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159-414: SS Kroonland was an ocean liner for International Mercantile Marine (IMM) from her launch in 1902 until she was scrapped in 1927. Kroonland was the sister ship of Finland and a near sister ship of Vaderland and Zeeland of the same company. Kroonland sailed for IMM's Red Star Line for 15 years, and also sailed for IMM's American Line and Panama Pacific Line . During World War I ,

318-810: A cargo liner or cargo-passenger liner. The advent of the Jet Age and the decline in transoceanic ship service brought about a gradual transition from passenger ships to modern cruise ships as a means of transportation. In order for ocean liners to remain profitable, cruise lines modified some of them to operate on cruise routes, such as the SS ; France . Certain characteristics of older ocean liners made them unsuitable for cruising, such as high fuel consumption, deep draught preventing them from entering shallow ports, and cabins (often windowless) designed to maximize passenger numbers rather than comfort. The Italian Line 's SS  Michelangelo and SS  Raffaello ,

477-524: A commerce raider . The torpedoing and sinking of Lusitania on 7 May 1915 caused the loss of 128 American lives at a time when the United States was still neutral. Although other factors came into play, the loss of American lives in the sinking strongly pushed the United States to favour the Allied Powers and facilitated the country's entry into the war. The losses of the liners owned by

636-456: A 42-inch (110 cm) stroke. There were nine single-ended coal-fired Scotch boilers with a heating area of 22,400 square feet (2,080 m), a grate area of 643 square feet (59.7 m), and an operating pressure of 170 pounds per square inch (1,200 kPa). Kroonland had eleven watertight compartments with reinforced bulkheads, and was designed to remain afloat with up to two compartments flooded. Kroonland ' s coal bunkers surrounded

795-520: A U-boat when tugs tried to tow her to safety. Out of all the innovative and glamorous inter-war superliners, only the Cunard Queens and Europa would survive the war. After the war, some ships were again transferred from the defeated nations to the winning nations as war reparations. This was the case of the Europa , which was ceded to France and renamed Liberté . The United States government

954-544: A competition between world powers of the time, especially between the United Kingdom , the German Empire , and to a lesser extent France . Once the dominant form of travel between continents, ocean liners were rendered largely obsolete by the emergence of long-distance aircraft after World War II . Advances in automobile and railway technology also played a role. After Queen Elizabeth 2 was retired in 2008,

1113-500: A conflict rich in events involving liners. From the start of the conflict, German liners were requisitioned and many were turned into barracks ships. It was in the course of this activity that the Bremen caught fire while under conversion for Operation Sea Lion and was scrapped in 1941. During the conflict, Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary provided distinguished service as troopships. Many liners were sunk with great loss of life; in

1272-513: A cruise ship over the years and was in active service for Cruise & Maritime Voyages until operations ceased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic . In August, 2021 she was purchased by Brock Pierce to be transformed into a hotel along with MV  Funchal . These plans were ultimately abandoned and the ship was again made available for sale, never having left port in Rotterdam. Astoria

1431-443: A day when six liners, with over 1,500 passengers, departed New York. In October, Helen Taft returned from Europe on Kroonland and was met by her husband, Secretary of War William Howard Taft . The next August, Henry Yates Satterlee , the first Episcopal Bishop of Washington , returned on Kroonland from a six-week tour of cathedrals of Europe, during which he noted both good and bad design elements of cathedrals in preparation for

1590-531: A dry berthed luxury hotel on Bintan Island , Indonesia. Post-war ocean liners still existent include MV  Astoria (1948), United States (1952), MV Brazil Maru (1954), Rotterdam (1958), MV  Funchal (1961), MS  Ancerville (1962), Queen Elizabeth 2 (1967), and Queen Mary 2 (2003). Out of these eight ocean liners, only one is still active and three of them have since been preserved. The Rotterdam has been moored in Rotterdam as

1749-445: A few former ocean liners were still in existence; some, like SS  Norway , were sailing as cruise ships while others, like Queen Mary , were preserved as museums , or laid up at pier side like SS United States . After the retirement of Queen Elizabeth 2 in 2008, the only ocean liner in service was Queen Mary 2 , built in 2003–04, used for both point-to-point line voyages and for cruises. A proposed and planned ocean liner,

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1908-458: A fixed schedule, so must be faster and built to withstand the rough seas and adverse conditions encountered on long voyages across the open ocean. To protect against large waves they usually have a higher hull and promenade deck with higher positioning of lifeboats (the height above water called the freeboard ), as well as a longer bow than a cruise ship. Additionally, for additional strength they are often designed with thicker hull plating than

2067-619: A heavy fog while outbound from New York. It took more than six hours for tugs to free the liner from the soft mud. The Red Star Line changed Kroonland from American to Belgian registry on 6   November 1908 in Antwerp. One reason given for the change was to allow Red Star to hire non-American crews at lower cost. She made her maiden voyage under the Belgian flag the next day. In May 1911, Kroonland ' s crew, acting on rumors of an impending British mariner's strike, refused to sign on for

2226-676: A hose turned on them by the ship's crew. On 2   August, Finland developed engine trouble and fell back from the convoy, but by the next day, she and a destroyer that stayed with her had rejoined the convoy. The convoy arrived in Brest on 7   August, and Kroonland arrived back in the United States on 19   August. Ocean liner An ocean liner is a type of passenger ship primarily used for transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships ). The Queen Mary 2

2385-436: A journal. He stated that the soldiers wore overalls rather than uniforms, and were required to wear life jackets at all times. During the early mornings, the most dangerous time for submarines according to Van Kleeck, the soldiers had to stand by their life rafts until the sun was completely up. Bathing facilities were too small, so several times during the trip the soldiers gathered on deck for salt water baths, which consisted of

2544-425: A large portion of the population of cities and built hulls, machines, furnitures and lifeboats. Among the other well-known British shipyards were Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson , the builder of RMS  Mauretania , and John Brown & Company , builders of RMS  Lusitania , RMS  Aquitania , RMS  Queen Mary , Queen Elizabeth , and Queen Elizabeth 2 . Germany had many shipyards on

2703-406: A migration period of 12 years to ensure that ships were given reasonable economic safeguards, since port and other dues are charged according to ship's tonnage. Since 18 July 1994 the gross and net tonnages, dimensionless indices calculated from the total moulded volume of the ship and its cargo spaces by mathematical formulae , have been the only official measures of the ship's tonnage. However,

2862-583: A museum and hotel since 2008, while the Queen Elizabeth 2 has been a floating luxury hotel and museum at Mina Rashid, Dubai since 2018. The Ancerville was refurbished as a hotel for use at the Sea World development in Shenzhen, China in 1984. The first of these, Astoria (originally the ocean liner MS Stockholm, which collided with Andrea Doria in 1956 ) has been rebuilt and refitted as

3021-650: A museum ship, since 1961. Queen Mary (1934) was preserved in 1967 after her retirement, and became a museum/hotel in Long Beach, California . In the 1970s, SS  Great Britain (1843) was also preserved, and now resides in Bristol , England as another museum. The latest ship to undergo preservation is MV  Doulos (1914). While originally being a cargo ship, it served as the Italian ocean liner Franca C. for Costa Lines from 1952 to 1959, and in 2010 it became

3180-537: A screw propeller was SS  Great Britain , a creation of Brunel. Her career was disastrous and short. She was run aground and stranded at Dundrum Bay in 1846. In 1884, she was retired to the Falkland Islands where she was used as a warehouse, quarantine ship, and coal hulk until she was scuttled in 1937. The American company Collins Line took a different approach. It equipped its ships with cold rooms, heating systems, and various other innovations but

3339-505: A set route are called "line voyages" and vessels (passenger or cargo) trading on these routes to a timetable are called liners. The alternative to liner trade is "tramping" whereby vessels are notified on an ad hoc basis as to the availability of a cargo to be transported. (In older usage, "liner" also referred to ships of the line , that is, line-of-battle ships, but that usage is now rare.) The term "ocean liner" has come to be used interchangeably with "passenger liner", although it can refer to

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3498-716: A short ceremony aboard the liner in New York Harbor on 27   December 1911, the Belgian flag was lowered and the American flag was raised to the playing of " The Star-Spangled Banner " by the steamer's band, shortly before she sailed for Antwerp. At about 06:00 on 9 October 1913, Volturno , a Royal Line ship under charter to the Uranium Line, caught fire in a gale on the North Atlantic. The crew fought

3657-402: A single compartment for families at the rear. The family compartment had state rooms containing either two, four, or six bunks. All compartments had well-lighted dining areas and wide hallways that led to lavatories and sanitary facilities on the upper deck. The upper deck housed facilities for officers and first- and second-class passengers. A long forecastle contained the accommodations for

3816-526: A speed of 27 knots. Their records seemed unbeatable, and most shipping companies abandoned the race for speed in favor of size, luxury, and safety. The advent of ships with diesel engines, and of those whose engines were oil-burning, such as the Bremen , in the early 1930s, relaunched the race for the Blue Riband . The Normandie won it in 1935 before being snatched by RMS  Queen Mary in 1938. It

3975-557: A steamship was capable of crossing the ocean, the public was not yet prepared to trust such means of travel on the open sea, and, in 1820, the steam engine was removed from the vessel. Work on this technology continued and a new step was taken in 1833. Royal William managed to cross the Atlantic by using steam power on most of the voyage; sail was used only when the boilers were cleaned. There were still many skeptics, and in 1836, scientific writer Dionysius Lardner declared that: As

4134-857: A steward. In March, King George V of the United Kingdom, on recommendation of the Board of Trade , awarded 39 of the ship's crew the Silver Sea Gallantry Medal , along with a £3 award. Crewmen from all ten ships received Sea Gallantry Medals, but no other ship had more medals awarded than Kroonland . Later in March, the United States Congress honored Kreibohm with a gold watch, Kroonland ' s officers—including Kreibohm—with Congressional Gold Medals , and other crewmen with five silver and 25 bronze medals. In April,

4293-471: A swimming pool. In the 1920s, SS  Paris was the first liner to offer a movie theatre. The British and the German shipyards were the most famed in shipbuilding during the great era of ocean liners. In Ireland, Harland & Wolff shipyard of Belfast were particularly innovative and succeeded in winning the trust of many shipping companies, such as White Star Line . These gigantic shipyards employed

4452-452: A tonnage of 79,280. In 1940, RMS  Queen Elizabeth raised the record of size to a tonnage of 83,673. She was the largest passenger ship ever constructed until 1997. In 2003, RMS  Queen Mary 2 became the largest, at 149,215 GT. In the early 1840s, the average speed of liners was less than 10 knots (a crossing of the Atlantic thus took about 12 days or more). In the 1870s, the average speed of liners increased to around 15 knots

4611-481: Is found on cruise ships, as well as a deeper draft for greater stability, and have large capacities for fuel, food, and other consumables on long voyages. On an ocean liner, the captain's tower ( bridge ) is usually positioned on the upper deck for increased visibility. The first ocean liners were built in the mid-19th century. Technological innovations such as the steam engine, Diesel engine and steel hull allowed larger and faster liners to be built, giving rise to

4770-730: Is not a measure of the ship's weight or displacement and should not be confused with terms such as deadweight tonnage or displacement . Gross register tonnage was defined by the Moorsom Commission in 1849. Gross and net register tonnages were replaced by gross tonnage and net tonnage , respectively, when the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted The International Convention on Tonnage Measurement of Ships on 23 June 1969. The new tonnage regulations entered into force for all new ships on 18 July 1982, but existing vessels were given

4929-666: Is the only ocean liner still in service to this day. The category does not include ferries or other vessels engaged in short-sea trading, nor dedicated cruise ships where the voyage itself, and not transportation, is the primary purpose of the trip. Nor does it include tramp steamers , even those equipped to handle limited numbers of passengers. Some shipping companies refer to themselves as "lines" and their container ships , which often operate over set routes according to established schedules, as "liners". Though ocean liners share certain similarities with cruise ships, they must be able to travel between continents from point A to point B on

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5088-637: The Avro Lancaster and Boeing B-29 Superfortress , with their range and massive carrying capacity, were natural prototypes for post-war next-generation airliners . Jet engine technology also accelerated due to wartime development of jet aircraft . In 1953, the De Havilland Comet became the first commercial jet airliner; the Sud Aviation Caravelle , Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 followed, and much long-distance travel

5247-575: The Big Four of the White Star Line were the first liners to surpass Great Eastern as the largest passenger ships . Ultimately their owner was American (as mentioned above, White Star Line had been absorbed into J. P. Morgan's trust). Faced with this major competition, the British government contributed financially to Cunard Line's construction of two liners of unmatched size and speed, under

5406-622: The Canadian Pacific liner Montrose . Crippen, identified during Montrose ' s crossing, was arrested, convicted of his wife's murder, and hanged; La Neve was acquitted. The American novelist Theodore Dreiser , returning from an extended European tour in April 1912, briefly considered returning on RMS  Titanic , but instead sailed two days later on the American-flagged—and less expensive— Kroonland . Dreiser recounted

5565-529: The Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard, which has built ships including RMS  Queen Mary 2 . France also had major shipyards on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea . Gross register tonnage Net register tonnage subtracts the volume of spaces not available for carrying cargo, such as engine rooms, fuel tanks and crew quarters, from gross register tonnage. Gross register tonnage

5724-542: The Falkland Islands to recover the Falklands from the invading Argentine forces . The P&O educational cruise ship and former British India Steam Navigation Company liner Uganda was requisitioned as a hospital ship, and served after the war as a troopship until the RAF Mount Pleasant station was built at Stanley , which could handle trooping flights. By the first decade of the 21st century, only

5883-523: The Far East , India, Australia, etc. The birth of the concept of international water and the lack of any claim to it simplified navigation. In 1818, the Black Ball Line , with a fleet of sailing ships, offered the first regular passenger service with emphasis on passenger comfort, from England to the United States. In 1807, Robert Fulton succeeded in applying steam engines to ships. He built

6042-478: The French Line steamer La Touraine almost collided, coming—according to one passenger—within 15 feet (4.6 m) of impact. Kroonland ' s lifeboat, manned by a fresh crew, headed back out and returned with 13 steerage passengers. On board Volturno , the crew and some of the male passengers, unable to extinguish the fire, were at least able to keep it from spreading to the aft cargo holds, over which

6201-497: The Guaranty Trust Company of New York . On late 1916, a cook aboard Kroonland was arrested for smuggling feathers, wings, and heads of birds of paradise and crowned pigeons . The man, who was paid $ 300 for each load of feathers, smuggled in at least three loads of the avian contraband before his arrest. In January 1917, a jumble sale held in the saloon on Kroonland raised £73 15s 11d for The Times Fund, for

6360-577: The Panama Pacific Line for the long-planned service between New York and San Francisco via the Panama Canal. Kroonland departed from New York for California on 22   May and counted 50 honeymooning couples and a large cargo of flour from St. Paul, Minnesota , among her payload. The intercoastal trip took about 17 days each way and the ships called at either Los Angeles or San Diego on eastbound and westbound trips. With two ships on

6519-542: The SS  Andrea Doria , which later sank in 1956 after a collision with MS  Stockholm . Before the Second World War, aircraft had not posed a significant economic threat to ocean liners. Most pre-war aircraft were noisy, vulnerable to bad weather, and/or incapable of the range needed for transoceanic flights; all were expensive and had a small passenger capacity. The war accelerated development of large, long-ranged aircraft. Four-engined bombers, such as

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6678-576: The Titanic II , is a modern replica of the original RMS Titanic , which sank in 1912. The ship is owned by Blue Star Line and is bought by Australian businessman Clive Palmer , the ship is set to be launched by 2027. Four ocean liners made before the Second World War survive today as they have been partially or fully preserved as museums and hotels . The Japanese ocean liner Hikawa Maru (1929), has been preserved in Naka-ku, Yokohama , Japan, as

6837-586: The Volturno rescue in 1913), Anchises , Canada , Grampian , Ionican , Themistocles , Victoria , Carpathia , Medic , Miltiades , Mokoia , and Ruahine . Two days out from Halifax, the last five ships split off from the convoy and headed to Scotland; Kroonland ' s group sailed to Liverpool. On 15 October 1917, the United States Shipping Board (USSB) requisitioned all American passenger ships over 2,500  GT for use by

6996-505: The White Star Line , another IMM subsidiary. The other radio first came on 24   December 1906, when the ship's wireless operator heard—rather than the expected dots and dashes of morse code—the voice of a woman singing. The singing was followed by a recording of Handel's "Largo" , a poetry reading, and more music played from phonographs . The steamer was on the receiving end of what journalist and author Robert St. John called

7155-604: The flagship of the company's fleet. Because all U.S. registered ships counted as an extension of U.S. territory, the National Prohibition Act made American liners alcohol-free, causing alcohol-seeking passengers to choose other liners for travel and substantially reducing profits for the United States Lines. In 1929, Germany returned to the scene with the two ships of Norddeutscher Lloyd, SS  Bremen and SS  Europa . Bremen won

7314-520: The galleys , sculleries , and pantries that served all passenger classes. Moving further aft, the second-class passenger dining room, which could accommodate 120 diners, was next. It, too, spanned the width of the ship and featured mahogany furniture, but was paneled with tapestry upon a cream-colored ground. Beyond the dining area were cabins for 76 second-class passengers. A 220-foot-long (67 m) bridge deck amidships contained state rooms for another 204 first-class and 120 second-class passengers. In

7473-472: The isthmus . The delay caused by the October slide in the Panama Canal created uncertainty for the immediate future of Kroonland . Her sister ship Finland was transferred to a New York – London route almost immediately after the canal's closure, but Kroonland was "trapped" on the west side of the continent. By early November, Kroonland —loaded with cargo destined for the United Kingdom, and sailing under

7632-654: The "first real broadcast of history", originated by early radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden from Brant Rock in Massachusetts . During her time on the New York – Antwerp route, Kroonland was frequently battered by the storms that were typical in the North Atlantic. In November 1904, a Brussels news agency reported a rumor that the ship had foundered in a mid-ocean storm. The report—proved false when Kroonland safely docked in New York—received wide coverage in

7791-752: The Allied Powers were compensated by the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. This led to the awarding of many German liners to the victorious Allies. The Hamburg America Line's trio ( Imperator , Vaterland , and Bismarck ) were divided between the Cunard Line, White Star Line, and the United States Lines , while the three surviving ships of the Kaiser class were requisitioned by the US Navy in

7950-482: The American press. While in a heavy December gale, the ship was struck by what contemporary news accounts referred to as a " tidal wave " as high as the tops of her funnels. The wave crashed over the deck, and brought the ship to a standstill. A Belgian passenger's leg was broken when he was thrown into a wall, and a crewman on watch in the crow's nest was sent tumbling to the deck 40 feet (12 m) below with only minor injuries. In another December gale in 1907, one of

8109-667: The Atlantic. Constructing large ships was therefore more profitable. Moreover, migration to the Americas increased enormously. These movements of population were a financial windfall for the shipping companies, some of the largest of which were founded during this time. Examples are the P&;O of the United Kingdom in 1822 and the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique of France in 1855. The steam engine also allowed ships to provide regular service without

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8268-466: The Blue Riband for her company. This race for speed, however, was a detriment to passengers' comfort and generated strong vibration, which made her owner lose any interest in her after she lost the Blue Riband to another ship of Norddeutscher Lloyd. She was only used for ten years for transatlantic crossing before being converted into a cruise ship. Until 1907 the Blue Riband remained in the hands of

8427-528: The Blue Riband from Britain's Mauretania after the latter had held it for twenty years. Soon, Italy also entered the scene. The Italian Line completed SS  Rex and SS  Conte di Savoia in 1932, breaking the records of both luxury and speed ( Rex won the westbound Blue Riband in 1933). France reentered the scene with SS  Normandie of the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT). The ship

8586-478: The British. From 1912 to 1914, Hamburg America Line completed a trio of liners significantly larger than the White Star Line's Olympic -class ships. The first to be completed, in 1913 was SS  Imperator . She was followed by SS Vaterland in 1914. The construction of the third liner, SS  Bismarck , was paused by the outbreak of the First World War. The First World War was a hard time for

8745-477: The European continent. During her pre-war New York – Antwerp sailings, Kroonland carried some notable and interesting passengers. On 1   August 1904, one of the ship's passengers arrived in New York as somewhat of a mystery woman. She recounted that she had gone out for dinner in Antwerp and awakened to find herself at sea with only the white silk evening gown she was wearing. Having no money or luggage, she

8904-550: The Gaillard Cut—this one in excess of 1,000,000 cubic yards (760,000 m) of mud and dirt—closed the canal, and it was expected that it might remain closed for as long as ten months. Kroonland was en route to the canal from San Francisco, while Finland was at the canal's eastern terminus, Colón . After Kroonland arrived at the canal's western end at Balboa , the two liners exchanged passengers—including former First Lady Helen Taft and her daughter, Helen —by rail across

9063-652: The Germans. In 1902, J. P. Morgan embraced the idea of a maritime empire comprising a large number of companies. He founded the International Mercantile Marine Co. , a trust which originally comprised only American shipping companies. The trust then absorbed Leyland Line and White Star Line. The British government then decided to intervene in order to regain the ascendancy. Although German liners dominated in terms of speed, British liners dominated in terms of size. RMS  Oceanic and

9222-680: The Hawaiian port of Honolulu to the canal route, both ships remained in North Atlantic service. On 20 February, Kroonland , continuing to sail for the American Line, returned to New York – Liverpool service after an absence of 18 months. As a ship of the still-neutral United States sailing in a war zone, Kroonland had her name painted in large letters on each side of her hull. The name was flanked on either side by large American flags and kept illuminated at night. In June, she carried US$ 1,500,000 of Argentine gold from London for deposit with

9381-461: The Italian steamer Dante Alighieri , and the British steamer Vauban and met up with the Newport News portion of the convoy—consisting of Lenape , Wilhelmina , Princess Matoika , Pastores , and the British troopship Czar (another fellow Volturno rescuer)—the next morning and set out for France. The convoy was escorted by the cruisers North Carolina and Frederick , and

9540-579: The Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York awarded its Life Saving Medal to Kreibohm, four officers, and 35 crewmen. In June 1916, Kreibohm was presented with the American Cross of Honor by Congressman Henry Bruckner . Kroonland resumed her normal New York – Antwerp service until 11   August 1914, when she arrived at New York with passengers that had narrowly escaped the hostilities beginning to engulf

9699-632: The Mediterranean route again in December, but the liner was removed from the route. In late January 1915, Kroonland departed on a business tour of South America under charter to the American Trade Tour Company. The tour was designed as a showcase for American companies hoping to expand into South America, and Kroonland circumnavigated that continent, traveling over 15,000 nautical miles (28,000 km) in 82 days. During

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9858-602: The North Atlantic extended one of Kroonland ' s westbound trips, delaying her arrival in New York by three days. In May, Kroonland broke another propeller shaft, and again headed to Southampton for repairs. Not all of the ship's mishaps were storm-related. In late April 1911, Kroonland hit the breakwater in Dover Harbour , disabling the steering gear and delaying the ship by a day. On 8   January 1913, Kroonland ran aground in Ambrose Channel during

10017-458: The Palace of Transportation. Frequent and progressively worse landslides in the canal disrupted Kroonland ' s and Finland ' s service. In August 1915, Kroonland ' s arrival in New York was delayed a day by a Gaillard Cut slide. In early September, both ships were delayed ten days while waiting for the canal to be dredged after another slide. In early October, another landslide in

10176-596: The Second World War the three worst disasters were the loss of the Cunarder Lancastria in 1940 off Saint-Nazaire to German bombing while attempting to evacuate troops of the British Expeditionary Force from France, with the loss of more than 3,000 lives; the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff , after the ship was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine, with more than 9,000 lives lost, making it the deadliest maritime disaster in history; and

10335-476: The U-boat, forcing the submarine to dive for safety. In early June, this failed torpedo attack on the ship made front-page news in American newspapers. In September, elements of the U.S. 42nd Infantry Division sailed from New York to Halifax on Kroonland . The ship sailed from Halifax on 30   September in an Allied convoy with the American ship Mongolia and Commonwealth ships Carmania (which had led

10494-466: The U.S. Navy, led by the recommendations of Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves , insisted that all troop transports be manned entirely by Navy personnel. This was accomplished soon after, to avoid the need for what Gleaves called "ignorant and unreliable men" who were "the sweepings of the docks". Accordingly, Kroonland was handed over to the Navy on 22   April and commissioned the same day. USS Kroonland

10653-525: The United Kingdom and the United States. Over time, the paddle wheel, impractical on the high seas, was abandoned in favour of the propeller. In 1840, Cunard Line's RMS  Britannia began its first regular passenger and cargo service by a steamship, sailing from Liverpool to Boston , Massachusetts. As the size of ship increased, the wooden hull became fragile. Beginning with the use of an iron hull in 1845, and then steel hulls, solved this problem. The first ship to be both iron-hulled and equipped with

10812-480: The United States during this time. The year 1858 was marked by a major accident: the sinking of SS  Austria . The ship, built in Greenock and sailing between Hamburg and New York twice a month, suffered an accidental fire off the coast of Newfoundland and sank with the loss of all but 89 of the 542 passengers. In the British market, Cunard Line and White Star Line (the latter after being bought by Thomas Ismay in 1868), competed strongly against each other in

10971-438: The added amenity of large portholes, electricity and running water. The size of ocean liners increased from 1880 to meet the needs of immigration to the United States and Australia. RMS  Umbria and her sister ship RMS  Etruria were the last two Cunard liners of the period to be fitted with auxiliary sails. Both ships were built by John Elder & Co. of Glasgow, Scotland, in 1884. They were record breakers by

11130-417: The banner of the American Line —departed San Francisco for London, via the Straits of Magellan. On 21   December, the liner arrived at Rio de Janeiro after having run aground, but was found to be undamaged. Continuing on to London, Kroonland departed for New York on 30   January 1916. Although plans were announced in mid 1916 for the two sister ships to return to the Panama Pacific Line, and to add

11289-415: The benefit of the British Red Cross and the Order of St. John . While returning from Liverpool in early February 1917, passengers and crew on Kroonland witnessed the German U-boat UC-46 sink the Dutch ship Gamma off the Irish coast. On 1   February 1917, at around 15:30, passengers and crew saw the German submarine overtake and stop the Dutch freighter . At about 16:15, the U-boat, by then on

11448-455: The boilers, to offer limited protection in case the ship was used in wartime. The area below the main deck could carry up to 11,000 long tons (11,000 t) of freight and stores. Kroonland ' s water tanks could carry 200 long tons (200 t) of fresh water. Refrigerated storage was provided for meats and other perishables. Third-class passenger accommodations were located on the main deck: three compartments for men located forward, and

11607-639: The building of the Washington National Cathedral . Also returning on the same voyage were Admiral Charles Sperry and Lieutenant Daniel W. Wurtsbaugh of the U.S. Navy, and Brigadier General Robert O'Reilly , the Surgeon General of the U.S. Army ; all were American delegates to the Second Geneva Convention . It was not the first trip on Kroonland for either Satterlee and O'Reilly. Satterlee had traveled on

11766-438: The cabin class and the steerage class. The passengers travelling on the former were wealthy passengers and they enjoyed certain comfort in that class. The passengers travelling on the latter were members of the middle class or the working class. In that class, they were packed in large dormitories. Until the beginning of the 20th century, they did not always have bedsheets and meals. An intermediate class for tourists and members of

11925-417: The circumstances around his wife's death were questioned. After a body was found in the basement of Crippen's North London residence, Scotland Yard Chief Inspector Walter Dew sought the couple for murder charges. One theory had the couple sailing from Dover on Kroonland , but when inspected in New York on arrival, Crippen and Le Neve were not to be found. The fleeing couple had instead sailed from Antwerp on

12084-597: The coast of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea , including Blohm & Voss and AG Vulcan Stettin . Many of these shipyards were destroyed during World War II; some managed to recover and continue building ships. In France, major shipyards included Chantiers de Penhoët in Saint-Nazaire , known for building SS  Normandie . This shipyard merged with Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire shipyard to form

12243-519: The company of Finland and the Italian steamer Taormina , she met up with Pocahontas , Susquehanna , and the Italian steamers Duca d'Aosta and Caserta from Newport News. The cruisers Pueblo , Huntington , and destroyers Rathburne and Colhoun escorted the transports. Gordon Van Kleeck, a private in Company F of the U.S. 51st Pioneer Infantry, one of the units aboard Kroonland on this trip, recorded his day-to-day activities in

12402-525: The competition from Cunard Line, White Star Line ordered the Olympic -class liners at the end of 1907. The first of these three liners, RMS  Olympic , completed in 1911, had a fine career, although punctuated by incidents. This was not the case for her sister, the RMS ; Titanic , which sank on her maiden voyage on 15 April 1912, resulting in several changes to maritime safety practices. As for

12561-471: The condition that they be available for conversion into armed cruisers when needed by the navy. The result of this partnership was the completion in 1907 of two sister ships: RMS  Lusitania and RMS  Mauretania , both of which won the Blue Riband during their respective maiden voyages. The latter retained this distinction for twenty years. Their great speed was achieved by the use of turbines instead of conventional expansion machines. In response to

12720-436: The conditions in the kennel aboard the liner. One passenger was determined to have her dog in her state room, and after others joined her in removing canine companions from the kennel, Kroonland ' s crew took all the dogs back to the kennel. Many of the dog owners refused to speak to the others involved for the duration of the voyage. On 27 May 1905, American author Molly Elliot Seawell sailed for Europe on Kroonland on

12879-588: The construction of the Queen Mary while progressively sending their older ships to the scrapyard. The Queen Mary was the fastest ship of her time and the largest for a short amount of time, she captured the Blue Riband twice, both off Normandie . The construction of a second ship, the Queen Elizabeth , was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War . The Second World War was

13038-398: The construction of the American pair well underway. Kroonland and the virtually identical Finland , at 12,760  gross register tons  (GRT) each, were slightly larger than Vaderland and Zeeland . The American pair were the largest steamships built in the United States at the time of their launch, and were the highest tonnage civilian ships ever built by William Cramp. Kroonland

13197-420: The context of the conflict and then retained. The Tirpitz , whose construction was delayed by the outbreak of war eventually became the RMS  Empress of Australia . Of the German superliners, only Deutschland , because of her poor state, avoided this fate. After a period of reconstruction, the shipping companies recovered quickly from the damage caused by the First World War. The ships, whose construction

13356-465: The crew and petty officers , as well as a hospital and the third-class lavatories. First-class staterooms for 106 passengers were located close to the middle of the ship. To their rear, between the funnels , was the first-class passenger dining room, spanning the width of the ship. With seating for 208, it featured mahogany furniture and satinwood paneling with inlays, and a glass skylight ceiling that extended up through two decks. Beyond this area were

13515-409: The crowding of passengers, and faster ships, to reduce the duration of transatlantic crossings. The iron and steel hulls and steam power allowed for these advances. Thus, SS Great Western (1,340 GRT) and SS Great Eastern (18,915 GRT) were constructed in 1838 and 1858 respectively. The record set by SS Great Eastern was not beaten until 43 years later in 1901 when RMS  Celtic (20,904 GT)

13674-417: The dawn of the jet age . Such routes included Europe to African and Asian colonies, Europe to South America, and migrant traffic from Europe to North America in the 19th and first two decades of the 20th centuries, and to Canada and Australia after the Second World War. Shipping lines are companies engaged in shipping passengers and cargo, often on established routes and schedules. Regular scheduled voyages on

13833-417: The destroyers Stevens and Fairfax ; the battleship Texas and several other destroyers joined in escort duties for the group for a time. The convoy had a false alarm when a floating barrel was mistaken for submarine, but the otherwise uneventful trip concluded at Brest on the afternoon of 27   June. On 10 July, as Kroonland steamed homeward from France, a lookout spotted a periscope rising from

13992-409: The duration of a transatlantic crossing shortened to around 7 days, owing to the technological progress made in the propulsion of ships: the rudimentary steam boilers gave rise to more elaborate machineries and the paddlewheel gradually disappeared, replaced first by one screw then by two screws. At the beginning of the 20th century, Cunard Line's RMS  Lusitania and RMS  Mauretania reached

14151-404: The far corners of the Mediterranean". Along with passengers, the ship carried a cargo of rubber and 1,500 long tons (1,520 t) of copper destined for Italy. On 28 October, British authorities detained the ship at Gibraltar. Because neutral Italy did not restrict the shipment of copper (which could be used in war munitions) to Germany or Austria-Hungary , the British claimed the right to detain

14310-459: The far side of the Dutch ship and out of view from Kroonland , fired three shots from her deck gun. Gamma immediately began listing to port and sank within five minutes. Kroonland was less than 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) away, and was prepared to rescue the crew of the sunken ship, but stopped when the German submarine took Gamma ' s lifeboat in tow. Four days later, a suspected submarine

14469-521: The fire for about two hours, but, realizing the severity of the fire and the limited options for dousing it in the high seas, Captain Francis Inch of Volturno had his wireless operator send out SOS signals. The westbound Kroonland , already beyond Volturno ' s location, turned east to aid the burning liner. In the meantime, several of Volturno ' s lifeboats with women and children aboard were launched with tragic results: all those aboard

14628-403: The first auxiliary cruiser in history. In the time of war, ships could easily be equipped with cannons and used in cases of conflict. Teutonic succeeded in impressing Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who wanted to see his country endowed with a modern fleet. In 1870, the White Star Line's RMS  Oceanic set a new standard for ocean travel by having its first-class cabins amidships, with

14787-558: The first ship that was powered by this technology, the Clermont , which succeeded in travelling between New York City and Albany, New York in thirty hours before entering into regular service between the two cities. Soon after, other vessels were built using this innovation. In 1816, the Élise became the first steamship to cross the English Channel . Another important advance came in 1819, when SS  Savannah became

14946-569: The first steamship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. She left the U.S. city of the same name and arrived in Liverpool, England in 27 days. Most of the distance was covered by sailing; the steam power was not used for more than 72 hours during the travel. The public enthusiasm for the new technology was not high, as none of the thirty-two people who had booked a seat boarded the ship for that historic voyage. Although Savannah had proven that

15105-653: The following year. The ship was sold and scrapped at Genoa in 1927. In July 1899, the Red Star Line announced plans for the construction of four large ocean liners. Two ships, Kroonland and Finland , were to be built at William Cramp & Sons in Philadelphia , and the others, Vaderland and Zeeland , at John Brown & Company of Clydebank in Scotland. By April 1901, the two Scottish-built ships were completed and in service for Red Star, with

15264-449: The gloomy mood of Kroonland ' s passengers after hearing the news of Titanic ' s sinking, observing that the "terror of the sea had come swiftly and directly home to all". On Kroonland ' s next return trip to New York, Horst von der Goltz , a self-described German secret agent, eluded German authorities by working as a steward in steerage aboard the liner. With the German invasion of Belgium in early August 1914, Kroonland

15423-532: The government in the war effort. Though it is not clear what immediate impact this had on Kroonland , it is known that the liner was operating as a U.S. Army transport (under the name USAT Kroonland ) by February 1918, when she was loaded with materiel and departed New York for Saint-Nazaire , France. In February 1918, the USSB assigned Kroonland to the transport fleet as a U.S. Army Chartered Transport (USACT), and after her return from France on 9   April, she

15582-436: The guns, Kroonland sailed for Liverpool on 25   March 1917. Twelve days later, the United States formally declared war on Germany. On the morning of 20 May, while the liner steamed toward Liverpool through a heavy fog, a torpedo struck her without exploding. Two minutes later her lookouts spotted a submarine bearing down on Kroonland so close alongside the liner that her guns could not be depressed enough to open fire on

15741-467: The increased cargo space resulted in a net gain of $ 25,000 income per trip. Kroonland served as a troopship for about the next year. In early March, U.S. Navy ordnance officers inspected Kroonland and took measurements in preparation to arm her for defense against submarine attacks. On 13   March, she was assigned guns by the Navy, becoming one of the first seven ships to be armed. With her arming complete, and carrying an armed naval guard to man

15900-517: The last ocean liners to be built primarily for crossing the North Atlantic, could not be converted economically and had short careers. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Industrial Revolution and the inter-continental trade rendered the development of secure links between continents imperative. Being at the top among the colonial powers, the United Kingdom needed stable maritime routes to connect different parts of its empire :

16059-399: The late 1860s. The struggle was symbolised by the attainment of the Blue Riband, which the two companies achieved several times around the end of the century. The luxury and technology of ships were also evolving. Auxiliary sails became obsolete and disappeared completely at the end of the century. Possible military use of passenger ships was envisaged and, in 1889, RMS  Teutonic became

16218-415: The lifeboats were killed as the boats capsized or were smashed by the hull of the heaving ship. In all, ten ships heeded the distress calls, arriving throughout the day and into the next. Kroonland arrived at about 17:00, and by 20:00 had launched a lifeboat with a volunteer crew. The boat was unable to get close to the burning liner. Kroonland ' s lifeboat returned at 22:30 with an exhausted crew and

16377-554: The liner the previous May to visit the spa town of Bad Nauheim in Hesse; O'Reilly had been on the November 1904 trip in which Kroonland had been reported as sunk. Kroonland was the scene of an attempted murder-suicide in October 1908. Two acquaintances in steerage had an argument over a young female second-class passenger that both men knew. One man threw a knife at the other—only slightly wounding him—and then fled and jumped over

16536-557: The liners resumed their original courses. Kroonland turned west and continued on to the United States, hampered by a cracked crankshaft that slowed her to 12 knots (22 km/h). During her slow passage to New York, Kroonland ' s cabin passengers drafted a resolution honoring Captain Kreibohm and the crew for their actions during the rescue, and raised $ 700 for the benefit of the Volturno survivors. Kroonland finally docked in New York on 16   October. The crew, like those of

16695-534: The liners. Some of them, like the Mauretania , Aquitania , and Britannic were transformed into hospital ships during the conflict. Others became troop transports, while some, such as the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse , participated in the war as warships. Troop transportation was very popular due to the liners' large size. Liners converted into troop ships were painted in dazzle camouflage to reduce

16854-508: The mid-Atlantic in October 1913. Despite stormy seas, Kroonland was able to take aboard 89 survivors, for which captain and crew received accolades that included U.S. Congressional Gold Medals . When the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 disrupted service to Belgium, Kroonland shifted to alternate routes. On a trip to the Mediterranean in October 1914, Kroonland was detained by British authorities at Gibraltar , and part of her cargo

17013-438: The middle class gradually appeared. The cabins were then divided into three classes. The facilities offered to passengers developed over time. In the 1870s, the installation of bathtubs and oil lamps caused a sensation on board SS  Oceanic . In the following years, the number of amenities became numerous, for example: smoking rooms, lounges, and promenade deck. In 1907, RMS  Adriatic even offered Turkish baths and

17172-582: The number of people crossing the Atlantic and at the same time reducing the number of profitable transatlantic voyages. In response, shipping companies redirected many of their liners to a more profitable cruise service. In 1934, in the United Kingdom, Cunard Line and White Star Line were in very bad shape financially. Chancellor of the Exchequer Neville Chamberlain proposed to merge the two companies in order to solve their financial problems. The merger took place in 1934 and launched

17331-553: The ocean liners came to an end. By the early 1970s, many passenger ships continued their service in cruising. In 1982, during the Falklands War , three active or former liners were requisitioned for war service by the British Government . The liners Queen Elizabeth 2 and Canberra , were requisitioned from Cunard and P&O to serve as troopships, carrying British Army personnel to Ascension Island and

17490-432: The one person who had dared to brave the jump into the stormy water. Captain J. C. Barr of Carmania , the first ship to arrive, took command of the rescue effort. Barr had the vessels form a " battle line " of sorts and slowly circle the burning ship, while his ship kept a searchlight on Volturno and another sweeping the ring of rescue ships to help them avoid collisions. Despite Carmania ' s efforts, Kroonland and

17649-403: The only ship still in service as an ocean liner is RMS  Queen Mary 2 . Ocean liners were the primary mode of intercontinental travel for over a century, from the mid-19th century until they began to be supplanted by airliners in the 1950s. In addition to passengers, liners carried mail and cargo. Ships contracted to carry British Royal Mail used the designation RMS . Liners were also

17808-606: The operation was expensive. The sinking of two of its ships was a major blow to the company which was dissolved in 1858. In 1858, Brunel built his third and last giant, SS  Great Eastern . The ship was, for 43 years, the largest passenger ship ever built . She had the capacity to carry 4,000 passengers. Her career was marked by a series of failures and incidents, one of which was an explosion on board during her maiden voyage. Many ships owned by German companies like Hamburg America Line and Norddeutscher Lloyd were sailing from major German ports, such as Hamburg and Bremen, to

17967-590: The other nine ships involved, received many accolades for its rescue efforts. After sending the ship a congratulatory telegram at the time of the rescue, King Albert of Belgium made Capt. Kreibohm a Chevalier (Knight) of the Order of the Crown in January 1914. At the same time, the Belgian government awarded its Third Class Civic Cross to Kroonland ' s third officer, and First Class Civic Medals to six crewmen and

18126-414: The others on board were gathered. Shortly before dawn, a large explosion—probably of her boilers —rocked Volturno , and the rescuers felt that the ship, which had not been in imminent danger of sinking up to this point, might founder at any time. The tanker Narragansett turned on her pumps and sprayed lubricating oil on the sea to help calm the surface. The combined effect of the oil and the lessening of

18285-465: The preferred way to move gold and other high-value cargoes. The busiest route for liners was on the North Atlantic with ships travelling between Europe and North America. It was on this route that the fastest, largest and most advanced liners travelled, though most ocean liners historically were mid-sized vessels which served as the common carriers of passengers and freight between nations and among other countries and their colonies and dependencies before

18444-404: The project of making the voyage directly from New York to Liverpool, it was perfectly chimerical, and they might as well talk of making the voyage from New York to the moon. The last step toward long-distance travel using steam power was taken in 1837 when SS  Sirius left Liverpool on 4 April and arrived in New York eighteen days later on 22 April after a turbulent crossing. Too little coal

18603-474: The raider. Although the U-boat, apparently also taken by surprise, reversed her screws and tried to turn to avoid a collision, she lightly struck the liner's hull and scraped along her side before diving out of sight. Meanwhile, two more torpedoes came within some 20 feet (6 m) of hitting Kroonland ' s stern. That afternoon the liner sighted another submarine, surfaced some 1,000 yards (910 m) off her port quarter. Kroonland immediately began shelling

18762-670: The railing into the English Channel near Dover . U.S. Senator Benjamin Tillman and his wife were aboard the liner at the time and saw the young man jump overboard. Although the ship lowered a boat to look for him, no trace of him was found, and he was presumed drowned. American actresses Kitty Cheatham and Isabel Irving —each married to a different man named "W. H. Thompson"—traveled on Kroonland in May 1910. Alerted to each other's presence when mail addressed to "Mrs. W. H. Thompson"

18921-444: The rear was a deck house that contained a social room for third-class passengers. A promenade deck was located above and was permanently enclosed by a boat deck , where Kroonland ' s 20 steel lifeboats were stowed. The promenade deck housed the library and smoking room for first-class passengers. Kroonland was launched on the afternoon of 20   February 1902 in a small, informal ceremony. Mrs. Rodman Griscom christened

19080-533: The risk of being torpedoed by enemy submarines . The war was marked by the loss of many liners. Britannic , while serving as a hospital ship, sank in the Aegean Sea in 1916 after she struck a mine. Numerous incidents of torpedoing took place and large numbers of ships sank. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was defeated and scuttled after a fierce battle with HMS  Highflyer off the coast of west Africa, while her sister ship Kronprinz Wilhelm served as

19239-402: The route she would sail for the next twelve years. According to The New York Times , Kroonland became the first ship to issue a wireless distress call at sea when she radioed for help during a storm in 1903. In another radio first, Kroonland heard the "first real broadcast of history" in December 1906. Kroonland was one of ten ships that came to the aid of the burning liner Volturno in

19398-685: The route, one ship departed from either New York or San Francisco about every three weeks. The service was marketed as the ideal manner to visit the Panama–California Exposition in San Diego and the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco. At the San Francisco exhibition, a detailed model of Kroonland was one of ten that comprised a part of IMM's 6,500-square-foot (600 m) exhibit in

19557-653: The ship served as United States Army transport USAT Kroonland through April 1918, and as the Navy auxiliary USS Kroonland (ID-1541) from April 1918 to October 1919. Announced by the Red Star Line in 1899, Kroonland was completed in 1902 by William Cramp & Sons of Philadelphia . When launched, she was the largest steamship ever built in the United States. Kroonland sailed from New York City to Antwerp on her maiden voyage in June 1902, beginning service on

19716-504: The ship's next voyage, forcing Red Star to hire a replacement crew. International Mercantile Marine submitted a bid for a ten-year contract for Kroonland and Finland to carry U.S. mail between New York and San Francisco after the opening of the Panama Canal . By law, only U.S.-flagged ships could carry U.S. mail under contract. It was also anticipated that U.S.-flagged vessels would receive preferential treatment for canal tolls. In

19875-483: The ship, but Kroonland did not budge on the launching way ; cold weather had frozen the tallow used to grease the timbers. Hydraulic jacks eventually freed the ship for her plunge into the Delaware River . Kroonland sailed on her maiden voyage from New York to Antwerp on 28   June 1902. Kroonland remained on New York – Antwerp service for the next twelve years. In these early years of service, she

20034-465: The ship—a claim disputed by the U.S. State Department . Kroonland was allowed to resume her journey on 8   November after the copper and rubber were unloaded and taken to a prize court . The ship arrived at Naples on 11   November, then completed the rest of her Mediterranean trek. Returning to New York, she carried the new minister from Bulgaria to the United States, arriving on 4   December. IMM had advertised that Kroonland would sail

20193-427: The sinking of SS  Cap Arcona with more than 7,000 lives lost, both in the Baltic Sea , in 1945. SS Rex was bombarded and sunk in 1944, and Normandie caught fire, capsized, and sank in New York in 1942 while being converted for troop duty. Many of the superliners of the 1920s and 1930s were victims of U-boats , mines or enemy aircraft. Empress of Britain was attacked by German planes, then torpedoed by

20352-685: The standards of the time, and were the largest liners then in service, plying the Liverpool to New York route. SS  Ophir was a 6,814-ton steamship owned by the Orient Steamship Co. , and was fitted with refrigeration equipment. She plied the Suez Canal route from England to Australia during the 1890s, up until the years leading to World War I when she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser . In 1897, Norddeutscher Lloyd launched SS  Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse . She

20511-492: The storm allowed many more lifeboats to be sent to Volturno ' s aid. Kroonland launched two more boats herself and saved 75 more, including Captain Inch, the last person to leave the stricken ship. In all, some 520 passengers and crew were rescued by the ten ships—89 on Kroonland alone. The loss of life was limited to around 130, mostly women and children from the early lifeboat launchings. With all boats recovered by 09:00,

20670-470: The third sister, HMHS  Britannic , she never served her intended purpose as a passenger ship, as she was drafted in the First World War as a hospital ship , and sank to a naval mine in 1916. At the same time, France tried to mark its presence with the completion in 1912 of SS  France owned by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique . Germany soon responded to the competition from

20829-493: The trip, while transiting the Straits of Magellan in late February, Kroonland passed British cruiser Bristol refueling from a collier , and, on 26   February, when entering the harbor of Punta Arenas, Chile , passed the departing HMS  Glasgow , on the hunt for the German cruiser Dresden . Kroonland returned to New York on 14   April. In May 1915, Kroonland and sister ship Finland were chartered to

20988-575: The two propeller shafts on Kroonland broke while the liner was off the Isles of Scilly . Using the lone remaining propeller, the liner was able to make her way back to Southampton , where two tugs brought her into port. Passengers were transferred to Majestic to continue their transit to New York, while Kroonland entered drydock at Southampton. Fitted with a new shaft, she sailed—without passengers and cargo—for New York, where she arrived on 2   January 1908. In February 1910, severe winter storms on

21147-460: The use of sail. This aspect particularly appealed to the postal companies, which leased the services of ships to serve clients separated by the ocean. In 1839, Samuel Cunard founded the Cunard Line and became the first to dedicate the activity of his shipping company to the transport of mails, thus ensuring regular services on a given schedule. The company's vessels operated the routes between

21306-499: The voyage, the liner docked at various ports where businessmen or trade representatives, like the Babson Statistical Organization , made sales pitches and showed films of factories to potential customers aboard Kroonland . During this South American foray, the ship sailed westbound through the Panama Canal on 2   February, becoming the largest passenger ship to transit the canal to that date. Also on

21465-605: The water about 200 yards (180 m) away. Kroonland opened fire and the fourth shot from her No. 4 gun "burst with a tremendous cloud of dirty blue smoke" exactly on the periscope. The submarine zig-zagged "erratically back and forth until she was directly in the disturbed water" of Kroonland ' s wake. The transport continued firing until the submarine disappeared, leaving an oil slick which could be seen for at least 15 minutes. Kroonland arrived safely in New York on 13   July. On 26 July, Kroonland , loaded with 3,248 officers and men, departed on her next trip to France. In

21624-491: Was 560 feet (170.7 m) long ( pp ) and 60-foot (18.3 m) abeam , with a molded depth of 42 feet (12.8 m). Her hull was steel and nearly all the rivets were set with pneumatic rivet guns . Kroonland was propelled at up to 17 knots (31 km/h) by twin triple-expansion steam engines . The engines were each rated at 5,100 indicated horsepower (3,800 kW) and had cylinders of 32.5 inches (83 cm), 54 inches (140 cm), and 89.5 inches (227 cm) with

21783-520: Was among those on the liner when she sailed on 31   May. News accounts reported on some of the unusual activities aboard Kroonland during this trip. Among them were morning devotional services held daily in the ship's dining room, and the spontaneous singing of hymns on deck every evening. Kroonland was tangentially involved in a more sinister affair in July 1910. American physician Hawley Crippen and his lover, Ethel La Neve, had fled England after

21942-706: Was assigned to the Cruiser and Transport Force after being commissioned. The ship departed New York on 30   April with the transports Matsonia , Manchuria , and Finland . Martha Washington and Powhatan —two transports that sailed from Newport News, Virginia —rendezvoused with Kroonland ' s group. South Dakota provided the convoy with protection until its arrival in France on 12   May. Kroonland returned to New York on 1   June. Kroonland next left New York on 15 June with Finland , DeKalb , George Washington , Covington , Rijndam ,

22101-557: Was barred from entering the United States and was compelled to remain on board the ship. After her predicament was reported in The New York Times , she received letters and telegrams that included marriage proposals. Her background story and a letter of credit eventually verified her identity, but she was deported after a New York doctor pronounced her insane. Later the same month The New York Times reported on first-class passengers' complaints over privileges for their dogs and

22260-622: Was beached in Zhanjiang, China as a tourist attraction called Hai Shang Cheng Shi in 1998, though has been closed as of 2022. Funchal was purchased by Brock Pierce in 2021, with the intent of turning her into a hotel. Her future is uncertain as it was reported in July 2021 that no progress has been made since then. Since their beginning in the 19th century, ocean liners needed to meet growing demands. The first liners were small and overcrowded, leading to unsanitary conditions on board. Eliminating these phenomena required larger ships, to reduce

22419-435: Was commenced, and, with it, the tradition of the Blue Riband . With Great Western , Isambard Kingdom Brunel laid the foundations for new shipbuilding techniques. He realised that the carrying capacity of a ship increases as the cube of its dimensions, whilst the water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions. This means that large ships are more fuel-efficient, something very important for long voyages across

22578-493: Was completed. The tonnage then grew profoundly: the first liners to have a tonnage that exceeded 20,000 were the Big Four of the White Star Line . The Olympic -class ocean liners , first completed in 1911, were the first to have a tonnage that exceeded 45,000 and the Imperator -class ocean liners first completed in 1913 became the 1st liners with tonnage exceeding 50,000. SS  Normandie , completed in 1935, had

22737-518: Was confiscated amidst diplomatic wrangling between the then-neutral United States and the United Kingdom. During a chartered circumnavigation of South America in February 1915, Kroonland became the largest passenger ship to have transited the Panama Canal during that time. Kroonland was placed in New York – Panama Canal – San Francisco service until a landslide temporarily closed the canal to navigation. Returned to transatlantic service, Kroonland

22896-590: Was confused, the actresses—old friends, having both worked in the theatre company of Augustin Daly —shared a state room for the voyage. Later that month, the ship was the official "World Missionary Conference Steamship" for delegates and representatives on their way to the World Missionary Conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. Honda Yoitsu, said to be the only Japanese Methodist Episcopal bishop,

23055-428: Was converted from coal burning to oil burning, a long-awaited modification that had been announced in October 1915. The conversion reduced the number of stokers needed from 75 to 12, lowering Kroonland ' s payroll. Because fuel oil was stored inside the double bottom of her hull, her cargo capacity was increased through the elimination of her coal bunkers. The labor savings and the additional freight revenues from

23214-532: Was converted to a troop transport in New York by the William J. Kennedy Company. A typical conversion from passenger liner to troop transport involved having all of the second- and third-class accommodations ripped out and replaced with berths for troops. Cooking and toilet facilities also had to be greatly expanded to handle the large numbers of men aboard. After problems with crew discipline aboard Army transports Antilles and Finland when they were torpedoed,

23373-402: Was done by air. The Italian Line's SS  Michelangelo and SS  Raffaello , launched in 1962 and 1963, were two of the last ocean liners to be built primarily for liner service across the North Atlantic. Cunard's transatlantic liner, Queen Elizabeth 2 , was also used as a cruise ship. By the early 1960s, 95% of passenger traffic across the Atlantic was by aircraft. Thus the reign of

23532-550: Was followed three years later by three sister ships . The ship was both luxurious and fast, managing to steal the Blue Riband from the British. She was also the first of the fourteen ocean liners with four funnels that have emerged in maritime history. The ship needed only two funnels, but more funnels gave passengers a feeling of safety and power. In 1900, the Hamburg America Line competed with its own four-funnel liner, SS  Deutschland . She quickly obtained

23691-530: Was involved in two radio firsts. After the steering gear failed 130 nautical miles (240 km) west of Fastnet Rock during a moderate gale in early December 1903, the ship's crew was able to communicate their predicament via the Marconi wireless system, becoming, according to one contemporary news account, the first ship in distress ever to use wireless. Kroonland put in at Queenstown , Ireland, for repairs, and transferred her passengers and freight to ships of

23850-669: Was not until 1952 that SS  United States set a record that remains today: 34.5 knots (3 days and 12 hours of crossing the Atlantic). In addition, since 1935, the Blue Riband is accompanied by the Hales Trophy , which is awarded to the winner. The first ocean liners were designed to carry mostly migrants. On-board sanitary conditions were often deplorable and epidemics were frequent. In 1848, maritime laws imposing hygiene rules were adopted and they improved on-board living conditions. Gradually, two distinct classes were developed:

24009-612: Was one of the first U.S. ships armed by the Navy for defense against German submarine attacks. In May 1917 Kroonland was struck by a torpedo, which failed to detonate and only slightly damaged the ship. After the United States entered World War I , Kroonland served as a troopship for the U.S. Army and Navy. She made six trips carrying troops to France before the Armistice and eight voyages after, transporting nearly 38,000 troops in total. Returned to IMM in late 1919, Kroonland

24168-600: Was prepared for the crossing, and the crew had to burn cabin furniture in order to complete the voyage. The journey took place at a speed of 8.03 knots. The voyage was made possible by the use of a condenser, which fed the boilers with fresh water, avoiding having to periodically shut down the boilers in order to remove the salt. The feat was short-lived. The next day, SS  Great Western , designed by railway engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel , arrived in New York. She left Liverpool on 8 April and overtook Sirius ' s record with an average speed of 8.66 knots. The race of speed

24327-492: Was reported to have been sold for scrap in January 2023, but this has been denied by the ship's owner. United States has been docked in Philadelphia since 1996, but following a legal dispute between the organization that owns United States and the pier owners, she was purchased by Okaloosa County , Florida to be turned into the world's largest artificial reef. There are plans for a land-based museum and several pieces of United States are planned to be preserved. Brazil Maru

24486-513: Was scorched in a shipyard fire in January 1920 while she was being refitted for passenger service. The liner resumed North Atlantic service in April, remaining there until returning to New York – San Francisco service in 1923. Kroonland inaugurated IMM's winter New York – Miami service from December 1925 to March 1926, but was laid up in Hoboken, New Jersey , when IMM did not resume the Miami service

24645-465: Was seen 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) off Kroonland ' s port side, and there were other reports of a ship that passengers took to be a German commerce raider or submarine tender . Because Germany had resumed unrestricted submarine warfare again on 1   February, Kroonland was laid up for almost two months at the American Line piers in New York, along with sister ship Finland and three other vessels. During this forced downtime, Kroonland

24804-562: Was started before the war, such as SS  Paris of the French Line , were completed and put into service. Prominent British liners, such as the Olympic and the Mauretania , were also put back into service and had a successful career in the early 1920s. More modern liners were also built, such as SS  Île de France (completed in 1927). The United States Lines , having received the Vaterland , renamed her Leviathan and made her

24963-401: Was switched to New York – Liverpool service. After two circuits on that route, IMM announced that the ship would be moved to service in the Mediterranean to attract business to offset that lost because of the war. Sailing from New York on 15   October for Gibraltar , Naples , and Piraeus , Kroonland became what IMM called the first large, American-flagged steamer "to engage in trade with

25122-400: Was the largest ship afloat at the time of her completion in 1935. She was also the fastest, winning the Blue Riband in 1935. A crisis arose when the United States drastically reduced its immigrant quotas, causing shipping companies to lose a large part of their income and to have to adapt to this circumstance. The Great Depression also played an important role, causing a drastic decrease in

25281-727: Was very impressed with the service of the Cunard's Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth as troopships during the war. To ensure a reliable and fast troop transport in case of a war against the Soviet Union, the U.S. government sponsored the construction of SS  United States and entered it into service for the United States Lines in 1952. She won the Blue Riband on her maiden voyage in that year and held it until Richard Branson won it back in 1986 with Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. One year later, in 1953, Italy completed

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