RMS Adriatic (1906)

For other ships with the same name, see SS Adriatic.

RMS Adriatic in an old postcard.
History
Name	RMS Adriatic
Owner	White Star Line
Route	Liverpool to New York Southampton to New York
Builder	Harland and Wolff
Yard number	358
Launched	20 September 1906
Completed	25 April 1907
Maiden voyage	8 May 1907
Out of service	1935
Fate	Scrapped in Onomichi, Japan in 1935
General characteristics
Class and type	Big Four
Typ	Ocean liner
Tonnage	24,541 GT
Length	729 ft (222.7 m)
Beam	73 ft (22.3 m)
Propulsion	Two Quadruple Expansion Steam Engines- Twin propellers
Speed	17 knots
Capacity	2,825 total: 425 First Class 500 Second Class 1900 Third Class

RMS Adriatic was an ocean liner of the White Star Line. She was the fourth of a quartet of ships measuring over 20,000 tons, dubbed The Big Four. The ship was the only one of the four which was never the world's largest ship; however, she was the fastest of the Big Four. The Adriatic was the first ocean liner to have an indoor swimming pool and a Turkish bath.

She was built by Harland and Wolff and was launched on 20 September 1906 (the same day as the Cunard Line's Mauretania). She set off on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 8 May 1907 under the command of Captain Edward Smith. She was changed to the Southampton run after her maiden voyage. However, she was the ship that inaugurated White Star's Southampton service and was the first White Star liner to use the newly constructed dock in Southampton, named the White Star Dock (it was renamed in 1922 to the Ocean Dock). She ran this route until 1911 when Olympic took it over with the Adriatic returning to the Liverpool run. The Adriatic was in New York on 15 April 1912, and many of Titanic's rescued passengers traveled back to Britain aboard her, including White Star Line chairman J. Bruce Ismay and Millvina Dean, the disaster's youngest survivor.

During World War I, the Adriatic served as a troopship and survived the war without incident. After the war ended, she returned to passenger service. In 1928, she was converted to a "cabin-class" ship. In 1933, she was withdrawn from the North Atlantic route and was converted into cruising.

Following the successful 1933 "Peace Cruise" in the Baltic by the Calgaric, in 1934 the Adriatic was chartered by the British Boy Scouts and Girl Guides for a similar cruise in the Mediterranean, under the command of Commander C.P. Freeman, R.D.. She sailed from Liverpool on 29 March 1934, and called at Gibraltar, Villefranche, Malta, Algiers and Lisbon.

The Adriatic left Liverpool for the last time on 19 December 1934, her longest voyage ever, to be scrapped at Onomichi, Japan, in 1935.

• 
  Stereo picture of Adriatic on the stocks just before launching 1907.
• 
  The Adriatic from the stern.
• 
  Adriatic's reading and writing room.

References

• Adriatic on thegreatoceanliners.com
• http://www.greatships.net/adriatic2.html
• RMS Adriatic on Lost Liners
• The electric and Turkish baths on the SS Adriatic

External Links

• A video dedicated to RMS Adriatic