What was the SS Great Eastern used for?
SS Great Eastern
Although designed to carry emigrants on the far Eastern run, the only passenger voyages "Great Eastern" made were in the Atlantic. Angus Buchanan, an historian of technology comments: "She was designed for the Far Eastern trade, but there was never sufficient traffic to put her into this. Instead, she was used in the transatlantic business, where she could not compete in speed and performance with similar vessels already in service."
Operation Tanne Ost
Operation Tanne Ost ("Fir East") was a German operation during World War II to capture the island Suursaari (Swedish: "Hogland", Russian: "Gogland") in the Gulf of Finland before it could fall into Soviet hands. Suursaari was especially important because it worked as a lock in the Finnish Gulf guarding the minefields keeping the Soviet Baltic Fleet in Kronstadt.
SS Great Eastern
In the spring of 1854 work could at last begin. The first problem to arise was where the ship was to be built. Scott Russell's contract stipulated that it was to be built in a dock, but Russell quoted a price of £8–10,000 to build the necessary dock and so this part of the scheme was abandoned, partly due to the cost and also to the difficulty of finding a suitable site for the dock. The idea of a normal stern first launch was also rejected because of the great length of the vessel, also because to provide the right launch angle the bow of the ship would have to be raised in the air. Eventually it was decided to build the ship sideways to the river and use a mechanical slip designed by Brunel for the launch. Later the mechanical design was dropped on the grounds of cost, although the sideways plan remained.
HMS Exeter (68)
HMS "Exeter" was the second and last heavy cruiser built for the Royal Navy during the late 1920s. Aside from a temporary deployment with the Mediterranean Fleet during the Abyssinia Crisis of 1935–36, she spent the bulk of the 1930s assigned to the Atlantic Fleet or the North America and West Indies Station. When World War II began in September 1939, the cruiser was assigned to patrol South American waters against German commerce raiders. Then the "Exeter" was one of three British cruisers that fought the German pocket battleship, the , later that year in the Battle of the River Plate. She was severely damaged during the battle, and she was in the shipyard for over a year.
HMAS Gawler (J188)
After a short assignment to Fremantle as an anti-submarine patrol ship, "Gawler" was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet as a convoy escort. In April 1943, she was sent to the Mediterranean for minesweeping duties. The corvette participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily, rescued survivors from the torpedoed troopship , and on one occasion escorted a convoy in the Atlantic. In October, "Gawler" rejoined the Eastern Fleet and resumed Indian Ocean convoy escort duties. After a refit at the start of 1945, "Gawler" joined the British Pacific Fleet. At the war's end, the corvette was tasked with mine-clearing and anti=piracy operations around Hong Kong, then sent to the Molucca Islands to inspect former Japanese facilities.
The Great Eastern (radio show)
"The Great Eastern" purported to be a long-running show on the BCN of which hour-long and half-hour-long segments were broadcast on Radio One (and, through atmospheric anomalies, to Iceland). It was named, both in real life and in fiction, after the ill-fated 19th-century steamship bearing the same name.
Maritime Institute of Ireland
In 1950 the Institute was given a notable collection consisting of ship models, (some unique), charts, uniforms, maritime pictures and books all of which were donated under the terms of the will of the two daughters of one of the 19th century’s great Irish seamen, Captain Robert Halpin of Wicklow. Captain Halpin had made history by laying the first successful oceanic cables in the North and South Atlantic and Indian Oceans as well as the Mediterranean Sea. The ship used for this work was Brunel designed "Great Eastern", which for nearly half a century was the world’s largest steamship. A model of this, made under Halpin’s supervision, is one of the famous items in the Institute’s "Halpin collection".
HMS Erin
The fleet departed for a cruise in the North Sea on 26 February 1916; Jellicoe had intended to use the Harwich Force to sweep the Heligoland Bight but bad weather prevented operations in the southern North Sea and the operation was confined to the northern end. Another sweep began on 6 March but was abandoned the following day as the weather grew too severe for the destroyer escorts. On the night of 25 March, "Erin" and the rest of the fleet sailed from Scapa Flow to support Beatty's battlecruisers and other light forces raiding the German Zeppelin base at Tondern. By the time the Grand Fleet approached the area on 26 March, the British and German forces had already disengaged and a strong gale threatened the light craft, so the fleet was ordered to return to base. On 21 April, the Grand Fleet conducted a demonstration off Horns Reef to distract the Germans while the Russian Navy re-laid its defensive minefields in the Baltic Sea. The fleet returned to Scapa Flow on 24 April and refuelled before sailing south, over intelligence reports that the Germans were about to launch a raid on Lowestoft. The Germans had withdrawn before the fleet arrived. On 2–4 May, the Grand Fleet conducted another demonstration off Horns Reef to keep German attention on the North Sea.
HMS Salisbury (F32)
Following her refit, "Salisbury" again served in home waters and in the Far East. On 25 June 1964, she sustained a collision with the destroyer in the English Channel while returning from exercise. After repairing, the frigate attended the opening of Forth Road Bridge by Queen Elizabeth II. "Salisbury" sailed to the Far East where she took part in the Borneo Insurgency in 1963. The vessel's primary role was to ferry Gurkhas into the war zone and supplying manpower to patrol rivers in the ship's boats. "Salisbury" also patrolled off the coast of East Africa on the Socotra patrols. The frigate found both propellers split and was sent to a floating dock at Singapore for 30 days to fix. In 1967 she stood by during disturbances in the West Indies, being tasked to ferry the local police from St. Kitts and Nevis to the island of Anguilla where there was unrest. In the event the police forces failed to materialise and the ship landed her IS Platoon to restore order. Whilst returning from the West Indies she sank the abandoned German tanker "Essberger Chemist" which was still afloat following an unsuccessful attempt by the nuclear submarine .
USS Estes
Between January and May 1954, she again sailed for atomic weapons tests at Eniwetok, and on 6 July cleared for the Far East. As control ship for "Operation Passage to Freedom", the evacuation of refugees from Communist North Vietnam, "Estes" operated from Haiphong from 18 August to 29 October. Between 6 and 11 February 1955 she aided the evacuation of the Tachen Islands resulting from the Taiwan Strait Crisis.
"Estes" returned to San Diego on 22 May 1955. She operated out of there for the next year. Between March and July 1956, she was again in the Marshalls for weapons tests, and on 31 January 1957 sailed for Yokosuka, where she provided quarters and communications facilities until April, sailing then to visit Hong Kong. She returned to stateside duty on 15 May, voyaging to Pearl Harbor in July and August.
The next year found "Estes" sailing north in July to ports in British Columbia, and again in August to call at Seattle. During her 1959 tour of duty in the Far East she directed important amphibious operations off Japan, Okinawa, and Korea, and exercises off Borneo with ships of the Royal Navy and Royal New Zealand Navy.
Thomas Brassey
Brassey gave financial help to Brunel to build his ship "The Leviathan", which was later called "The Great Eastern" and which in 1854 was six times larger than any other vessel in the world. Brassey was a major shareholder in the ship and after Brunel's death, he, together with Gooch and Barber, bought the ship for the purpose of laying the first Transatlantic telegraph cable across the North Atlantic in 1864.
SS Athenic
When war was declared between England and Germany in August 1914, "Athenic" was in Wellington, New Zealand, and was requisitioned as a troopship under the British Liner Requisition Scheme. On 23 September 1914 she was in Lyttleton (Christchurch) in the South Island of New Zealand, where as one of the transports carrying what was known collectively as the "Main Body", she took on board the following units of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force: Headquarters, Mounted Rifles Brigade, the Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regt. (2 squadrons) and the Canterbury Infantry Battalion (less 1 Company). The Officer Commanding Troops was Colonel A.H. Russell. In total "Athenic" carried 54 officers, 1,259 men and 339 horses. She proceeded to Wellington and berthed there till 16 October 1914, when it was judged safe to depart. She sailed across the globe, sailing per convoy by way of Hobart, Albany, Colombo, Aden and finally arriving in Alexandria to disembark the soldiers on 3 December 1914. SS "Athenic" was designated at that time as being (His Majesty's New Zealand Transport) HMNZT 11. She was the largest troopship ever sent from New Zealand transporting New Zealand forces to the Middle East. "Athenic" acted several other times as a transport throughout World War I, with a new number for each voyage she undertook.
SS Iowan
"Tashkent" was assigned to the Far East Shipping Company (), but sailed with the Pacific Fleet of the Soviet Navy throughout the war. "Tashkent" was photographed at San Francisco at some point during the war, but most of her other movements are not known. However, in August 1945, "Tashkent" delivered troops and cargo in support of the Soviet invasions of Japanese-held Manchuria, Korea, Sakhalin, and the Kurile Islands. After the war's end, "Tashkent" returned to merchant operation with through 1966, when she was transferred to North Korea for use as a fish processing facility. The former "Tashkent" was scrapped in 1969.
SS Great Eastern
She was long, wide, with a draft of unloaded and fully laden, and displaced 32,000 tons fully loaded. In comparison, SS "Persia", launched in 1856, was long with a beam.
HMS Amethyst (1844)
The cable was coiled down into great cylindrical tanks at the Wharf before being fed into the 'Great Eastern'. The 'Amethyst' and 'Iris' transferred the 2500 miles (4022 km) of cable to the 'Great Eastern', beginning in February 1865, an operation that took over three months.
SS Great Eastern
On arrival at Queenstown the harbourmaster refused to let the ship enter because she was not under full control and injured passengers were taken off by boats. The ship had to stand off for three days until she was towed in by HMS "Advice". Arrangements for temporary repairs were begun and the passengers were offered free transport to the US aboard other ships. Once the repairs were completed the ship sailed to Milford Haven where permanent repairs were to be carried out. Smaller, paddlewheels were fitted, and improvements were made to the steering.
CGS Petrel
"Petrel" remained on the Great Lakes until 1904, when the ship proved to be too slow to catch up with American fishing vessels. Replaced by , "Petrel" was then sent to the East Coast where fishing schooners were still being used. The ship remained in this service until 1912, when "Petrel" was fitted for minesweeping. At the onset of the First World War, "Petrel" was among the vessels forced into patrol duty by the Royal Canadian Navy and was used to patrol the Grand Manan Channel. Following the arrival of the submarines and on the East Coast in 1916, "Petrel" was used to train hydrophone operators on Bras D'Or Lake. After the war's end in 1918, "Petrel" was discarded.
USS Big Horn (AO-45)
COMINCH did not agree, and, considering similarly meager results and even losses by other Q-ships, cancelled the entire Q-ship program. "Big Horn" was ordered to Boston, and arriving there on 17 January 1944, was transferred to the United States Coast Guard as USCGC "Big Horn" (WAO-124) to join "Asterion" (AK-100) on weather-patrol duty in the North Atlantic, under the supervision of the United States Coast Guard and manned by Coast Guard officers and crew. The ship was assigned to the 1st Naval District and operated out of Boston. Her main duty was to conduct 25-day patrols on the Coast Guard's mid-ocean weather stations and report on surface and aerial weather conditions. These reports were used to determine air-ferry routes across the Atlantic and to reroute shipping around storm concentrations. Because her antisubmarine equipment still remained intact, she could take offensive action if such opportunities presented themselves. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 22 January 1944.
List of light cruisers of Germany
During World War II, she was used to lay mines in the North Sea, to provide gunfire support to ground troops, and as a convoy escort and training ship for cadets. She participated in Operation "Weserübung", the invasion of Norway in April 1940, Her wartime career ended in Kiel in April 1945, when British bombers badly damaged the ship while she was in dock for repairs. Her crew ran her aground to prevent her from sinking, and ultimately blew her up with demolition charges to prevent the Allies from capturing her in May. The wreck was eventually scrapped in the late 1940s.
SS Great Eastern
Brunel knew her affectionately as the "Great Babe". He died in 1859 shortly after her ill-fated maiden voyage, during which she was damaged by an explosion. After repairs, she plied for several years as a passenger liner between Britain and North America before being converted to a cable-laying ship and laying the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable in 1866. Finishing her life as a floating music hall and advertising hoarding (for the famous department store Lewis's) in Liverpool, she was broken up on Merseyside in 1889.
HMS Erin
Captain Victor Stanley was appointed as "Erin"s captain. On 5 September, she joined the Grand Fleet, commanded by Admiral John Jellicoe, at Scapa Flow in Orkney and was assigned to the Fourth Battle Squadron (BS). "Erin" sailed with the ships of the Grand Fleet as they departed from Loch Ewe in Scotland on 17 September, for gunnery practice west of the Orkney Islands the following day. After the exercise, they began a fruitless search for German ships in the North Sea that was hampered by bad weather. The Grand Fleet arrived at Scapa Flow on 24 September to refuel before departing the next day for more target practice west of Orkney. In early October the Grand Fleet sortied into the North Sea to provide distant cover for a large convoy transporting Canadian troops from Halifax, Nova Scotia and returned to Scapa on 12 October. Reports of submarines in Scapa Flow led Jellicoe to conclude that the defences there were inadequate and on 16 October, he ordered that the bulk of the Grand Fleet be dispersed to Lough Swilly, Ireland. Jellicoe took the Grand Fleet to sea on 3 November for gunnery training and battle exercises and the 4th BS returned to Scapa six days later. On the evening of 22 November, the Grand Fleet conducted another abortive sweep in the southern half of the North Sea; "Erin" stood with the main body in support of Vice-Admiral David Beatty's 1st Battlecruiser Squadron. The fleet was back at Scapa Flow by 27 November. On 16 December, the Grand Fleet sortied during the German raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby but failed to intercept the High Seas Fleet. "Erin" and the rest of the Grand Fleet made another sweep of the North Sea on 25–27 December.
SS Eastern
On 14 May 1945, Supermarine Spitfire Mk. FRXIV NM817 was loaded on board "Empire Dynasty". She was a member of Convoy UC 68A, which departed from Liverpool on 17 May and arrived at New York on 28 May. She detached from the convoy and sailed to Port Said, Egypt, arriving on 28 May. "Empire Dynasty" then sailed to Suez, from where she departed on 29 May for Aden, arriving on 2 June and departing that day for Bombay, India, arriving on 7 June. The Spitfire was unloaded here. "Empire Dynasty" departed from Bombay on 8 July and sailed to Beira, arriving on 17 July. She departed on 26 July for Durban, arriving two days later and departing on 4 August for Cape Town, where she arrived on 7 August. She departed on 12 August for London, arriving on 30 August.
History of the United States Merchant Marine
In 1832, Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane ordered in writing for revenue cutters to conduct winter cruises to assist mariners in need, and Congress made the practice an official part of regulations in 1837. This was the beginning of the lifesaving mission that the later U.S. Coast Guard would be best known for worldwide. The side-wheel paddle steamer SS "Great Western" was the first purpose-built steamship to initiate regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings, starting in 1838.
Saint Christopher (yacht)
Following the expansion and foundation of APFII organisation, the high speed shipping routes were abandoned, and other vessels were sold off. The Saint Christopher was again re-purposed to stand in support of these remote parts of the world and protect fisheries and remove more than 1,000,000 kilograms of microplastic waste from the Pacific Ocean. Its former use as a small tanker, and as a supply vessel, with its large generator capacity, fire-fighting systems, and life support capacity, make it ideal for the region, including the requirement of being to be at sea for very extended periods of time. "Saint Christopher" has traveled over , including the North Sea, Atlantic, the Mediterranean, West Africa, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Suez Canal, Indian Ocean, South China Sea, Java Sea, and the Yellow Sea, and was viewed as a solid platform to contribute to local interests.
Texas City disaster
The "Grandcamp" was a recently re-activated 437-foot-long (133 m) Liberty ship. Originally named the SS "Benjamin R. Curtis" in Los Angeles in 1942, the ship served in the Pacific theatre and was mothballed in Philadelphia after World War II. In a Cold War gesture, the ship was assigned to the French Line to assist in the rebuilding of Europe. Along with ammonium nitrate—a very common cargo on the high seas—it was carrying small arms ammunition, machinery, and bales of sisal twine on the deck. Another ship in the harbor, the SS "High Flyer", was docked about 600 feet (200 m) away from the SS "Grandcamp". The "High Flyer" contained an additional of ammonium nitrate and of sulfur. The ammonium nitrate in the two ships and fertilizer in the adjacent warehouse was on its way to farmers in Europe. The "Grandcamp" had arrived from Houston, where the port authority did not permit loading of ammonium nitrate.
SS Great Eastern
Although the ship had made around £14,000 on its first Atlantic voyage, the Great Ship Company's finances were in a poor state, with their shares dropping in price. They were also threatened with a lawsuit by the Grand Trunk Railway for not making Portland, Maine the ship's port of call as agreed. In addition, Scott Russell had been awarded the sum of £18,000 for repairs following the 1859 explosion. The Company managed to appeal against this but Scott Russell applied to the courts and the Chief Justice found in his favour. The company appealed again, and due to rumours that the ship was about to leave the country, Russell's solicitors took possession of her. The Great Ship Company lost its appeal and had to pay the sum awarded; to cover this and the expenses of a second US voyage, they raised £35,000 using debentures.
HMS Wolsey
In January 1941, "Wolsey" was transferred to the Rosyth Escort Force based at Rosyth, Scotland, to escort coastal convoys in the North Sea and Northwestern Approaches. By October 1941, these duties increasingly included operations to intercept German motor torpedo boats – S-boats, known to the Allies as "E-boats" – before they could attack the convoys. On 12 October 1941, she was part of the escort of the northbound coastal convoy FN 31 in the North Sea along with the destroyer from the Rosyth Escort Force, the escort destroyer from Harwich, and motor gunboats of the Royal Navy Coastal Forces when nine German E-boats of the 2nd Flotilla attacked, sinking the merchant ships SS "Chevington" and SS "Roy"; the escorts engaged the E-boats and gave chase as they withdrew, but were unable to destroy any of them. On 19 November 1941, "Wolsey" joined the southbound coastal convoy FS 50 to escort it to the Thames Estuary along with the destroyers , , and , the escort destroyers and , and the corvettes and . On 20 November, the convoy came under heavy attack by 2nd Flotilla E-boats, which sank the colliers "Aruba" and "Waldinge" and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker RFA "War Mehtar"; the latter, at 11,681 gross register tons, was the largest ship sunk by an E-boat in the North Sea during World War II.
Type 1934 destroyers
The ship returned to Germany in early 1941 for a refit and was transferred to Norway in June 1941 as part of the preparations for Operation Barbarossa, the German invasion of the Soviet Union. "Z4 Richard Beitzen" spent some time at the beginning of the campaign conducting anti-shipping patrols in Soviet waters, but these were generally fruitless. She escorted a number of German convoys in the Arctic later in the year. The ship was briefly transferred to France in early 1942 in preparation for the Channel Dash where she was one of the escorts for two battleships and a heavy cruiser as they sailed from Brest, France through the English Channel, to Germany, before returning to Norway. "Z4 Richard Beitzen" escorted several heavy cruisers at the beginning and end of their anti-shipping raids in 1942. She participated in the Battle of the Barents Sea when Convoy JW 51B was attacked on 31 December 1942 near the North Cape, Norway.
SS Great Eastern
Having decided on a sideways launch, a suitable site had to be found, as Scott Russell's Millwall, London, yard was too small. The adjacent yard belonging to David Napier was empty, available and suitable, so it was leased and a railway line constructed between the two yards for moving materials. The site of the launch is still visible on the Isle of Dogs. Part of the slipway has been preserved on the waterfront, while at low tide, more of the slipway can be seen on the Thames foreshore. The remains of the slipways, and other structures associated with the launch of the "SS Great Eastern", have recently been surveyed by the Thames Discovery Programme, a community project recording the archaeology of the Thames intertidal zone in London.
SMS Schlesien
After the outbreak of World War II following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939, "Schlesien" initially remained in her training ship role, though from 21 to 27 September she was used to bombard Polish artillery positions around Hela and Jastarnia. After the operation, "Schlesien" had six of her 15 cm guns removed to arm the new surface raider . She then returned to training ship duties, and from January to March 1940 served as an icebreaker to allow U-boats to operate. She then escorted minesweepers in the Little Belt in April during Operation "Weserübung", the invasion of Norway and Denmark. She resumed training duties, but crew shortages forced the navy to deactivate the ship on 2 August, leaving only a skeleton crew aboard to maintain the ship's condition. In January 1941, she was reactivated to again serve as an icebreaker in the Baltic until 31 March, when she was again decommissioned in Gotenhafen, thereafter being used as a stationary training hulk with a skeleton crew.
Maritime history of the United States (1800–99)
In 1832, Secretary of the Treasury Louis McLane ordered in writing for revenue cutters to conduct winter cruises to assist mariners in need, and Congress made the practice an official part of regulations in 1837. This was the beginning of the lifesaving mission that the later U.S. Coast Guard would be best known for worldwide.
The side-wheel paddle steamer SS "Great Western" was the first purpose-built steamship to initiate regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic crossings, starting in 1838.
SS Great Eastern
Brunel showed his idea to John Scott Russell, an experienced naval architect and ship builder whom he had first met at the Great Exhibition. Scott Russell examined Brunel's plan and made his own calculations as to the ship's feasibility. He calculated that it would have a displacement of 20,000 tons and would require to achieve , but believed it was possible. At Scott Russell's suggestion, they approached the directors of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company.
SS Great Eastern
The Eastern Company began the task of completing the ship. Work recommenced in May and took longer than expected to complete. Brunel reported in June 1857 that once the screw, screw shaft and sternpost had been installed the ship would be ready for launching. However, the launch ways and cradles would not be ready in time since the contract for their construction had only been placed in January 1857. Under pressure from all sides, the lease of the shipyard costing £1,000 a month, and against his better judgement, Brunel agreed to launch the ship on 3 November 1857 to catch the high tide.
Elias Hasket Derby
The original purpose of the "Grand Turk" was privateering, which she did well, capturing 25 ships and yielding great wealth from the sales. She was of 300 tons burthen and was designed for speed, while still having a good cargo capacity. Thomas Barstow, at his Two Oaks yard in Hanover, Massachusetts, built "Grand Turk" for the firm controlled by Elias Hasket Derby, launched her in May 1781, and fitted her for 28 guns. Derby sent one of his captains, James Gibaut, to Hanover to supervise the construction. "Grand Turk" was largely paid for by barter, with goods (rum, butter) being exchanged for the labor and materials. The materials used were of the best quality, and "Grand Turk" was copper-bottomed.
West and Vans wrote Derby that they were again "Miserable disappointed in the demand for our Cargo." Subsequently, Randall Ouery and Sebier de la Chataignerais, French merchants who had purchased the "Turk's" cargo, offered a solution. They contracted with the "Grand Turk" to take a cargo to Canton and thence onto Boston. Vans and West wrote to Derby to inform him of the new plan, but he would have known of it only retrospectively. The deal, however, did not go off as planned. Sebier and Ouery were undercapitalized, and once they paid the many "charges & duties & presents" at Canton, they could not afford to continue the voyage to Boston. Thus, Vans and West purchased a cargo on Derby's behalf. The "Grand Turk" was one of five American ships and the first from Salem that reached Canton during the 1786 season. She arrived back in Salem harbor on 22 May 1787, the first New England ship to trade directly with China.
Initially, Derby, like most Americans, must have been optimistic about the trade with China. In 1789, there were at least sixteen American vessels at Canton. Derby owned four of these vessels — the "Astrea," "Atlantic," "Light Horse" and "Three Sisters" — although only the "Astrea" and the "Three Sisters", instructed to work in tandem, going first to Batavia, and soliciting a freight there for Canton — initially planned to go to China. After the flurry of the 1789 season, no Salem ship called at Canton until 1797. A mere three years into the American China trade, the market was glutted with tea. In addition, the cost of doing business with the Chinese and the length of the voyage seriously undermined profits.
SS Empire Endurance
"Alster" was captured off Norway on 10 April 1940 by the British destroyer . Initially serving under the original name as a repair, supply and cargo ship in Norway, she was later passed to the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT) and renamed "Empire Endurance". She served until 20 April 1941 when she was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine south-east of the islet of Rockall in the North Atlantic Ocean.
SS Yarmouth (1903)
The SS "Yarmouth" was a steel-hulled steamship owned by the Great Eastern Railway. She was built in 1903 for use on their cargo service between Harwich, Essex, and the Hook of Holland and Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She was lost at sea with all hands on 27 October 1908.
SS Great Eastern
It was discovered that the rock had opened a gash in the ship's outer hull over wide and long. The enormous size of "Great Eastern" precluded the use of any drydock repair facility in the US, and the brothers Henry and Edward S. Renwick devised a daring plan to build a watertight, caisson to cover the gash, held in place by chains around the ship's hull. The brothers claimed that it would take two weeks to complete the repairs and said that they would only take payment if successful. The demands of the American Civil War caused delays in getting the iron plates required, and instead of two weeks the repairs took three months at a cost to the company of £70,000. The ship finally sailed from New York for Liverpool on 6 January 1863.
HMS Electra (H27)
On Monday, 20 October 1941, the crew of "Electra" got word that they, together with , would be escorting HMS "Prince of Wales" to the Far East under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Tom Phillips, where the ships would form the nucleus of a new Eastern Fleet intended to deter Japanese aggression. Over the next three days, they loaded with supplies and ammunition, and returned the parkas they had obtained for their Russian trip. On 23 October, they sailed out of Scapa Flow for Greenock, and on 25 October, they sailed for the Far East. This force would be known as Force G until they reached the Far East; then they would be re-designated Force Z. They were accompanied by , loaned by Western Approaches Command, for the first part of the trip. The destroyers refuelled from "Prince of Wales" south of Ireland. Two days later, another destroyer, , was detached from a Gibraltar convoy to cover "Prince of Wales" while "Electra" and "Express" refuelled again from a tanker in Ponta del Garda in the Azores. After "Electra" and "Express" returned the following day, "Hesperus" and "Legion" departed for Gibraltar.
SS Eastland
After the disaster, "Eastland" was salvaged and sold to the United States Navy. After restorations and modifications, "Eastland" was designated a gunboat and renamed USS "Wilmette". She was used primarily as a training vessel on the Great Lakes, and was scrapped after World War II.
SMS Kaiserin Augusta
"Kaiserin Augusta" served abroad between 1897 and 1902, primarily in the East Asia Squadron under the command of Admiral Otto von Diederichs. During this time, the ship's crew assisted in the suppression of the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. In 1902, she returned to Germany for an extensive overhaul that lasted until 1907, after which she went into reserve. Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, "Kaiserin Augusta" was mobilized to serve as a gunnery training ship. She served in this role throughout the war; the ship was ultimately sold for scrapping in October 1919 and broken up the following year.
SS Dresden (1896)
The SS "Dresden" was a British passenger ship which operated, as such, from 1897 to 1915. She is known as the place of the 1913 disappearance of German engineer Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the Diesel engine. The ship was built in 1897 by the Earle Company at Hull for the Great Eastern Railway. She operated on the North Sea route between Harwich and the Hook of Holland. She was renamed HMS "Louvain" in 1915 and was used by the Royal Navy in World War I. until her loss in 1918.
HMS Erin
The Grand Fleet sortied on 18 August to ambush the High Seas Fleet while it advanced into the southern North Sea but miscommunications and mistakes prevented Jellicoe from intercepting the German fleet before it returned to port. Two light cruisers were sunk by German U-boats during the operation, prompting Jellicoe to decide to not risk the major units of the fleet south of 55° 30' North due to the prevalence of German submarines and mines. The Admiralty concurred and stipulated that the Grand Fleet would not sortie unless the German fleet was attempting an invasion of Britain or that it could be forced into an engagement at a disadvantage. When Stanley was promoted to rear-admiral on 26 April 1917, he was replaced by Captain Walter Ellerton.
In April 1918, the High Seas Fleet sortied against British convoys to Norway. Wireless silence was enforced, which prevented Room 40 cryptanalysts from warning the new commander of the Grand Fleet, Admiral Beatty. The British only learned of the operation after an accident aboard the battlecruiser forced her to break radio silence and inform the German commander of her condition. Beatty ordered the Grand Fleet to sea to intercept the Germans but he was not able to reach the High Seas Fleet before it turned back for Germany. The ship was at Rosyth, Scotland, when the surrendered High Seas Fleet arrived on 21 November and she remained part of the 2nd BS through 1 March 1919.
USNS Geiger (T-AP-197)
Acquired for transport service during the Korean War, "Geiger" operated under MSTS from 1952. Over the years she made numerous runs in support of peace-keeping operations throughout the world. She crossed the Atlantic dozens of times, deploying troops to European bases and returning troops and refugees to the United States.
Great Eastern Railway
One of the more obscure services the GER offered was the delivery of sea water. This service started in the 1870s and by 1880 it was reported that 4,500 gallons had been delivered on a single day. A redundant steam locomotive was employed in the task at Lowestoft and a number of fish and open carriage wagons were converted to saltwater tanks. The trains ran to London where the water was distilled into three gallon barrels and sold for sixpence (pre decimalisation - price c. 1880). The sea water was used in baths and was still running as late as 1910 although the exact final date of operation is unknown.
Prior to 1862 the companies that had built the various parts of the network operated locomotives from a variety of engineering companies. Generally the wheel arrangements were 2-2-0 and 2-2-2 for most classes of locomotives. It was not until 1850 that the Eastern Counties Railway under Gooch built a locomotive at the then newly opened Stratford Works. Number 20 was the first of a class of six 2-2-2T locomotives (although three more were also built by R B Longridge and Co of Bedlington, Northumberland). Slightly bigger improved versions of the class followed in 1853 and 1854.
SS Great Eastern
The voyage took 9 days 13 hours. "Great Eastern's" arrival in New York was virtually unnoticed due to the American Civil War, and when it was opened to the public at 25 cents a head there was little interest. 194 passengers sailed on the return journey on 25 May and 5,000 tons of wheat was also carried.
New Ferry
One of New Ferry's links with its historic past as a tourist resort between the 1860s and 1920s was the Great Eastern Pub. The building dated from 1862 when Liverpool day-trippers began crossing the River Mersey by ferry to New Ferry Pier when it became known as "The Great Eastern Picnic Hotel". By coincidence, in 1888, Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous ship the SS "Great Eastern" was broken up on the nearby shoreline, and many artefacts from the ship were auctioned off as it was being dismantled. The pub's owner bought a number of these including the ship's bar to install into the building, wood panelling for the walls, the ship's wheel and a beautiful stained glass window. Unfortunately, these were all removed by the last owners of the building in the mid-2000s, and the pub closed down in 2007. In November 2009 the site was sold to a housing developer, Worksharp Ecohomes Ltd of Southport, who, in February 2010, submitted a planning application to Wirral Borough Council to demolish the building, described as being "in a state of serious disrepair" and replace it with ten two-storey semi-detached houses. On 5 March 2010, the security screens were ripped off the doors and windows, the contents of the pub removed and the building left unsecured. Many members of the community had been concerned that the motive behind this was to accelerate the pub's derelict state and ensure its future demolition. This process began in June 2010, ahead of a site meeting by Wirral Council's planning committee and despite an online petition by New Ferry Residents Association to save the building. More than 400 people had signed the petition demanding that it be saved from the bulldozer and instead converted to housing. Worksharp EcoHomes obtained planning permission to replace the building with ten semi-detached homes, but conditions attached to the permission required them to provide a permanent memorial explaining the significance of the area and its connection with the SS "Great Eastern". Work finally began on building the replacement houses in March 2013.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
"Great Eastern" was built at John Scott Russell's Napier Yard in London, and after two trial trips in 1859, set forth on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York on 17 June 1860. Though a failure at her original purpose of passenger travel, she eventually found a role as an oceanic telegraph cable-layer. Under Captain Sir James Anderson, the "Great Eastern" played a significant role in laying the first lasting transatlantic telegraph cable, which enabled telecommunication between Europe and North America.
HMS Western Isles
She served as the flagship of Western Approaches Command's Anti-Submarine Training School at Tobermory where from about July 1940 all escort ships intended for Atlantic convoy duty attended before being allowed to deploy. A noted depiction of the establishment and its commander is given (albeit in fictional form) in Nicholas Monsarrat's novel "The Cruel Sea". The Training School was closed following the end of World War II in Europe.
Erich Raeder during World War II
In February 1942, Raeder presented Hitler with the "Great Plan", a grand strategic design for winning the war by a series of combined operations with Japan and Italy. Through essentially a rehash of the "Mediterranean plan" of 1940 with the main German blows to be focused against the British in the Middle East, the "Great Plan" of 1942 was worked out in considerably more detail, and called for a series of mutually supporting attacks between Germany in the Middle East and Japan in the Indian subcontinent that were intended to knock Britain out of the war. On the German side of things, Raeder called for Axis forces to take Malta and drive on across the North African desert to the Suez Canal. Once that had occurred, it would be possible for the German and Italian forces in the Mediterranean to link up with Japanese forces in the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea-a situation that Raeder claimed would not only cause the collapse of the British Empire, but create the preconditions for the defeat of the United States. Raeder called Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps in effect "an organ of the "Seekriegsleitung"" because it would have the function of taking Egypt. Finally for Raeder's "Great Plan" required the "Kriegsmarine" to take over the French fleet at Toulon in order to create the necessary battlefleet that would allow the German navy to be equal partner of the Japanese and the Italians. Operation Drumbeat, the "Second Happy Time" of the U-boats had inflicted heavy losses on shipping off the Atlantic coast of the United States in early 1942, and which had followed up by another U-boat offensive in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean starting in May 1942 and another one in Canadian waters in the summer of 1942. In May 1942, the "Kriegsmarine" sunk more tonnage in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean than had been done during any of the months of the "First Happy Time" of 1940. Between January–August 1942 the U-boats had sunk 485 ships totalling 2, 600, 000 tons in the waters from Canada to the Caribbean, inflicting what the American historian Gerhard Weinberg called "... the most disastrous defeat ever suffered by American naval power". In addition, April 1942 saw the introduction of "milch cow" submarines that served to supply other U-boats, thus extending the cruise time of boats in the New World, and which had been ordered by Raeder in 1941 to make up for the destruction of the supply ship network by the Royal Navy in the spring of 1941. Operation Drumbeat seemed to confirm Raeder's repeated statements in 1941 that the United States was a paper tiger that the "Kriegsmarine" could easily defeat, and as a result Raeder's prestige with Hitler in early 1942 was quite high. Because the "Kriegsmarine"'s operations in the New World were so successful, Hitler had some interest in Raeder's "Great Plan", but objections from General Franz Halder of the Army General Staff who accused Raeder of having no understanding of logistics together with the fact that the Army was fully engaged on the Eastern Front meant in the end Raeder's "Great Plan" was ignored.
SS Great Western
In 1836, Isambard Brunel, his friend Thomas Guppy and a group of Bristol investors formed the Great Western Steamship Company to build a line of steamships for the Bristol-New York route. The idea of regular scheduled transatlantic service was under discussion by several groups and the rival British and American Steam Navigation Company was established at the same time. "Great Western's" design sparked controversy from critics that contended that she was too big. The principle that Brunel understood was that the carrying capacity of a ship increases as the cube of its dimensions, whilst the water resistance only increases as the square of its dimensions. This meant that large ships were more fuel efficient, something very important for long voyages across the Atlantic.
SMS Prinz Heinrich
After the outbreak of war, the ship was reactivated for active service, initially with III Scouting Group with the High Seas Fleet. "Prinz Heinrich" was used for coastal defense in the North Sea and she participated in the fleet sortie that supported the Raid on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby in December 1914. After the naval command determined that "Prinz Heinrich" was too old to serve in the North Sea against the powerful British Royal Navy, she was transferred to the Baltic Sea in early 1915. She supported offensive minelaying operations and patrolled the central Baltic for Russian forces, but never encountered hostile forces. She provided gunfire support during the attack on Libau in May 1915 and shelled Russian positions during the Battle of the Gulf of Riga in August. In the face of severe crew shortages in late 1915, "Prinz Heinrich" had her crew reduced and was ultimately decommissioned and disarmed in March 1916. She thereafter served in a variety of secondary roles for the rest of the war, before being broken up in 1920.
E-boat
E-boats, a British designation using the letter "E" for "Enemy", were primarily used to patrol the Baltic Sea and the English Channel in order to intercept shipping heading for the English ports in the south and east. As such, they were up against Royal Navy and Commonwealth, e.g., Royal Canadian Navy contingents leading up to D-Day, Motor Gun Boats (MGBs), Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs), Motor Launches, frigates and destroyers. They were also transferred in small numbers to the Mediterranean, and the Black Sea by river and land transport. Some small E-boats were built as boats for carrying by auxiliary cruisers.
SS Great Eastern
The three men set up a new company, the Great Eastern Steamship Company, and "Great Eastern" was chartered to the newly formed Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company for £50,000 of shares, and would be responsible for carrying out the necessary conversion work for the ship's new role, laying the Atlantic Cable.
SS Cromer (1902)
TSS "Cromer" was a cargo vessel built for the Great Eastern Railway in 1902.
SS Great Eastern
On 9 September the ship had passed down the Thames, and out into the English Channel, and had just passed Hastings when there was a huge explosion, the forward deck blowing apart with enough force to throw the No. 1 funnel into the air, followed by a rush of escaping steam. Scott Russell and two engineers went below and ordered the steam to be blown off and the engine speed reduced. Five stokers died from being scalded by hot steam, while four or five others were badly injured and one had leapt overboard and had been lost. The accident was discovered to have been caused by a feedwater heater's steam exhaust having been closed, and the explosion's power had been concentrated by the ship's strong bulkheads.
Steering engine
The first steering engine with feedback was installed on Isambard Kingdom Brunel's "Great Eastern" in 1866.
Designed by Scottish engineer John McFarlane Gray and built by George Forrester and Company, this was a steam-powered mechanical amplifier used to drive the rudder position to match the wheel position. The size of "Great Eastern," by far the largest ship of her day, made power steering a necessity.
SS Empire Fowey
"Potsdam" was subsequently used as an accommodation ship at Gdynia, Poland. She was subsequently used as a troopship serving Norwegian and Baltic ports. She participated in the Evacuation of East Prussia. She was seized on 13 May 1945 at Flensburg and was passed to the Ministry of War Transport. "Potsdam" was renamed "Empire Jewel". She arrived at Kiel on 19 June and an armed guard was posted on board to stop the Germans using her to block the Kaiser Wilhelm Kanal. She then sailed to Brunsbüttel where the armed guard left. After three weeks with an all-German crew on board, she sailed on 20 July for Methil, Fife, United Kingdom.
Naval history of World War II
The British Eastern Fleet had been withdrawn to East Africa because of Japanese incursions into the Indian Ocean. Despite opposition from the U.S. naval chief, Admiral Ernest King, the Royal Navy sent a large task force to the Pacific (British Pacific Fleet). This required the use of wholly different techniques, requiring a substantial fleet support train, resupply at sea and an emphasis on naval air power and defence. In 1945 84 warships and support vessels were sent to the Pacific. It remains the largest foreign deployment of the Royal Navy. Their largest attack was on the oil refineries in Sumatra to deny Japanese access to supplies. However it also gave cover to the US landings on Okinawa and carried out air attacks and bombardment of the Japanese mainland.
Exercise Grand Slam
Exercise Grand Slam was an early major naval exercise of the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This 1952 combined naval exercise took place in the Mediterranean Sea, and it included a naval force that was described as being "the largest armada to be assembled in that area since the end of World War II." Exercise Grand Slam was an early test for NATO's Allied Forces Southern Europe. With Exercise Longstep, this exercise served as the prototype for future NATO maritime exercises in the Mediterranean Sea during the Cold War.
In January 1950, the North Atlantic Council approved NATO's military strategy of deterring Soviet aggression. NATO military planning took on a renewed urgency following the outbreak of the Korean War in mid-1950, prompting NATO to establish a "force under a centralised command, adequate to deter aggression and to ensure the defence of Western Europe". Allied Command Europe was established under General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower, U.S. Army, on 2 April 1951. The Western Union Defence Organization had previously carried out Exercise Verity, a 1949 multilateral exercise involving naval air strikes and submarine attacks.
SS Great Eastern
"Great Eastern's" keel was laid down on 1 May 1854. The hull was an all-iron construction, a double hull of wrought iron in plates with ribs every . Internally, the hull was divided by two long, high, longitudinal bulkheads and further transverse bulkheads dividing the ship into nineteen compartments. "Great Eastern" was the first ship to incorporate the double-skinned hull, a feature which would not be seen again in a ship for several decades, but which is now compulsory for reasons of safety.
SV Estelle
SV "Estelle" is a fair trade cargo Bermuda schooner, currently the biggest sail ship in Finnish register. She was built in Emden, Germany in 1922 as a 42-meter (137.8 feet), steel-hulled ship for trawl-fishing in the Baltic Sea. "Estelle"s hometown is Turku. She was long owned by Eestaas and operated by Uusi Tuuli. Now she belongs to a "Ship to Gaza" company Northern Breeze AB, registered in Turku, Finland.
"Estelle" was previously maintained by volunteers who had the desire to sail to Africa to export assistance supplies and bring back fair trade goods and operate according to the ideals of Fair Trade. She made her first trip to Africa in 2002, before which she also visited the Mediterranean Sea, Ireland and some harbors of Northern Europe. In addition, many of the ship's crew have been trained while sailing in the Baltic Sea.
John Scott Russell
He was held in high regard by Isambard Kingdom Brunel who made him a partner in his project to build the "Great Eastern". Although the original conception, the cellular construction and the joint use of paddle and screw were Brunel's ideas, "the ship embodies the wave-line form, the longitudinal system of construction, the complete and partial bulkheads, and other details of construction which were peculiarly Scott Russell’s". The project was plagued with a number of problems—Scott Russell put in a bid which was far too low with the result that he was bankrupt halfway through, though he recovered to finish the job; but it was Brunel that insisted on a sideways launch rather than the dry dock that Russell preferred. The "Great Eastern" was eventually launched in 1858. Scott Russell was a better scientist than a businessman and his reputation never fully recovered from his financial irregularities and disputes.
MS Winston Churchill
The "Winston Churchill" was built as a car ferry for the Scandinavian Seaways DFDS service from Esbjerg to Harwich, and proved a very successful vessel on the route. As demand for vehicle-carrying services grew, larger vessels were required for the route and the "Winston Churchill" was transferred to the River Tyne in 1978, for the twice-weekly service to Gothenburg, following the arrival of the new DFDS vessel on the Harwich route. 
She was eventually replaced on the Esbjerg route out of the Tyne by a new vessel, the .
SS Norwich
TSS "Norwich" was a passenger vessel built for the Great Eastern Railway in 1883.
USS Shasta (AE-33)
During the deployment "Shasta" conducted many airhead operations at al-Masirah, Oman. During its time on station, "Shasta" sortied to rearm destroyers in support of Operation Nimble Archer. Also during this deployment, "Shasta" made port visits at Lualualei in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines (two); Singapore; Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territories; Pattaya, Thailand; and Hong Kong. "Shasta" was also involved in Cold War operations during the deployment, and had frequent contact with Soviet vessels and aircraft. "Shasta" transited the Northern, Eastern and Western Pacific Ocean the San Bernardino Strait; the South China Sea; the Straits of Malacca; the Bay of Bengal; the Singapore Strait; the northern and southern Indian Ocean; the Gulf of Thailand; the Philippine Sea; the North Arabian Sea; the Gulf of Oman; and into the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz. "Shasta"s crew was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon for their service on this deployment. During the deployment, en route from Thailand to Hong Kong, "Shasta" sailed through a super typhoon in the South China Sea, sustaining damage, but never reducing her operational capacity. During this deployment, "Shasta "steamed 44,633 nautical miles, and at one point spent 79 consecutive days at sea on station off the coast of Iran, most at condition III (wartime steaming). Shasta crossed the Equator in the Indian Ocean en route to Diego Garcia and held a line-crossing ceremony and initiated the shellbacks into the solemn mysteries of the Ancient Order of the Deep. Prior to transit east through the Straits of Malacca and back into the Pacific Ocean, "Shasta" turned over her duties in the Middle East to her sister ship, the .
Institutions in the Southern Victory Series
The Great Lakes provided both a defensive shield for Canada and the United States, and a chance to attack the other's industrial base. Rochester, New York, was burned by a British landing force in the Second Mexican War. On the Great Lakes, both the United States and Canada had Great Lake battleships, which were shorter-range armored cruisers. The Canadians used them in the defense of Toronto during the Great War; the US intended theirs to be war-winning weapons but mines and submarines quickly put that idea to rest.
William Harrison (sea captain)
In January 1856 he was selected by the directors of the Eastern Steam Navigation Company out of two hundred competitors to take the command of the Great Leviathan, then building at Millwall in the Thames. In the following years he was appointed to superintend the arrangements for internal accommodation and navigation. The ship being at last completed after great delay, and renamed the SS "Great Eastern", was sent on a trial trip from Deptford to Portland Roads. Off Hastings on 9 September 1859, a terrific explosion of steam killed ten of the firemen and seriously injured several other persons. Harrison showed prompt courage and resource, and brought the vessel into Portland, although in a very damaged state. The "Great Eastern" was then put into winter quarters near Hurst Castle.
HMS Royal Ulsterman
Commissioned in 1936, HMS Royal Ulsterman was a 3,250 ton passenger ship which, along with her sister-ship, , sailed the Glasgow-Belfast run for Burns and Laird Lines Ltd. During the Second World War, "Royal Ulsterman" served as a Royal Navy Reserve troop transport, taking part in nearly all of the major Allied amphibious operations of the European war, including the Dunkirk evacuation; Operation "Neptune" (the amphibious part of the D-Day landings); and the liberation of the Channel Islands.
Axel Wenner-Gren
A disconsolate Wenner-Gren retired to his estate in the Bahamas, in Hog Island (now Paradise Island), where he resumed his friendship with the islands' governor, the Duke of Windsor and former King of the United Kingdom Edward VIII. Early in the war his rumored friendship with Göring and the suspected German sympathies of the Duke led first the Americans and, following their lead, the British, to place him on an economic blacklist, enabling them to freeze his assets in Nassau. There proved to be little or no foundation to their suspicions that Wenner-Gren was a Nazi agent, notwithstanding the appearance of his steam yacht "Southern Cross" (the world's largest at the time) along with ships from the Allied Navies at the site of the sinking of the liner "SS Athenia" on the first day of the war. Wenner-Gren's yacht the "Southern Cross" rescued over three hundred survivors of the sinking and transferred some to nearby Allied ships and others continued to the U.S.
SS Great Eastern
At the end of her cable-laying career she was refitted once again as a liner but once again efforts to make her a commercial success failed. She was used as a showboat, a floating palace/concert hall and gymnasium. She acted as an advertising hoarding—sailing up and down the Mersey for Lewis's Department Store, who at this point were her owners, before being sold. The idea was to attract people to the store by using her as a floating visitor attraction. She was sold at auction in 1888, fetching £16,000 for her value as scrap.
SMS Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia
As anti-foreign violence began to rise in China in early 1900, the Great Powers began to send warships to the Far East to increase the pressure on the Chinese government to rein in the violence. At the peak of the Boxer Rebellion, "Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia" was deployed to the area under the command of Victor Ritter Bless von Sambuchi, along with numerous other European warships. She left Pola in June, and was followed by the cruisers and the next month. The ships joined the international fleet off Taku in September 1900, though by that time, most of the fighting had already occurred. Nevertheless, "Kaiserin und Königin Maria Theresia" and "Aspern" remained in East Asian waters for an extended deployment. Captain Anton Haus took command of the ship, and in June 1901, he took the ship to Hankow up the Yangtze River; she was the largest ship to have steamed that far up the river. She returned to Austria-Hungary in 1902, and was replaced in China by the new armored cruiser "Kaiser Karl VI".
Kriegsmarine
After the war, the German surface ships that remained afloat (only the cruisers and , and a dozen destroyers were operational) were divided among the victors. The officer in charge of the "Kriegsmarine" division and appropriation, was Lt. Gerald Ivers of the US Navy, who used mathematical analysis to assign the remaining ships to their respective nations. The US used the heavy cruiser in nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll in 1946 as target ship. Some (like the unfinished aircraft carrier ) were used for target practice with conventional weapons, while others (mostly destroyers and torpedo boats) were put into the service of Allied navies that lacked surface ships after the war. The training barque SSS "Horst Wessel" was recommissioned USCGC "Eagle" and remains in active service, assigned to the United States Coast Guard Academy. The British, French and Soviet navies received the destroyers, and some torpedo boats went to the Danish and Norwegian navies. For the purpose of mine clearing, the Royal Navy employed German crews and minesweepers from June 1945 to January 1948, organized in the German Mine Sweeping Administration, the GMSA, which consisted of 27,000 members of the former "Kriegsmarine" and 300 vessels.
SMS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
In 1902, the new battleship ran aground off Korsør; "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" took her under tow back to port. The I Squadron went on a short cruise in the western Baltic then embarked on a major cruise around the British Isles, which lasted from 25 April to 28 May. Individual and squadron maneuvers took place from June to August, interrupted only by a cruise to Norway in July. The annual fleet maneuvers began in August in the Baltic and concluded in the North Sea with a fleet review in the Jade. During the exercises, "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" was assigned to the "hostile" force, as were several of her sister ships. The "hostile" force was first tasked with preventing the "German" squadron from passing through the Great Belt in the Baltic. "Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse" and several other battleships were then tasked with forcing an entry into the mouth of the Elbe River, where the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal and Hamburg could be seized. The "hostile" flotilla accomplished these tasks within three days. The regular winter cruise followed during 1–12 December.
SS Great Eastern
Only 100 passengers booked for the second voyage, which was originally scheduled to depart Milford Haven on 1 May 1861. However, the boat taking the passengers to the ship ran aground and they and their luggage had to be rescued by small boats.
History of the United States Merchant Marine
The first regular steamship service from the west to the east coast of the United States began on February 28, 1849, with the arrival of the SS California (1848)" in San Francisco Bay. "California" left New York Harbor on October 6, 1848, rounded Cape Horn at the tip of South America, and arrived at San Francisco, California after a 4-month 21-day journey. SS "Great Eastern" was built in 1854–1857 with the intent of linking Great Britain with India, "via" the Cape of Good Hope, without coaling stops; she would know a turbulent history, and was never put to her intended use.
SS Empire Endurance
On 10 April, "Alster" was captured by the British destroyer in Vestfjorden, north of Bodø. When intercepted the German crew made an unsuccessful attempt at scuttling the vessel, setting off one explosive charge. The light cruiser had also been sent after "Alster", but had run aground near Bodø and suffered serious damage. With the British capture of "Alster", no more German supply ships were heading for Narvik and the forces there, leaving General Eduard Dietl's troops with the supplies on board the tanker "Jan Wellem" and the large stockpiles of weapons, ammunition, uniforms and food captured at the Norwegian Army base Elvegårdsmoen. At the time of her capture, "Alster" was under the command of "Kapitän" Oskar Scharf, who had previously commanded the Blue Riband-holding ocean liner . Initially "Alster" was brought to the improvised British naval base at Skjelfjord in Lofoten. On arrival at Skjelfjord on 11 April, a prize crew from "Penelope" took over responsibility for the ship. At Skjelfjord, the captured German crew made an unsuccessful attempt at scuttling "Alster" by opening the ship's sea valves. While at Skjelfjord "Alster", being equipped with derricks, was used to help repair damaged Allied warships. One of the vessels on which emergency repairs were carried out from "Alster", was the destroyer , which had lost her bow during the naval battles off Narvik. "Alster" was also used as an accommodation ship for the crews of the damaged vessels at Skjelfjord. On 24 April "Alster" departed Skjelfjord for the Northern Norwegian port of Tromsø, manned by a British prize crew. The eight German officers captured on "Alster" were transferred to the United Kingdom on the British destroyers and . In all, 80 Germans were captured on board "Alster", and all were eventually sent to the United Kingdom.
SS Great Eastern
Preparations were initially made for the ship to sail on 16 June 1860 and the passengers boarded her on the 14th. After visitors had been sent ashore the Captain (Capt. John Vine Hall) announced that he would not be sailing until the 17th, as the crew were drunk. Director Daniel Gooch, who was travelling aboard her, was not pleased. He was further displeased by the route taken by the ship which was the more southerly of the regular steamer routes as he had wanted the ship to complete the journey in nine days. In the event, the voyage took 10 days 19 hours.
SS Great Britain
The ship was then taken off the pontoon, in preparation for her re-entry into Bristol, now truly afloat. On Sunday 5 July, amidst considerable media interest, the ship was towed up the River Avon to Bristol. Perhaps the most memorable moment for the crowds that lined the final few miles was her passage under the Clifton Suspension Bridge, another Brunel design. She waited for two weeks in the Cumberland Basin for a tide high enough to get her back through the locks to the Floating Harbour and her birthplace, the dry dock in the Great Western Dockyard (now a grade II* listed building, disused since bomb damage in the Second World War).
The recovery and subsequent voyage from the Falklands to Bristol were depicted in the 1970 BBC "Chronicle" programme; "The Great Iron Ship".
USS Great Western (1857)
"Great Western" was used as an ordnance boat for the Navy on the western waters, and in that capacity operated from Cairo, Illinois, to various points on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. She supplied ships at the mouths of the White and Arkansas Rivers with ammunition and ordnance, and occasionally fired at Confederate batteries ashore in the almost daily engagements in keeping open the far-spreading river highway system by which the Union divided and destroyed the South.
SS Great Western
"Great Western" was an iron-strapped, wooden, side-wheel paddle steamer, with four masts to hoist the auxiliary sails. The sails were not just to provide auxiliary propulsion, but also were used in rough seas to keep the ship on an even keel and ensure that both paddle wheels remained in the water, driving the ship in a straight line. The hull was built of oak by traditional methods. She was the largest steamship for one year, until the British and American's "British Queen" went into service. Built at the shipyard of Patterson & Mercer in Bristol, "Great Western" was launched on 19 July 1837 and then sailed to London, where she was fitted with two side-lever steam engines from the firm of Maudslay, Sons & Field, producing 750 indicated horsepower between them.
CGS Petrel
CGS "Petrel" was a Canadian patrol vessel used primarily for fisheries protection on the upper Great Lakes from 1892 to 1904. In 1904, "Petrel" was sent to the East Coast of Canada for fisheries protection duties there. In 1912, "Petrel" was fitted for minesweeping and in 1914, was taken over by the Royal Canadian Navy for use as an examination vessel during the First World War. Following the war, "Petrel" was discarded.
SS Great Eastern
Meanwhile, Daniel Gooch approached Thomas Brassey and John Pender to see if they would be willing to assist in the purchase of "Great Eastern". The opening bid at the auction was £20,000 and John Yates who was acting for Gooch secured the ship for a bid of £25,000, despite the ship being worth £100,000 in materials alone.
SS Great Western
The company's fortunes improved in 1845 when "Great Britain" entered service. However, in September 1846 "Great Britain" ran ashore because of a navigational error and was not expected to survive the winter. The directors suspended all sailings of "Great Western" and went out of business. "Great Western" had completed 45 crossings for her owners in eight years. In 1847 she was sold to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and used on the West Indies run. In November 1851 she ran aground at Liverpool at the endy of a voyage from New York, United States and was damaged. Later, after serving as a troopship in the Crimean War, in 1856 she was broken up at Castles' Yard, Millbank on the Thames.
SS Vienna (1894)
TSS "Vienna" was a passenger vessel built for the Great Eastern Railway in 1894.
SS Northeastern Victory
"Northeastern Victory" served in the Atlantic Ocean, taking supplies to troops still in Europe after Victory in Europe Day, on 8 May 1945.
USS Estocin
On 17 August 1992, "Estocin" changed homeport to Newport, RI. "Estocin" completed Maritime Interdiction Operations in the Caribbean and in December 1993 operated off the coast of Haiti during Operation Support Democracy. In January 1994, "Estocin" again changed her homeport moving to Naval Base, Norfolk, VA. "Estocin" was again selected for a Great Lakes Cruise in the summer of 1994. Upon completion of this cruise, she underwent a four-month drydock period to inspect and overhaul numerous shipboard systems. After completion of this drydocking, "Estocin" was sent in the fall of 1995 to the Caribbean in support of Counter Drug Operations. During this cruise, "Estocin" transited the Panama Canal to conduct Counter Drug Operations in the eastern Pacific as well.
In 1996, after completing a work-up cycle, which included re-certification of her propulsion plant and cruise missile tactical qualification, "Estocin" deployed with Destroyer Squadron Eighteen in support of Operation Northern Light-Bright Horizon 96. During this fast-paced month and a half commitment, "Estocin" participated in a variety of maneuvering and training exercises with over 53 ships and submarines from 13 European nations. Upon her return to Norfolk, "Estocin" entered an availability period to prepare ship's systems for her next commitment, Joint Task Force Exercise 97-1 (JTFEX 97-1). During this exercise "Estocin" was the flagship for the Opposing Forces (OPFOR), whose mission was to train the deploying carrier battle group. Although composed of U.S. ships, the OPFOR simulated a variety of patrol boats found throughout the world. Successfully training the battle group, "Estocin" prepared for her next deployment.
SS Europa (1928)
"Europa" was inactive for most of World War II. There were plans to use her as a transport in Operation Sea Lion, the intended invasion of Great Britain, and later conversion to an aircraft carrier. None of these plans came to pass, and in 1945, she was captured by the Allies and used as a troopship, sailing as the USS "Europa" (AP-177). The United States claimed the ship as a war prize on 8 May 1945 and gave the vessel to the US Navy, which commissioned "Europa" 25 August 1945 with Captain B. F. Perry in command. "Europa" cleared Bremerhaven on 11 September 1945 for Southampton, England, where she loaded 4,500 homeward-bound American troops, arriving in New York City on 24 September. After alteration to increase her troop-carrying capacity, she made two voyages to Southampton to bring US servicemen home to the United States. She sailed from New York once more, on 15 March 1946, bound for Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands, and Bremerhaven, where she moored on 24 March.
SS Cap Arcona
During March and April 1945, concentration camp prisoners from Scandinavian countries had been transported from all over the Reich to the Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg, in the White Bus programme co-ordinated through the Swedish Red Cross - with prisoners of other nationalities displaced to make room for them. Eventually Himmler agreed that these Scandinavians, and selected others regarded as less harmful to Germany, could be transported through Denmark to freedom in Sweden. Then between 16 and 28 April 1945, Neuengamme was systematically emptied of all its remaining prisoners, together other groups of concentration camp inmates and Soviet POWs; with the intention that they would be relocated to a secret new camp, either on the Baltic island of Fehmarn; or at Mysen in Norway where preparations were put in hand to house them under the control of concentration camp guards evacuated from Sachsenhausen. In the interim, they were to be concealed from the advancing British and Canadian forces; and for this purpose the "SS" assembled a prison flotilla of decommissioned ships in the Bay of Lübeck, consisting of the liners "Cap Arcona" and , the freighter , and the motor launch . Since the steering motors were out of use in "Thielbek" and the turbines were out of use in "Cap Arcona", "Athen" was used to transfer prisoners from Lübeck to the larger ships and between ships; they were locked below decks and in the holds, and denied food and medical attention .
STS Sedov
"Magdalene Vinnen II" was at the time the world’s largest auxiliary barque and exclusively used as a cargo ship with a crew that was partially made up of cadets. She sailed on her maiden voyage on 1 September 1921. Her voyage took her from Bremen via Cardiff, where she took on coal, to Buenos Aires. Despite bad weather, the journey from England to Argentina with holds full of coal took just 30 days. "Magdalene Vinnen II" carried all sorts of cargo: apart from coal, she took timber from Finland, wheat from Australia, pyrite from Italy and unit load from Belgium. The four-masted barque made two voyages around Cape Horn to Chile. Until her last voyage as "Magdalene Vinnen II" in 1936, the ship sailed to Argentina, South Africa, Australia, Reunion and the Seychelles.
SS Great Eastern
The Company then set up a committee to investigate the proposal, and they reported in favour and the scheme was adopted at a board meeting held in July 1852. Brunel was appointed Engineer to the project and he began to gather tenders to build the hull, paddle engines and screw engines. Brunel had a considerable stake in the company and when requested to appoint a resident engineer refused in no uncertain terms:
He was just as firm in the terms for the final contract where he insisted that nothing was to be undertaken without his express consent, and that procedures and requirements for the construction were specifically laid down.
Antony Gibbs &amp; Sons
In 1882 the "Great Britain" was converted into a sailing ship to transport bulk coal, but after a fire on board in 1886 she was found on arrival at Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands to be damaged beyond repair. She was sold to the Falkland Islands Company and used, afloat, as a storage hulk (coal bunker) until 1937, when she was towed to Sparrow Cove, 3.5 miles from Port Stanley, scuttled and abandoned.
SS Great Eastern
In 1857, during the planning of the Suez Canal, it was thought that "Great Eastern" would not be able to traverse it, since she had a draft of and it was expected that the canal would be excavated to a depth of . In any event, when the canal was opened to shipping in 1869, "Great Eastern" was no longer in passenger service.
SS Great Eastern
She had sail, paddle and screw propulsion. The paddle-wheels were in diameter and the four-bladed screw-propeller was across. The power came from four steam engines for the paddles and an additional engine for the propeller. Total power was estimated at 6 MW (8,000 hp).
Soviet ship Stary Bolshevik
Soviet ship "Stary Bolshevik (, translated as Old Bolshevik") was a Soviet lumber steamship. It took part in several arctic convoys of World War II as a general-purpose cargo ship. For the heroic actions while taking part in Convoy PQ 16 the ship was awarded the Order of Lenin, its captain, first deputy for political matters, and helmsman were awarded Hero of the Soviet Union, and the whole crew were awarded various orders and meedals. 
The ship took part in Operation X, a secret Soviet weapons shipment to the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.
The first trip of the ship was from Arkhangelsk to England in September 1941. In January 1942 she brought military cargo to Murmansk as part of Convoy PQ 8. The next trip was with Convoy QP 13 to New York with the load of apatites, where she picked military equipment and returned to iceland where it joined Convoy PQ 16. 
It was the 4th (homebound leg of the 2nd roundtrip) convoy for the ship. The ship was placed last in the order. It carried over 4,000 metric tonnes of load, including ammunition and explosives, as well as A-20 Boston bombers on the deck. The latter was an attractive target for German bombers. The ship was heavily bombed and set on fire, but the crew did not leave the ship and saved it and the cargo.
During lulls between German atttacks the neighboring HMS Martin helped Stary Bolshevik with fire hoses and pumping the water out, and with doctor. On that ocasion British sailors were surprized to learn that about 50% of Stary Bolshevik's crew were women.
Awarded Hero of the Soviet Union, helmsman Boris Akazyonok also had the combat assignment of an anti-aircraft guner. In the commendation it was reported that due to his skillful maneuvering he three times avoided torpedo attacks. When bombing caused fire, he was one of the first to rush into the cargo hold with bomb fuses to move them into a safer place. Also, operating the aft anti-aircraft gun he downed a German torpedo bomber.
Eric Fullerton
When the First World War broke out he was given command of the monitor HMS "Mersey", which was used for operations off the Belgian coast, and also commanded the squadron consisting of "Mersey" and its two sister ships, HMS "Humber" and HMS "Severn". He later transferred his command to HMS "Severn". In 1915, after he had been promoted captain, his ships completed the destruction of the German cruiser SMS "Königsberg" in the Rufiji River in German East Africa. For this action he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO).
SS Great Eastern
"Great Eastern" sailed from Milford Haven on 7 May 1862 with 138 passengers, arriving in New York on 17 May. The ship was opened to visitors and around 3,000 a day took the opportunity. The return journey to Liverpool was profitable, with 389 passengers travelling along with 3,000 tons of freight. The west-to-east trip took 9 days 12 hours, a reduction of 12 hours on her previous record.
SS Yarmouth Castle
"Evangeline" operated the Boston – Yarmouth, Nova Scotia service for the Eastern Steamship Lines until World War II, when she was sent to the Pacific to serve as a troop ship. The ship ferried combat troops from San Francisco to the island battlefronts and also served as a hospital ship. After being refitted and refinished at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation's shipyards at a cost of US$1.5 million, she returned to passenger service in May 1947.
List of Empire ships (P)
"Empire Parkeston" was a 5,556-GRT troopship which was built by Cammell Laird & Co Ltd, Birkenhead. Launched in 1930 as "Prince Henry" for Canadian National Steamships. Sold in 1937 to Clark Steamship Co, Quebec. Refitted and renamed "North Star". Purchased in 1939 by the Royal Canadian Navy and converted by Burrard Dry Dock co, Vancouver to auxiliary cruiser HMCS "Prince Henry". On 2 April 1941, "Prince Henry" intercepted German blockade runners "Hermonthis" and "München" west of Callao, Peru. Both ships were scuttled by their crews. Converted in 1944 to a landing ship and used in Operation Overlord and Operation Dragoon. On Christmas Day 1944 she took to Corfu 1400 evacuees fleeing the Greek Civil War in Preveza, followed by two more trips with another 3000 people in total. In 1945 she took Italian and Russian ex-prisoners of war to Taranto, and 247 New Zealanders to Alexandria, on the first leg of their journey home. She escorted a convoy from Gibraltar to the UK in March 1945 and was paid off as a Canadian ship on 15 April 1945 as the RCN no longer had the manpower to operate her. A Royal Navy crew took over and she sailed for Wilhelmshaven in late 1945 as HMS "Prince Henry", to serve as an accommodation and headquarters ship. She was transferred to the British Ministry of Transport (MoT) for $500,000 in 1946 and renamed "Empire Parkeston". Used as a troopship between Harwich and the Hook of Holland. Scrapped in February 1962 in Spezia, Italy.
East End of London
Industries associated with the sea developed throughout the East End, including rope making and shipbuilding. The former location of roperies can still be identified from their long straight, narrow profile in the modern streets, for instance Ropery Street near Mile End. Shipbuilding was important from the time when Henry VIII caused ships to be built at Rotherhithe as a part of his expansion of the Royal Navy. On 31 January 1858, the largest ship of that time, the SS Great Eastern, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, was launched from the yard of Messrs Scott Russell & Co, of Millwall. The vessel was too long to fit across the river, and so the ship had to be launched sideways. Due to the technical difficulties of the launch, after this, shipbuilding on the Thames went into a long decline. Ships continued to be built at the Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company at Blackwall and Canning Town until the yard closed in 1913, shortly after the launch of the Dreadnought Battleship HMS Thunderer (1911).
HMS Iris (1840)
Together with HMS "Amethyst", she was loaned by the Admiralty to the Atlantic Telegraph Company in 1864 and both ships were then extensively modified in 1865 for ferrying the Atlantic cable from the manufacturer's works at Enderby's Wharf, in East Greenwich, London, to the "Great Eastern" at her Sheerness mooring. The cable was coiled down into great cylindrical tanks at the wharf before being fed into the "Great Eastern". "Amethyst" and "Iris" transferred 2,500 miles (4,000 km) of cable to "Great Eastern", in an operation that took over three months, beginning in February 1865.
Maritime history of the United Kingdom
The SS "Great Britain" was Isambard Kingdom Brunel's second ship design, after a wooden paddle steamer called the SS "Great Western". She was the first steamship to make regular crossings of the Atlantic. This was the first large iron steamship and the first to use a screw propellor. After a long career she was abandoned in the Falkland Islands but was brought back to the drydock in Bristol in which she was built. There she has been restored.