still American-owned White Star Line asks Harland & Wolff to begin designing a new giant ship to replace the HOMERIC. Owen Cosby Phillips is ennobled as the first Lord of Kylsant.
06/07/1924: Lord Pirrie dies. Lord Kylsant is the new CEO of Harland & Wolff. The United States significantly restricts immigration.
07/07/1925: The Harland & Wolff Shipyard launches its first diesel-powered ocean liner, the ASTURIAS (II) passenger ship built for the Royal Mail Lines, in Belfast. The Harland & Wolff Shipyard and the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. shipping company belonging to Lord Kylasnt's empire - which did not make a commercial profit during their annual management - maintain the appearance of solvency by paying dividends from reserves.
08/1925: The White Star Line, which is still American-owned, introduces the tourist class to compensate for its losses resulting from the decrease in emigrant traffic, and then requests a new offer from Harland & Wolff for the giant ship to be built to replace the HOMERIC.
01/28/1926: The first preliminary design is completed: a design for a 904-foot (276 m) long, four-stacked, cruiser-stern ocean liner powered by conventional steam engines.
03/09/1926: The second preliminary design is completed: a design for a 935 ft (285 m) long, 52,000 BRT three-pipe, cruiser-stern ocean liner powered by conventional steam engines.
05/04/1926: A general strike in Great Britain thwarts the intention of the shipping company Furness Vithy & Co. to buy the White Star Line back into British ownership.
08/03/1926: IMMC President Philip Albright Small Franklin officially announces that “The White Star Line is considering building a gigantic 25-knot ocean liner to replace the HOMERIC. The new ship will surpass the best features of MAJESTIC and OLYMPIC and bears a family resemblance to the latter." Cunard Line announces the start of planning for its new giant ship to replace AQUITANIA. Upon learning of the news, the French also started planning a new giant ocean liner.
11/1/1926: Lord Kylsant collects White Star Line shares from IMMC, which announces that it is terminating all ship repair contracts with Harland & Wolff Shipyard. The White Star Line changes from American to British ownership and joins the conglomerate led by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co.
04/14/1927: The keel laying of BRITANNIC (III), ordered to replace the outdated "Big Four".
09/25/1927: The third preliminary plan is prepared: the same as the second preliminary plan, only the traditional steam locomotives are replaced by a turboelectric propulsion system.
01/28/1928: The world's first turbo-electric powered ocean liner, the American CALI-FORNIA, enters service (construction started on 20.03.1926 and launched on 10.01.1927).
15/09/1928: VICEROY of INDIA, the first British ocean liner with turboelectric propulsion, is launched in Glasgow at the Alexander Stephen and Son Shipyard.
05/24/1928: The New York Times reports that the Harland & Wolff Shipyard is beginning construction of a 1,500-foot (460 m) dry dock for the new White Star giant ship, to be christened the OCEANIC.
06/18/1928: Modification of the plans of the OCEANIC by the client (increasing its length and volume), approval of the modified plans and conclusion of the construction contract.
06/28/1928: Laying of the keel of the OCEANIC with yard number 844 at the eastern (Musgrave) yard of the Harland & Wolff Shipyard, in the former 9 (the new 14) slipway extended for this purpose to a length of 1,001 feet (305 m).
08/15-16/1928: The ship pair EUROPA and BREMEN are launched in Germany. Although they operate with a traditional steam turbine propulsion system, their task is to conquer the Blue Ribbon.
10/15/1928: The British heir to the throne visits the Motherwell Steel Works, which produces the ship's keel plates, where he participates in the processing of one of the plates.
10/28/1928: Princess Mary - the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary - visits the Harland & Wolff Shipyard at the nearly completed keel of OCEANIC (III).
07/16/1929: BREMEN conquers the Blue Ribbon held by MAURETANIA since 1909 at a speed of 27.83 knots (51.54 km/h).
07/23/1929: Construction work on the OCEANIC is suspended. At the same time, The New York Times publishes a report with Lord Kylsant, who announces that, according to his plans, William Marshall, captain of the MAJESTIC, will take the OCEANIC on its maiden voyage, which will be the Cunard Line's proposed 1,000-foot giant steamer (the later QUEEN MARY) will also be bigger.
08/06/1929: Launch of BRITANNIC (III), barely a week after the suspension of construction of OCEANIC (III).
08/14/1929: The New York Times reports that the White Star Line has announced a complete overhaul of the OCEANIC's plans in order to build a larger ship to beat the BREMEN's speed record.
9/1/1929: The New York Times reports that the White Star Line is adamant that the OCEANIC will be built.
9/26/1929: The New York Times reports that the White Star Line is suspending construction of the OCEANIC due to the success of the BREMEN, pending investigations into the final propulsion system.
10/24/1929: "Black Thursday": the New York Stock Exchange crashes.
10/29/1929: "Black Tuesday": the London stock market also wobbles. Lord Kylsant requests an extension of the term of the government loans taken out, before the government appoints auditor Sir William McClintock and orders an audit of the Kylsant interests.
11/30/1929: The keel laying of GEORGIC started to be built as a running mate of BRITANNIC (III).
02/26/1930: The New York Times reports that if construction on the OCEANIC continues, it will be based on entirely new plans, resulting in a larger ship. Sir William McClintock publishes his inquiry report, which reveals that the unpaid debts of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co. exceed £10,000,000. Most of Kylsant's powers will then be given to the trustees appointed by the banks, although Kylsant's position as chairman will remain for the time being.
05/17/1930: The New York Times reports that Lord Kylsant is working on the OCEANIC, stressing that he must study different types of engines.
15/10/1930: Sir Percy Bates, CEO of Cunard Line, makes a buyout bid for the White Star Line - unsuccessfully.
02/01/1931: Lord Kylsant and his wife go on a trip to Africa. When they return home, the authorities take Kylsant into custody.
20/07/1931: The trial of Lord Kylsant and his accountant begins in the criminal case known as the Royal Mail Case. Cunard Line's second takeover bid is supported by the president of the Bank of England. The Atlantic fleets of the White Star Line and the Cunard Line are combined in 45%-55%, the Cunard-White Star Line comes into existence.
11/01/1931: Dismantling of the completed keel of OCEANIC and transfer of the accumulated construction material to the John Brown Shipyard in Clydebank, which built the QUEENS.
12/11/1931: Launch of the GEORGIC in Belfast.
6/5/1937: Owen Cosby Phillips dies.
17/10/1937: Joseph Bruce Ismay - the eldest son of Thomas Henry Ismay, who founded and prospered White Star Line, and the heir destined to manage the company - dies.
Fig. 35: The evolution of the ship's design from 1926 to 1928. (Drawings by Dr. Tamás Balogh).
Fig. 36: A souvenir booklet in the shape of the liner. It was printed by the Southern Railway and contains information about the different steamships and liners using the docks.
Notes:
[1] Distribution of the number of ships built at Harland & Wolff Shipyard for RMSPC and WSL (OSNC):
RMSPC: 51 between 1904-1960 (17 between 1904-1916, 4 between 1921-1926, 30 between 1938-1960).
OSNC: 64 between 1870-1931 (59 between 1870-1917, 5 between 1927-31).
[2] Several plans were drafted between 1925 and 1929. According to Tim Trower’s „The Unfinished Dream” Tom McCluskie, former archivist for Harland & Wolff stated that various "...profiles [for the Oceanic] were developed ranging from approximately 980 feet to 1,100..."
[3] When the „Post-Bremen” design variant – referred by the Times Magazine as “Super-Oceanic” – were made, this was likely the set of plans used when attempting to restart contraction in 1929 (also final set of plans/improvements drawn). Design and decorative changes made for the OCEANIC (in comparison to the 1927 design) were also applied on a smaller scale to the GEORGIC (in comparison to Britannic).
[4] As far as the propulsion of the OCEANIC (III), Eric Okanume stated: "I do not think that any final decisions were made regarding propulsion. Kylsant’s last public statement regarding the Oceanic was in May of 1930. He stated that he was delaying construction due to the need to study her engines. By that time he knew very well that there was no feasible possibility of completing the liner, and it appears that the diesel technology was not quite mature enough at the time to power a ship of that magnitude. Additionally, the 1929 Popular Mechanics article (which post-dates the 1927 diesel power plant arrangements released in 1952) mentions turbo-electric power by steam as the chosen option. As much as I want to believe that she would have been a diesel liner, I suspect that she would have been powered by steam if completed. Nonetheless, we will probably never know what the realistic and most probable choice would have been."
Sources:
I.) "Twilight of the Gods"
William B Saphire: The White Star Line and the International Mercantile Marine Company, in.: The Compass, Ships and the Sea and Sea Breezes. Posted by the Titanic Historical Society.
Paul Lee: The Titanic, the White Star Line and the Bank of England, Posted by Paul Lee on Titanic pages.
Mark Baber: News from 1913: Ismay's resignation from White Star Line. Various post on Encyclopedia Titanica.
II.) Lord Kylsant, the new favorite:
David Lewis Jones: Philips, Owen Cosby, Baron Kylsant (1863-1937), in.: Welsh Biography Online, National Library of Wales, 2011.
III.) New ocean liner designs in the 1920s:
Ernst Foerster: Big and fast liners of the future. in.: Scientific American,Vol. 128, No. 4 (April 1923) , pp. 221-223.
Frank V. Smith: Propulsion machinery of the Virginia, in.: Pacific Marine Review, Vol. XXVI., 1929. January, pp. 10-12.
Richard P. de Kerbrech: Ships of the White Star Line, Ian Allen Publishing, 2009., pp. 209-211.
IV.) Design-variants:
Eric Okanume: M.V. OCEANIC, posted in.: White Star Moments, 2017.
David L. Williams, Richard P. de Kerbrech: Great Passenger Ships That Never Were: Damned by Destiny Revised, History Press, 2019.
Dr. Denis Rebbeck: Ships and Shipbuilding in Belfast, in.: Engineering, 1952. Sept. 15/16. pp. 385-417.
Giant Liner to be driven by Electric Motors, in.: Popular Mechanics Magazine, 1929/5. pp. 728-729.
Richard P. de Kerbrech: Ships of the White Star Line, Ian Allen Publishing, 2009., pp. 221-222.
Oceanic III never built, various posts in Encyclopedia Titanica, 2002-2022.
V.) Abdication and aftermath:
Hume, John R, Moss, Michael S.: Shipbuilders to the World: 125 Years of Harland and Wolff, Belfast, 1861-1986, Blackstaff Press Ltd, 1986., pp. 245-282.
Janette McCutcheon: White Star Line, Amberley Publishing Limited, 2008.
William H. Miller: Royal Mail Liners, 1925-1971, Amberley Publishing Limited, 2017.
It would be great if you like the article and pictures shared. If you are interested in the works of the author, you can find more information about the author and his work on the Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners Fb-page.
If you would like to share the pictures, please do so by always mentioning the artist's name in a credit in your posts. Thank You! -
Secret of the Lost Liners VI. - AMERICA
The first episode of the band-new six-part documentary series "Secrets of the Lost Liners" started on Sky/History in the UK on Wednesday 27 July 2022 at 21:00. The six episodes will be shown as follows: NORMANDIE (27.07.2022.), QUEEN ELIZBETH (04.08.2022.), ANDREA DORIA (11.08.2022.), REX (18.08.2022.), CAP ARCONA (25.08.2022.), AMERICA (09.01.2022). International broadcasts are likely to follow later in 2022-2023.
This is the most extensive and detailed 6 x 1 hour on the subject. Charting a century of history of ocean liners, the most informed experts and authors tell the story how these ships were designed, built and served on the oceans, and how they eventually became victims of war, accident or human error.
On the occasion of the beginning of the presentation of the series, on the day of the screening of each episode, we will publish the background materials summarizing the research related to the history of the ocean liners in the given episode and the preliminary plans made for the animations to be shown in the series, both prepared by the president of our association, Dr. Tamás Balogh, who worked as animation director, responsible for the design and production of the technical animations presented in the series.
The background material on the historical research of the American ocean liner AMERICA (1939-1994) featured in the sixth episode can be downloaded here.
The uncut version of the animation draft for the AMERICA episode can be downloaded here.
It would be great if you like the article and pictures shared. If you are interested in the works of the author, you can find more information about the author and his work on the Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners Fb-page.
If you would like to share the pictures, please do so by always mentioning the artist's name in a credit in your posts. Thank You!
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National Geographic Magazine reports on the secrets of LUSITANIA
The remains of the British giant steamer LUSITANIA, resting in the Atlantic Ocean, were visited by the first expedition, which included both German and Hungarian members between July 6-14, 2022, of which members for the first time managed to get into the No. 1. boiler room of the ship and explore it thoroughly. On this occasion, the president of our association Dr. Tamás Balogh, who participated in the expedition by evaluating the underwater photoes and footage made by the divers, wrote an article, which can now be read on the website of the Hungarian edition of the National Geographic Magazine.
Fig. 1: LUSITANIA is on the cover.
An article summarizing the latest research results is available
in Hungarian here
in English here.
Below we share some drawings made by hand on site during the expedition, which show the state of the wreck in 1915 immediately after the sinking, and today, 2022, of the stern of the ship, which was the research area of the first half of the 7-day expedition.Fig. 2: The stern of the LUSITANIA on the seabed as seen from the boat deck in 1915 (above) and 2022 (below). Drawing by Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2022.
Fig. 3: The stern of the LUSITANIA on the seabed as seen from the bottom of the ship in 1915 (above) and 2022 (below). Drawing by Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2022.
Fig. 4: An overview of the wreckage of the LUSITANIA seen from the bow in 2022. Drawing by Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2022.
Fig. 5: The points visited by the expedition on the wrecks of the LUSITANIA. Drawing by Dr. Tamás Balogh © 2022.
It would be great if you like the article and pictures shared. If you are interested in the works of the author, you can find more information about the author and his work on the Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners Fb-page.If you would like to share the pictures, please do so by always mentioning the artist's name in a credit in your posts. Thank You!
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Secret of the Lost Liners V. - CAP ARCONA
The first episode of the band-new six-part documentary series "Secrets of the Lost Liners" started on Sky/History in the UK on Wednesday 27 July 2022 at 21:00. The six episodes will be shown as follows: NORMANDIE (27.07.2022.), QUEEN ELIZBETH (04.08.2022.), ANDREA DORIA (11.08.2022.), REX (18.08.2022.), CAP ARCONA (25.08.2022.), AMERICA (09.01.2022). International broadcasts are likely to follow later in 2022-2023.
This is the most extensive and detailed 6 x 1 hour on the subject. Charting a century of history of ocean liners, the most informed experts and authors tell the story how these ships were designed, built and served on the oceans, and how they eventually became victims of war, accident or human error.
On the occasion of the beginning of the presentation of the series, on the day of the screening of each episode, we will publish the background materials summarizing the research related to the history of the ocean liners in the given episode and the preliminary plans made for the animations to be shown in the series, both prepared by the president of our association, Dr. Tamás Balogh, who worked as animation director, responsible for the design and production of the technical animations presented in the series.
The background material on the historical research of the German ocean liner CAP ARCONA (1927-1945) featured in the fifth episode can be downloaded here.
The uncut version of the animation draft for the CAP ARCONA episode can be downloaded here.
It would be great if you like the article and pictures shared. If you are interested in the works of the author, you can find more information about the author and his work on the Encyclopedia of Ocean Liners Fb-page.
If you would like to share the pictures, please do so by always mentioning the artist's name in a credit in your posts. Thank You!