Oceanic (unfinished ship)
A painting of Oceanic
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | RMMV Oceanic III |
| Owner: | White Star Line (intended) |
| Operator: | White Star Line (intended) |
| Ordered: | 18 June 1928 |
| Builder: | Harland and Wolff, Belfast (keel laid only) |
| Yard number: | 844 |
| Laid down: | 28 June 1928 |
| Fate: | Construction cancelled on July 23, 1929. |
| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 60,000 - 80,000 GRT (estimated) |
| Length: | 1,010 ft (307.8 m) (estimated) |
| Beam: | 120 ft (36.6 m) (estimated) |
| Draught: | 38 ft (11.6 m) (intended) |
| Decks: | 12 (intended) |
| Installed power: | Diesel-electric drive; 47 six-cylinder, exhaust turbo-charged, four-stroke, single-acting diesel generators; 275,000 IHP (200,000 SHP) |
| Propulsion: | Quadruple screws |
| Speed: | 28.5 knots (52.8 km/h; 32.8 mph) (service speed); 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) (max. speed) |
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 1,050-foot-long (320 m) design with three funnels and cruiser stern typical of liners being built in the mid to late 1920s.
The order was placed on 18 June 1928 and construction began on 28 June 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, preferring to continue the use of trusted steam turbine propulsion. A compromise of sorts was reached and the final design used four conventional low-speed 'cathedral' diesel engines, each directly driving one propeller shaft - which would have made Oceanic the first (and only) quadruple-screw Motor ship. But by the time all parties had settled on the use of diesel, the Great Depression was underway and hitting the shipping business.
Further work on Oceanic was postponed, and later cancelled due to the collapse of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, owners of the White Star Line, as a result of the financial problems of Sir Owen Philips, Lord Kylsant. The Royal Mail Case, as it was known, led to the imprisonment and loss of title of Owen Philips, also due to substantial changes in accounting and auditing practice. Loans backed by the governments of England and Northern Ireland intended for the construction of Oceanic were diverted to the construction of the last two ships built for White Star, Britannic and her near twin sister, Georgic. These two liners may have been built with steel plate ordered for Oceanic, whose partially built hull was subsequently dismantled and recycled after the aforementioned diversion of funds.
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Wikipedia