Most Influential Liner of All Time

[kevinh]

Even though I was talking specifically about ocean liners, very good point indeed!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Even though I was talking specifically about ocean liners, very good point indeed!

All the liners I mentioned in my most recent reply, are ocean liners, but not all of them are Atlantic liners.

[kevinh]

All the liners I mentioned in my most recent reply, are ocean liners, but not all of them are Atlantic liners.

Oh, gotcha.

[Bob van Leeuwen]

Do we maybe need to split this into two parts, namely by disaster and by actual operating?


I mean of we need to go by disaster, Titanic beats them all, every comparison made regarding any form of ship, be it a cruise liner, ocean liner or even a small steamer is made against the Titanic, the most luxereus ship to sail the sees, unsinkable but yet manages to exactly that on here maiden voyage due to a array of events that everybody has there opinion over.


I remember watching a YT video not that long ago about the USS Iowa, and it's length and speed was not compared against the SSUS, but the Titanic.


This seems however to more of a thing in the United States then over here, for example on the Rotterdam they compare it against the Nieuw Amsterdam, ore the Queen Mary (even QE2). Which brings the up a interesting question, why not could the Rotterdam have been a influential ship? She made some first that we still see today there where even incorporated on the Canberra and QE2, maybe they where just the first to finish in the Canberras case.


I know you are all thinking now that the ss Rotterdam is just something patriotic for me, and whilst that might be true, so is the SSUS for the US and the Queens for the UK, so could it not be that there is one conclusion - they where all influential in there own special way not only for the country they represented, but also for the whole industry.

[Trevor Harris]

Aquitania.

[Hank Hargrove]

I actually agree with Rob and would say either the SS Great Britain or the Queen Mary. It’s hard for the others to compete when one revolutionized shipbuilding forever and the ship that became world famous as both the troopship that sped up the war’s end by a full six months and her record as the first permanent large ocean liner hotel ship preservation scheme.

[Hank Hargrove]

I will attempt to rank the ones that I can think of that are most influential in an order

1. Great Britain
2. Great Western (kind of difficult to choose between this and Great Britain since one is the first modern ship and the other the first true transatlantic liner)
3. Queen Mary
4. Normandie
5. Lusitania (for propulsion and scale, not the tragedy)
6. Rotterdam
7. (NS) Savannah
8. QE2
9. United States
10. Queen Mary 2
11. Canberra
12. France/Norway
13. Queen Elizabeth
14. Olympic
15. Aquitania

[Hank Hargrove]

And I suppose a good follow-up question would be what is the “greatest” as opposed to the most influential since many influential ones like the Savannah weren’t successful.

That being said, I suspect Savannah’s legacy will be kind to her.

If we are going with greatest, I would suggest that Queen Mary brings all the right elements together to qualify. QE2 does so as well.

[Hank Hargrove]

Oops. I forgot about the Great Eastern...Where should that fall on most influential? We can make it a top 16. Lol.

[Barumfox]

Just seen this topic - would agree with either Great Western (first purpose built Atlantic liner for regular service)- made Admiralty mail contract won by Samuel Cunard viable  or Great Britain (first iron built / propellor driven) .

Just adds to the tremendous legacy left by Brunel overall especially as his first two ships - unfortunately he got far too ambitious with Great Eastern - in a time of tremendously fast industrial and technological developments  a ship designed and built in the 1850's remained the largest ever of the nineteenth century.

Gary