I’ve been reading about the new cruise liner, ‘Oasis Of the Seas‘, scheduled to go into service later this year. The statistics are staggering. According to the Daily Mail: Taller than Nelson’s Column, longer than four football pitches – the Oasis Of The Seas, now preparing for her maiden voyage, is the world’s largest cruise… Continue reading Would you pay to go on this thing?
Tag: Ships
Another First World War wreck comes to light
A Swedish company has announced that it’s located the wreck of the British submarine E-18, part of the Royal Navy’s Baltic submarine flotilla during World War I. HM Submarine E-18 in September 1915, after passing through the Øresund. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia) A Swedish news report states: Together with five other submarines the HMS E18… Continue reading Another First World War wreck comes to light
Nuclear-powered icebreakers in the Arctic
The Web site English Russia has published a spectacular photo essay about these immense ships, the largest icebreakers ever constructed, and the only ones to be nuclear-powered. Here are a few photographs to whet your appetite. There are many more photographs at the link, including larger versions of the few I’ve reproduced here. Very interesting… Continue reading Nuclear-powered icebreakers in the Arctic
A piece of maritime history comes ashore
The SS Laurentic was built in 1908 for the White Star Line, later owners of the infamous RMS Titanic. SS Laurentic in 1910 Laurentic and her sister ship, SS Megantic, served the trade between England and Canada. They used different engineering plants as an experiment to determine which would be more suitable for the larger… Continue reading A piece of maritime history comes ashore
‘The ghost fleet of the recession’
That’s the headline of an article in the Daily Mail. An extract: Here, on a sleepy stretch of shoreline at the far end of Asia, is surely the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history. Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater.… Continue reading ‘The ghost fleet of the recession’
Looks like the Northeast Passage is opening up
Those who take an interest in ships and the sea will know that, ever since maritime trade routes became the backbone of world commerce and industry, trade between the Far East and Europe has had to go one of four ways: initially around Cape Horn in South America or the Cape of Good Hope in… Continue reading Looks like the Northeast Passage is opening up
How not to launch a yacht
I gather the yacht was being unloaded from a cargo vessel. Wonder what the insurers thought when they saw this? Oooops . . . Peter
An ancient ritual – with a new participant
I was delighted to see that the US Navy were the guests of honor, so to speak, at the ancient ceremony of the Constable’s Dues at the Tower of London. According to the Historic Royal Palaces Web site (the link is to an Adobe Acrobat file in .pdf format): There are documented accounts of the… Continue reading An ancient ritual – with a new participant
Littoral Combat Ship prepares for testing
As readers know, the US Navy has been working on the design of a new small combat ship, known as the Littoral Combat Ship, for several years. Two prototypes have been built, one each by a consortium headed by Lockheed Martin and another headed by General Dynamics. The latter prototype, USS Independence, is currently preparing… Continue reading Littoral Combat Ship prepares for testing
Another tragedy befalls the Britannic
The sister ship to the Titanic, RMS Britannic, had a short and sad life. She was completed just as World War I broke out, and never sailed in passenger service. In 1915 the British Government requisitioned her for conversion to a hospital ship, and the rest of her short life was sailed as His Majesty’s… Continue reading Another tragedy befalls the Britannic