Free Models
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LZ-129 Hindenburg
The Hindenburg was the pride of German airship building and, together with her sister ship, the largest airship ever built: 245 metres long and filled with some 200,000 cubic metres of hydrogen. Built by Luftschiffbau Zeppelin in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance and named after the former Reich President Paul von Hindenburg, she first took to the air in March 1936 and flew for the Deutsche Zeppelin-Reederei. Her passengers travelled in remarkable comfort, with private cabins, a dining room, a music salon with a lightweight aluminium piano and even a pressurised smoking room. In her first season alone she crossed the Atlantic to North and South America more than thirty times. On 6 May 1937, while coming in to land at Lakehurst, New Jersey, she caught fire and was destroyed in little more than half a minute; 36 people died. Captured on film and radio, the disaster brought the age of passenger airships to an end.
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RMS Titanic
This model of the Titanic is one of the first models I ever built, making it a great starting point for anyone looking to get into the subject. Since it was one of my first models, it contains historical inaccuracies and the details are far from up to date, but it’s still a wonderful way to get a first impression.
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Edmund Fitzgerald
Launched in June 1958, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the pride of the Great Lakes – at 729 feet the longest freighter sailing the lakes at the time. For seventeen seasons she carried taconite iron ore pellets from the mines of Minnesota to the steel mills of the lower lakes, set several cargo records and became a favourite of ship-watchers at the Soo Locks. On 10 November 1975 she was caught by a ferocious autumn storm on Lake Superior. Battered by hurricane-force winds and towering waves, she disappeared from radar near Whitefish Bay without ever sending a distress call. All 29 men on board were lost. Days later a Navy aircraft located the wreck, broken in two, about 530 feet below the surface. Her loss is still the best-known shipwreck of the Great Lakes, kept alive by Gordon Lightfoot's 1976 ballad.
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HMHS Britannic
The HMHS Britannic was a British hospital ship originally built as a passenger liner for the White Star Line. She was the third and final Olympic-class sister ship of the RMS Olympic and RMS Titanic. Launched in February 1914, she was converted into a hospital ship during World War I. On 21 November 1916, while sailing through the Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Kea, she struck a mine and sank in just 55 minutes. Thanks to the rapid evacuation, most people aboard survived, but 30 lives were lost. The Britannic was the largest ship lost during World War I and remains one of the most famous shipwrecks in maritime history. Her wreck lies on the seabed at a depth of approximately 120 metres.
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HMT Olympic
The RMS Olympic was a White Star Line ocean liner, launched in 1910 as the lead ship of the Olympic-class trio, which also included her famous sisters Titanic and Britannic. She entered transatlantic service in 1911 and quickly earned a reputation for reliability and comfort, unlike her ill-fated sister. During the First World War, she was requisitioned as a troopship under the designation HMT Olympic, earning the nickname "Old Reliable" for her service transporting troops and even ramming and sinking a German U-boat in 1918. After the war, she returned to civilian service, undergoing refits to convert her from coal to oil power and continuing to operate the prestigious Southampton–New York route throughout the 1920s. Despite her popularity, the Great Depression and declining passenger numbers took their toll, and she was withdrawn from service in 1935. She was subsequently sold and scrapped, ending a long and largely successful career of nearly a quarter century in 1937.
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MS Estonia
Built in 1980 by Meyer Werft in Papenburg as the Viking Sally, the ship spent her first years on the busy routes between Finland and Sweden, sailing for Viking Line and later as Silja Star and Wasa King. In 1993 she came to the Estonian–Swedish joint venture Estline, was renamed Estonia and placed on the overnight route between Tallinn and Stockholm – for the newly independent Estonia she was a symbol of its new links with the West. On the night of 28 September 1994, in a heavy storm on the Baltic Sea, her bow visor was torn away. Water flooded the open car deck, and within roughly an hour the ferry had capsized and disappeared. Only 137 of the 989 people on board survived; 852 lost their lives, one of the worst peacetime shipping disasters in European history. The exact causes are still debated; new underwater surveys after 2020 led to a fresh investigation of the wreck.
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MS Milwaukee
The MS Milwaukee was a German passenger ship built in 1929 for the Hamburg America Line (HAPAG). She operated mainly on routes across the North Atlantic, connecting Germany with destinations in North America. Designed to carry passengers and cargo, the Milwaukee reflected the development of modern German merchant shipping during the interwar period. The ship provided comfortable accommodation for travellers and supported international trade and passenger transport. During World War II, German merchant vessels faced increasing military demands and dangerous operating conditions. The Milwaukee's career was affected by the changing circumstances of the period. She remains part of the history of HAPAG and Germany's maritime fleet between the two world wars.
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MV Britannic III
The MV Britannic was a British ocean liner built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line. Launched in 1929, she entered service in 1930 and operated on the transatlantic route between Britain and North America. Unlike many earlier liners, she was powered by diesel engines, making her more economical to operate. The Britannic offered comfortable accommodation and modern facilities for passengers in different classes. Following the merger of White Star Line and Cunard in 1934, she continued sailing under the combined company. During World War II, she served as a troopship, transporting military personnel. After the war, she returned to civilian passenger service in 1947. The Britannic completed her final voyage in 1960 and was sold for scrap in 1961, marking the end of a long career at sea.
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MV Goya
MV Goya was a Norwegian cargo ship built in 1940 for the Johan Ludwig Mowinckel Rederi and named after the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. After Germany invaded Norway in 1940, the vessel was seized by the Kriegsmarine and converted into a troop transport. In the final months of World War II, Goya participated in Operation Hannibal, evacuating German soldiers and civilians across the Baltic Sea as Soviet forces advanced. On 16 April 1945, while carrying thousands of refugees and military personnel, she was torpedoed and sunk by the Soviet submarine L-3. The ship sank within minutes, causing a catastrophic loss of life. Only 183 people survived from an estimated 6,700 passengers and crew, making the sinking of Goya one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history.
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MV Wilhelm Gustloff
MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German passenger ship built in 1937 for the Nazi Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) program. At the outbreak of World War II, she was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine and initially served as a hospital ship before being used as a floating barracks. In January 1945, during Operation Hannibal, she was tasked with evacuating German civilians, wounded soldiers, and military personnel from East Prussia and the Baltic region as Soviet forces advanced. On 30 January 1945, the ship was torpedoed in the Baltic Sea by the Soviet submarine S-13 and sank within hours. An estimated 9,343 people lost their lives, making the sinking of Wilhelm Gustloff the deadliest maritime disaster in modern history. The tragedy remains one of the most significant and least-known disasters of World War II.
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NS Savannah
Launched on July 21, 1959, NS Savannah was the world's first nuclear-powered merchant ship. Funded by US agencies under President Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program, the $46.9 million demonstration project aimed to showcase peacetime nuclear energy. Named after the first transatlantic steamship, Savannah received the new prefix "NS" (Nuclear Ship). It operated from 1962 to 1972 as one of only four nuclear-powered cargo ships ever built, following the 1957 Soviet icebreaker Lenin, the first civilian nuclear vessel. Deactivated in 1971, Savannah underwent several moves before being permanently moored at Pier 13 of the Canton Marine Terminal in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2008.
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Rex
The SS Rex was an Italian ocean liner built by Ansaldo in Genoa for the Italian shipping company Navigazione Generale Italiana, later operated by Italia Flotte Riunite. Launched in 1931, she entered service in 1932 and sailed between Italy and North America. The Rex was known for her luxurious interiors, elegant design and impressive size. In 1933, she won the prestigious Blue Riband for the fastest westbound crossing of the Atlantic, making her a symbol of Italian engineering and national pride. During World War II, she was used as a hospital ship for a short time before being laid up. On 8 September 1944, she was attacked by Allied aircraft near the coast of Slovenia and caught fire. After several days, she capsized and sank in shallow water. The loss of the Rex marked the end of one of Italy’s most celebrated ocean liners.
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RMS Adriatic II
RMS Adriatic was a British ocean liner of the White Star Line and the fourth member of the famous “Big Four” class. Entering service in 1907, she was the largest, fastest, and most luxurious of her sister ships, featuring innovations such as an indoor swimming pool and Victorian-style Turkish baths. Initially operating between Southampton and New York, she later served on the Liverpool–New York route, offering comfortable transatlantic travel at moderate fares. During World War I, Adriatic continued civilian service before being requisitioned as a troop transport in 1917. After the war, she underwent several refits and increasingly focused on cruising. Following the merger of the Cunard Line and White Star Line in 1934, Adriatic was considered surplus to requirements, withdrawn from service, and scrapped in 1935.
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RMS Aquitania
RMS Aquitania was a British ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line from 1914 to 1950. The third of Cunard’s famous express liners, alongside Lusitania and Mauretania, she was renowned for her elegant interiors and earned the nickname “The Ship Beautiful.” Shortly after entering service, World War I began, and Aquitania served as an auxiliary cruiser, troop transport, and hospital ship. Returning to passenger service in 1920, she became one of the most popular liners on the Atlantic route. After the Cunard–White Star merger in 1934, she remained in service and again served as a troopship during World War II, transporting thousands of Allied soldiers. Following the war, she carried migrants to Canada before being retired in 1949 and scrapped in 1950. Aquitania was the last surviving four-funnel ocean liner and one of the most celebrated ships of her era.
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RMS Carpathia
Built on the Tyne by Swan & Hunter for the Cunard Line, the Carpathia was a dependable workhorse rather than a record-breaker. After her first crossing from Liverpool to Boston in 1903 she was soon moved to Cunard's Mediterranean service, carrying thousands of emigrants from Hungary and Italy to New York. Her place in history was secured in the night of 14–15 April 1912. Answering the Titanic's distress calls, Captain Arthur Rostron drove his ship at full speed through a field of icebergs and arrived around four in the morning, roughly two hours after the liner had foundered. His crew took more than 700 survivors out of the lifeboats – every person who lived through the disaster. The Carpathia stayed in service during the First World War and was sunk off the Irish coast on 17 July 1918 – torpedoed by the U-boat U-55.
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RMS Empress of Britain
Canadian Pacific wanted a flagship that could win travellers on the route between Britain and Canada – and with the Empress of Britain it got one. Built by John Brown & Company on the Clyde and completed in 1931, she was bigger, quicker and more lavishly fitted out than any ship the Canadian route had seen before, with interiors created by well-known artists of the day. In summer she sailed between Southampton and Quebec; in winter, when the St. Lawrence was frozen, she set off on long luxury cruises around the world. When the Second World War began she was turned into a troopship. On 26 October 1940, off the north-west coast of Ireland, a German bomber set her on fire; two days later, while she was under tow, the submarine U-32 torpedoed and sank her. She was one of the biggest liners lost in the war and the largest ship ever sunk by a U-boat.
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RMS Empress of Ireland
The Empress of Ireland and her sister were built by Fairfield in Glasgow for Canadian Pacific's mail and passenger service between Liverpool and Quebec, which she joined in 1906. Fast and comfortable, she carried many thousands of emigrants to a new life in Canada during her eight years at sea. Shortly before two o'clock on the morning of 29 May 1914, outward bound for Liverpool, she met the Norwegian coal carrier Storstad in dense fog on the St. Lawrence near Rimouski. The collier struck her deep in the starboard side, and the liner heeled over so quickly that only a handful of lifeboats could be lowered – although, after the Titanic, there were enough for everyone. Within about a quarter of an hour she was gone. 1,012 lives were lost out of 1,477 on board – still the worst peacetime shipping disaster in Canadian history. Her wreck lies in about 40 metres of water and is protected as a historic site.
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RMS Lusitania
The RMS Lusitania was a British ocean liner built by John Brown & Company for the Cunard Line. Launched in 1906, she entered service in 1907 and became famous for her speed, luxurious accommodations and advanced engineering. Alongside her sister ship, the Mauretania, she was among the fastest and most prestigious liners crossing the Atlantic between Britain and North America. During World War I, the Lusitania continued carrying passengers and cargo across the Atlantic. On 7 May 1915, she was torpedoed by the German submarine U-20 off the coast of Ireland. She sank in just 18 minutes, killing 1,198 people, including many civilians. The disaster caused international outrage and increased anti-German sentiment, particularly in the United States. The sinking of the Lusitania became one of the most significant maritime tragedies of World War I.
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RMS Mauretania
The RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson for the Cunard Line. Launched in 1906, she entered service in 1907 and quickly became famous for her speed, luxurious interiors and innovative engineering. Powered by steam turbines, she won the prestigious Blue Riband in 1907 for the fastest transatlantic crossing and held the record for 20 years. The Mauretania sailed regularly between Britain and North America, becoming one of the most celebrated liners of her era. During World War I, she served as a troopship and hospital ship. After the war, she returned to passenger service and continued crossing the Atlantic until her retirement in 1934. She was scrapped in 1935, leaving behind a lasting legacy as one of the most influential ocean liners in maritime history.
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RMS Oceanic II
When she joined White Star's fleet in September 1899, Oceanic outranked every other vessel afloat in size and was the first to exceed the length of Brunel's Great Eastern. The Harland & Wolff yard in Belfast designed her for comfort and luxury rather than outright speed, and she soon became one of the most popular ships between Liverpool – later Southampton – and New York. No ship surpassed her until 1901. At the start of the First World War the Royal Navy took her over as the armed merchant cruiser HMS Oceanic and sent her to patrol the waters north of Scotland. Her naval career lasted only a few weeks: on 8 September 1914, after a navigational error, she ran onto a reef near Foula, one of the remote Shetland Islands, and could not be refloated. The wreck was broken up where she lay.
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RMS Olympic
RMS Olympic was a British ocean liner and the first of the White Star Line’s Olympic-class ships. Unlike her sister ships, RMS Titanic and HMHS Britannic, she enjoyed a long career from 1911 to 1935. During World War I she served as the troopship HMT Olympic, earning the nickname “Old Reliable” and sinking the German submarine U-103 by ramming it. After the war she returned to passenger service and operated successfully through the 1920s. Economic decline during the Great Depression reduced profitability, leading to her retirement in 1935 and scrapping by 1939.
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RMS Queen Elizabeth
The RMS Queen Elizabeth was a Cunard Line ocean liner, launched on the River Clyde in Scotland in 1938 and named after the wife of King George VI. At the time, she was the largest passenger ship ever built, a title she held for decades. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, she was secretly commissioned and initially used as a troopship rather than a passenger vessel, carrying Allied soldiers across the Atlantic throughout the war. After extensive refitting, she finally entered commercial transatlantic service in 1946, operating alongside her running mate, the RMS Queen Mary, on the prestigious Southampton–New York route for Cunard. Together, the two ships dominated luxury ocean travel for over two decades. As jet air travel grew popular, demand declined, and she was retired from service in 1968. She was later sold and eventually caught fire and sank in Hong Kong Harbour in 1972 while being converted into a floating university.
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RMS Queen Elizabeth 2
Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) was a British ocean liner and cruise ship operated by the Cunard Line. Launched in 1967 and entering service in 1969, she was designed for both transatlantic crossings and worldwide cruising. QE2 became one of the most famous passenger ships of the 20th century and served as Cunard’s flagship for nearly 40 years. In 1982 she was requisitioned as a troopship during the Falklands War. Between 1986 and 1987 she underwent a major refit, including conversion from steam to diesel power. She continued operating as a cruise and ocean liner until being replaced on the transatlantic route by Queen Mary 2 in 2004. QE2 made her final voyage in 2008 and was retired in Dubai, where she was converted into a floating hotel.
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RMS Queen Mary
RMS Queen Mary was a British ocean liner operated by the Cunard Line from 1936 to 1967. Built as one of Cunard’s famous “Queens,” she quickly gained renown for her speed, luxury, and transatlantic service between Southampton and New York. She won the prestigious Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing and became one of the most celebrated liners of her era. During World War II, Queen Mary was converted into a troopship and transported Allied forces worldwide, including a record voyage carrying more than 16,600 people. After the war, she returned to passenger service alongside Queen Elizabeth, dominating Atlantic travel until the rise of jet airliners. Retired in 1967, she was permanently moored in Long Beach, California, where she remains today as a hotel, museum, and historic landmark.
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RMS Teutonic
Teutonic and her sister Majestic were White Star's answer to the fast Inman liners of the late 1880s. Built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast, she entered service in 1889 and relied entirely on her twin screws instead of sails. Even before her maiden voyage she made history: armed with guns, she took part in the 1889 Spithead naval review as an auxiliary cruiser. Kaiser Wilhelm II toured the ship and was deeply impressed – an experience said to have inspired Germany's own fast liners. In 1891 Teutonic crossed the Atlantic at an average of more than 20 knots and won the Blue Riband – the last time a White Star ship held the record. After a decade as one of the company's flagships she was overtaken by larger ships, served again as an armed merchant cruiser during the First World War and was finally broken up in Emden in 1921, after 32 years of service.
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RMS Titanic
RMS Titanic was a British ocean liner operated by the White Star Line. On her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York, she struck an iceberg late on 14 April 1912 and sank in the early hours of 15 April. Of the 2,208 passengers and crew on board, about 1,500 lost their lives, making it one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history. At the time, Titanic was the largest ship afloat and was celebrated for her luxury, advanced engineering, and safety features, including watertight compartments. However, she carried lifeboats for only about half of those on board. The tragedy led to major reforms in international maritime safety regulations and remains one of the most famous shipwrecks ever, leaving a lasting impact on popular culture.
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Saint Martin
The *San Martín* was an early modern Spanish sailing warship that served as the flagship for Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Duke of Medina-Sidonia, when he led the Spanish Armada against the English fleet of Queen Elizabeth I in 1588.
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Saloon steamer Berlin
Initially used for seaside resort services between Stettin and Swinemünde, the steamer Berlin suffered a steering failure on July 24, 1914, near the Oder's mouth. Traveling at full speed, it rammed and split the oncoming tugboat Ostsee, which was towing the Swedish freighter Porjus. A subsequent collision with the freighter caused the Berlin to sink bow-first into the shallow waters, leaving its upper decks above water. After WWI, the small steamer was repaired and returned to its original route. In 1935, it was acquired by J.F. Braeunlich. Requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in WWII but returned in 1940, it maintained limited local service before assisting in East Prussian refugee evacuations during the war's final weeks. Post-war, the ship was ceded to the USSR, operating in the Black Sea as the Pestel until around 1960.
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SS Andrea Doria
SS Andrea Doria was a luxury Italian transatlantic ocean liner of the Italian Line, entering service in 1953. Named after the 16th-century Genoese admiral Andrea Doria, she was considered Italy’s largest, fastest, and safest passenger ship of her time, with a gross tonnage of 29,100. She became famous after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm in dense fog off Nantucket, Massachusetts, on 25 July 1956. The collision tore a large hole in her starboard side, causing a severe list and flooding. Thanks to the calm actions of the crew and a highly successful rescue operation, 1,660 of the 1,706 passengers and crew survived, while 46 people lost their lives. The Andrea Doria remained afloat for over 11 hours before capsizing and sinking on 26 July 1956, becoming one of the most famous maritime disasters of the postwar era.
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SS Arthur M. Anderson
Built in 1952 at Lorain, Ohio, for U.S. Steel's Great Lakes fleet, the Arthur M. Anderson has spent decades carrying iron ore, coal and stone across the lakes. Lengthened by 120 feet in the mid-1970s and later converted into a self-unloader, she now measures 767 feet. Her name is forever linked with the Edmund Fitzgerald. On 10 November 1975 the two freighters crossed Lake Superior together into a violent storm. The Anderson kept in radio contact with the Fitzgerald, and her crew were the last to speak with the doomed ship – "We are holding our own" – shortly before it vanished from the radar screen. Despite the conditions, the Anderson turned back to search for survivors, but found only wreckage. She is named after Arthur M. Anderson, a leading figure at U.S. Steel and J.P. Morgan & Co. Today she is laid up in Toledo, Ohio.
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SS Bremen
With the Bremen, Norddeutscher Lloyd returned to the top of transatlantic travel barely a decade after the First World War. Built in her home port by the Deschimag shipyard and launched in August 1928, she and her near-sister Europa were designed for speed: a long, low hull with a bulbous bow, powerful steam turbines and two squat funnels gave them a strikingly modern look. On her maiden voyage in July 1929 the Bremen took the Blue Riband from Cunard's Mauretania, which had held it for twenty years – a sensation that set off a race between the great nations to build ever larger and faster liners. She even carried a catapult-launched seaplane that flew the mail ashore ahead of the ship. When war broke out in 1939 she sought refuge in the Soviet port of Murmansk and, that December, slipped back to Germany through the British blockade. In March 1941 she was gutted by a fire, started by a member of her own crew, in Bremerhaven and was later scrapped.
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SS Californian
SS Californian was a British steamship operated by the Leyland Line. She is best known for her controversial role in the Titanic disaster of 1912, as she is believed to have been the nearest ship to Titanic when it struck an iceberg and sank. Although her crew observed distress rockets, no rescue attempt was made at the time. Subsequent American and British investigations concluded that a faster response might have saved many lives and strongly criticized Captain Stanley Lord for his inaction. Lord spent the rest of his life disputing these findings. A later review in 1992 concluded that, while Californian should have responded, it is unlikely that any action could have significantly changed the outcome beyond rescuing survivors already in lifeboats. During World War I, Californian served as a transport ship and was sunk in the Mediterranean in 1915 after attacks by German submarines.
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SS Cap Arcona
SS Cap Arcona was a German ocean liner operated by the Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft (Hamburg Süd). Launched in 1927, she served on the route between Germany and South America and was briefly the largest and fastest ship on that service. During World War II, the vessel was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine and used as an accommodation ship. In 1942, she was employed as a floating set for the German propaganda film Titanic. In early 1945, Cap Arcona helped evacuate thousands of German refugees from East Prussia. Her final role was as a prison ship holding concentration camp prisoners. On 3 May 1945, she was attacked and sunk by Royal Air Force aircraft in the Baltic Sea, causing the deaths of about 5,000 people and making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters of World War II.
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SS City of New York
City of New York was a British-built passenger liner of the Inman Line, entering service in 1888 as one of the most advanced Atlantic liners of her era. Together with her sister ship City of Paris, she was among the first twin-screw express liners and was renowned for her speed and elegant design. In 1892, she captured the eastbound Atlantic speed record, achieving an average speed of 20.11 knots. Following the merger of the Inman Line into the American Line in 1893, the ship was renamed New York and transferred to the U.S. flag. She later served as USS Harvard during the Spanish–American War and as Plattsburg in World War I. The vessel is also remembered for narrowly avoiding a collision with RMS Titanic as the famous liner departed Southampton on her maiden voyage in 1912. She was scrapped in 1923.
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SS Frankfurt
The Frankfurt was a German steamship of the Köln class, built by Joh. C. Tecklenborg for the Norddeutscher Lloyd. Launched on 17 December 1899, she operated on routes between Germany and the United States from 1900 to 1918, carrying many emigrants. In 1919, the vessel was acquired by the White Star Line. Three years later, she was sold to the Oriental Navigation Company in British Hong Kong and renamed Sarvistan. The ship is best known for its involvement in the wireless communications surrounding the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912.
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SS General von Steuben
The ship began life in 1923 as the München, one of the first new liners Norddeutscher Lloyd built after the First World War for its service between Bremen and New York. After a serious fire at her New York pier in 1930 she was rebuilt and renamed General von Steuben, honouring the Prussian officer who had helped train George Washington's army – a gesture towards American travellers. In the 1930s she was used mainly for cruises, from 1938 simply as Steuben. During the Second World War she served as an accommodation ship and, from 1944, carried wounded soldiers and refugees across the Baltic. On 10 February 1945, after leaving Pillau with thousands of people on board, she was hit by two torpedoes from the Soviet submarine S-13 – the same boat that had sunk the Wilhelm Gustloff less than two weeks earlier. She went down in about twenty minutes. Only about 650 people were rescued; the number of dead is estimated at around 4,000 or more.
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SS Great Eastern
SS Great Eastern was a revolutionary British steamship designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel and launched in 1858. Built with an iron hull and powered by both paddle wheels and a screw propeller, she was by far the largest ship ever constructed at the time. Designed to carry up to 4,000 passengers on long-distance voyages without refuelling, Great Eastern was decades ahead of her era in size and engineering. Although her passenger service between Britain and North America was commercially unsuccessful, she later found fame as a cable-laying ship. In 1866, she successfully laid the first durable transatlantic telegraph cable, helping to transform global communications. After her maritime career ended, she served as a floating exhibition and advertising platform in Liverpool before being scrapped in 1889.
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SS Hornby
SS Hornby was a tug tender which was based at Liverpool. She was built by John Cran & Co. at Leith, and launched on 22 January 1908. it became known for its assistance of the RMS Titanic, the ill-fated British ocean liner, following her launch from the Harland and Wolff slips on 31 May 1911. On 2 April 1912, Titanic was completed. Hornby tended to it again, this time during its sea trials. In 1935, Hornby was sold to the Newport Screw Towing Co., and renamed Holman. Then in 1961, it was broken up at Newport, Monmouthshire, UK.
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SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was a German transatlantic ocean liner operated by Norddeutscher Lloyd from 1897 to 1914. As the first major four-funnel liner, she is often regarded as the world’s first “superliner.” For a time, she was the largest ship afloat and won the prestigious Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing, helping Germany challenge British dominance at sea. The ship symbolized a new era of luxury, speed, and prestige in ocean travel. After the introduction of newer sister ships, she was increasingly used to carry emigrants to the United States. At the outbreak of World War I, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was converted into an auxiliary cruiser and raided Allied shipping. In August 1914, she was defeated by the British cruiser HMS Highflyer near West Africa and scuttled by her crew, ending her career after just three weeks of wartime service.
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SS New York
City of New York was a British-built passenger liner of the Inman Line, entering service in 1888 as one of the most advanced Atlantic liners of her era. Together with her sister ship City of Paris, she was among the first twin-screw express liners and was renowned for her speed and elegant design. In 1892, she captured the eastbound Atlantic speed record, achieving an average speed of 20.11 knots. Following the merger of the Inman Line into the American Line in 1893, the ship was renamed New York and transferred to the U.S. flag. She later served as USS Harvard during the Spanish–American War and as Plattsburg in World War I. The vessel is also remembered for narrowly avoiding a collision with RMS Titanic as the famous liner departed Southampton on her maiden voyage in 1912. She was scrapped in 1923.
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SS Nieuw Amsterdam
The SS Nieuw Amsterdam was a Dutch ocean liner built for the Holland America Line, launched in 1937 and entering service in 1938. She was designed as the flagship of the fleet and became renowned for her elegant Art Deco interiors, earning the nickname "Ship of a Thousand Elegances." With the outbreak of the Second World War, she was requisitioned as a troopship, transporting hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers across the globe and covering vast distances during the conflict without ever being seriously damaged, despite several close calls with enemy forces. After the war, she returned to civilian transatlantic service, becoming one of the most beloved and successful liners of her era, known for comfort and reliability. She served for decades, remaining popular into the 1960s and early 1970s, before eventually being retired and scrapped in 1974, closing out an illustrious career spanning nearly forty years.
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SS Nomadic
The little Nomadic is the last surviving ship of the White Star Line. Built by Harland & Wolff in Belfast alongside Olympic and Titanic and launched in April 1911, she worked as a tender at Cherbourg, where the great liners were too large to enter the harbour. On 10 April 1912 the tender ferried first- and second-class passengers out to the Titanic – among them some of the most famous people to sail on the maiden voyage. Like her large fleetmates she came from the design office of Thomas Andrews, which makes her the only one of his ships still afloat. Nomadic served in both world wars, later spent many years as a restaurant ship on the Seine in Paris and was bought back for Belfast in 2006. Much of her original appearance has been brought back, and she is now open to visitors as a museum ship in the city's Titanic Quarter, only a few steps from the slipways where her famous companions were built.
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SS Normandie
SS Normandie was a French ocean liner operated by the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French Line). Entering service in 1935, she was the largest and fastest passenger ship in the world and set a transatlantic speed record of 4.14 days, earning the prestigious Blue Riband. Renowned for her innovative design, luxurious interiors, and powerful turbo-electric propulsion system, Normandie became the flagship of the French Line and completed 139 transatlantic voyages between Le Havre and New York. Her main rival was RMS Queen Mary. During World War II, she was seized by U.S. authorities and renamed USS Lafayette. While being converted into a troopship in 1942, she caught fire and capsized in New York Harbor. Although later salvaged, restoration proved uneconomical, and she was scrapped in 1946.
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SS Prinzessin Victoria Luise
Named in honour of Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, the Kaiser's daughter, the Prinzessin Victoria Luise was the bold idea of HAPAG director Albert Ballin: instead of sending an ocean liner on pleasure trips, he had a ship designed from the outset purely for cruising. She is therefore generally regarded as the first purpose-built cruise ship in the world. Blohm & Voss in Hamburg delivered her in December 1900. With her clipper bow and elegant lines she looked more like a large private yacht than a liner. She carried first-class passengers only, in around 120 cabins, and offered a library, a gymnasium and even a darkroom for amateur photographers. Her cruises took her to the Mediterranean, Norway, the Baltic and the Caribbean. Her career ended after only six years: on 16 December 1906, approaching Kingston, Jamaica, she struck rocks after a navigational error and was declared a total loss.
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SS Storstad
Storstad was a steam cargo ship built in 1910 by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd of Newcastle for A. F. Klaveness & Co of Sandefjord, Norway. The ship was primarily employed as an ore and coal carrier doing tramp trade during her career. In May 1914 she accidentally rammed and sank the ocean liner RMS Empress of Ireland, killing over 1,000 people. During the First World War, Storstad was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-62.
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SS United States
The SS United States was America's answer to the great European liners – and she still holds the speed record for an Atlantic crossing by a passenger liner. Designed by William Francis Gibbs with the support of the U.S. Navy, she was built at Newport News, Virginia, and used aluminium and fireproof materials on a grand scale so that she could be converted into a troopship at short notice. On her maiden voyage in July 1952 she crossed the Atlantic eastbound in three days, ten hours and forty minutes at an average of more than 35 knots, taking the Blue Riband from the Queen Mary. No passenger liner has beaten that record since. For seventeen years she sailed for United States Lines between New York and Europe, until competition from jet aircraft, strikes and rising costs ended her career in 1969. After decades laid up, latterly in Philadelphia, she was towed to Mobile, Alabama, in 2025, where work is under way to turn her into the biggest artificial reef in the world, off the coast of Florida.
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TB Vulcan
The Vulcan was launched on March 4, 1893, at Barclay, Curle & Co. in Glasgow and served the Red Funnel Line as a tugboat and passenger tender in the Port of Southampton. In 1911, she assisted the Olympic following its collision with the cruiser Hawke. She became famous on April 10, 1912: As the Titanic was departing, the wake caused the mooring lines of the New York to snap, sending its stern drifting toward the Titanic. Captain Charles Gale had a line thrown over—the first one snapped, but the second held. The ships came within just about 1.2 meters of colliding, and the Titanic set sail about an hour late. From 1916 to 1918, the Vulcan served in wartime operations.
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Völkerfreundschaft
The passenger ship Stockholm was the world's longest-serving cruise ship.[1] It was built in 1946 at the Götaverken shipyard in Gothenburg, Sweden, as a transatlantic liner. The ship had eleven names over the course of its career, most recently Astoria since 2016. It became famous primarily for its collision with the Andrea Doria in 1956 and in the GDR as the FDGB vacation ship Völkerfreundschaft (1960–1985). The ship had been out of service since 2020. In 2025, it was sold to a shipbreaking yard in Ghent, Belgium; scrapping and recycling were underway there in the spring of 2026.
