RMS Adriatic

RMS Adriatic in an old postcard.
History
United Kingdom
Name:	RMS Adriatic
Namesake:	Adriatic sea in Montenegro and Croatia
Owner:	White Star Line
Port of registry:	Liverpool
Route:	Liverpool to New York Southampton to New York
Builder:	Harland and Wolff
Yard number:	358
Launched:	20 September 1906
Completed:	25 April 1907
Maiden voyage:	8 May 1907
In service:	1907
Out of service:	1935
Struck:	1934
Homeport:	Liverpool
Fate:	Scrapped in Onomichi, Japan in 1935
Status:	Scrapped
General characteristics
Class and type:	Big Four
Type:	Ocean liner
Tonnage:	24,541 GT
Length:	729 ft (222.7 m)
Beam:	73 ft (22.3 m)
Decks:	7 decks
Propulsion:	Two Quadruple Expansion Steam Engines- Twin propellers
Speed:	17 knots (31.484 km/h)
Boats & landing craft carried:	20 lifeboats
Capacity:	2,825 total: 425 First Class 500 Second Class 1900 Third Class

RMS Adriatic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line. She was the fourth of a quartet of ships measuring over 20,000 tons, dubbed The Big Four. The ship was the only one of the four which was never the world's largest ship; however, she was the fastest of the Big Four. The Adriatic was the first ocean liner to have an indoor swimming pool and a Turkish bath.

She was built by Harland and Wolff and was launched on 20 September 1906 (the same day as the Cunard Line's Mauretania). She set off on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York City on 8 May 1907 under the command of Captain Edward Smith. She was changed to the Southampton run after her maiden voyage. However, she was the ship that inaugurated White Star's Southampton service and was the first White Star liner to use the newly constructed dock in Southampton, named the White Star Dock (it was renamed in 1922 to the Ocean Dock). She ran this route until 1911 when Olympic took it over with the Adriatic returning to the Liverpool run. The Adriatic sailed from Liverpool on 18 April 1912 and arrived in New York on 27 April 1912. Some of Titanic's rescued passengers and crew travelled back to Britain aboard her, departing New York on 2 May 1912, including White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay and Millvina Dean, the disaster's youngest survivor.

During World War I, the Adriatic served as a troopship and survived the war without incident. After the war ended, she returned to passenger service. In 1928, she was converted to a "cabin-class" ship. In 1933, she was withdrawn from the North Atlantic route and was converted into cruising.