Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that answer the question.
Query: What was the SS Great Eastern used for?
In 1863 "Great Eastern" made three voyages to New York, with 2,700 passengers being carried out and 970 back to Britain along with a large tonnage of cargo. One of her paddle wheels was damaged on the last outward trip and she completed it using her screw, while on the return journey she ran down and damaged "Jane", a small sailing ship. The company lost nearly £20,000 on the voyages due to a price war between the Cunard and Inman shipping lines, and ended up with debts of more than £142,000, which forced them to lay up "Great Eastern".
The fleet remained in captivity during the negotiations that ultimately produced the Treaty of Versailles. Reuter believed that the British intended to seize the German ships on 21 June 1919, which was the deadline for Germany to have signed the peace treaty. Unaware that the deadline had been extended to the 23rd, Reuter ordered the ships to be sunk at the next opportunity. On the morning of 21 June, the British fleet left Scapa Flow to conduct training maneuvers, and at 11:20 Reuter transmitted the order to his ships. "Seydlitz" slipped beneath the surface at 13:50. On her side and on the bottom in twelve fathoms of water the wreck was frequently mistaken for a small island, and was sold in this condition as scrap to the salvage firm of Cox and Danks, led by Ernest Cox, along with a battleship and twenty-six destroyers. The ship was raised on 2 November 1928, and while still inverted was towed south to be scrapped in Rosyth by 1930. "Seydlitz"s bell is on display at the Laboe Naval Memorial.
P&O first introduced passenger services in 1844, advertising sea tours to destinations such as Gibraltar, Malta and Athens, sailing from Southampton. The forerunner of modern cruise holidays, these voyages were the first of their kind, and have led to P&O Cruises being recognised as the world's oldest cruise line. The company later introduced round trips to destinations such as Alexandria and Constantinople and underwent rapid expansion in the later half of the 19th century, with its ships becoming larger and more luxurious. Notable ships of the era include the SS "Ravenna" built in 1880, which became the first ship to be built with a total steel superstructure, and the SS "Valetta" built in 1889, which was the first ship to use electric lights.
Upon commissioning, the sister ships were assigned to the 1st Battleship Division of the 1st Fleet. "Hyūga" had an explosion in one of her main gun turrets that killed 11 men and injured 25 in 1919; the following year she accidentally collided with and sank a schooner, losing two crewmen. Before the start of the Pacific War, both ships frequently exercised off the coasts of the Soviet Union, Korea and China in addition to training in Japanese waters. "Ise" hosted Edward, Prince of Wales, and his aide-de-camp Lieutenant Louis Mountbatten in 1922 during the prince's visit to Japan. In Korea Bay when the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake struck, they sailed to Kyushu where they loaded supplies from for the victims on 4 September. Together with two other battleships and a pair of light cruisers, "Ise" sank the destroyer in 1926 during gunnery practice. "Ise"s AA armament was upgraded in 1931 and "Hyūga"s two years later. The latter ship was modernized in 1934–36 and "Ise" in 1935–37, both at Kure Naval Arsenal. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the sisters frequently patrolled the Chinese coast in support of the blockade imposed by Japan. In August 1937 "Hyūga" ferried two battalions of Special Naval Landing Forces to Port Arthur. Three years later, she served as the flagship for the Emperor of the puppet state of Manchukuo, Henry Pu-yi, during his state visit to Japan in June 1940. On 15 November the ships were transferred to the 2nd Battleship Division of the 1st Fleet. The sisters were refitted in late 1940 in preparation for war, which included the fitting of external degaussing coils and additional AA directors.
Facilities at Giant's Grave improved, and included jetties to enable ships' ballast to be landed and dumped, rather than being thrown overboard. This latter approach had caused problems at Newport for the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal, where ballast had been thrown into the river, and at Cardiff for the Glamorganshire Canal, where it had been thrown into the canal basin. Efforts were also made to improve the facilities at Neath. From 1818, a Harbour Board was established, and banks of copper slag, marked with buoys, were used to confine the channel. This enabled ships of over 300 tons to reach Neath quays on spring tides, although on neap tides Giant's Grave still had to be used. From 1824, when the connection to the Tennant Canal opened, much of the trade crossed the river and passed down the western bank to the port of Swansea.
The first full-time cruise ship was "Ceylon," a P&O liner converted in 1881. Up to this point ship owners had occasionally used liners for off-season cruising. From 1881 the growth of the cruise industry proceeded slowly until the 1970s when major shipping operators became badly affected by the rise in popularity of longhaul jet air travel. Faced with falling demand for their mail and passengers services they turned their business to holiday cruises – voyages that usually end where they begin, providing short leisure visits to other ports on the way. In the case of Southampton at the time ships affected included Cunard's "QE2" and the P&O vessels SS "Oriana" and SS "Canberra": all originally built as fast liners, they began to offer a growing variety of cruises. Through the 1990s cruising's growing popularity saw huge increases in ship size and numbers as well as terminal capacity, with Southampton becoming one of the busiest cruise ports in the world.
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.
The first modern cruise, which defined the journey not just as transport but as the actual reward, commenced on 22 January 1891, when the SS "Auguste Victoria" (named after the German empress) set sail to cruise the Mediterranean for six weeks. The competitors initially sniggered at Ballin, who organized and supervised the voyage personally, but the project was a huge success. In order to accommodate the growing demand, another three of the SS "Auguste Victoria"'s sister ships operated as cruise liners, and in 1899, the Hamburg-America Line commissioned Blohm & Voss to construct the first purpose-built cruise ship, the "Prinzessin Victoria Luise". It was the very first cruise ship, one exclusively tailored for the needs of well-to-do passengers.
Steamship generally refers to larger steam-powered ships, usually ocean-going, capable of carrying a (ship's) boat. The engine room, to the right, is a concept drawing during the construction of the ship. The term steam wheeler is archaic and rarely used. In England, "steam packet", after its sailing predecessor, was the usual term; even "steam barge" could be used (Steam tonnage in Lloyd's Register exceeded sailing ships tonnage by 1865). The French transatlantic steamer was probably the last of her type to be equipped with sails, although she never used them. Steamships in turn were overtaken by diesel-driven ships in the second half of the 20th century. Most warships used steam propulsion from the 1860s until the late 20th century
The three ships of the class were built in Saint-Nazaire, France at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyards. The first modern "megaships" to be built, they also were the first series of cruise ships to include a multi-story atrium with glass elevators. They also had a single deck devoted entirely to cabins with private balconies instead of oceanview cabins. The first ship, the "Sovereign of the Seas" launched in 1988, was the world's largest passenger ship in service, breaking the record held by the (originally designed as an ocean liner. "Sovereign" held this distinction until 1990 when "Norway" succeeded her after being refurbished with the addition of two more decks. In 1991, Royal Caribbean International launched a slightly modified sister ship, the "Monarch of the Seas". In 1992, the line launched its third and final sister ship, the "Majesty of the Seas". These ships were among the largest modern cruise ships to sail during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
During that time, other major cruise lines also followed suit, building ships that included many of the same features and similar dimensions as the "Sovereign" class. Carnival Cruise Lines launched the "Fantasy" class in 1990, comparable in size to the "Sovereign" class and also featuring a multi-story atrium with glass elevators. Princess Cruises also countered by launching two ships in 1990 and 1991 to compete with the "Sovereign" class, the "Crown Princess" and the "Regal Princess". They also featured an atrium and two decks devoted to cabins with private balconies instead of windowed "oceanview" cabins. Since then, newer and larger ships have exceeded the size of the "Sovereign"-class ships. 'They are less than half the size of the "Freedom"-class ships and about a third the size of "Oasis"-class ships.
When World War I erupted in 1914, "France" was immediately requisitioned by the French Navy for use as an armed merchant cruiser and renamed "France IV". Her time as a cruiser was short-lived as she was too large, burned too much coal to be of good use, and was consequently reconfigured to carry troops. On 18 June 1916, "France" was involved in a collision with the British destroyer in the English Channel. "Eden" sank with the loss of 43 officers and men, including her commander, with "France" rescuing the remaining 33 survivors. Later that year, she was painted white and used as a hospital ship in the Dardanelles, operating in tandem with White Star's new flagship, and Cunard's new . During her time as a hospital ship she was converted to accommodate 2,500 injured troops. When "Britannic" was sunk in late 1916, the need for high-capacity hospital ships was even more dire, and she continued in this role until the United States entered the war in 1917, when she was deployed back to the Atlantic to ferry American troops to the continent with space for some 5,000. In 1918, her military service was cut short by an engine room explosion that killed nine crew members and thus required extensive repairs.
The Orwell Lady (originally New Mary Louise.) is a purpose built river cruiser (built 1979) currently operating 13 miles of the river Orwell and sails from Ipswich, England. The Orwell lady is 57 ft (17.13m) long and 14 ft (4.26m) in the beam, weighs 42 tonnes, and carries 118 passengers plus crew. The Orwell Lady sails from Ipswich dock and sails to the end of the Orwell at the Port of Felixstowe allowing for views of Shotley harbour and the historic town of Harwich. The boat has a fully functioning bar and panoramic views which has helped secure the boat as a popular tourist attraction in Ipswich. In recent years the boat has become one of the most popular river cruises in East Anglia.
SS "Manhattan" was an oil tanker constructed at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts that became the first commercial ship to cross the Northwest Passage in 1969. Having been built as an ordinary tanker in 1962, she was refitted for this voyage with an icebreaker bow in 1968–69. Registered in the United States at the time, she was the largest US merchant vessel as well as the biggest icebreaker in history.
SMS "Gneisenau" was an armored cruiser of the German navy, part of the two-ship . She was named after August von Gneisenau, a Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars. The ship was laid down in 1904 at the AG Weser dockyard in Bremen, launched in June 1906, and completed in March 1908, at a cost of over 19 million goldmarks. She was armed with a main battery of eight guns, had a top speed of , and displaced at full combat load.
For its first use in combat, during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, the Rogers train substituted a new telegraph instrument, the Beardslee Patent Magneto-Electric Field Telegraph Machine, invented by George W. Beardslee of New York. This instrument required no battery, using instead a hand-cranked generator, but it was also based on a dial indicator. The Beardslee telegraph was housed in a wooden chest with handles and weighed about 100 pounds. It had two significant technical deficiencies, however. Its generator could not produce enough electricity to transmit signals more than about 5 to 8 miles. More seriously, there was a tendency for the sending and receiving index pointers to get out of synchronization, hopelessly garbling transmitted messages. Broken machines had to be sent back to New York City for repair. It was these deficiencies that led Myer to his decision to use traditional Morse key technology and attempt to hire trained telegraphers, a decision that led Secretary Stanton to dismiss him as chief signal officer. All of the telegraph train assets of the Signal Corps were turned over to the Military Telegraph Service, but they did not use the Beardslee telegraph due to its unreliability. At their peak of usage in 1863, there were 30 telegraph trains in the field.
SS "Ancon was an American cargo and passenger ship that became the first ship to officially transit the Panama Canal in 1914. The ship was built as Shawmut" for the Boston Steamship Company by the Maryland Steel Company, Sparrows Point, Maryland and put into Pacific service operating out of Puget Sound ports for Japan, China and the Philippine Islands. "Shawmut" and sister ship "Tremont" were two of the largest United States commercial ships in service at the time and the company eventually found them too expensive to operate.
A short film about the Panama Canal featured the "Rushville Victory" crossing was made entitled ""Ocean to Ocean: Panama Canal""; it shows the crossing of the "Rushville Victory" through the Panama canal to demonstrate how the canal worked. The film is now part of a DVD titled ""USN Oil Tankers Supply and Cargo Ships"" by Campbell films, with a running time of 8:10 min. 
In 1948, the SS "Rutland Victory" was sold to the American President Lines of San Francisco and renamed the SS "President Fillmore. In 1962, the boat was sold to Victory Shipping Enterprises Inc. from Wilmington, Delaware and renamed SS "Smith Victory. In 1965, Victory Shipping Enterprises renamed it the SS "US Victory. The vessel was later sold to Transpacific Container Services of Liberia in 1969 and renamed the SS "Oriental Arrow. In 1969, Transpacific Container Services converted it to a 7,511 g.t. container ship and in 1972, it was sold to Universal Enterprise Inc. of Monrovia, Liberia, and renamed the SS "Oriental Ace".
"Shawmut" and "Tremont" were acquired by the United States Government through the agency of the Panama Railroad Company's Panama Railroad Steamship Line, whose assets were entirely owned by the government and critical to construction of the canal, to serve between New York and the Atlantic terminus during canal construction. Both ships were renamed for features of the canal; "Shawmut" for the Pacific side terminus Ancon and "Tremont" as for the Canal's Atlantic port. Though not the first vessel to make a complete transit, "Ancon" made the first official and ceremonial transit with a delegation of some two hundred dignitaries aboard. After the end of World War I the ship saw very brief service from 28 March to 25 July 1919 as a commissioned United States Ship, USS "Ancon" (ID-1467), making two round trip voyages from the New York Port of Embarkation to France returning troops home. "Ancon" was returned to Panama Canal service and was in service with the canal until 1939 when the ship was sold to private parties known as the Permanente Steamship Company and renamed Permanente.
The British ferrying service was well under way when the Lend-Lease Act became law on 11 March 1941. With the North Atlantic sea lanes vulnerable to German U-boat attacks, Major General Henry H. Arnold established the Air Corps Ferrying Command on May 29, 1941, to deliver lend-lease aircraft overseas from the USA. Commanded and organized by Brig. Gen. Robert Olds, the mission of the new command was, first, "to move aircraft by air from factories to such terminals as may be designated by the Chief of the Air Corps," and second, "to maintain such special air ferry services [i.e., air transport services] as may be required to meet specific situations." These were broad powers, and working within them, the Ferrying Command eventually expanded far beyond the limits imagined by those responsible for its creation. The second assignment provided specific authority for the establishment of a military air transport service over the North Atlantic between the USA and the United Kingdom, a project which had been under consideration for some months.
In June 1942, shortly after the Navy's public acknowledgment of the sinking, workers at the Quincy shipyard, where the ship had been built twenty-one years earlier, cabled Navy Secretary Frank Knox and proposed a change in the name of one of the new "Essex"-class fleet carriers currently under construction there to "Lexington" (from "Cabot"). Knox agreed to the proposal and the carrier was renamed as the fifth "Lexington" on 16 June 1942. On 17 February 1943, her successor was formally commissioned as , which served as the flagship of Task Force 58 (TF 58) during the Battle of the Philippine Sea and remained in service until 1991.
The icebreaking capability of the double acting tankers proved to be superior to other ships since the beginning — in shuttle service between Primorsk, Russia, and the Finnish refineries the tankers require no icebreaker assistance and have even acted as an icebreaker for other merchant ships that have utilized the wide channel opened by the Aframax tanker. However, this has not been intentional — when the world's largest 1A Super class ice tanker "Stena Arctica", also owned by Neste Shipping, became stuck in ice outside the port of Primorsk during the winter of 2009–2010, a decision was made to leave the assisting to Russian icebreakers.
"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.
Dudley's watercolor depicts a large piece of cable-laying machinery on the rear deck of the iron sail steamer "SS Great Eastern". The machinery was used to lay (also referred to as "paying out") the first transatlantic undersea cable. Upon its completion in 1866, the cable allowed telegraph messages to be sent across the Atlantic; these took minutes to travel between North America and Europe as opposed to the 10 days it took for contemporary mail carriers to make the crossing.
An early example of breaking-up a structure by use of a wrecking ball, she was scrapped at New Ferry on the River Mersey by Henry Bath & Son Ltd in 1889–1890 – it took 18 months to take her apart. At the time Everton Football Club were looking for a flagpole for their Anfield ground, and consequently purchased her top mast. It still stands there today at the ground - now owned by Liverpool Football Club (formed 1892), at the Kop end. In 2011, the Channel 4 programme "Time Team" found geophysical survey evidence to suggest that residual iron parts from the ship's keel and lower structure still reside in the foreshore.
During 1859, when "Great Eastern" was off Portland conducting trials, an explosion aboard blew off one of the funnels. The funnel was salvaged and subsequently purchased by the water company supplying Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in Dorset, UK, and used as a filtering device. It was later transferred to the Bristol Maritime Museum close to Brunel's SS "Great Britain" then moved to the SS "Great Britain" museum.
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.