RMS Oceanic (1899)
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: |
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| Owner: | White Star Line |
| Operator: |
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| Route: | Liverpool/Southampton to New York |
| Builder: | Harland and Wolff, Belfast |
| Yard number: | 317 |
| Laid down: | 1897 |
| Launched: | 14 January 1899 |
| Completed: | 26 August 1899 |
| Maiden voyage: | 6 September 1899 |
| Fate: | Ran aground off, Foula, Shetland, 8 September 1914 |
| Status: |
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| General characteristics | |
| Tonnage: | 17,272 gross tonnes |
| Length: | 704 ft (215 m) |
| Beam: | 68.4 ft (20.8 m) |
| Installed power: | Triple expansion reciprocating engines; 28,000 horsepower. |
| Propulsion: | Twin propeller |
| Speed: | 19 knots max 21 kn |
| Capacity: |
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| Crew: | 349 |
| Notes: | Funnels: 2 Masts: 3 |
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 she was converted to an armed merchant cruiser. On 8 August 1914 she was commissioned into Royal Navy service.
On 25 August 1914, the newly designated HMS Oceanic departed Southampton to patrol the waters from the North Scottish mainland to the Faroes. On 8 September she ran aground and was wrecked off the island of Foula, near the Shetland Islands.
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.
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.
Oceanic was the first ship to exceed Brunel's SS Great Eastern in length, although not in tonnage, and was, when she was launched, the largest ship afloat, a title she retained until 1901 when White Star Line's RMS Celtic was launched.
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