RMS Oceanic (1899)

RMS Oceanic was a transatlantic ocean liner built for the White Star Line. She sailed on her maiden voyage on 6 September 1899 and was the largest ship in the world until 1901. At the outbreak of World War I in 1914 she was commissioned into Royal Navy service on 8 August 1914, as an armed merchant cruiser.

On 25 August 1914, the newly designated HMS Oceanic departed Southampton to patrol the waters from the North Scottish mainland to the Faroes, in particular around Shetland. She ran aground and was wrecked off the island of Foula there on 8 September 1914.

Construction

Oceanic's keel was laid in January 1897 under the supervision of her designer, Thomas Ismay, director and owner of the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company, better known as White Star Line. The company's future flagship was named after the line's original namesake, their first successful liner the RMS Oceanic (1870).

A sister ship for Oceanic to be named Olympic was planned. However she was cancelled after the death of Thomas Ismay in 1899, and the company's resources were diverted to develop a new set of larger liners, known as the "Big Four". The name Olympic was later bestowed upon the RMS Olympic of 1910.

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RMS Oceanic (1870)

RMS Oceanic was the White Star Line's first liner and an important turning point in passenger liner design. Entering service in 1871 for Atlantic crossings, she was later chartered to Occidental & Oriental Steamship Company (O&O) in 1875. The ship provided passenger service for O&O in the Pacific until 1895 when she was sold for scrap.

Design and construction

Oceanic was built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast, and was launched on 27 August 1870, arriving in Liverpool for her maiden voyage on 26 February 1871. Powered by a combination of steam and sail, she had twelve boilers generating steam at 65 pounds-force per square inch (450 kPa), powered a single four cylinder compound steam engine, 2 x 78 inches (2.0 m) and 2 x 41 inches (1.0 m), with a stroke of 60 inches (1.5 m). A single funnel exhausted smoke and four masts carried sail. The hull was constructed of iron and divided into eleven watertight compartments. Passenger accommodations were located on the two decks concealed within the hull, as Oceanic could carry 166 First Class passengers, referred to as Saloon Passengers in those days and 1,000 Steerage Passengers, with a crew of 143. White Star had spared no expense in her construction, and the contemporary press described the ship as an "imperial yacht".

Oceanic (unfinished ship)

The RMMV (Royal Mail Motor Vessel) Oceanic was the planned name of an unfinished ocean liner that was partially built by Harland and Wolff for the White Star Line. The ship was to have been the first 1,000-foot (300 m)-long ocean liner. It was intended to be the largest ocean liner for the White Star Line, thus it would have been larger than the earlier White Star giants, Olympic, Titanic, Britannic, and Majestic.

Several sets of plans for the ships design were produced by Harland and Wolff for Oceanic between 1926 and 1928. The first set showed a 900-foot (270 m)-long four-funnel liner. The second set drawn in 1927 showed a 935 feet long and 100 feet wide liner with three funnels. It was roughly the same size as Europa and Bremen. The third set showed the current 1,010 feet (310 m) long design with three funnels and cruiser stern typical of liners being built in the mid to late 1920s.

The order was placed 18 June 1928, and construction began on June 28, 1928, when her keel was laid. The work was slowed by a dispute over the powerplant; Lord Kylsant which controlled the White Star Line wanted to use diesel-electric instead of the traditional steam power. White Star proposed having over 40 diesel generator sets driving four propellers through geared electric motors. Harland & Wolff was reluctant to adopt this system and by the time all parties had settled on the use of diesel, the Great Depression was underway and hitting the shipping business.