1.
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was established as a sovereign state on 1 January 1801 by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland. The growing desire for an Irish Republic led to the Irish War of Independence, Northern Ireland remained part of the United Kingdom, and the state was consequently renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Britain financed the European coalition that defeated France in 1815 in the Napoleonic Wars, the British Empire thereby became the foremost world power for the next century. The Crimean War with Russia and the Boer wars were relatively small operations in a largely peaceful century, rapid industrialisation that began in the decades prior to the states formation continued up until the mid-19th century. A devastating famine, exacerbated by government inaction in the century, led to demographic collapse in much of Ireland. It was an era of economic modernization and growth of industry, trade and finance. Outward migration was heavy to the colonies and to the United States. Britain also built up a large British Empire in Africa and Asia, India, by far the most important possession, saw a short-lived revolt in 1857. In foreign policy Britain favoured free trade, which enabled its financiers and merchants to operate successfully in many otherwise independent countries, as in South America. Britain formed no permanent military alliances until the early 20th century, when it began to cooperate with Japan, France and Russia, and moved closer to the United States. A brief period of limited independence for Ireland came to an end following the Irish Rebellion of 1798, the British governments fear of an independent Ireland siding against them with the French resulted in the decision to unite the two countries. This was brought about by legislation in the parliaments of both kingdoms and came into effect on 1 January 1801, however, King George III was bitterly opposed to any such Emancipation and succeeded in defeating his governments attempts to introduce it. When the Treaty of Amiens ended the war, Britain agreed to return most of the territories it had seized, in May 1803, war was declared again. In 1806, Napoleon issued the series of Berlin Decrees, which brought into effect the Continental System and this policy aimed to eliminate the threat from the British by closing French-controlled territory to foreign trade. Frances population and agricultural capacity far outstripped that of the British Isles, Napoleon expected that cutting Britain off from the European mainland would end its economic hegemony. The Spanish uprising in 1808 at last permitted Britain to gain a foothold on the Continent, after Napoleons surrender and exile to the island of Elba, peace appeared to have returned. The Allies united and the armies of Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon once, simultaneous with the Napoleonic Wars, trade disputes, arming hostile Indians and British impressment of American sailors led to the War of 1812 with the United States. The war was little noticed in Britain, which could devote few resources to the conflict until the fall of Napoleon in 1814, American frigates inflicted a series of defeats on the Royal Navy, which was short on manpower due to the conflict in Europe
2.
Tugboat
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A tug is a boat or ship that maneuvers vessels by pushing or towing them. Tugboats are powerful for their size and strongly built, and some are ocean-going, some tugboats serve as icebreakers or salvage boats. Early tugboats had steam engines, but today most have diesel engines, many tugboats have firefighting monitors, allowing them to assist in firefighting, especially in harbors. Seagoing tugs fall into four categories, The standard seagoing tug with model bow that tows its payload on a hawser. The notch tug which can be secured in a notch at the stern of a specially designed barge and this configuration is dangerous to use with a barge which is in ballast or in a head- or following sea. Therefore, notch tugs are usually built with a towing winch and these units stay combined under virtually any sea conditions and the tugs usually have poor sea-keeping designs for navigation without their barges attached. Vessels in this category are considered to be ships rather than tugboats. These vessels must show navigation lights compliant with those required of ships rather than required of tugboats. Articulated tug and barge units also utilize mechanical means to connect to their barges, the tug slips into a notch in the stern and is attached by a hinged connection. ATBs generally utilize Intercon and Bludworth connecting systems, aTBs are generally staffed as a large tugboat, with between seven and nine crew members. The typical American ATB operating on the east coast customarily displays navigational lights of a towing vessel pushing ahead, compared to seagoing tugboats, harbour tugboats are generally smaller and their width-to-length ratio is often higher, due to the need for a lower draught. In smaller harbours these are also termed lunch bucket boats, because they are only manned when needed and only at a minimum. The number of tugboats in a harbour varies with the harbour infrastructure, things to take into consideration includes ships with/without bow thrusters and forces like wind, current and waves and types of ship. River tugs are also referred to as towboats or pushboats and their hull designs would make open ocean operation dangerous. River tugs usually do not have any significant hawser or winch and their hulls feature a flat front or bow to line up with the rectangular stern of the barge, often with large pushing knees. Tugboat engines typically produce 500 to 2,500 kW, for safety, tugboats engines often feature two of each critical part for redundancy. A tugboats power is stated by its engines horsepower and its overall bollard pull. The largest commercial harbour tugboats in the 2000s-2010s, used for towing container ships or similar, had around 60-65 tons of bollard pull, Tugboats are highly maneuverable, and various propulsion systems have been developed to increase maneuverability and increase safety
3.
Ship's tender
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Smaller boats may also have tenders, usually called dinghies. For a variety of reasons, it is not always advisable to try to tie a ship up at a dock, the weather or the sea might be rough, the time might be short, or the ship too large to fit. In such cases tenders provide the link from ship to shore, on cruise ships, lifeboat tenders do double duty, serving as tenders in day-to-day activities, but fully equipped to act as lifeboats in an emergency. They are generally carried on davits just above the deck, and may at first glance appear to be regular lifeboats. Current lifeboat tender designs favor catamaran models, since they are likely to roll in the calm to moderate conditions in which tenders are usually used. They typically carry up to 100 to 150 passengers and two to three crew members, before these ships were mass-produced, the main way to board a larger ship was to board a passenger tender. Passenger tenders remained based at their ports of registry, and when a ship came through the area and these vessels were larger, had a greater passenger capacity, and a broader sense of individuality in their respective companies than the more modern tenders seen today. Because of their size, lifeboats and life preservers were commonplace on board these ships. Their hull classification symbols in the US Navy were, respectively, AS and AD, Naval tenders fell out of use during the late 20th century, as the speed and range of warships increased. By the end of the 20th century, all of the tenders in the U. S. Navy had been inactivated except for two submarine tenders. As a result of the settlement of lawsuits over the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet, Emory S. Land-class submarine tenders USS Emory S. Land and USS Frank Cable are now manned and operated by a hybrid crew, the Captain and a couple hundred technicians are regular Navy, while the operation of the ship itself is performed by Merchant Marines. Prior to the turn-over, both ships had more than 1000 sailors, under the traditional Navy classification, both ships should be reclassified as AR, however since now operated by the MSC it is doubtful such a reassignment will occur. Land is forward deployed in the Indian Ocean at Diego Garcia while Frank Cable is forward-deployed in the Pacific at Polaris Point, Apra Harbor, such forward deployments are to provide service and support at the very great distances of the Western Pacific. Two tenders, SS Nomadic and SS Traffic, were built for the White Star Line by Harland and Wolff to serve the liners RMS Olympic, Nomadic survives as a museum ship, and is the last remaining vessel built for the White Star Line in existence. Armed tender, British supply or transport ships that were outfitted and commissioned for use in the Naval Service. Buoy tender, used to maintain navigational aids, destroyer tender, a large ship used to support a flotilla of destroyers or other small warships. Dive tender, a ship or boat used to support the actions of divers, also known as a diving support vessel
4.
John I. Thornycroft & Company
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Thornycroft & Company Limited, usually known simply as Thornycroft was a British shipbuilding firm founded by John Isaac Thornycroft in Chiswick in 1866. It moved to Woolston, Southampton, in 1908, merging in 1966 with Vosper & Company to form one organisation called Vosper Thornycroft, from 2002 to 2010 the company acquired several international and US based defence and services companies, and changed name to the VT Group. John Isaac Thornycroft had shown shipbuilding ability when aged 16 he began building a steam launch in 1859. The vessel was named Nautilus and in 1862 it proved to be the first steam launch with enough speed to follow the contenders in the University race. The ensuing publicity prompted his father, the sculptor Thomas Thornycroft, to purchase a strip of land along the Thames at Chiswick in 1864, in its first 10 years the yard had a very modest production, mostly building steam launches and steam yachts. The breakthrough came in 1873, when the built the small steel torpedo craft Rap for the Navy of Norway. Torpedoes and torpedo boats were seen as weapons of the future, as Banbury put it, No high-pressure salesmanship was needed to sell torpedo-boats in the nineteenth century, on the contrary, the customers queued up. The original boats had locomotive-type boilers but, like its competitors, the size of the vessels grew steadily, exceeding 100 tons with the Ariete, delivered to Spain in 1887 and 200 tons in the Daring-class torpedo-boat destroyers of the Royal Navy. The largest vessel built at Chiswick was the Alarm-class torpedo gunboat Speedy of 810 tons, in 1904 the Oscar Mordaunt yard at Woolston was acquired, and production gradually moved there. At its peak, the yard at Chiswick employed 1.700 men, the production of destroyers at the yard caught the imagination of the writer H. G. Thornycroft and Co. Ltd in 1901, with Beardmore as chairman, william Beardmores interest in the company proved rather short-lived and he resigned as chairman in 1907. The management team of the new company consisted of John Thornycrofts son, John Edward Thornycroft as manager, the first ship built by Thornycrofts for the Royal Navy at the Woolston Yard was the Tribal-class destroyer HMS Tartar. Up to the start of World War I, the yard built 37 destroyers for the Royal Navy, during the war, the yard made 26 destroyers,3 submarines and a large number of smaller craft for the Royal Navy. The construction of smaller boats did not move to Woolston, the construction on Platts Eyot included yachts and - during the two world wars - a large number of small vessels for the Royal Navy. The yachts included the Enola, Estrellita, Aberdonia, and Moonyeen, the pre-war motor yacht Prunella may also have been built at Hampton. These four have survived and are now recorded on National Historic Ships National Register, in the inter-war years there was still some construction for the Royal Navy at Woolston, but the yard also built civilian ships, like the ferry SS Robert Coryndon for Uganda in 1930. She apparently still survives, but as a wreck on the shore of Lake Albert. When World War II broke out, production was stepped up again, production was delayed by several bombings, probably influenced by the yards proximity to the Spitfire-building Supermarine factory, also situated in Woolston
5.
Red Funnel
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High-speed foot passenger catamarans, known as Red Jets, run between Southampton and Cowes, while vehicle ferries run between Southampton and East Cowes. Red Funnels main competitor is Wightlink whose services operate from Portsmouth to Fishbourne and Ryde, the other major Solent ferry company, Hovertravel, operates between Southsea and Ryde. Both provide a frequent service to the Isle of Wight, but neither normally serve Southampton, Cowes or East Cowes. The origins of Red Funnel date back to 1820, when the Isle of Wight Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was established by Cowes interests to operate the first steamer service from there to Southampton. In 1826, the Isle of Wight Steam Packet Company was formed in Southampton and they subsequently acquired the assets of the Improved Steamboat Company in 1865. The shortened name Red Funnel was adopted after 1935 when all the ships had a black-topped red funnel. The longer name remains the formal name. The company originally operated a steamer ferry service between Cowes, Isle of Wight and Southampton. In 1931 it introduced its first diesel ferry, the MV Medina, Ferries have steadily increased in size to the current Scottish-built Raptor class operated between East Cowes and Town Quay in Southampton. Between 1969 and the 1990, the also ran Italian-built hydrofoils between Town Quay and Cowes. This route is now served by high-speed, passenger-only catamarans, in 1867 Red Funnel instituted a service crossing the River Medina between Cowes and East Cowes. This service was operated by a series of small launches over the years, the service ceased on the outbreak of war in 1939 when the vessels involved were requisitioned by the Admiralty. In 1868 the company took over the Cowes Floating Bridge Company, in 1885 the company bought the New Southampton Steam Towing Company and operated tugs and tenders under the subsidiary Red Funnel Towage. In 2002 Red Funnel Towage was sold to the Adelaide Steamship Company, in 1946 Red Funnel acquired a controlling interest in Cosens & Co Ltd, a rival pleasure steamer operator based in Weymouth. This enabled the company to coordinate their excursions and also gave Red Funnel access to the Cosens marine engineering. Excursions came to end in 1966 but the side continued until sold off in 1990 to a management buy-out. In 2001 the company was sold to JP Morgan Partners Inc. by Associated British Ports Holdings, in 2004 the company was sold again in a management buy-out backed by the Bank of Scotland for £60 million. On 12 April 2007, the owners of Red Funnel announced that they were considering selling Red Funnel, in June of the same year, the company was sold to the Prudentials infrastructure specialist, Infracapital, in a deal valuing the business at more than £200m
6.
Ocean liner
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An ocean liner is a ship designed to transport people from one seaport to another along regular long-distance maritime routes according to a schedule. Liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes, cargo vessels running to a schedule are sometimes called liners. The category does not include ferries or other vessels engaged in trading, nor dedicated cruise ships where the voyage itself. 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. Ocean liners are usually built with a high freeboard to withstand rough seas. Additionally, they are designed with thicker hull plating than is found on cruise ships. Once the dominant form of travel between continents, ocean liners were rendered obsolete by the emergence of long-distance aircraft after World War II. Advances in automobile and railway also played a role. As of 2015, RMS Queen Mary 2 was the ship still in service as an ocean liner. Ocean liners were the mode of intercontinental travel for over a century. In addition to passengers, liners carried mail and cargo, ships contracted to carry British Royal Mail used the designation RMS. Liners were also the 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 and it was on this route that the fastest, largest and most advanced liners travelled. Shipping lines are companies engaged in shipping passengers and cargo, often on established routes and schedules, regular scheduled voyages on a set route are called line voyages and vessels trading on these routes to a timetable are called liners. The alternative to liner trade is tramping whereby vessels are notified on a basis as to the availability of a cargo to be transported. The term ocean liner has come to be used interchangeably with passenger liner, beginning at the advent of the Jet Age, where transoceanic ship service declined, a gradual transition from passenger ships as mean of transportation to nowadays cruise ships started. In order for ocean liners to remain profitable, cruise lines have modified some of them to operate on routes, such as the Queen Elizabeth 2. The Italian Lines SS Michelangelo and SS Raffaello, the last ocean liners to be primarily for crossing the North Atlantic
7.
Scapa Flow
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Scapa Flow is a body of water in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, United Kingdom, sheltered by the islands of Mainland, Graemsay, Burray, South Ronaldsay and Hoy. Scapa Flow is one of Britains most historic stretches of water - located within the Orkney Islands and its sheltered waters have been used by ships since prehistory and it has played an important role in travel, trade and conflict throughout the centuries - especially during both World Wars. It is currently a world-famous diving location, with the wrecks of the scuttled German Fleet offering unique diving challenges, Scapa Flow is also a major oil port serving the Flotta Oil Terminal, and is a prime location of ship-to-ship transfers of crude oil product and liquefied natural gas. The world’s first ship-to-ship transfer of LNG took place in Scapa Flow in 2007. Vikings anchored their longships in Scapa Flow more than a thousand years ago, the facility was closed in 1956. The Viking expeditions to Orkney are recorded in detail in the 11th century Orkneyinga sagas, en route back to Norway Haakon anchored some of his fleet in Scapa Flow for the winter, but he died that December whilst staying at the Bishops Palace in Kirkwall. The enterprise ended in failure and rout at the Battle of Carbisdale, historically, the main British naval bases were located near the English Channel to better face Britains old enemies, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. First Rosyth was considered for the base, then Invergordon at Cromarty Firth, john Rushworth Jellicoe, admiral of the Grand Fleet, was perpetually nervous about the possibility of submarine or destroyer attacks on Scapa Flow. These blocked approaches were backed by minefields, artillery, and concrete barriers, only two attempts to enter the harbour were made by German U-boats during the war, and neither was successful. U-18 tried to enter in November 1914, but a trawler searching for submarines rammed it, causing U-18 to flee, uB-116 made the second attempt in October 1918 but encountered the sophisticated defences then in place. It was detected by hydrophones before entering the anchorage, then destroyed by shore-triggered mines, after waiting for the bulk of the British fleet to leave on exercises, he gave the order to scuttle the ships to prevent their falling into British hands. Nine German sailors died when British forces opened fire as they attempted to scuttle their ship, SMS Emden was amongst the ships the British managed to beach. This Emden should not be confused with her predecessor, destroyed in the Battle of Cocos on 9 November 1914 by the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney, at least seven of the scuttled German ships, and a number of sunken British ships, can be visited by scuba divers. These ships posed a hazard to navigation, and small boats, trawlers and drifters, moving around the Flow regularly became snagged on them with the rise. The Admiralty initially declared that there would be no attempt at salvage, in the first few years after the war, there was abundant scrap metal as a result of the huge quantities of leftover tanks, artillery and ordnance. By the early 1920s, the situation had changed, in 1922, the Admiralty invited tenders from interested parties for the salvage of the sunken ships, although at the time few believed that it would be possible to raise the deeper wrecks. During the next eight years, Cox and his workforce of divers, engineers, in this fashion the submerged hulls were made into air-tight chambers and raised with compressed air, still inverted, back to the surface. Cox endured bad luck and frequent fierce storms which often ruined his work, swamping and re-sinking ships which had just been raised
8.
River Clyde
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The River Clyde is a river, that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second-longest in Scotland, flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire. In the early medieval Cumbric language it was known as Clud or Clut, the Clyde is formed by the confluence of two streams, the Daer Water and the Potrail Water. The Southern Upland Way crosses both streams before they meet at Watermeetings to form the River Clyde proper. At this point the Clyde is only 10 kilometres from Tweeds Well, the source of the River Tweed, and 13 kilometres from the Devils Beef Tub, the source of the River Annan. From there it meanders northeastward before turning to the west, its flood plain used for major roads in the area. On the banks of the Clyde, the industrialists David Dale and Robert Owen, built their mills, the mills harness the power of the Falls of Clyde, the most spectacular of which is Cora Linn. A hydroelectric power station generates electricity here, although the mills are now a museum. Between the towns of Motherwell and Hamilton the course of the river has altered to create an artificial loch within Strathclyde Park. Part of the course can still be seen, and lies between the island and the east shore of the loch. The river then flows through Blantyre and Bothwell, where the ruined Bothwell Castle stands on a defensible promontory, past Uddingston and into the southeast of Glasgow the river begins to widen, meandering a course through Rutherglen and Dalmarnock. From there, it flows past the shipbuilding heartlands, through Govan, Partick, Whiteinch, Scotstoun and Clydebank, all of which housed major shipyards, of which only two remain. The river flows out west of Glasgow, past Renfrew, opposite, on the south shore, the river continues past the last Lower Clyde shipyard at Port Glasgow to Greenock where it reaches the Tail of the Bank as the river merges into the Firth of Clyde. At the mouth of the River Clyde there has been a significant issue of oxygen depletion in the water column, the valley of the Clyde was the focus for the G-BASE project from the British Geological Survey in the summer of 2010. The success of the Clyde at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution was driven by the location of Glasgow, tobacco and cotton trade began the drive in the early 18th century. However, the shallow Clyde was not navigable for the largest ocean-going ships, in 1768 John Golborne advised the narrowing of the river and the increasing of the scour by the construction of rubble jetties and the dredging of sandbanks and shoals. A particular problem was the division of the river into two channels by the Dumbuck shoal near Dumbarton. After James Watts report on this in 1769, a jetty was constructed at Longhaugh Point to block off the southern channel and this being insufficient, a training wall called the Lang Dyke was built in 1773 on the Dumbuck shoal to stop water flowing over into the southern channel
9.
Cunard Line
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Cunard Line is an British-American cruise line based at Carnival House at Southampton, England, operated by Carnival UK and owned by Carnival Corporation & plc. It has been an operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic. For most of the next 30 years, Cunard held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic voyage, however, in the 1870s Cunard fell behind its rivals, the White Star Line and the Inman Line. To meet this competition, in 1879 the firm was reorganised as the Cunard Steamship Company, Ltd, Mauretania held the Blue Riband from 1909 to 1929. The sinking of her running mate Lusitania in 1915 was one of the causes of the United States entering the First World War, in the late 1920s, Cunard faced new competition when the Germans, Italians and French built large prestige liners. Cunard was forced to suspend construction on its own new superliner because of the Great Depression, Cunard owned two-thirds of the new company. Cunard purchased White Stars share in 1947, the name reverted to the Cunard Line in 1950, upon the end of the Second World War, Cunard regained its position as the largest Atlantic passenger line. By the mid-1950s, it operated 12 ships to the United States, after 1958, transatlantic passenger ships became increasingly unprofitable because of the introduction of jet airliners. Cunard withdrew from its service in 1968 to concentrate on cruising. The Queens were replaced by Queen Elizabeth 2, which was designed for the dual role, in 1998 Cunard was acquired by the Carnival Corporation, and accounted for 8. 7% of that companys revenue in 2012. Five years later, QE2 was replaced on the transatlantic runs by Queen Mary 2, the line also operates Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth. At the moment, Cunard is the shipping company to operate a scheduled passenger service between Europe and North America. The British Government started operating monthly mail brigs from Falmouth, Cornwall and these ships carried few non-governmental passengers and no cargo. A Committee of Parliament decided in 1836 that to more competitive. The Admiralty assumed responsibility for managing the contracts, the famed Arctic explorer Admiral Sir William Edward Parry was appointed as Comptroller of Steam Machinery and Packet Service in April 1837. Nova Scotians led by their young Assembly Speaker, Joseph Howe, on his arrival in London in May 1838, Howe discussed the enterprise with his fellow Nova Scotian Samuel Cunard, a shipowner who was also visiting London on business. Cunard and Howe were associates and Howe also owed Cunard £300, Cunard returned to Halifax to raise capital, and Howe continued to lobby the British government. The Rebellions of 1837 were ongoing and London realized that the proposed Halifax service was also important for the military and that November, Parry released a tender for North Atlantic monthly mail service to Halifax beginning in April 1839 using steamships with 300 horsepower
10.
RMS Queen Elizabeth
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RMS Queen Elizabeth was an ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line. With her sister ship Queen Mary she provided luxury liner service between Southampton in the United Kingdom and New York City in the United States, via Cherbourg in France. She was also contracted for over 20 years to carry the Royal Mail thus enabling her to carry the prestigious Royal Mail Ship designation, as the second half of the two ships weekly express service. With a design that improved upon that of Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth was a larger ship. She also has the distinction of being the largest-ever riveted ship by gross tonnage and she first entered service in February 1940 as a troopship in World War II, and it was not until October 1946 that she served in her intended role as an ocean liner. With the decline in the popularity of the route, both ships were replaced by the smaller, more economical Queen Elizabeth 2 in 1969. Queen Mary was retired from service on 9 December 1967, and was sold to the city of Long Beach, California, Queen Elizabeth was sold to a succession of buyers, most of whom had adventurous and unsuccessful plans for her. Finally she was sold to a Hong Kong businessman, Tung Chao Yung, in 1972, while undergoing refurbishment in Hong Kong harbour, she caught fire under mysterious circumstances and was capsized by the water used to fight the fire. In 1973, her wreck was deemed an obstruction, and she was scrapped where she lay. On the day RMS Queen Mary sailed on her voyage, Cunards chairman, Sir Percy Bates. The official contract between Cunard and government financiers was signed on 6 October 1936 and she was to be eleven feet longer and of 4,000 tons greater displacement than her older sister ship, Mary. Queen Elizabeth was built on four at John Brown & Company in Clydebank. During her construction she was commonly known by her shipyard number. The interiors were designed by a team of artists headed by the architect George Grey Wornum, Cunards plan was for the ship to be launched in September 1938, with fitting out intended to be complete for the ship to enter service in the spring of 1940. The Queen herself performed the ceremony on 27 September 1938. It was announced that on 23 August 1939 the King and Queen were to visit the ship and tour the engine room, due to the outbreak of World War II, these two events were postponed and Cunards plans were shattered. Queen Elizabeth sat at the dock at the shipyard in her Cunard colours until 2 November 1939. On 29 December her engines were tested for the first time, running from 0900 to 1600 with the propellers disconnected to monitor her oil and steam operating temperatures and pressures
11.
RMS Queen Mary
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RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line. The two ships were a British response to the built by German and French companies in the late 1920s. Queen Mary was the flagship of the Cunard Line from May 1936 until October 1946 when she was replaced in that role by Queen Elizabeth, with the outbreak of the Second World War, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers for the duration of the war. Following the war, Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service, the two ships dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s, Queen Mary was ageing and, though still among the most popular transatlantic liners, was operating at a loss, after several years of decreased profits for Cunard Line, Queen Mary was officially retired from service in 1967. She left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where she remains permanently moored. Much of the machinery, including one of the two rooms, three of the four propellers, and all of the boilers, were removed. The ship serves as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum, the ship is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has accepted the Queen Mary as part of the Historic Hotels of America, with Germany launching Bremen and Europa into service, Britain did not want to be left behind in the shipbuilding race. White Star Line began construction on their 80, 000-ton Oceanic in 1928, while Cunard planned a 75, 000-ton unnamed ship of their own. Construction on the ship, then only as Hull Number 534. Work was halted in December 1931 due to the Great Depression, the loan was granted, with enough money to complete Queen Mary and to build a sister ship, Hull No. Both lines agreed and the merger was completed on 10 May 1934, work on Queen Mary resumed immediately and she was launched on 26 September 1934. Completion ultimately took 3 1⁄2 years and cost 3.5 million pounds sterling, much of the ships interior was designed and constructed by the Bromsgrove Guild. The ship was named after Queen Mary, consort of King George V, until her launch, the name she was to be given was kept a closely guarded secret. And so, the legend goes, the delegation had of course no other choice and this story was denied by company officials, and traditionally the names of sovereigns have only been used for capital ships of the Royal Navy. Some support for the story was provided by Washington Post editor Felix Morley, in his 1979 autobiography, For the Record, Morley wrote that he was placed at table with Sir Percy Bates, chairman of the Cunard Line. Bates told him the story of the naming of the ship on condition you wont print it during my lifetime
12.
Southampton
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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
Southampton, UK (1930-1964)