As usuall the most famous ships are those that ended her careers in disaster.

I know it's off topic but I will say it anyway...

My favorite portuguese ships:
1 - Principe Perfeito
2 - Infante Dom Henrique
3 - Funchal
4 - Santa Maria
5 - Vera Cruz

Honorable mention: QE1, Andrea Doria?

in Germany:

Also the Rotterdam V and the Statendam III.

Hey rascal, you changed it ! The most
"famous" Ocean Liners would surely be
different from the "greatest" Ocean liners.

The Greatest

Normandie
Q Mary
Wilhelm der Gross
The "big" Three
Mauretania
Ile de France
France
Aquitania
Titanic ( it never lasted long enough to
fall in a category )
Once again, it depends on when you lived.

The most famous

Titanic
The Mary
Lusitania
France/Norway
QE-2

Once again, it depends on where you live.

Kbozman.

The British ships do score very we'll in everyone's lists. Most folks included at least three or four.

I'm so sure that I must be right with my "statement"

Aside from her:

Lusitania
Queen Mary
QE2
Normandie
Andrea Doria
United States
France/Norway

Other ships that have been mentioned here are far less likely to be known. Maybe Cunards other Queens, and maybe Carpathia (again only because of its famous ties with Titanic), but I can't see many of the other popping up. It is interesting that somebody mentioned Brittanic. Is this one of the Titanic trio? Very few people know of this ship, or even her first name as Gigantic. Despite her sad and untimely death, I only found out about her after I did some research after James Cameron's Titanic. Many people don't even know of the Olympic.

For most people who don't love their ships as we do, I think it is very sad that they don't even know any other ships than the resort they sail on, and even then they often just know "it was white and had a big thing on top of it".

Do you not agree that choosing the greatest/most famous Ocean liner is sort
of like choosing a piece of music ?

Imagine having to choose your favorite
song, symphony, chorus, Opera and etc.
it would be really hard wouldn't it ?

Like choosing Ocean Liners, you would have
to put them in certain categories.

All in all, I sure wish that I had a time
machine......... Oh well, looks like I will have to settle for what is left.

A little thought for you...... The car you
are driving could have a motor that is
made from a former Ocean liner !!

Cheers to you.

quote:

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Originally posted by kbozman:
Hi Malcolm, Do you not agree that choosing the greatest/most famous Ocean liner is sort
of like choosing a piece of music ?

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Hi John, you should know that I never agree with anything that folks say, even if they are right!

If you look at my "Location statement", under my name (left) I've changed it for you.

quote:

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A little thought for you...... The car you are driving could have a motor that is made from a former Ocean liner !!

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Ahhhh...that's why my car only does 20 knots!

thats the german selection.

Italian: Rex, Andrea Doria, Michelangelo, Raffaello, Galileo Galilei

British: QE 1,2, Queen Mary, Titanic,
Lusitania, Oriana, Canberra and much others.

French: Normandie, France, Ile de France

Portugues: Infante dom Henrique (now in Barcelona as "Seawind Crown", Funchal

The ships i had my best feelings on cruising
are The Victoria, former Dunottar Castle
and Amerikanis, former Kenya Castle.

Old (1936/1952) but well maintained with athmosphere.
Very stable at sea. Old Union-Castle-Liners...

I sail them in 1983/1996.

Other than sheer size, they offered no innovation.

The Imperator was going to outsize it in 1914, taking away title of the world's largest.

Had Titanic not sank, the three would have gone into historical obscurity.

quote:

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Originally posted by desirod6:
The Titanic and sisters were under-engineered, overdecorated, buckets of bolts.
They were built with bad steel, antedeluvian for ther time: recprocating engines, too small rudder, and ill-conceived water tight bulk head design.

Other than sheer size, they offered no innovation.

The Imperator was going to outsize it in 1914, taking away the world's largest.

Had Titanic not sank, the three would have gone into historical obscurity.

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You are right about the fate of the three had the Titanic survived, but I don't agree on what you have stated earlier. The Olympic class design flaws where only discovered after the sinking. They were built accordingly the standards of the time but so were all the others (in fact Imperator's launch was delayed to allow some changes on some design aspects that were proven to be faulty after the Titanic disaster). On the interiors the Olympic class were the best of their time and helped inspire interiors of posterior ships (Aquitania, Paris,...). Even on the third class there were substancial advances on comodities and general acomodation.

quote:

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Originally posted by desirod6:
The Titanic and sisters were under-engineered, overdecorated, buckets of bolts. They were built with bad steel, antedeluvian for ther time: recprocating engines, too small rudder, and ill-conceived water tight bulk head design.

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Hi desirod6, welcome aboard. It's nice to see a 'just boarded' creating a stir

1)"Overdecorated"? - In my opinion they were some of the finest interiors in maritime history. The interiors were 'palace' like - so tasteful compared with Today's floating Las Vegas's!

2) The 'poor steel' theory has been disproved by Scientists. If 'Explorer of the Seas' hit an iceberg at full speed, I doubt if she would survive any longer than the Titanic. Ocean Liners were more seaworthy, with stronger hulls, than today's Cruise ships.

3) In hindsight the Titanic did of course have design faults. However, lack of life boats was not a design fault, it was a bad management decision. Even when modern ships sink, often-poor design is still to blame!

4) Finally I am of the opinion that mankinds 'arrogance' was the main caused the Titanic tragedy, rather than just poor design!

5)I do agree that only the Titanic's loss has made her so famous. But as for 'obscurity', I think that the sisters would still be remembered by Ocean Liner buffs as creating a milestone.