1.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
2.
International Navigation Company
–
INC was formed in 1871 with the backing of the Pennsylvania Railroad to operate foreign flagged vessels on transatlantic routes to Philadelphia. This subsidiary would provide most of the profits for the next 30 years. In 1873, Griscom also took over the management of the American Steamship Company and this company, known as the American “Keystone” Line was unprofitable because of the substantially higher costs associated with operating American-flagged vessels. In 1884, the assets of the American Line were acquired by International Navigation, two years later, INC also acquired the assets of the financially troubled Inman Line, operator of a British flagged Liverpool-New York mail service. With PRR’s backing, Griscom ordered two record breakers to restore Inman’s fortunes, however, the British Government objected to Inman’s ownership change and revoked Imman’s mail contract. Griscom successfully lobbied Congress to reflag the two new express liners and qualify for an American mail subsidy, in 1893, Inman was merged the American Line and the company built two additional express liners in the US to create a premium weekly service, now routed to Southampton. Griscom believed that the lines should be merged to control capacity. In 1899, he acquainted with J. P. Morgan. International Navigation was renamed International Mercantile Marine, however, Griscom and Morgan paid too high a price for the companies they acquired and IMM struggled under the debt payments. Management was reorganized to focus on White Star, the most profitable subsidiary, in 1915, IMM was forced into bankruptcy when the war disrupted cash flow, but later was able to profit from the wartime demand for shipping. In the 1920s and 1930s, IMM gradually sold off its foreign subsidiaries, in 1931, it acquired the United States Lines, and merged all operations under that name in 1943. The company failed in 1986 and was liquidated when it expanded in the cargo container business. In 1858, the Inman Line abandoned Philadelphia as its American terminus, various interests in Philadelphia, including the Pennsylvania Railroad, recognized the need to reestablish steamship service directly to Europe. In 1870, PRR backed the creation of two shipping companies, the US-flagged American Steamship Company and the foreign flagged International Navigation Company, chartered on May 5,1871, International Navigation was created by the Philadelphia ship brokerage of Peter Wright & Sons. A $1 million bond issue was guaranteed by PRR and the initial $1.5 million stock offering was largely purchased by a group of Peter Wright partners. The new firm’s affairs were turned over to a 30-year-old Peter Wright partner, Clement A. Griscom, who was also a close associate of Edgar Thompson, President of PRR. Since Peter Wright & Sons was also involved in the transport of oil from the Pennsylvania petroleum fields. In 1872, Griscom and Thompson concluded that International Navigation should seek a terminus on the continent, according to his son, Griscom marked all of the principle manufacturing towns in England, Belgium, France and Germany and determined that the center was Antwerp Belgium
3.
New York City
–
The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over an area of about 302.6 square miles. Located at the tip of the state of New York. Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has described as the cultural and financial capital of the world. Situated on one of the worlds largest natural harbors, New York City consists of five boroughs, the five boroughs – Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, The Bronx, and Staten Island – were consolidated into a single city in 1898. In 2013, the MSA produced a gross metropolitan product of nearly US$1.39 trillion, in 2012, the CSA generated a GMP of over US$1.55 trillion. NYCs MSA and CSA GDP are higher than all but 11 and 12 countries, New York City traces its origin to its 1624 founding in Lower Manhattan as a trading post by colonists of the Dutch Republic and was named New Amsterdam in 1626. The city and its surroundings came under English control in 1664 and were renamed New York after King Charles II of England granted the lands to his brother, New York served as the capital of the United States from 1785 until 1790. It has been the countrys largest city since 1790, the Statue of Liberty greeted millions of immigrants as they came to the Americas by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is a symbol of the United States and its democracy. In the 21st century, New York has emerged as a node of creativity and entrepreneurship, social tolerance. Several sources have ranked New York the most photographed city in the world, the names of many of the citys bridges, tapered skyscrapers, and parks are known around the world. Manhattans real estate market is among the most expensive in the world, Manhattans Chinatown incorporates the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere, with multiple signature Chinatowns developing across the city. Providing continuous 24/7 service, the New York City Subway is one of the most extensive metro systems worldwide, with 472 stations in operation. Over 120 colleges and universities are located in New York City, including Columbia University, New York University, and Rockefeller University, during the Wisconsinan glaciation, the New York City region was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet over 1,000 feet in depth. The ice sheet scraped away large amounts of soil, leaving the bedrock that serves as the foundation for much of New York City today. Later on, movement of the ice sheet would contribute to the separation of what are now Long Island and Staten Island. The first documented visit by a European was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, a Florentine explorer in the service of the French crown and he claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême. Heavy ice kept him from further exploration, and he returned to Spain in August and he proceeded to sail up what the Dutch would name the North River, named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange
4.
Southampton
–
Southampton, on the south coast of England, is the largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire. It is 75 miles south-west of London and 19 miles north-west of Portsmouth, Southampton is a major port and the closest city to the New Forest. It lies at the northernmost point of Southampton Water at the confluence of the Rivers Test and Itchen, the city, which is a unitary authority, has an estimated population of 253,651. The citys name is abbreviated in writing to Soton or Soton. Significant employers in the city include the University of Southampton, Southampton Solent University, Southampton Airport, Ordnance Survey, BBC South, Southampton has a large shopping centre and retail park, Westquay. In 2014, the city approved a follow-up from the Westquay park, WestQuay Watermark. This built-up area is part of the area known as South Hampshire. With a population of over 1.5 million this makes the one of the United Kingdoms most populous metropolitan areas. Archaeological finds suggest that the area has been inhabited since the stone age, following the Roman invasion of Britain in AD43 and the conquering of the local Britons in 70 AD the fortress settlement of Clausentum was established. It was an important trading port and defensive outpost of Winchester, Clausentum was defended by a wall and two ditches and is thought to have contained a bath house. Clausentum was not abandoned until around 410, the Anglo-Saxons formed a new, larger, settlement across the Itchen centred on what is now the St Marys area of the city. The settlement was known as Hamwic, which evolved into Hamtun, archaeological excavations of this site have uncovered one of the best collections of Saxon artefacts in Europe. It is from this town that the county of Hampshire gets its name, viking raids from 840 onwards contributed to the decline of Hamwic in the 9th century, and by the 10th century a fortified settlement, which became medieval Southampton, had been established. Following the Norman Conquest in 1066, Southampton became the port of transit between the then capital of England, Winchester, and Normandy. By the 13th century Southampton had become a port, particularly involved in the import of French wine in exchange for English cloth. The Franciscan friary in Southampton was founded circa 1233, the friars constructed a water supply system in 1290, which carried water from Conduit Head some 1.7 kilometres to the site of the friary inside the town walls. Further remains can be observed at Conduit House on Commercial Road, the friars granted use of the water to the town in 1310. The town was sacked in 1338 by French, Genoese and Monegasque ships, on visiting Southampton in 1339, Edward III ordered that walls be built to close the town
5.
Liverpool
–
Liverpool is a major city and metropolitan borough in North West England.24 million people in 2011. Liverpool historically lay within the ancient hundred of West Derby in the south west of the county of Lancashire and it became a borough from 1207 and a city from 1880. In 1889 it became a county borough independent of Lancashire, Liverpool sits on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary and its growth as a major port is paralleled by the expansion of the city throughout the Industrial Revolution. Along with general cargo, freight, raw materials such as coal and cotton, the city was also directly involved in the Atlantic slave trade. Liverpool was home to both the Cunard and White Star Line, and was the port of registry of the ocean liner RMS Titanic and others such as the RMS Lusitania, Queen Mary, and Olympic. The city celebrated its 800th anniversary in 2007, and it held the European Capital of Culture title together with Stavanger, Norway, several areas of Liverpool city centre were granted World Heritage Site status by UNESCO in 2004. The Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City includes the Pier Head, Albert Dock, tourism forms a significant part of the citys economy. Liverpool is also the home of two Premier League football clubs, Liverpool and Everton, matches between the two being known as the Merseyside derby, the world-famous Grand National horse race takes place annually at Aintree Racecourse on the outskirts of the city. The city is home to the oldest Black African community in the country. Natives of Liverpool are referred to as Liverpudlians and colloquially as Scousers, a reference to scouse, the word Scouse has also become synonymous with the Liverpool accent and dialect. Pool is a place name element in England from the Brythonic word for a pond, inlet, or pit, cognate with the modern Welsh. The derivation of the first element remains uncertain, with the Welsh word Llif as the most plausible relative and this etymology is supported by its similarity to that of the archaic Welsh name for Liverpool Llynlleifiad. Other origins of the name have suggested, including elverpool. The name appeared in 1190 as Liuerpul, and it may be that the place appearing as Leyrpole, in a record of 1418. King Johns letters patent of 1207 announced the foundation of the borough of Liverpool, the original street plan of Liverpool is said to have been designed by King John near the same time it was granted a royal charter, making it a borough. The original seven streets were laid out in an H shape, Bank Street, Castle Street, Chapel Street, Dale Street, Juggler Street, Moor Street, in the 17th century there was slow progress in trade and population growth. Battles for the town were waged during the English Civil War, in 1699 Liverpool was made a parish by Act of Parliament, that same year its first slave ship, Liverpool Merchant, set sail for Africa. Since Roman times, the city of Chester on the River Dee had been the regions principal port on the Irish Sea
6.
Philadelphia
–
In 1682, William Penn, an English Quaker, founded the city to serve as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony. Philadelphia was one of the capitals in the Revolutionary War. In the 19th century, Philadelphia became an industrial center. It became a destination for African-Americans in the Great Migration. The areas many universities and colleges make Philadelphia a top international study destination, as the city has evolved into an educational, with a gross domestic product of $388 billion, Philadelphia ranks ninth among world cities and fourth in the nation. Philadelphia is the center of activity in Pennsylvania and is home to seven Fortune 1000 companies. The Philadelphia skyline is growing, with a market of almost 81,900 commercial properties in 2016 including several prominent skyscrapers. The city is known for its arts, culture, and rich history, Philadelphia has more outdoor sculptures and murals than any other American city. Fairmount Park, when combined with the adjacent Wissahickon Valley Park in the watershed, is one of the largest contiguous urban park areas in the United States. The 67 National Historic Landmarks in the city helped account for the $10 billion generated by tourism, Philadelphia is the only World Heritage City in the United States. Before Europeans arrived, the Philadelphia area was home to the Lenape Indians in the village of Shackamaxon, the Lenape are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government. They are also called Delaware Indians and their territory was along the Delaware River watershed, western Long Island. Most Lenape were pushed out of their Delaware homeland during the 18th century by expanding European colonies, Lenape communities were weakened by newly introduced diseases, mainly smallpox, and violent conflict with Europeans. Iroquois people occasionally fought the Lenape, surviving Lenape moved west into the upper Ohio River basin. The American Revolutionary War and United States independence pushed them further west, in the 1860s, the United States government sent most Lenape remaining in the eastern United States to the Indian Territory under the Indian removal policy. In the 21st century, most Lenape now reside in the US state of Oklahoma, with communities living also in Wisconsin, Ontario. The Dutch considered the entire Delaware River valley to be part of their New Netherland colony, in 1638, Swedish settlers led by renegade Dutch established the colony of New Sweden at Fort Christina and quickly spread out in the valley. In 1644, New Sweden supported the Susquehannocks in their defeat of the English colony of Maryland
7.
Passenger ship
–
A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The type does however include many classes of ships designed to transport substantial numbers of passengers as well as freight, only in more recent ocean liners and in virtually all cruise ships has this cargo capacity been eliminated. While typically passenger ships are part of the merchant marine, passenger ships have also used as troopships. An ocean liner is the form of passenger ship. Once such liners operated on scheduled line voyages to all inhabited parts of the world, with the advent of airliners transporting passengers and specialized cargo vessels hauling freight, line voyages have almost died out. Her success demonstrated that there was a market for large cruise ships, successive classes of ever-larger ships were ordered, until the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth was finally dethroned from her 56-year reign as the largest passenger ship ever built. Both the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 and her successor as Cunards flagship RMS Queen Mary 2, QM2 was superseded by the Freedom of the Seas of the Royal Caribbean line as the largest passenger ship ever built, however, QM2 still hold the record for the largest ocean liner. The Freedom of the Seas was superseded by the Oasis of the Seas in October 2009, by convention and long usage, the size of civilian passenger ships is measured by gross tonnage, which is a dimensionless figure calculated from the total enclosed volume of the vessel. Gross tonnage is not a measure of weight, although the two concepts are often confused, weight is measured by displacement, which is the conventional means of measuring naval vessels. Often a passenger ship is stated to weigh or displace a certain tonnage, but the figure given nearly always refers to gross tonnage, gross tonnage normally is a much higher value than displacement. However, by the conventional and historical measure of gross tonnage, the Oasis of the Seas measures over 225,000 GT, over twice as large as the largest cruise ships of the late 1990s. Power is also unavailable to the crew of the ship to operate electrically powered mechanisms, lack of an adequate backup system to propel the ship can, in rough seas, render it dead in the water and result in loss of the ship. It is believed some owners and operators of ships built before 1980, fred Olsens Black Prince, built in 1966 was one such ship, but was reported to be headed for inter-island service in Venezuelan waters. The International Ice Patrol was formed in 1914 after the sinking of the RMS Titanic to address the issue of iceberg collision
8.
Armed merchantman
–
Armed merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant ship equipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be armed, especially those engaging in long distance. In more modern times, auxiliary cruisers were used offensively to disrupt trade chiefly during both World War I and World War II, particularly by Germany, while armed merchantmen are clearly inferior to regular warships, sometimes they have scored successes in combat against them. East Indiamen of various European countries were heavily armed for their journeys to the Far East. In particularly dangerous times, such as when the countries were at war. However, many East Indiamen also travelled on their own, and therefore were heavily armed in order to defend themselves against pirates and they also defended themselves against warships, scoring signal victories at the Battle of Pulo Aura and the Action of 4 August 1800. The British Royal Navy purchased several that it converted to ships of the line, in 1856, privateering lost international sanction under the Declaration of Paris. From 1861–65 European countries built high speed ships to run the Union Blockade during the American Civil War, some of these were armed and served as Confederate States Navy raiders. Russia purchased three ships in 1878 of 6,000 long tons armed with 6-inch guns for use as auxiliary cruisers for a Russian Volunteer Fleet. Germany and the United Kingdom responded to the precedent by asking their shipping companies to design fast steamers with provision for mounting guns in time of war, in 1892 Russia likewise built two more auxiliary cruisers. In both World Wars, both Germany and the United Kingdom used auxiliary cruisers, while the British used armed passenger liners defensively for protecting their shipping, the German approach was to use them offensively to attack enemy shipping. The armed merchant cruisers of the British Royal Navy were employed for protection against enemy warships. They ultimately proved to have limited value and many, particularly ocean liners, were converted into troopships. Documentary evidence quoted by the BBC researched from the stages of the First World War suggests that the express liners had greater speed than most warships. The downside proved to be their high consumption, and that using them in a purely AMC role would have burned through the Admiralty reserve supplies of steam coal in less than three months. The ships were vulnerable to fire, because they lacked warship armour and they used local control of guns, rather than director fire-control systems. By coincidence, Cap Trafalgar was disguised as Carmania, in World War II, HMS Jervis Bay — the sole escort for convoy HX84 in November 1940 — stood off the pocket battleship Admiral Scheer, when the German ship attacked the convoy. Though she was sunk alonside 5 vessels, this enabled the rest of the convoy to escape and her master, Acting Captain Edward Fegen was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions
9.
Troopship
–
A troopship is a ship used to carry soldiers, either in peacetime or wartime. Attack transports, a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore, landing ships beach themselves and bring their troops directly ashore. Ships to transport troops were used in Antiquity. Ancient Rome used the navis lusoria, a vessel powered by rowers and sail, to move soldiers on the Rhine. HMT Olympic even rammed and sank a U-boat during one of its wartime crossings, individual liners capable of exceptionally high speed transited without escorts, smaller or older liners with poorer performance were protected by operating in convoys. The British government aided both Cunard and the White Star Line to construct the liners RMS Mauretania, RMS Aquitania, RMS Olympic, when the vulnerability of these ships to return fire was realized most were used instead as troopship or hospital ships. RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth were two of the most famous converted liners of World War II, when they were fully converted, each could carry well over 10,000 troops per trip. Queen Mary holds the record, with 15,740 troops on a single passage in late July 1943. The modified Liberties were capable of transporting up to 450,550,30 Type C4 ship-based General G. O. Squier-class, the largest carrying over 6,000 passengers. A class of Victory ship-based dedicated troopship was developed late in World War II, a total of 84 such VC2-S-AP2 hull conversions was completed. A class of Type C3 ship – comprising mainly C3-S-A2 and C3-S-A3 hulls – was also converted to dedicated troopships, at least 15 classes of Attack Transport, consisting of at least 400 ships specially equipped for landing invasion forces rather than general troop movement. The designation HMT would normally replace RMS, MV or SS for ships converted to troopship duty with the United Kingdoms Royal Navy, initially troopships adapted as attack transports were designated AP, starting in 1942 keel-up attack transports received the designation APA. In the era of the Cold War the United States designed the SS United States so that it could easily be converted from a liner to a troopship, in case of war. More recently, RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 and the SS Canberra were requisitioned by the Royal Navy to carry British soldiers to the Falklands War, by the end of the twentieth century, nearly all long-distance personnel transfer was done by airlift in military transport aircraft
10.
QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss
–
The QF6 pounder Hotchkiss was a light 2.24 inch naval gun and coast defence gun of the late 19th century used by many countries, and was adapted for use in the early British tanks in World War I. The UK adopted a 40-calibre version as Ordnance QF Hotchkiss 6 pounder gun Mk I and it was manufactured under licence by the Elswick Ordnance Company. They were originally mounted for use against the new torpedo boats which started to service in the late 1870s. The original 1885 Mk I lacked a recoil system, the Mk II of 1890 introduced a recoil system, with a pair of recoil/recuperator cylinders. During World War I the navy required many more guns and a version with a barrel was developed to simplify manufacture. Initially these guns were allowed to be fired with a special lower charge. After World War I the gun was considered obsolete for combat use, of the 3,984 produced it was estimated that 1,640 still existed in 1939. With the onset of World War II the remaining guns were rushed back into service for anti-submarine defense, E-boat defense, New non-recoil Mk VI, Mk VI* and Mk VI** mountings were built with elevations between -10° to +70°. These mountings were used on models of the Fairmile D Motor Gunboats, Motor Launchs. Some of which were not re-armed with the modern auto-loading 6 pdr Mk IIA until late 1944, the gun was used to equip Male versions of the early British tanks, Mk I - Mk III. In 1916 the British Army having no experience in fighting tanks was faced with the difficulty of quickly providing a new class of weapon. The existing Hotchkiss 6 pounder naval gun appeared to most closely meet the need, a single gun was mounted in each sponson, i. e.2 per Male tank, able to fire forwards or to the side. The British chose to shorten the gun rather than change its location, the history of the Hotchkiss six pounder in United States Navy and Army service is a complex story. It was used in conjunction with another design, its primary rival being the Driggs-Schroeder six pounder. Oddly, one shipbuilding and naval supply company, Cramp & Sons, had a license to both the Hotchkiss and Driggs-Schroeder and sold both to the Navy in parallel. However, the purchases by the Navy were in small lots each year. Both Hotchkiss and Driggs-Schroeder guns used the same ammunition and eventually the Navy made certain that the ammunition for both was identical, there is no question that the Driggs-Schroeders were predominant in the new protected and armored cruisers that were being commissioned by 1895. However, USS Texas, a second class battleship commissioned in 1895, carried a mixed six pounder complement of ten Driggs-Schroeders, USS Maine, an armored cruiser, exclusively carried Driggs-Schroeder six pounders although it had a mixed one pounder battery of both Driggs-Schroeder and Hotchkiss
United States
United States
_engines.jpg)
