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The Titanic
Classic ocean liners
Classic ferries
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SS Leonardo da Vinci
The SS Leonardo da Vinci, launched in 1958 by Ansaldo Shipyards, was another ship operated by Italian Line. This ship was used in
the Trans-Atlantic service Genoa-New York from 1960 and provisions were made to reconvert her propulsion plant to run on nuclear power
circa 1965, but this never happened. Instead, she would be eclipsed in the Trans-Atlantic service by the delivery of the new "superliners"
SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello in 1965, being used primarily for cruising, mostly on the Mediterranean and occasionally on the Caribbean,
South America and North America. In 1966 she was painted in the new livery of the Italian Line, a white hull with a thin and green
decorative band running along, instead of a black hull with a white decorative band that we can see in the picture below.
Curiously the SS Leonardo da Vinci survived in the Trans-Atlantic service the SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello; in 1976 she became the last
Italian Line's passenger liner to be used in service across the North Atlantic. Being an ocean liner, the SS Leonardo da Vinci was not
satisfying as a cruise ship, for the majority of her tourist-class cabins were considered too spartan, remaining unused during cruising
service, with the consequent reduction in the profitability. During 1977-1978 she served as a dedicated cruise ship for Italia Crociere,
before being laid up because of her excessive fuel consumption.
Like her predecessors SS Andrea Doria and SS Cristoforo Colombo, she had resulted prone to instability in rough waters.
But her stability problem was greater because of her larger size and consequently 3000 metric tonnes of iron were fitted along her bottom.
This made the ship excessively heavy for the power of her engines and led to unusually high fuel consumption. Already out of service, in
1980 the ship suffered from a mysterious and devastating fire that lasted four days and eventually provoked her capsize; after this terrible
fate, she was scrapped in 1982.
The SS Leonardo Da Vinci had a length of 232.6 meters, a beam of 28.1 meters, a draught of 9.5 meters and a register tonnage of 33340 gross
and 5641 deadweight. There was capacity for 1326 passengers (413 in first class, 342 in cabin class and 571 in tourist class) in liner
service and for 984 passengers in cruise service. The propulsion plant comprised four steam turbines Ansaldo actuating on twin propellers,
with a combined output of 52000 horsepower, which gave a service speed of 23 knots and a maximum speed of 25.5 knots.
Because of the provisions made for conversion into a nuclear-powered ship, the SS Leonardo da Vinci had a rather unusual internal layout.
A voluminous space for a reactor was reserved amidships, in and around the conventional propulsion plant. This made it necessary to place the
dining rooms and galleys one deck higher than usual, separated from the main working passage. Since no passenger corridors passed through the
area reserved for the reactor, the fore and rear passenger-accessible sections on the lowest decks were entirely separated from each other.
Finally, some innovations and exceptional safety measures were included in the project: fully independent engine rooms (so each of them could propel
the ship if the other were damaged), retractable stabilizer wings, extended watertight bulkheads, motorized lifeboats and davits that could
lower the boats even in case of a 25-degree angle of list.
A brochure from 1960 made in occassion of the inaugural voyage, labelled "Arriving July 9th... the new Italian masterpiece", claimed:
"Join us on July 9, and watch 763 feet of elegance, 33,500 tons of splendor, sail proudly into New York. You will see
the arrival of Italian Line's majestic new flagship, Leonardo da Vinci, and the beginning of a new era in transocean luxury. What goes into
a 33,500-ton work of art that will whisk 1,300 pleasure-loving passengers to Europe in regal style? 11 decks, 521 staterooms, 5 swimming pools
(2 for children). Complete air conditioning. Closed circuit television. And of course, sumptuous lounges, ballrooms, dining rooms, etc. Luxury,
luxury everywhere - a décor to lift the spirit and a staff of 600 to provide Italian Line's customary cuisine and service. (Magnificent is
the word.) For those who like unusual facts: the Leonardo's electric plant will produce enough power for a city of 150,000. The distilling
plant will convert 184,000 gallons of sea water a day. Infra-red heating around the First Class pool will make swimming a delight - even
on cool days. (Such days do occur now and then, even on the Sunny Southern Route.) Come see all this grandeur on July 9. Or, better still,
plan an unforgettable voyage on our masterpiece. The Leonardo da Vinci: express to the radiant Mediterranean - Gibraltar, Naples, Cannes and
Genoa - from New York on July 16 and regularly thereafter. See your Travel Agent."
SS Rotterdam
The fifth SS Rotterdam, known as "The Grande Dame", was launched in 1958 and completed in the shipyards Rotterdam Drydock Company the following
summer. This ship was the last great Dutch "ship of state", employing the finest artisans from the Netherlands during her construction and fitting out.
With a career spanning 41 years, she was also one of the most successful passenger ships ever, until her final retirement in 2000. As more
and more Trans-Atlantic liners started to be retired due to the increasing popularity of air lines, the SS Rotterdam was no exception, being retired
permanently from Trans-Atlantic service in 1969.
The SS Rotterdam had been planned already in 1939, but the outbreak of the Second World War paralized the works. When economic conditions became
favorable again in the early 1954, the beginning of the end of ocean liners as a fundamental transport mean was visible on the horizon. With a
farsighted perspective, the designers created a flexible design with movable partitions and a unique double staircase allowing for easy conversion
into a cruise ship. After a small refit in which the two-class layout was unified, the SS Rotterdam served as a full-time cruise ship
from 1970 with her hull painted black. In a subsequent refit in 1977 her passenger capacity decreased from 1499 to 1144.
By the 1980s the ship had settled into a routine of winters in the Caribbean and summers in the Alaskan, with the occasional but very popular
world cruise. After Carnival Cruise Lines took over Holland America Line in 1989, the SS Rotterdam remained in service until 1997, when the company
announced that upgrading the ship to meet the current Safety Of Life At Seas regulations would cost 40 million dollars. But unlike most others in her
genre, the SS Rotterdam was a particularly fortunate ship, and her history would not end here. Premier Cruises acquired the ship and renamed her
SS Rembrandt.
Controversially the new owner was able to refit the ship according to the new safety
regulations as well as many other things for half of what Carnival had predicted. She continued to serve as a fairly popular cruise ship out of Port
Canaveral (Florida) until September 2000, when Premier Cruises shut down. After her final retirement, the ship saw some years of inactivity, on which
some modifications were made to her, including asbestos removal and returning the hull to its original grey color. After restoration she finally
returned in August 2008 to Rotterdam, where she serves as a combination of museum, hotel and school for vocational training since 2010.
The SS Rotterdam was not a huge ocean liner considering the contemporary standards. She has a length of 228 meters, a beam of 28.65 meters, a draught of
9 meters and a tonnage of 38645 gross tonnes, with a displacement of 31530 tonnes. She has ten decks and a total height of 49.8 meters. Originally she
had accommodation for 1456 passengers (647 in first class and 809 in second class) and a crew of 776. In comparison with the RMS Mauretania from 1906
the SS Rotterdam is shorter but more spacious.
The propulsion plant, located astern to grant more space in the central area for passengers, comprises four boilers and two steam turbines with a total
output of 38000 horsepower (about half than in the RMS Mauretania from 1906), which provided a service speed of 21.5 knots and a maximum speed of 25.5 knots.
The engines exhausted through twin uptake pipes astern that took the role of a traditional funnel, which was somehow replaced by a large deckhouse atop the
superstructure to balance the silhouette of the ship.
The appearance of the SS Rotterdam was controversial at the time and her unique design features can be found on cruise ships today. Another novelty was
the absence of tanks for potable water, having three evaporators that distillated 700 tonnes of salt water daily. And as every modern ocean liner she was
fitted with a full air-conditioning installation.
SS United States
The SS United States is a luxury passenger liner built in 1952 for United States Lines, designed to achieve the Blue Riband, trophy granted to the
passenger liner performing regular Trans-Atlantic service with the highest speed. This ship remains as the
largest ocean liner constructed entirely in the United States and the fastest one crossing the Atlantic in both directions. The SS United States operated in
Trans-Atlantic passenger service until 1969. She changed hands multiple times from 1978 with many plans for a return to active service but nothing was
materialized. In 1996 the ship remained docked on the Delaware River in Philadelphia and her future was uncertain.
~ Enjoy a long weekend to Europe onboard the SS United States ~
Inspired by the exemplary service of the British ocean liners RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth, which transported hundreds of thousands of US
soldiers to Europe during the Second World War, the US Government decided to subsidize the construction of a large and very fast vessel capable of
transporting a large number of soldiers. So, the SS United States was built in such a way to allow conversion into a troop transport with capacity
for 15000 soldiers or a hospital if necessary. Following US Navy specifications, the ship was heavily subdivided and built with independent engine
rooms to optimize wartime survivality. The cost of the ship ascended to 72 millions of dollars.
To minimize the risk of fire, the designers avoided any wooden elements in the framing, accessories, decorations or interior surfaces. Fittings, including
all furniture and fabrics, were custom made in glass, metal and spun fiberglass. The construction of the superstructure involved the largest use of
aluminum in any construction project of that time, and posed a challenge in joining the aluminum structure to the steel decks below. But the significant
utilization of aluminum would provide extreme weight savings. With a beam of 31 meters, the hull could clear the locks at Panama Canal with just 0.6 meters
of spare space on each side.
The SS United States has a length of 301.75 meters, a beam of 30.91 meters, a draught of 9.4 meters and a gross tonnage of 53329 tonnes, with a
displacement of 45400 tonnes at normal draught. The ship has twelve decks and a height of 53.34 meters from the keel to the top of the fore funnel.
She had accommodation for 2008 passengers and a crew of 1093, with a full air-conditioning installation.
The propulsion plant, the
most powerful one installed in a merchant vessel, comprises eight boilers Babcock and Wilcox and four steam turbines Westinghouse actuating on four shafts,
delivering a total output of 240000 shaft horsepower for a maximum speed of 38.3 knots and a service speed of 32 knots. Besides the ship was capable of
steaming astern at over 20 knots. This propulsion power was equivalent to that of a Forrestal-class aircraft carrier and gave her the greatest power-to-weight
ratio ever achieved in a commercial passenger liner. Finally, enough fuel and stores could be carried to navigate non-stop for over 10000 nautical miles
(18520 kilometers) at an astonishing cruising speed of 35 knots.
As 2016, the SS United States remains in preservation, but the costs are very high and the SS United States Conservancy recently began to consider potential bids
for scrapping the ship. The raise of funds in the late 2015 bought time for the emblematic ship just in time. On February 2016, Crystal Cruises announced that it has signed
a purchase option for the SS United States. Crystal will cover docking costs in Philadelphia for nine months while conducting a feasibility study on
returning the ship to service as a cruise ship based in New York City.
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