White Star and Titanic, What Could have Been

[SsgtC]

So, this is my first timeline. It explores what could have been had Titanic not sunk on her maiden voyage. Due to the sheer number of butterflies created, I will be attempting to limit the timeline to events that specifically affect White Star Line or the people that were onboard Titanic that night. Comments are more than welcome.

10APR1912
At Noon, the RMS Titanic departs Southampton, England on her Maiden Voyage. She arrives at Cherbourg, France at 1900. The White Star tender, SS Nomadic begins ferrying passengers and cargo to and from Titanic. Titanic departs Cherbourg at 2100 for Queenstown, Ireland, her last stop before heading across the Atlantic for New York.

11APR1912
Titanic arrives in Queenstown, Ireland at 1230. She spends the next hour and a half taking on more passengers and cargo before departing at 1400 for New York, United States. Upon leaving Ireland, Titanic receives 6 warnings of ice along her course.

12APR1912
Titanic receives or intercepts 5 warnings of ice ahead. Only 2 of these messages are delivered to Captain Smith and later posted to the bridge as Senior Radio Operator Jack Philips and Junior Radio Operator Harold Bride, both employees of the Marconi Company, begin to send and receive message traffic from Cape Race in Newfoundland. At 2300 that night, the wireless set breaks down. Phillips and Bride work all night attempting to repair the radio.

13APR1912
Phillips and Bride finally repair the wireless set at 0600. They begin working through the backlog of messages that have accumulated in the 7 hours since the radio went down. During the day, 3 additional ice warnings are sent to Titanic.

14APR1912
Titanic begins receiving ice warnings at 0900, as SS Caronia, followed by SS Noordam, send the same ice warning to Titanic. Being Sunday, Captain Smith, Commodore of the White Star Line, orders lifeboat drill be held at 1100. This drill is mainly for the benefit of the crew, showing them their assigned stations in event of an emergency. Though passengers in all classes are also shown where to muster.

Fellow White Star liner RMS Baltic radios Titanic with yet another ice warning at 1342. This message is delivered to Captain Smith who proceeds to show it to J. Bruce Ismay, managing director of the White Star Line. Mr Ismay pockets this message. It is not posted to the bridge for the other officers to see until 1915. Shortly following the Baltic's warning, Titanic intercepts a messages sent by SS Amerika to the US Hydrographic Office warning of ice. This message is never delivered to the bridge.

At 1930, Titanic again intercepts an ice warning message. This time from SS Californian to SS Antillian. Unlike the previous intercept, this message is posted to the bridge.

At 2140, SS Mesaba sends an ice warning directly to Titanic warning of large bergs approximately 15 miles from Titanic's position. Due to being overwhelmed with message traffic to and from Cape Race, this warning is never delivered to the bridge. Roughly and hour and twenty minutes later, SS Californian sends a message to Titanic informing Titanic that they have stopped for the night due to being surrounded by ice. Jack Phillips, busy sending messages to and from Cape Race angrily responds, "Shut up, shut up. You're jamming my signal. I'm busy. I'm working Cape Race." Aboard Californian, wireless operator Cyril Evans waits approximately 20 minutes to inform Titanic of their position before giving up and shutting down his set for the night and retiring to bed.

The time is now 2339. Lookout Fredrick Fleet sounds the warning bell in the crow's nest and picks up the phone to the bridge. He informs Sixth Officer Moody, "Iceberg Right Ahead!" First Officer Murdoch orders all engines stop followed by full astern. He then orders the helm "hard-a-starboard." This has the effect of turning Titanic to port. Realizing how close the ship was to the berg, he orders the watertight doors closed.

2340. Titanic hits the iceberg along her starboard side. Murdoch orders "hard-a-port" to swing Titanic's stern away from the berg. Captain Smith arrives back on the bridge after having previously retired for the night at 2120. Upon arrival on the bridge, he is informed by First Officer Murdoch that Titanic has struck an iceberg. Captain Smith then orders Fourth Officer Boxhall to inspect the ship for damage. Boxhall finds that the Orlop Deck is flooded forward of the number 4 bulkhead.

Boxhall arrives back on the bridge by 2345 and reports the flooding to Captain Smith. At this point, Captain Smith orders the ship's architect, Thomas Andrews, and the Ship's Carpenter to sound the ship. He also orders Chief Officer Henry Wilde and Second Officer Charles Lightoller to attempt to slow the spread of the flooding and ensure that all hatches forward are secured. Fourth Officer Boxhall is ordered to fix Titanic's position.

15APR1912
Thomas Andrews arrives back on the bridge at midnight and informs Captain Smith that Titanic's first 6 compartments have been breached and that Titanic will founder in 1-2 hours. Upon hearing this, Captain Smith responds, "Like hell she will!" Captain Smith proceeds to order Third Officer Pittman and Fourth Officer Boxhall to prepare the lifeboats for lowering under the supervision of First Officer Murdoch. Fifth Officer Harold Lowe is ordered to strip the hatch covers from off the cargo holds and rig lines to attempt to fother the hull and slow the intake of water.

Five minutes after being informed of Thomas Andrews opinion of Titanic's condition, Captain Smith orders Phillips and Bride to being sending distress calls. Thomas Andrews and the Harland and Wolfe guarantee crew are asked to assist with damage control efforts, knowing the ship the best. They are specifically asked to help slow the intake of water and help get additional pumps hooked up to the main bilge pipe to increase Titanic's pumping capacity.

By 0015, Titanic's distress call has been acknowledged by Cape Race, SS Mount Temple and SS La Provence. Boiler room 5, the sixth watertight compartment reports to the bridge that the damage to the hull has been contained and the compartment pumped dry. Thomas Andrews and the
guarantee crew assist in connecting the Boiler Room Ash Ejectors to the main bilge pipe, adding additional pumping capacity to Titanic's bilge and ballast pumps.

By 0025, Fifth Officer Lowe sends the first hatch cover over the side by boiler room 6. Water pressure presses the canvas into the damaged seam, slowing the influx of water into the ship. Second Officer Lightoller reports to the bridge that, while the water in boiler room 6 is still rising, it is not rising as quickly. Captain Smith, following his duty to his passengers, orders "women and children first" into the boats. He specifically orders Murdoch to ensure each boat is filled to capacity before lowering. Harold Bride informs Captain Smith that RMS Carpathia has responded to their distress call with an ETA of four hours. Captain Smith dryly remarks, "we shall have to dress ship for their arrival." This remark quickly
makes its way through the ship, instilling confidence in passengers and crew alike. Unfortunately, some passengers now refuse to board the boats and must be physically forced into them.

Fifteen minutes after the first hatch cover was sent over the side, Fifth Officer Lowe sends the second and third hatch covers, tarred together, over the side by boiler room six. Charles Lightoller informs the bridge that the water is no longer rising in the compartment. Chief Officer Wilde has now assembled members of the crew with materials useful in containing the damage; primarily bedding, mattresses and lumber shoring beams. They are gathered just outside Boiler Room 6.

At 0045, Captain Smith orders Sixth Officer Moody to sound the ship again. Lifeboat 7 is the first boat lowered with 64 souls onboard. Moody reports back to the bridge at 0050 that Titanic is down 15 feet at the bow. The forepeak tank has flooded, though the forepeak itself is still dry. Compartment 2 is flooded up to E Deck. Compartments 3 and 4 are flooded up to F Deck. However the water level in Compartment 5 has dropped by ten feet and is continuing to drop.

The time is now 0055. Sixth Officer Lowe sends the fourth and fifth hatch covers over the side. These hatch covers cover the remainder of boiler room 6 and begin to fother the hull over Hold no. 3. The water in Compartment 6 is now down to the boiler room. The water inflow into compartment 4
has slowed, but is still rising, now beginning to flood F Deck. Lifeboats 5 and 6 are also lowered at this time. Carrying 66 and 62 souls respectively

At 0100, lifeboat 3 is launched with 68 souls on board. Lifeboats 1 and 8 follow at 0110 with 41 and 63 souls onboard.

Boiler room 6 becomes accessible by 0115. Chief Officer Wilde and Second Officer Lightoller lead their men to the damaged sections of hull and begin shoring up the damage. Titanic is now down only 10 feet at the bow. Thomas Andrews informs Captain Smith that as long as the pumps can keep up, Titanic should float.

In the 15 minutes between 0120 and 0135 lifeboats 9 through 16 are launched. They are carrying 64, 61, 60, 72, 65, 67, 62 and 65 souls respectively.

At 0140, Second Office Lightoller reports to the bridge that boiler room 6 has been pumped dry and the damage to the hull will be shored up within 30 minutes. Captain Smith commends the fine work that Wilde, Lightoller and their men have done. Fifth Officer Lowe sends over the lifeboat covers sewn into a larger piece and covered with tar to try and seal the damage to Hold no 3.

By 0145, lifeboats 2 and 4 are launched. They carry 39 and 66 passengers. Sixth officer Moody reports to Captain Smith that the flooding in Compartment 4 has been contained and that the pumps are now keeping up with the inflow. Shortly after this at 0150, Murdoch, Pitman and Boxhall rig the davit falls to collapsible boats A-D and begin filling them. These boats are launched between 0200 and 0215 with Captain Smith ordering First Officer Murdoch to accompany Collapsible D with Titanic's log book, "just in case." The collapsible boats are launched carrying 48, 45, 47 and 46 passengers. All boats have been launched by 0215 with 1,103 souls on board, leaving 1,121 on Titanic. Captain Smith orders all passengers and crew not actively assisting in damage control efforts to move as far aft as possible. This raises Titanic's head by six inches to one foot. Second Officer Lightoller reports to Captain Smith at 0225 that repairs to Compartment 5 are now completed. At 0240, the carpet in the First Class Reading and Writing Room is ripped up, tarred and sent over the side by hold no 3. The water level in compartment 4 begins dropping. The damaged hull section in Compartment 4 becomes accessible by 0330. Chief Officer Wilde and his men begin shoring up the damaged plating. At this time, Carpathia radios Titanic that they are close by. Titanic begins firing rockets at 10 minute intervals to aid Carpathia in locating her.
Captain Rostron of RMS Carpathia radios Titanic that they have them in sight at 0355. Titanic requests Carpathia send over damage control supplies and take off remaining passengers until Titanic is sufficiently repaired to get underway. At 0420, the Carpathia begins launching her boats to ferry
Titanic's passengers to her. All passengers are removed from Titanic by 0500.

At 0515 Second Officer Lightoller and Chief Officer Wilde report to Captain Smith that the damage to Compartment 4 has been shored up and is leaking only 100 GPH. Captain Smith personally commends both Chief Officer Wilde and Second Officer Lightoller and their men for their exceptional work. He
then orders the two officers and their men to get some rest. Captain Smith and Thomas Andrews then meet at 0530 to determine Titanic's maximum safe speed to avoid causing further damage to the hull or dislodging the repairs. Thomas Andrews recommends that Titanic not exceed 10 knots until more
permanent repairs are completed.

By 0600, the steamer Californian arrives on the scene, Captains Rostron and Smith request that Captain Lord take some of Titanic's passengers aboard to relieve space on Carpathia. Meanwhile, in New York, the New York Times, having misinterpreted radio messages, publishes a story claiming that RMS Titanic has sunk on her maiden voyage with the loss of over 1,200 souls. The White Star Line offices in NY quickly issue a denial, stating that Titanic was damaged, but is proceeding under her own power to NY. This is based off a message that Captain Smith sent to NY at 0700 that stated that Titanic had struck a berg, was damaged and will not arrive in NY until the 19th.

At 1000 ship's time, having completed additional damage control, Titanic begins taking passengers back aboard since neither Carpathia nor Californian have enough space aboard for all of Titanic's passengers and their own as well. Captain Smith orders half speed ahead at 1200, resuming Titanic's voyage to NY. Both Carpathia and Californian stay in company with Titanic in case her damage control efforts fail and it becomes necessary to abandon ship once again. Titanic is proceeding with only boiler rooms 1, 2, 3 and 4 operating due to damage to boiler rooms 5 and 6. Once Titanic begins moving, water noticeably begins to enter compartments 4, 5 and 6. Though slow enough that the pumps are able to keep ahead of the
inflow. It is a tense voyage to NY, with the Ship's Carpenter and several crew members keeping a careful eye on the damage and performing continuing repairs as needed.

On April 19, 1912 at 1400, Titanic arrives safely in New York Harbor and ties up to the White Star Pier. All passengers are disembarked by 1700. Naval inspectors board soon after to begin evaluating what is need to repair Titanic. She is moved to a dry dock on April 21st at 0800. Upon draining the dry dock, it is discovered that Titanic has buckled hull plates for nearly 400 feet, with split seams for approximately 300 feet. Repairs begin immediately under the supervision of Thomas Andrews and other Harland and Wolff craftsman. Repairs are estimated to take 3 weeks.

Beginning on April 22nd, the US Senate begins a Court of Inquiry into the near loss of Titanic. The inquiry commends Captain Smith and his crew for their "steadfast devotion to duty and their unwavering efforts to save their ship." Thomas Andrews and Harland and Wolff are also commended for Titanic's design and for the strength of the ship and quality of construction. The Olympic-class liners are held up as an example of the safety of modern liners. With both Titanic and Olympic suffering damage to their hulls, but still being able to proceed under their own power. However, the Marconi Company, and radio operators Bride and Phillips are censured for placing priority on passenger traffic and not reporting all ice warnings to the bridge. The Court of Inquiry recommends several changes to shipping laws. Including a recommendation that all wireless operators be employees of the Shipping Line, not of the radio company. It also recommends that all wireless operators be retrained to prioritize ship's traffic over
passenger traffic. Additionally, the Court of Inquiry recommends that all new passenger liners be built with "sufficient compartmentalization to ensure the vessel can remain afloat with 1/4 of all compartments flooded." The fitting of search lights on the bridge is also highly recommended
to aid in vessel navigation at night. No comments are made regarding the number of lifeboats on board or the fact that Titanic's watertight bulkheads barely exceeded the height of the waterline throughout most of the hull. The US Senate also begins floating a proposal for an "ice patrol" to ensure shipping lanes are clear of ice. Privately, some members of the Court raise concerns about the accepted practice of large liners proceeding at full speed through areas of known ice at night, though these concerns are never entered into the official record.

Simultaneously with the Americans, the British Board of Trade convenes their own Court of Inquiry on May 2nd. As at the US Court of Inquiry, Captain Smith, his officers and his crew are highly commended for their actions. Thomas Andrews and Harland and Wolff are also commended for Titanic's design and construction. Unlike the US CoI, the British Board of Trade does not censure either Phillips or Bride for their role in the Titanic incident. The Court does however recommend that all wireless operators be employees of the shipping line, that priority be given to official message traffic and passenger traffic accepted on a "space available" basis. The Board of Trade likewise recommended that all liners be built with sufficient compartmentalization that they are able to remain afloat with 1/4 of all compartments flooded. Search lights mounted on the bridge are also given a favorable recommendation. Like the American Court of Inquiry, no comments are made about the number of lifeboats that Titanic carried, the height of the watertight bulkheads or the practice of steaming at full speed through areas of known ice.

On May 15th, 1912, RMS Titanic reenters service, departing NY for Southampton at 1200. Titanic's voyage is uneventful, arriving safely in Southampton on May 20th. Despite his promise to his wife and daughter to retire after Titanic's maiden voyage, the White Star Line convinces E.J. Smith to remain in command of Titanic until the 3rd Olympic-class liner, RMS Britannic, joins the fleet in 1914.

 

[SsgtC]

Upon arrival back in Southampton on May 20th, Thomas Andrews, Bruce Ismay and William Pirrie, with input from Captain Smith, begin a slight revision to the then building Britannic. Thomas Andrews and Captain Smith impress upon Ismay and Pirrie the fact that Titanic very nearly foundered due to her design. That if damage control had been slightly less vigorous or taken but 10-15 minutes longer, Titanic would now be on the bottom of the North Atlantic. This information is kept very quiet with few people being informed of the changes resulting from these discussions. Britannic has new, more powerful pumps installed. Increasing pumping capacity from 1700 tons per hour to 2500 tons per hour. Other changes incorporated included adding a watertight double skin along the engine and boiler rooms. Thomas Andrews recommended raising the height of the watertight bulkheads as well as adding a watertight "cap" to each compartment, but was overruled as this would drastically increase the time it would take to build Britannic. It was also determined to refit Olympic and Titanic during the slow season over the next two years with the inner skin. Additionally, Olympic was to be further modified with features that proved popular on Titanic. Namely the First Class Parlour Suites with private promenade decks and Café Parisian.

Over the course of 1912, Olympic and Titanic begin to dominate the Transatlantic trade. Having gained reputations as not only luxurious and comfortable, but as "lucky" ships. The elite of the world eagerly await Britannic joining the fleet as White Star has promised that she will be even more luxurious than her older sisters. Britannic is launched on May 9, 1913. She begins fitting out immediately. Harland and Wolff estimate that she will be completed in late March, 1914. White Star begins planning her maiden voyage for April 8, 1914.

Beginning in November, 1912 Olympic is pulled from service and given her refit. It extends to March, 1913. She reenters service on March 12, 1913. Titanic would follow her older sister in December, 1913. Needing fewer modifications, she reenters service on February 5, 1914.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the US Presidential election of 1912 is in full swing. Teddy Roosevelt secures endorsements from John Jacob Astor and Isador Strauss. Helping him to beat out incumbent President William Taft for the Republican nomination for President. President Taft, despite personally disagreeing with Roosevelt's actions, endorses him for President. Major Archibald Butt, Military Advisor and personal friend to both men plays the role of peacemaker and smoothes things over between them. This prevents a fracturing of the Republican party and improves Roosevelt's image to the public. After a contentious election, Theodore Roosevelt is elected President of the United States in November, narrowly beating out William Jennings Bryan who was nominated for the 4th time by the Democratic Party.

On April 8, 1914 RMS Britannic departs Southampton on her maiden voyage with Captain Smith in command after being relieved of command of Titanic by Captain Bertram Fox Hayes. She is hailed by the press as the last word in luxury at sea. With her maiden voyage, White Star Line finally accomplishes the dream first laid out by J. Bruce Ismay and William J. Pirrie back in 1907 to build the largest most luxurious liners afloat. The trio almost immediately become the preferred way of crossing the Atlantic by the rich and poor alike. Olympic, Titanic, and Britannic easily surpass Cunard's liners in average passenger lists on every crossing, with only Aquitania rivaling them. Upon Britannic's return to Southampton after her maiden voyage, Captain EJ Smith, after 34 years of service with White Star Line, retires to his home in Southampton. He is succeeded in command of Britannic and as Commodore of the White Star Line by Captain Charles Alfred Bartlett.

In August, 1914, World War One erupts in Europe. Initially, the three Olympic-class liners, and White Star's other liners, are booked full of Americans trying to escape Europe and get home. Though, due to the threat of U-boats, the schedule is altered to terminate first at Liverpool, then at Glasgow. The eastbound voyages, however, are practically empty. By late September, bookings have fallen sharply. Mainly due to the increased U-boat threat. Though it should also be noted, that very few Americans are left in Europe. Due to these conditions, White Star decides to lay up the Olympic-class liners for the duration of the war. All three vessels are laid up in Belfast by mid October.

In May, 1915, the three Olympic-class liners along with the Cunard liners Mauritania and Aquitania were requisitioned as troop ships by the British Admiralty. The need for large liners as troop ships arises following the American Declaration of War after the sinking of the Lusitania and the deaths of 128 Americans earlier that month. The ships were soon stripped of their opulent fittings and outfitted to carry over 6,000 troops, the three ships together could transport an entire division from North America to the European Continent in 6 days.

Following American entry into the war, the three Olympic-class liners primarily operated between New York and Cherbourg, France. Though they would occasionally run between Halifax and Cherbourg carrying Canadian troops in concert with the two Cunard liners. It was while transporting Canadian soldiers that HMT 2811 Titanic fired on a suspected U-boat. Though no results were recorded at the time, it was revealed after the war that the U-boat in question was U-66. The shots from Titanic's 4.7" gun hit and damaged her conning tower, forcing her to abandon her planned attack. HMT 2812 Britannic, however, was not so lucky.

On the morning of October 8, 1915, Britannic was struck abreast of Boiler Room 6 by a U-Boat launched torpedo. Luckily for Britannic, Captain Bartlett, being keenly aware of the U-Boat threat was sailing with all watertight doors closed and damage control materials ready to hand. The torpedo knocked out Boiler Room 6 as well as damaging Compartments 3 and 4. Though damaged, Britannic safely made it to port in Halifax. The damage to Britannic was soon patched and she sailed for New York to be repaired. Incidentally, in the same dry dock that held Titanic 3 years earlier after her brush with the iceberg. Unlike Titanic, which was repaired in three weeks, Britannic will be laid up in New York for several months, requiring the installation of new boilers and associated machinery in boiler room 6. Her survival is credited to the changes made after Titanic's damage. As the additional pumps she was fitted with helped keep the flooding at bay. Britannic will not leave dry dock until February, 1916.

Olympic too was to have an eventful wartime career. On October 1st, 1915 Olympic sighted lifeboats which turned out to be from the French vessel Provincia, which had been torpedoed and sunk that very morning. 34 survivors of the sinking were taken on board. Though Captain Haddock would be criticized by the British Admiralty for endangering his ship by stopping in an area with known U-boat activity, the French Government saw the matter somewhat differently, awarding Captain Haddock the Gold Medal of Honour. During Olympic's refit after the war, a large dent with a crack in the center was discovered below the waterline. It was determined that it was caused by a torpedo that failed to detonate. Once again cementing Olympic's status as a lucky ship.

With the Great War ending in March, 1917 with a decisive defeat of the Central Powers the Olympic-class liners were soon engaged in returning American and Canadian troops (and their brides) home. By the end of 1917 the three ships, along with other White Star Vessels, were returned to White Star. All three ships were sent to Harland and Wolff for refits. Not only were their interiors restored and updated, but they were also converted to oil firing boilers. This reduced their engine room crew from 300, to 60. It also has the effect of increasing their top speed to nearly 25 knots. During their wartime service, the Olympic-class liners carried over 1 million men over nearly 600,000 miles. The trio are nicknamed "The Reliables" for their steady service and toughness. It is a name that will stick to the ships for the remainder of their careers.

The most striking changes to the ships, however are all above deck. During their conversion to troop ships, additional lifeboat davits were installed. The ships now could carry up to 72 lifeboats, more than their design originally called for. Though White Star grumbles that the additional davits break up the ships' clean lines, they do not remove them, considering the cost to be prohibitive. Though now equipped to handle 72 boats, the trio in practice only sail with 24. As carrying additional boats inboard will clutter the Boat Deck. The aft Well Deck is also covered to provide Third Class passengers a covered deck space useable in bad weather. All three ships return to service by April, 1918; quickly reestablishing their dominance on the North Atlantic route. This is aided by Cunard's loss of Lusitania in 1915 and the subsequent delay in converting the SS Imperator (reparations for the loss of Lusitania) into the RMS Berengaria.

Cunard is not the only company to be awarded a former German liner. White Star receives the Norddeutsher Lloyd liner SS Columbus (as compensation for the loss of RMS Oceanic), soon rechristened RMS Homeric. She too is sent to Harland and Wolff in 1918 to be refitted and brought up to White Star's standards. Along with the rest of White Star's fleet, she is converted to oil firing boilers from coal. Homeric is placed on White Star's Liverpool to Boston run.

 

[SsgtC]

Between 1918 and 1924, the White Star Line steamers establish dominance on the North Atlantic route. Offering weekly express sailings from Southampton, Liverpool and the Mediterranean to New York, Boston, Quebec and Montreal. Not to be overlooked either is White Star's Australian Service, where again, they are a leader in the trade. Though their Australia ships, while offering the same White Star level of comfort, are smaller and are "mixed use" ships, in that they carry just as much cargo as they do passengers.

Beginning in 1920, White Star received an unexpected boost. The United States passed the 18th Amendment and banned the sale and transportation of Alcohol in the United States. What this meant for the Transatlantic trade was that US Flagged vessels were suddenly much less appealing to passengers. The 1920s saw White Star set records for the number of passengers carried.

The 1920s were full of change for White Star. They were the Crown Jewel in International Mercantile Marine. However, the war years and poor management at IMM had forced many changes. The largest being White Star Line being purchased from IMM by J. Bruce Ismay, Lord William James Pirrie and Sir Cosmo Duff Gordon in 1921. The other major change at White Star again had to do with the United States. In 1924, President Leonard Wood announced a new immigration policy for the United States. Beginning in 1925 and taking place over a period of 10 years, the United States would reduce the number of immigrants it would accept by 50%. This would be accomplished by a 5% reduction each year based on the number of immigrants in 1924.

While this new policy was certainly a shock to White Star, and many other lines who relied on the immigrant trade for the vast majority of their revenues, all of the lines felt that they could still survive. In White Star's case, they decided upon a strategy that, at the time, was considered radical. Between 1922 and 1927 they acquired the Red Star Line, Dominion Line and Leyland Line. All former members of International Mercantile Marine. In acquiring these three lines, they removed their ships from the North Atlantic run and began to redeploy those suitable to service the South America and Australia runs while simultaneously replacing those ships with their own vessels, primarily the "Big Four" taking over Dominion Line's Canadian service. They also used their former competitors ships to explore a new market: short "cruises" to the Caribbean for Americans tired of Prohibition.

Of these, the cruises were deemed to be the least successful. Not because of a lack of passengers. But because the ships were primarily designed for sailing in colder climates. However, White Star made enough profit on these short cruises by smaller vessels to continue operating them. They also shortly discovered that by painting the ships white verses the standard black, the ships tended to stay quite a bit cooler. The three most popular vessels on the service were SS Regina, Doric and Pittsburgh. All being moderately sized ships and configured to carry roughly 1,000 passengers in Tourist and Cabin classes. While successful in the sense that the ships found useful employment and that they weren't losing money, White Star had no further plans to invest in this aspect of their business.

It was during this same period of time that White Star began a modest program of updating their fleet. In 1924 White Star announced that Harland and Wolff would be building a new class of 35,000 ton liners to replace the Big Four. These three ships were to be named RMS Oceanic, RMS Atlantic and RMS Pacific. They would be the first liners built to the new safety standards following the tragic loss of RMS Berengaria in March, 1923 when she collided with the SS Greenland. That disaster which cost the lives of over 2,000 passengers and crew when the Berengaria sank in less than 2 hours (and the Greenland in less than 15 minutes) resulted in sweeping changes to the shipping industry. The primary change being that all ships were now required to carry enough lifeboats for every person onboard with at least two of the lifeboats equipped with wireless radio sets as well to aid rescue ships in locating the boats. However, other changes were mandated as well. The largest being a full double hull the entire length of the ship rising at least one deck above the waterline and requiring all watertight compartments to be truly watertight with the bulkheads rising the full height of the ship to prevent water from spilling over into adjacent compartments.

Fortunately for White Star, and for other lines who's ships had been used as troopships in the Great War, their ships were almost entirely already equipped to handle enough boats for every passenger. They simply had to be loaded on board. This White Star did over the following 6 months, though most passengers on the Olympic-class ships were often overheard complaining that the extra boats were a waste of space, as all three ships had proven their ability to take damage and survive.

In 1927, the first of the Oceanic-class ships entered service. 735' long, 84' beam and turbine powered, they could steam at 26 knots. Designed to carry up to 1,900 passengers each, they immediately proved popular on White Star's Canada service. So popular in fact, that a modified follow up class was ordered to replace the ships in service on the Australia and South America runs. This follow up class was to have more open space on deck and a new forced draught ventilation system below decks. The 8 ships ordered added to the three already in service were, at the time, the largest class of passenger ships ever built. The first ship of the follow up class, the RMS Republic, was ordered in 1929.

 

[SsgtC]

In October, 1929 the Stock Market in New York crashed. The government under President Wood acted surprisingly quickly to reassure people that things were not that bad. However, economic reality soon proved those statements false. In the United States, unemployment soon spiked at 16%, while the prices of commodities such as grain, produce and dairy fell by 45% severely impacting farmers in America's heartland. Rapid, emergency investment by both the government and large businesses managed to keep several key industries afloat, but at levels far below those of mid 1929. Compared to the rest of the world however, the United States was positively idyllic.

In Europe, unemployment reached 30% in some countries (with unemployment in Russia reaching 38% by 1932), with the United Kingdom reaching 21% unemployment in 1931. This unexpectedly resulted in an increase in passengers for White Star and other lines, as more people decided to attempt to immigrate. Mainly to the United States, though Canada and Australia were also popular with Argentina popular with German immigrants. It was during the Great Depression that White Star's business plan of the 1920s bore fruit. By buying out there smaller competitors, they were able to remove their excess capacity from the market, thus keeping their own ships profitable.

Being in the midst of a fleet update, White Star was able to assist the economy of the UK more than usual. By both buying new ships from Harland and Wolff, albeit at a slower rate then previously planned, and retiring their older ships to provide work scrapping them. This work was mainly performed at Inverkeithing, Scotland and Jarrow, England.

By 1933, the Olympic-class ships were beginning to show their age. Though still marginally profitable, White Star began to see a gradual eroding of the number of passengers carried. This was particularly true in Third Class. Beginning that year, White Star began to refit them, dividing Third Class into Third Class and Tourist Third. Tourist Third offered a slightly larger cabin, more "creature comforts" (primarily in bedding and cabin furniture). While still offering good value. This resulted in a slight bump in average passenger lists despite the ships' total capacity being reduced. Tourist Third was soon introduced across the fleet as ships came due for annual refits and overhauls.

In 1929, Cunard announced plans to build a new Superliner to be named RMS Queen Mary. She was to be 1,019' long, have a beam of 118' and weigh over 80,000 tons. Following just 6 years after the loss of the Berengaria and considering the financial straits Cunard was in having lost several ships in the Great War, this order was surprising. Privately, White Star expressed doubts that the ship would ever be built. However, the mere announcement of such a ship cast serious doubt on the viability of White Star's pride and joy, the Olympic-class. While the refits they received in 1933 certainly helped their cause, the ships were still between 19 and 22 years old. President of White Star, J. Bruce Ismay and Harland and Wolff Chairman, William J. Pirrie, in a repeat of their meeting 26 years earlier, began to discuss a new class of ship to replace "The Reliables." The ship they designed would come to be called RMS Majestic. The order for two ships was placed in March, 1934.

The Majestic was to be 1,050' long with a beam of 126' and would weigh some 83,000 tons. In addition, she would have a power plant capable of driving the ship at 30 knots. In keeping with White Star tradition, she would be designed to be the most luxurious liner afloat. In a first for a transatlantic liner, every cabin on board was to have a private bathroom. An unheard of luxury outside of First Class. The two ships would also introduce air conditioning to the majority of their public spaces. In short, they would ensure White Star's continued dominance at sea for the foreseeable future. There were two things, however that they could not foresee.

The first, in hindsight, should have been obvious. In June, 1934, Cunard approached White Star with an offer to merge. The offer initially took White Star by surprise. Even more so since Cunard proposed that they be the dominant partner in the new company. To say that White Star, and the London Stock Exchange, nearly died of laughter would be an understatement. By July, 1934 with the keel of Majestic having been laid, White Star studied the idea behind a merger with Cunard. While White Star was no stranger to mergers and taking over weaker lines, they had never even considered the possibility of taking over their largest competitor, nor the logistics of what would be involved in doing so.

On the surface, the idea seemed laughable. White Star was sound financially. And was the dominant line on the North Atlantic, along with having a commanding presence on the Australia run. Cunard on the other hand, was struggling. The high costs of running the Mauritania had never really been overcome, the loss of Berengaria to a collision at sea had given them a massive black eye, Lusitania's torpedoing in 1915 severely weakened the company financially. Only Aquitania was a true bright spot for Cunard. In light of this, several members of the Board at White Star argued that it would be better to simply let Cunard go under and buy whatever assets they wanted at auction afterwards.

In the end, White Star came up with what some considered to be the ideal solution. They would offer to buy out Cunard. No merger, just a simple buy out where Cunard would operate as a subsidiary of White Star. Cunard's vessels would remain in service with only a few exceptions (the largest being the requirement that Mauritania be laid up within 6 months). Cunard would be allowed a fleet size of 8 ships (down from their current fleet of 14), primarily to serve secondary markets such as Liverpool and London to Philadelphia and Baltimore. Though Aquitania would be allowed to maintain their flagship Southampton to New York service (though she would be scheduled in concert with the Olympic-class ships of White Star). The ship Cunard had ordered in 1929, still only 17% complete in 1934 (mainly due to financial difficulties at Cunard and John Brown & Company, her builders) would be cancelled. The steel plate would instead be reused to build two smaller vessels broadly similar to White Star's Oceanic-class, though with Cunard styling cues and touches.

Though Cunard's initial reaction to this proposal was broadly similar to White Star's reaction to THEIR proposal, namely, laughter, financial reality soon took hold. Despite initial attempts at countering White Star's offer with a second merger proposal where White Star would be the dominant partner and both Queen Mary and Majestic would be completed, White Star quickly made it clear that the only acceptable offer was the one White Star had made. Anything else, and White Star would simply wait for Cunard's inevitable collapse. Cunard's Board of Directors, though bristling at being relegated to a second-class line, accepted White Star's offer on August 1st, 1934. By the end of the month, Cunard ceased to exist as an independent company. On September 1st, 1934 Cunard's ships hoisted the White Star burgee on their main masts along with Cunard's house flag for the first time.

The other major event was the utter collapse of the Russian Empire in February, 1935.

 

[SsgtC]

On February 5th, 1935 right-wing ultra nationalists stormed the Kremlin "in the name of the suffering people of Russia." Led by Alexander Kolchak, revolutionaries, backed by the Army, overthrew the Czar and dissolved the Duma. While initially most governments quietly supported the move, figuring that something had to be done, they soon became uneasy.

Beginning in October, 1935, President Kolchak began quietly forming alliances with pan-Slavic groups who's stated aim was to "remove the stain of German Oppression." Germany, understandably, felt threatened by this and began to rebuild the Heer, Luftwaffe and Kaiserliche Marine under Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt of the Heer, Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim of the Luftwaffe and Grand Admiral Erich Raeder. This provoked an immediate response by the Western Allies as, while Germany was allowed to have a military sufficient for self defense, they were now exceeding what had been previously agreed upon in the Treaty of Versailles.

Kaiser Wilhelm II, having grown a bit more diplomatic since the Great War, immediately offered to join an alliance with both France and Great Britain and offered to share the intelligence that had prompted this rearmament. While the offer of alliance was, politely, declined, the French and British, with the concurrence of the United States, did agree to relax the restrictions on Germany to meet the perceived threat. All three of the major powers also began to rearm, though at a slower pace than Germany. Unknowingly, this was exactly what Russia wanted.

While these international machinations were taking place, White Star continued with their own building program. The first of Cunard's new liners, the RMS Britannia was launched in March, 1936 and began fitting out, followed 6 months after by her sister, RMS Caronia. White Star's own new superliner, RMS Majestic slid down the ways in September, 1936. It was planned that she would enter service in June, 1937 replacing RMS Olympic on the Southampton to New York run. The last of the Oceanic-class ships, RMS Celtic, joined the fleet in 1935 entering service on the Southampton-Cherbourg-Belfast-Sydney Service.

Beginning in October, 1934 RMS Aquitania was pulled from service and given a refit, very similar in nature to that given the Olympic-class ships. Due to her worn condition, this took somewhat longer than was expected, giving Mauritania a brief reprieve from the breakers, as she continued in service until April, 1935 when Aquitania finally emerged from her lengthy refit. Mauritania's last crossing departed from New York on April, 20th, 1935. Upon her arrival back in Southampton, she was given a formal send off by both White Star and Cunard, thanking her for her 28 years of service before finally hauling down the house flag. Two weeks later, workers began to strip her fittings to be auctioned off. On June 10th, 1935, under her own power, she sailed for the breakers in Jarrow, England where her superstructure would be cut away, her boilers and engines removed before being towed to Scotland for final demolition. RMS Mauritania ceased to exist by the end of May, 1937.

On June 8th, 1937, RMS Majestic departed Southampton on her maiden voyage in New York. Her arrival was timed to coincide with Olympic's last departure from New York on June 12th. The grand old lady of White Star passing the torch to a new generation. RMS Olympic arrived in Southampton on June 17th. Her last passengers disembarked, her first Captain, Commodore Sir Edward J Smith, retired, now 87 years old, hauled down the White Star Burgee for the final time. Sadly, Captain Smith would pass away just one month latter. Two days after Captain Smith's passing, Olympic sailed for Belfast to be laid up in reserve in case of problems with Majestic.

Upon Majestic's launch in September, 1936, Harland and Wolff laid down her sister, RMS Laurentic. It was planned that Majestic would be in service before her launch, so if any changes were needed, they would be easily accommodated. Majestic, however proved to be an exceptional sea boat and exceedingly popular with passengers. Some of this popularity had to do with her charming and engaging Captain (and Commodore of White Star) Captain Harold Lowe. Captain Lowe had been appointed Commodore of White Star, and Captain of their flagship, RMS Britannic, the year prior. Replacing Captain Charles Lightoller who had retired. Unfortunately, this also caused a bit of grumbling within White Star's ranks, as the management seemed to have a preference for former officers of Titanic who had been there the night she was nearly lost for the most prestigious commands.

It was during this time of plenty for White Star that dark clouds began to form on the horizon. Following German rearmament, The Republic of Russia, led by President Alexander Kolchak began to more publicly build anti-German sentiment not only among his own country, but among the Slavic people of neighboring countries as well. Most of whom had joined an alliance with Russia to defend against German aggression. The fact that Germany hadn't had a military capable of aggression was conveniently overlooked early on, but the continued strengthening of German forces played into the narrative nicely.

Eastern Europe was fast becoming a powder keg. The only question left, was what would ignite the fuse. The answer was not long in coming.

 

[SsgtC]

On August 8th, 1938 the future RMS Laurentic slid down the ways and into Belfast Lough. The day after her launch, RMS Olympic, after languishing in Belfast for a year as a reserve in case of mechanical problems with either her sisters or Majestic, sailed for Jarrow, England to be broken up. However, fate had a different plan in store for her. Upon her arrival in Jarrow, the Royal Navy inspected her and determined that, for a 27 year old ship, she was actually in quite fine condition. So, on August 19th, 1938, the former White Star flagship was commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Olympic to serve as a training ship and troop transport in event of war.

Concurrent with the launch of Laurentic, Harland and Wolff laid down a new ship, their first ever liner built for Cunard. This new ship was to be 820' long with a beam of 105', have 11 decks and be 58,000 Gross Register Tons. In addition, she was to be powered by diesel engines instead of the traditional steam turbines. It was planned to equip her with quadruple screws giving her a top speed of 29 knots. She was to be christened RMS Mauritania in honor of Cunard's long serving flagship. It was planned that the new ship would be completed and in service by March or April, 1941 replacing the RMS Aquitania, finally granting Cunard's wish to replace their aging flagship.

By 1938, the western allies, the United Kingdom and France in particular, had grown increasingly wary of Russia's actions. Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania were now satellites of Moscow in all but name. Denmark, Norway and Sweden were also increasingly concerned as their two large neighbors, Imperial Germany and the Russian Republic, seemed increasingly likely to go to war, despite Germany's attempts to ease tensions diplomatically. France and the UK entered into treaties with the three countries agreeing to come to their aid if they were attacked. At the same time, they entered into secret negotiations with Germany. These negotiations resulted in the Pan European Defense Pact. Whereby all three nations, plus Italy and Austria, agreed to come to each others aid if they were attacked without provocation. Spain and Portugal, while not being signatories to the treaty, privately reassured Germany and Austria of their support as well. This treaty was kept quiet by all involved, as the political costs of the treaty in each of their home countries was deemed too high to publicly announce an alliance with their former enemy.

In May, 1939 RMS Laurentic was ready for her Maiden Voyage. In a display of showmanship, White Star carefully coordinated their schedules so that Britannic would depart New York to coincide with Majestic's arrival and arrive in Southampton as Laurentic was departing. An even more impressive display was arranged for Titanic. Upon Laurentic's arrival in New York, she was passed in the outbound channel by Titanic and her sister, Majestic. Titanic would make her final crossing in tandem with the larger ship. Majestic was escorting her home. The last of White Star's revolutionary Olympic-class liners was decommissioned on May 11th, 1939. She would join her younger sister in Belfast three days later in reserve until it was certain there would be no issues with the new Laurentic. When no issues developed, Titanic and Britannic were sent to Jarrow in April, 1940. Though their interior fittings were stripped and auctioned off quickly, it would be some time before the two liners would be scrapped as the ship breakers there were somewhat overwhelmed with turn of the century ships being broken up.

It was while Mauritania was fitting out in late 1940 that the fragile peace finally shattered. In the early morning of November 1st, 1940 explosions and gunfire erupted along the frontier between East Prussia and Russia as supposed German backed rebels attacked Russian troops and garrisons in the area. The stated aim was to restore the small slice of Prussia that Germany had lost to Russia in the Great War to German Control. It was only later that it was determined that these rebels were actually being supplied and instructed by Moscow, though the rank and file actually thought their supplies were coming from Berlin.

The initial German reaction was shock. While they privately did desire the return of their lost land, they were most certainly not prepared to go to war over it. Unfortunately, there seemed to be little choice.

By November 5th, the Russian Ambassador to Imperial Germany presented the Kaiser and his government with a list of demands that would have to be met in their entirety to maintain the peace. The irony of this was not lost on Germany, who encouraged Austria to issue just such a list in 1914. The demands were, to put it mildly, outrageous. Nearly all of Eastern Germany, including all of East Prussia and the port of Danzig was to be surrendered to Russia to serve as a border state between the two countries. All German residents of the area were to leave the area within 6 months. Germany was to immediately stand down its military and disband any forces above what the Treaty of Versailles allowed them to retain. Russian observers were to be permanently stationed with German Forces to ensure compliance with treaty commitments. Reparations were to be paid for the loss of life incurred during the "German supported" attack. Additionally, Germany was to cut off funding to all rebel groups in Russia and to furnish the Russian Government with the names of the leaders of all rebel groups. That this last requirement was impossible to meet was all the proof that Germany needed to confirm what they had suspected: the so called rebels were taking their orders from Moscow. A rejection of the demands was not long in coming. The Russian response followed shortly after. In the form of an artillery barrage.

In France, the UK, Italy and Austria the outbreak of war led to fierce internal debates as to whether the Russian attack on Germany was truly "unprovoked." Some argued strongly that the signing of the defense treaty with the Kaiser had just given him the excuse to launch a war of conquest while claiming to be the victim and to do so under the umbrella of the other Great Powers in Europe. Others argued just as strongly that the there was no way the Germans could be so stupid as to think that would work. While the debate in government raged, the military began preparing to deploy. In the case of the Royal Navy, it began looking for shipping suitable for use as troop transports. They already had HMS Olympic, but would need more. The first place they turned was to White Star.

White Star Line operated the largest fleet of liners in the world, with nearly 30 vessels between the White Star and Cunard fleets. Though White Star informed the admiralty that any of their ships could be converted, they were loathe to do so until it was certain they would be needed and would prefer if all other options were examined first. To that end, the Royal Navy made a very surprising discovery. The Titanic and Britannic had not yet been broken up. The breakers yard in Jarrow had been so overwhelmed with work that they had not gotten around to actually dismantling the ships. Upon inspection, it was found that, while overall the ships were sound, they would both require an extensive refit before they could be used, a result of their being laid up for just over a year. The Navy immediately agreed to purchase the two ships and had them towed to the Royal Dockyard, Plymouth to be refitted as troopships.

On November 20th, the Western Allies decided that yes, the attack on Germany had been unprovoked and agreed to honor their treaty commitments. Accordingly, The UK, France, Italy and Austria declared war on Russia. White Star was soon informed that, yes, their ships would be needed as troopships. Accordingly, White Star pulled the Majestic, Laurentic, Aquitania, Britannia, Caronia, and the first three Oceanic-class ships from service and sent them to Harland and Wolff to be converted and their fittings placed into storage. Additionally, White Star ordered work on Mauritania to be placed on hold pending future developments. All told, White Star, when including the three Olympic-class ships, provided the Royal Navy the ability to transport 80,000 men at a time. The British Empire would need every inch of that space.

 

[SsgtC]

On November 8th, 1940 the Russian Army launched an attack through Prussia aimed at Berlin, hoping to win the war before Germany could respond. The Russian Army, led by Field Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky, rolled across the border early that morning. Meeting only light resistance, the Army penetrated over 40 kilometers into Germany. This is when Generaloberst Erich von Manstein sprung his first surprise on the invading Russians. They hit what appeared to be a solid wall of anti-tank traps, anti-tank guns, well dug in infantry and a large force of Panzerkampfwagen IIs in prepared positions. Marshal Tukhachevsky now visibly relaxed, finally meeting the resistance he was expecting. What he was not expecting were the two armored corps, each composed
of two Panzer Divisions and one Panzer-Grenadier division, led by General der Kavallerie Heinz Guderian and Generalleutnant Erwin Rommel smashing through his flanks and encircling his army, cutting him off from vital supplies, reinforcements and lines of retreat.

Never one to give up easily however, Marshal Tukhachevsky ordered General roda voysk Kliment Voroshilov, his most able commander to take half of their armored forces, 1/4 of their infantry and 1/4 of their artillery and crush the German Counterattack. This was easier said then done. Unlike the forces to their front which were mainly equipped with Panzer IIs and 7.5cm Leichtgeshutz 40s supporting the very well dug in infantry armed with MG34s and Karabiner 98ks, the two Panzer Korp were equipped with the brand new Panzerkampfwagen III and the still in development Panzerkampfwagen IV (a small batch having been rushed into production a few months previously, enough to equip one battalion in each Panzerdivision). Generals Guderian and Rommel used their armor to maximum effect, crushing the Russian forces arrayed before them. Shortly before noon, two days after the German Counterattack, the two Panzerkorps met and closed the pocket, trapping Marshal Tukhachevsky's forces within.

The Marshal, realizing his situation was hopeless, ordered his forces to break off their attack, reorient themselves to the East, and attempt to break out and return to friendly lines. That he was even partially successful in this is a testament to his skill as a combat commander. Out of the more than 350,000 men who had attacked into Germany, only 75,000 returned to Russian lines. The rest were either killed, wounded or captured. The most notable loss was General Voroshilov who was killed when his headquarters was overrun by one of Rommel's brigades. Generals von Manstein, Guderian and Rommel were all awarded the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross and advanced one rank for their spectacular performance in the battle. The war, however was far from over.

Starting on November 25th, allied forces began moving east from France via train. Among the troops and equipment loaded was the Char B1 bis, France's premier heavy tank. Italian and Austrian Forces also began moving east, with Austrian Army units reaching the German-Russian Frontier by December 5th. Across the channel on December 2nd, the Royal Navy left port to provide gunfire support for the German and Allied Forces in East Prussia and to attempt to interdict Russian Shipping. This resulted in a sight many thought they would never see. The Royal Navy was joined by the 4 battleships of the Helgoland-class. While the Helgolands were admittedly obsolete, they were what Germany had to hand. In a shore bombardment role, they were more than adequate. The 4 ships of the Bismarck-class were still fitting out and would not be ready for action for some months.

Sailing just after the Royal Navy battle fleet, a much different fleet departed. Made up of Olympic, Aquitania, Oceanic, Laurentic and a screen of destroyers, the ships of this fleet carried the first significant British forces to join the war. The two divisions the ships carried were to be landed at Danzig. White Star and the Royal Navy had strenuously objected to this plan (as had Admiral Karl Donitz and Generaloberst Herman Goring, the Naval and Luftwaffe commanders for the area) as being far too dangerous and close to the Russian Naval bases at St Petersburg and Helsinki and Air Bases in the area as well. However, Winston Churchill, recently elected Prime Minister, pushed for the troops to be landed there as they would provide an ability to strike south and envelop the Russian forces or go east and take St Petersburg. That it would take months to build up a force strong enough for either of those lofty goals was seemingly lost on Churchill.

In Belfast, the work on the other White Star Ships requisitioned for the war effort was proceeding as the ships arrived there. The Majestic completed her conversion on December 8th. Caronia was completed by December 12th, Britannia by the 19th, Pacific by the 23rd and Atlantic on the 24th. At Portsmouth, Titanic and Britannic were being refitted as well. Though due to needed repairs to their engineering plants, they would not be ready for service until early January. Majestic was used primarily to sail to Canada and embark Canadian troops. She would then sail for Hamburg, disembark troops, load wounded and sail for Southampton. The other White Star and Cunard liners were used at first to transport British soldiers to the continent and then to bring Commonwealth soldiers into the theater. More ships would soon be needed.

The mission to bring troops to Danzig had been a disaster. The Olympic had been hit with one 250 pound bomb on her forecastle, blowing the anchoring gear to pieces and causing nearly 500 causalities. The ship had also been strafed, resulting in damage to her bridge, funnels and boat deck while causing another 100 casualties. Oceanic was rocked by two near misses of what were believed to be 500 pound bombs, springing seams and causing the ship to take on water. She also had developed a 5 degree list to starboard. Fortunately, casualties among her men were relatively light, only 40 men killed and 200 wounded out of nearly 6,000 on board. Aquitania escaped the easiest. She had only been strafed, causing some 300 casualties due to having an unusually high number of men on deck. Laurentic, however did not get off so lightly. She was hit by two 250 pound semi-armor piercing bombs, one 500 pound bomb (type unknown) and was rocked by no less than 3 near misses by 500 pound bombs. Of the over 15,000 men onboard, over 1,500 are known to have been killed in the attack, with another 500 wounded. Laurentic was down 9' by the stern, had two shafts disabled and was only capable of making 12 knots after the attack. The attack is all the more remarkable since the Luftwaffe had assigned 3 squadrons of BF109s to provide air cover.

That the Russians were able to punch through such heavy fighter cover was astonishing. Of the nearly 150 planes the Russians launched that morning, less than 30 made it back to base. It would not be the last time the Russians would fight with such utter disregard for their own safety. It was, however, the last time anyone tried to send troops to Danzig by sea. After the disaster that was Danzig, the four damaged liners were sent back to Britain. Aquitania was repaired in just a few days. Olympic was patched up and her ground tackle repaired sufficiently to be used in less than 2 weeks. Oceanic was out of service for a month while damaged hull platting and equipment was replaced. Laurentic, however, was far more serious. Her builders estimated that it would take 6 months to a year to repair her damage. And they strongly cautioned that she would likely never be the same again. White Star was livid that their newest and largest ship had been so severely damaged by Churchill's Folly, as the debacle was quickly becoming known. Unfortunately for them, they were still the largest shipping company in the United Kingdom. Additional ships were soon requisitioned. The most prominent of these being the brand new Mauritania. She was requisitioned as a Hospital ship.

 

[SsgtC]

Harland and Wolff's worst case estimate for the repairs to Laurentic were confirmed. It is November, 1941 before she is fully repaired. In the year since Chuchill's Folly, all but 8 of White Star's vessels have been requisitioned either as troopships, hospital ships or Armed Merchant Cruisers.The SS Doric, serving as an AMC in the Mediteranian fought an engagment with a Russian destroyer that stumbled upon her in a fog bank in March, 1941. While the Doric gave good acount of herself, using her 6" guns to maximum effect to eventually disable the Russian Ship, she was herself badly damaged in the engagment. It was this action that finally convinced the Admiralty (and Churchill) to withdraw the AMC's from service as obsolete and convert them to troopships or hospital ships.

Despite the initial German Success in repelling the Russian attack in November, it soon became apparent that this would be a long war. Accordingly, the British Empire began calling in forces from Australia, New Zealand and India. The bulk of these forces were transported in White Star vessels. It was while serving as a troopship that the former RMS Titanic wrote her name into the history books.

After being repulsed, Marshal Tukhachevsky began to reform and reequip his forces. He also placed an ambitious, talented officer in command of the striking force, Georgy Zhukov. The new plan was to conquer and occupy areas of Germany that were historically Slavic, then offer a negotiated truce, hopefully to be brokered by America. That this truce would be only temporary was to be kept quiet. This striking force was to drive south and west from St Petersburg and capture East and West Prussia and the port of Danzig. Another force would drive north from their puppet state of Hungary along the Oder River while a third would march west and north from Warsaw with the goal of taking Stettin. The overall goal was to attempt to cut the allies off, trapping them in pocket with their only means of escape being the sea.

While the Allies were able to contain the two southern thrusts after much fighting and the loss of significant amounts of territory, the northern attack led by General roda voysk Zhukov was stunningly successful. Launching the attack on June 22nd, 1941 the Northern Force under Zhukov had driven to the outskirts of Danzig by August 30th. This attack completely unhinged the Allied front, endangering the flank of the southern Armies that had contained the two other attacks. It was decided to pull back and establish a new line on the Oder River. However, escape for the men trapped at Danzig would not be so easy.

After having delivered her latest batch of reinforcements to Hamburg, HMS Titanic was preparing to take on wounded. While not a Hospital Ship, she could accommodate a fair number. It was then that her captain, Lieutenant Mark Arnold-Forster, heard about the dire straits of the men in Danzig. Despite the risk and what had happened less than a year before, he determined to disobey his orders and evacuate as many men as possible. Slipping out just before dusk, he pushed Titanic to the limit, the old ship making nearly 25 knots with every boiler on line and the safeties disabled. Arriving in Danzig the next night, he immediately began to load as many as possible on board. Priority being given to the wounded, women and children. Due to the threat of air attack, loading was done in a record time. Titanic left Danzig with over 8,000 on board. Running straight to Kiel, she docked and began unloading her precious cargo. Captain Arnold-Forster and Titanic would make this run until Danzig fell on October 19th. Titanic evacuated over 95,000 people from Danzig sailing what the crew came to call the Baltic Express. For his actions, Lieutenant Arnold-Forster was awarded both the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross by the Kaiser and the Victoria Cross from King George VI. He was also summarily transferred from Titanic and placed in command of a shore establishment for disobeying a direct order from his Admiral. He would be promoted and returned to the sea 6 months later.

Following the consolidation of the new line on the Oder, plans were drawn up to launch a massive counter offensive and drive the Russians back to
Moscow. More and more troops would be needed. White Star would be called on yet again to provide the transport.

 

[SsgtC]

Following an agreement with the United States to assume responsibility for the defense of Britain's, France's and the Netherland's Asian colonies, the vessels of White Star were called upon to begin transporting US Forces from the United States to Singapore, Hong Kong, French Indochina, New Zealand, Australia and the Dutch East Indies. Upon the arrival of these forces, White Star's ships then loaded the British, French, Australian, New Zealand and Dutch forces and brought them to Europe.

American forces upon arrival in Singapore were appalled at the State of the defenses. General Dwight D Eisenhower, the Commanding Officer of the United States Army Far East, immediately set about strengthening the defenses. The report he sent to the War Department was scathing of Field Marshal Harold Alexander and was a key factor is his being denied a major field command and relegated to a staff position in London for the remainder of the war when the letter was "accidentally" given to the British Military attaché.

Following the launch of the Spring Offensive in which 10 Army Groups hurled themselves into the Russian lines, White Star Vessels were primarily engaged in evacuation of wounded with most of the vessels serving as temporary Hospital Ships. While successful, the Spring Offensive was extremely costly. The Allies total casualties amounted to nearly 600,000. The biggest loss for the British was General Bernard Montgomery, who was killed in an air attack on his headquarters.

In the South, another 5 Army Groups attacked along the Danube River and pushed east to Odessa and then north up the Dnieper River to link up with the Central Attack. A further 4 Armies moved south to secure the coast of the Adriatic Sea and the flanks of the Southern Strike Force. Upon reaching Kiev, a peace proposal was sent to Moscow. All Russian forces would be kept east of the Dnieper River and north of the Dvina River. The lands west and south of those rivers were to be broken off from Russia and made into border states of Poland and the Ukraine. The offer was initially refused. However, the subsequent Russian counterattack was soon crushed by Generalfeldmarschall Walter Model. It was after this that the Government of Alexander Kolchak grudgingly agreed to the treaty terms. The War of the Eighth Coalition came to an end on February 15th, 1943.

After the War, White Star began transporting forces home. In a repeat of the end of the Great War, many of the soldiers were going home with a new bride. By June, 1945 White Star's ships had been released from War Service. The Doric, Regina and Pittsburgh were all retired from service as being completely worn out and sold to Japan for scrap. The long serving Aquitania was also sent to the breakers as she was suffering from extensive structural defects. The new liner Mauritania was finally introduced to service and Majestic and Laurentic resumed their weekly express sailings from Southampton to New York. The Caronia and Britannia soon began sailing from Liverpool and London to Boston and Philadelphia. The Oceanic-class ships also resumed their prewar careers.

Of the Olympic-class ships, Olympic, now 34 years old, was decommissioned and scrapped beginning in 1946. Britannic was kept in reserve with the Royal Navy until 1950 when she too was sent to the breakers. Titanic, however, presented a conundrum. Due to her fame in running the "Baltic Express," there was a strong push to preserve her as a museum ship. However, negotiations broke down over several key points. The first being that, prior to her acquisition by the RN, all her interior fittings had been removed and sold. Therefore, it was impossible to restore her to her prewar condition as one of the most luxurious liners afloat. As a troop ship, she had been kept bare to reduce the risk of fire onboard and to fit as many as possible on board. The second major issue was where to dock her if she were to be preserved. She was far to large to dock at London. The next logical port was Southampton, where she spent the majority of her career sailing out of. But without restoring her to her former glory, this too was ruled out. The third option was Portsmouth, home of the Royal Navy. But the Navy refused the dock space needed. The final option was Danzig, who's people pushed strongly for the ship that saved them to be displayed there. But the idea of transferring the great ship to a foreign power was anathema to the people of Great Britain. In the end, Titanic languished, tied up in Portsmouth until 1952. Slowly deteriorating till the decision was made to tow the Grand Old Lady to Japan and scrap her.

On April 10th, 1952, 40 years to the day from when she departed on her maiden voyage, Titanic departed England for the final time. Temporary piping had been connected to the great ship's whistle and Titanic blew one last, forlorn blast as she was pulled away from the dock. Titanic, however, refused to go quietly into the night. 30 days into her tow, a storm came up and snapped the ship's tow lines. Despite all efforts being made to resecure the tow, Titanic eventually foundered on May 11th, 1952 going down by the stern in 3,000 feet of water. All those who heard of it agreed that this was a far more fitting end to the Grand Ship than the breaker's torch. That she should rest in peace in her one true home, the sea.

 

[SsgtC]

Beginning in 1955, White Star began to reevaluate their fleet. With the SS United States entering service in 1952, RMS Majestic lost the Blue Ribband to the new American Liner. With her top speed of nearly 40 knots, the management at White Star decided not to challenge her for the coveted trophy, but to beat her in comfort, size and luxury. However, there were other trends beginning to emerge as well.

Both in the United States and in Europe, passenger trains were becoming faster and more economical as railroads converted from steam to diesel engines. Speeds in excess of 120 MPH, once rare, were now becoming commonplace, with several nations contemplating the construction of dedicated passenger lines to allow even higher speeds. While these newer, faster, trains posed no real threat to White Star, they did present an issue of where their ships should embark and debark passengers. Eventually, it was decided to maintain their current port of call of Southampton for their flagship service, but to shift several continental ports to be better served by rail lines. In conjunction with that, White Star entered into agreements with several railroads to combine their tickets together, to ease transportation of passengers and attract more passengers than either could on their own.

This was repeated in the United States and Canada as well. In the case of their American ports, it was decided to suspend service to Philadelphia as it could be easily served by train from both New York and Baltimore. Boston would continue to be served, as would Quebec. Though the service to Montreal would be canceled as passengers who disembarked at Quebec and took the train would beat the ship to Montreal.

The true threat to White Star came from air travel. Since the early 1930s, air travel, in the United States in particular, had gained more and more traction. The current crop of commercial aircraft were capable of flying nearly across the Atlantic. With some aircraft, such as Boeing's new plane, the Model 377*, actually being able to fly nonstop across the Atlantic. However, even a tourist class ticket cost $290 whereas a Tourist Class ticket on Majestic, Laurentic or Mauritania cost only $124. But it was nevertheless a worrying development for White Star. Should aircraft ever become more economical, they could be in real trouble. Fortunately, their service to Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Caracas, Cape Town, Sydney and Wellington were all well outside the range of any current or planned aircraft.

To combat the encroachment by the airlines, White Star decided on an aggressive marketing scheme. They would advertise their low fares everywhere they could. They would especially drive home that a person could buy a round trip ticket with them for less than the cost of a one way ticket to fly. They also decided to emphasize that the time spent on the ship was part of the vacation as well, not just transport.

This last idea, however, presented some issues. Their ships had been designed to move people from Point A to Point B as quickly and economically as possible. Onboard entertainment was limited, even in First Class. This resulted in many late nights for the designers at White Star and Harland and Wolff. Many ideas were floated. Everything from refitting White Star's current fleet to entirely new ships. In the end, White Star decided on a mix of both. Their Oceanic-class ships were now between 20 and 28 years old and in need of replacement. These ships would not be refitted, but replaced as soon as possible. In that regard, White Star placed an order for 10 new ships. Each was to be 742' long, 88' wide, be 37,000 GRT and capable of sailing at 32 knots. In addition, the ships were to be powered by a diesel-electric drive instead of steam turbines. The first ship was to be laid down immediately with 3 built each year following. The first of the new ships was to be named RMS Britannic.

A second class of ships was also ordered to replace White Star's smaller vessels. These ships were to be 560' long, 76' wide, be 20,000 GRT and able to sail also at 32 knots. Like the larger Britannic-class, they too were to be powered with a diesel-electric drive. The new class was to be named after the lead ship, named RMS Baltic. In total, White Star would order 10 of these liners as well.

Cunard's ships were the easiest to handle. Out of Cunard's fleet of eight ships, only Mauritania was to be retained. The other seven ships were to be scrapped. In conjunction with that, Mauritania was to be placed into White Star's fleet and the Cunard name retired. However, Cunard would not disappear completely. White Star would eventually come to name some of the restaurants on their ships after famous Cunard steamers, such as the Aquitania Grill and (following Mauritania's retirement) the Mauritania Lounge.

That left what to do with the Majestic-class ships. Majestic had been in service for 18 years and Laurentic for 16. Ideally, White Star hoped to get another 5-10 years out of each of them. Laurentic however, had never really recovered from her wartime service. At speed, she vibrated badly and during her refit post war, it was found that 500 tons of ballast had to be loaded onboard to correct a permanent starboard list. With this in mind, White Star began to design two new replacements for their aging superliners. In the meantime however, White Star brought both ships in and began to refit them. 3rd Class was eliminated on the ships as the immigrant trade to the United States had changed significantly. Though still accepting immigrants, the requirements had changed so that only those who possessed a unique or critical skill were allowed to immigrate. The days of mass immigration were over. Along with the elimination of Third Class, Tourist Class and Second Class were combined into Tourist Class. New public rooms were added. The Aquitania Grill was established and was accessible to all passengers for an additional fee. A theater was also added to watch movies, bands and other live shows.

It would be 1957 before the design was ready. The new ships were to be roughly the same dimensions as the Majestic class, 1,051' long, 136' beam, 86,000 GRT. Unlike the Majestic class, the new ships would have a highly raked prow, more pronounced flare, increased sheer and camber a stern reminiscent of Normandie's. The new ships would be equipped, like the rest of White Star's fleet, with diesel-electric drive giving them a top speed of 35.5 knots. The ship's also had a slightly reduced draft compared to the Majestics, giving them access to more ports should the need ever arise. The new ships were to be named the Titanic-class. With the new RMS Titanic to be laid down in November 1957 and planned to join the fleet in 1961 with her sister Olympic to follow in 1963.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

*A/N This timeline's Boeing 377 is equipped with turboprop engines having been reengined in the late 1940s. Jets are in use in Military aircraft but are still being developed for civilian use.

 

[SsgtC]

On April 9th, 1957 the future RMS Britannic slid down the ways at Harland and Wolff and was moved to the fitting out basin. It was estimated that she would be completed by mid February, 1958. In many ways, the Britannic-class ships would be revolutionary. Though the previous Majestic-class had included air-conditioning in her public spaces, the Britannic-class introduced air-conditioning to every cabin on board. They would also continue the trend of easing class restrictions onboard by making more areas of the ship open to all passengers. In addition to the Aquitania Grill, theater and library, the swimming pool and gymnasium were opened to all passengers. The onboard spa, which was complimentary for First Class passengers, was also now accessible, for an additional fee, to Tourist Class passengers. Likewise, the separate First and Tourist Class barber shops were combined into one. The respective Smoking, Reading & Writing Rooms, Lounges and Dining Salons remained separate however.

Immediately following the launch of Britannic, the building slip was prepared for Titanic. Though only a single foot longer than the Majestic, she was to be some ten feet broader. Titanic's keel was ceremonially laid on April 14th, 1957. Harland and Wolff estimated that she would be launched in early 1960. Like the preceding Britannic-class, the Titanic-class ships would feature air-conditioning in every cabin, expanded public rooms and entertainment options and would further the trend of easing class restrictions.

On February 13th, 1958 RMS Britannic departed Belfast for the first time on her sea trials. During her trials, it was discovered that, while she was very stable and comfortable, she was not able to attain her designed speed of 32 knots. She in fact was only able to reach 30.1 knots. This caused a halt in construction, not only of Britannic's sisters, but of Titanic as well. The delay was used to determine why the ship was some two knots slower than designed. Eventually, it was determined that the ship had a combination of issues. The first being that her propellers were of an older, inefficient design and were optimized for use with geared steam turbines, not the diesel-electric drive of Britannic. The second issue was found in the connections between the alternators on the engines and the main switchboard. There was a drop in power 3 times higher than was expected. This fault was traced back to the cabling used. A heavier gauge was required to reduce the drop in power. The cable runs were also to be straightened and shortened as much as possible to further reduce the drop. She also vibrated badly at speed, though this was attributed to her propellers.

Upon examining their options, White Star elected to have the ship returned to dry dock to get her propellers replaced with more efficient ones to both increase her speed and reduce the vibrations. Likewise, new cabling was installed to ensure the main switchboard was properly supplied with power. It was also decided to replace the cabling from the switchboard to the electric motors as well. In all, the modifications would take some 4 months to complete as new propellers had to be designed and manufactured. Some thought was given to running Britannic with her current equipment, but it was decided that since she would be operating her maiden voyage, it would give the public a bad first impression of the new ship. White Star keenly remembered when Imperator first entered service for HAPAG, earning the nickname "Limperator" due to her excessive heeling and instability. The fact that this was soon put to rights made no difference and the ship was known as Limperator till the day she slipped below the waves in the North Atlantic. White Star wanted no such nicknames for their new ship.

Though the delay to Britannic's maiden voyage was unfortunate, it did allow for Harland and Wolff to discover issues that otherwise would have plagued the rest of the ships in her class as well as the Titanic-class. Titanic's propellers were to be redesigned and optimized for use with a diesel electric drive. Following the delays caused by Britannic, work on the Titanic and Britannic's first three sisters was resumed. Britannic's sailing date for her maiden voyage was pushed back from March 12th, 1958 to July 9th, 1958. This had several ripple effects. Originally, Britannic was to replace the now 31 year old Oceanic on the Southampton to Boston route, with Oceanic to be sold to the Greek Line. This caused the sale to be postponed as Oceanic was now required to continue serving the Southampton to Boston run. White Star, however, had delayed her refit seeing as the ship was to be sold out of service early in the year. She would now have to continue in service for an additional four months.

Realizing that, White Star gave Oceanic a hasty refit. Unfortunately, not much could be done for the old ship short of a complete overhaul. She was steadily losing passengers to other vessels as she was nearly completely worn out. The delay also caused the Greek Line to abandon their plan to purchase the ship as they realized just how much work would be required to refurbish her to modern standards. As a result, White Star made plans to sell her to the breakers once Britannic had been in service for 3 months. The delay being just in case the issues with Britannic were not completely solved.

In June, Britannic reentered the water and recommenced her sea trails. It was quickly found that the ship was much improved, with the vibrations all but eliminated and the ship now slightly exceeding her designed top speed and achieving 32.3 knots. To say that her Captain, William E. Warwick was pleased would not be an exaggeration. He most of all, as the months alongside in Belfast were wearing on him. RMS Britannic was officially handed over to White Star Line on June 25th, 1958. She immediately headed for Southampton and began preparing for her maiden voyage.

On July 9th, 1958, Britannic made her long awaited maiden voyage. White Star was thrilled with the new ship. She offered more amenities than any other vessel afloat. Only their own Titanic-class would equal her on the high seas. Unfortunately, this had the somewhat negative effect of drawing passengers from other White Star vessels to Britannic. Laurentic was particularly hard hit as the ship had never quite been the same since the War.

It was this erosion of passengers from Laurentic that pushed White Star to retire her over her older sister when Titanic entered service. This was somewhat ironic as Laurentic had been the ship to retire Titanic 18 years earlier. Further, Olympic was now scheduled to retire the ship that had retired her namesake as well. Though White Star was quietly pleased by the symmetry, they spent the next several years following the ships' entry into service denying that it was done intentionally.

By May, 1960 Titanic was ready for her launching. The normally busy shipyard of Harland and Wolff came to a pause that day as the ship named after the most famous liner to have been built in Belfast was launched. On hand were a number of dignitaries. Including James Moody, Retired Commodore of White Star Line and the last surviving officer from Titanic's maiden voyage. Also present was Captain Mark Arnold-Forster, RN, VC, DSO, DSC; the man who had so ably commanded Titanic during the war with Russia and who had saved countless lives by his running of the "Baltic Express." Her future Captain, Commodore James Crosbie Dawson, DSC, was also on hand, as White Star had made sure RMS Majestic was in Southampton for the launch. This was because upon her commissioning, Titanic was to replace the Majestic as flagship of White Star. Not to be overlooked was Her Majesty, Queen Elisabeth who was the ship's sponsor. By her decree, the RMS Titanic was to wear the battle honors of her predecessor.

Exactly at noon on May 16th, 1960 Titanic was launched into Belfast Lough. White Star's new flagship would begin fitting out immediately with plans for her to depart on her maiden voyage on April 10th, 1961.

 

[SsgtC]

A/N: Short update, and sorry for the delay in getting it done. I've got this weekend off, so I'll TRY to get another out over the weekend. Enjoy.

By the beginning of March, 1961, Titanic had completed her fitting out and was taking on board her new crew. This consisted primarily of engineering personnel to acquaint themselves with her new diesel electric propulsion system. A number of these men had transferred from Britannic. White Star was hoping that having these somewhat experienced men on hand would reduce some of the teething problems Britannic had gone through with the switch from steam turbines to diesel.

On March 13th, 1961 RMS Titanic departed Belfast for her sea trials under the command of Captain Frederick G. Watts, Commodore of White Star Line, having transferred command of Majestic to Captain William E. Warwick on March 6th. The sea trials were scheduled to last until the 17th at which point Harland & Wolff would perform any repairs needed, apply one last coat of fresh paint, and officially hand the ship over to White Star no later than March 31st. Fortunately for both Harland & Wolff and White Star, Titanic's sea trials went smoothly. Far better than Britannic's had three years earlier.

This was fortunate for White Star as they had a very intricate dance to perform getting Titanic into service. The plan was to sail Titanic to Southampton with a skeleton crew and have her meet with Laurentic on April 3rd. The majority of her crew would then transfer to Titanic and spend the next week familiarizing themselves with the new ship and preparing her for her maiden voyage. Laurentic's scheduled sailing on the 5th was to be covered by the Britannic, transferred temporarily to the Southampton to NY run.

The reason for retiring Laurentic a week early was due to White Star realizing that Titanic's systems were considerably more advanced than Laurentic's and time would be needed for the crew to become familiar with them. This fact was driven home to them on Britannic during her maiden voyage when the newly transferred crew from Oceanic had trouble with some of the ship's systems. So, building on that, it was determined to give the crew more than just a few days to familiarize themselves with their new vessel.

On April 10th, 1961 RMS Titanic officially joined White Star's fleet as she departed on her maiden voyage. The same day, Laurentic was officially decommissioned from service and sailed to Belfast to be laid up in reserve. Titanic would arrive triumphantly in New York on April 14th, 49 years to the day that her predecessor had had her near fatal collision with an iceberg. Like Britannic before her, she was immensely popular from the day she entered service. Though other lines had their own superliners, White Star's stood head and shoulders above the rest. No other line could compare to the sheer number of ships White Star operated, nor could they compare on the relative opulence and modern amenities offered on their liners. While other lines operated only a handful of ships, White Star sailed the world's oceans with a fleet of over twenty vessels. Offering weekly sailings to New York, Boston, Baltimore, Quebec, Sydney, the Mediterranean, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. With the introduction of Titanic, they planned to remain in that position for a very long time.

By May, 1962 Titanic's sister ship was ready for launching. The new Olympic slipped into the water at 9AM on May 25th, 1962. She was to incorporate several improvements over her older sister, such as a slight redesign of her foredeck to channel water away from her superstructure more efficiently. The other improvements were all internal, with some not even being noticeable to passengers. These included a more streamlined electrical architecture and slight shrinking of the exhaust pipes from the diesel engines providing enough space aboard ship for several additional cabins. Harland and Wolff began fitting her out immediately.

It was at this time that White Star began planning for the retirement of Mauritania. She was 21 years old and had seen hard service during the war shortly after her launch. She would also be the slowest ship in the fleet at 29 knots when all the Britannic and Baltic-class ships were completed. As a one off, she was also the most expensive to maintain. In the end, it was decided to retire her in 1966, when she reached 25 years old. At that time, Cunard would become nothing but a memory.

 

[SsgtC]

As 1962 drew to a close, competition on the North Atlantic was fiercer than ever. With British, French, German, Italian and American super liners all vying for the top spot. The SS United States and her sister, the SS America, were the undisputed speed queens, averaging over thirty-eight knots on their crossings. The RMS Titanic (and her soon to be completed sister, the RMS Olympic) were the most luxurious liners in the world, with their Tourist Class cabins equal to, or better than most lines' First Class. The German SS Kaiser Wilhelm and her near sister, the MV Bismarck, had interiors very much resembling a Bavarian Inn or Prussian Castle, depending on class. While the Italian SS Rex and SS Andrea Doria were the epitome of Art Deco. And finally, the French MV Paris and her sister, the MV Ile' de France had somewhat eclectic interiors, with her public spaces being Art Deco, her First Class suites resembling the interiors of Versailles and her Cabin Class an homage to the French countryside.

When it came to food, it was nearly impossible to determine who was best. The American ships tended toward heavier fare, with steaks, chops and roasts predominant in First Class, with "typical" American "comfort food" such as meatloaf, casseroles and fried foods in Tourist. The British ships tended to have the widest selection of dishes to chose from. With tradional English and Irish foods available in both classes to the finest French and Italian cuisine in First Class. They also offered some of the finest cuts of meat in the Aquitania Grill, with steak, pork, lamb and mutton available. The French ships, of course, offered the best French cuisine at sea, regardless of class. With some considering even the Cabin Class dinning room aboard the Ile' de France the equal of the best restaurants in Paris. For the Italians, their ships offered some of the worlds best gourmet Italian cooking to be found outside of Naples and Rome. They also offered Mediterranean cuisine for a slight upcharge in their ships' Sicilian Grill. And finally, the Germans. Their fare varied wildly based upon your class of travel. In Tourist, it was simple, yet filling, German country fare. In First Class, only the finest was offered.

This was the backdrop against which White Star competed. That they had managed to come out on top against such competition spoke volumes. With Titanic and Majestic offering weekly sailings between New York and Southampton White Star was in an enviable position. Though with the introduction of new liners by their competitors and their own Titanic and Britannic classes entering service, the old Majestic was on a steady decline. Designed for a different age, she just couldn't compete effectively against the new generation. Constant refits and updates had kept her competitive, but it had become increasingly obvious that she was thoroughly outclassed by her younger fleetmates. By the end of 1962, she was sailing half empty, as passengers either booked on Titanic, or detoured slightly to sail on Britannic or one of her sisters to NY, Boston or Baltimore via either Southampton or Liverpool. And in some cases choosing instead to book on rival lines. May, 1963 could not arrive soon enough for them.

In any event, May did eventually arrive. And with it, the maiden voyage of RMS Olympic. On May 8th, 1963 Olympic cast off from White Star Dock in Southampton and made her way to the open ocean. Not a single berth was empty. As Olympic sailed past the anchorage, she dipped her burgee to the old Majestic, lying at anchor awaiting her fate after twenty-six years of faithful service. Like Laurentic before her, she would soon depart for Belfast and reserve as an emergency backup vessel. Upon her arrival in Belfast, Laurentic was steamed up one last time and sailed for the breakers yard at Inverkeithing, Scotland.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the mood was far more jubilant as Olympic entered New York Harbor after a successful voyage. The one discrepancy to other maiden voyages was the distinct lack of a water cannon salute by New York City fireboats as they were fully involved in combatting a fire on the waterfront further up the Hudson River. Overall, however, her maiden voyage was a huge success.

Running in Tandem with Titanic, the two White Star liners dominated the Trans-Atlantic trade. While each of the major lines had their aficionados who sailed them no matter what, the vast majority of their customers decided who to sail with based on price and schedule. It was here that White Star won the Battle of the Atlantic. By virtue of the fact that White Star operated such a large fleet, they offered more sailings crossing the Atlantic than any other line. Their ships, by virtue of being all diesel-electric were cheaper to operate and maintain than traditional steamers. White Star was also investing heavily in automation in an effort to reduce crew size on board. Thus lowering operating costs even further. These efforts were primarily focused on the bridge, engineering and cargo handling as it was felt that reducing passenger focused crew would be detrimental to their famous level of Service.

1965 would see a development that would alarm White Star executives: the first commercially viable jet powered aircraft capable of crossing the Atlantic. The new Boeing 707 was a remarkable plane. With the newly designed swept back wing, four jet engines buried in the wing root providing exceptional aerodynamic efficiency, the range to fly from New York or Chicago to London unrefueled and a passenger capacity of nearly 200 people. For the first time since White Star was established, the management saw a threat they weren't sure they could beat. This prompted a massive review of White Star's operations and plans. The review would take just over a year and have long term repercussions for White Star.

 

[SsgtC]

A/N: I'm going to be switching formats here for a bit to try and see what works best for the story. Please feel free to provide whatever feedback you can! Let me know, should I stay with the format I've been using or stick to the new one? Or maybe combine the two as it fits the story? Thank you for sticking with me so far!

____________________________________________________​

May 1965
George Bruce Ismay, youngest son of J. Bruce Ismay and current Managing Director and President of White Star Line called a meeting of all his Directors and Fleet Planners. His company was the largest, most profitable passenger carrying line in the world. They operated some of the largest, fastest ships to have ever existed. He had been raised in this company by his father. The only one of his children to have followed in the business his grandfather took over in 1868. By any reasonable standard, he should be extremely pleased with his business. And he was. But he was also worried. For all his life, the only reliable means of crossing the world's oceans was via steam or motor ship. But with these new aircraft coming into play, how much longer would that situation last?

In the Conference Room at Albion House, White Star's headquarters since 1898, Ismay presided over the meeting. First on the agenda was the potential threat to the business posed by air travel. While some of his Directors openly scoffed at the idea that aircraft could ever dethrone Liners as the preeminent way of traversing the world, Ismay quickly reminded everyone that White Star did not become the dominant shipping line in the world by being passive. They had been, and would continue to be, proactive in protecting and advancing their business interests. After several hours of sometimes acrimonious discussion, the meeting was ended with plans to perform additional research into the potential problems and solutions.

June 1965
White Star Line unveiled a new museum within Albion House, Liverpool on the first of the month. The museum showcased the history of the line, with every surviving ship's bell from every ship that had ever sailed under White Star, Cunard, Red Star, Dominion and Leyland Lines. Prominent among these, were the ship's bells from Olympic, Titanic, Britannic, the Oceanic of 1899, Majestic, Mauritania, Aquitania and the recently recovered ship's bell of the Lusitania. It also displayed the acquisition dates for each one of the lines that White Star acquired. The museum was open only to employees of White Star Line and their guests. In conjunction with this, White Star opened a second building in Liverpool to house their archives. This building was open by request to historians who were interested in writing a history of the British shipping industry as a whole, and White Star in particular.

Later that same day, the Directors of White Star met once again to discuss the developing competition from air travel. This time George Ismay had information that shocked his Directors. In late May, he had spoken extensively with William Allen, President of the Boeing Company. The current 707 was just the tip of the iceberg. Boeing had plans to expand the number of different types of aircraft that they offered to cover everything from short haul to long haul. And plans to offer planes with passenger capacities of between three hundred and four hundred passengers. Granted, those large aircraft were at least ten years away from being introduced. But the very possibility that they could exist was frightening. This revelation spurred the various executives to actively find ways to protect their business.

July 1965
Beginning in the middle of July, the Board of Directors of White Star began to plan for Mauritania's retirement. Her retirement from service promised to be interesting, as for the last ten years, Clair MacBeth had called Mauritania home. She would book continuous back to back sailings on the ship, transferring to other vessels only when Mauritania went in for her annual refit. While passengers were usually no more than spectators to ship retirement, Clair was a special case. After speaking to Captain John "Treasure" Jones, Mauritania's commanding officer, Ms. MacBeth agreed to participate in the ship's retirement ceremony. Also requested to be present by White Star was every surviving Cunard Captain and Commodore. Additionally, for her last year of service, she was to be repainted into Cunard colors and the Cunard House Flag flown once again from her mainmast. As a promotional item, all boarding passes issued to passengers would be marked, "Cunard Line" in recognition of the final passing of the once great line. Mauritania was scheduled to arrive in Southampton on her final Trans-Atlantic crossing on September 17th, 1966. She would be officially retired two days later on the 19th.

August 1965
At the monthly meeting of the Board of Directors of White Star, the first tentative plans were proposed to compete with air travel. The suggestions covered the complete gamut from "ignore it and hope it goes away" to "abandon Trans-Atlantic service all together." Obviously neither of those suggestions were plausible. However, several of the ones in-between those two showed promise. Of all the suggestions offered, five were selected for further study and development.

September 1965
On September 1st, RMS Mauritania emerged from her refit resplendent in Cunard colors. It was the first time in ten years that a ship had been seen in Southampton with Cunard Red on her funnel. From her mainmast the Cunard House Flag snapped out in the breeze, the White Star burgee flying just below it, in deference to the pending retirement of the last ship built for Cunard. For the next year, the ship would host a number of festivities commemorating not only her 25 years in service, but Cunard's long history as well.

On the 26th of the month, a fire broke out aboard the RMS Adriatic, one of the Baltic-class ships, while on her way to Sydney, Australia. The fire began in stateroom D-55, when the passenger who had booked the cabin fell asleep and dropped a lit cigarette onto the bedding. Fortunately, the crew was able to contain the blaze, but not before it had consumed ten additional cabins and caused smoke damage across three decks. As a safety precaution, the Captain ordered his passengers into the lifeboats until the fire was contained and the ship out of immediate danger. In the aftermath of the fire, it was discovered that four passengers and three crew members had been killed and two dozen passengers and crew injured in the rush to get clear of the fire and into the boats.

As a result of the fire, the Adriatic diverted from her intended destination of Sydney and put in at the Port of Darwin to discharge her passengers and await instructions regarding repairs. Upon being informed of fire, White Star hastily juggled their shipping schedules. Due to Adriatic being unable to complete either her outbound or inbound voyage, White Star dispatched Olympic to Sydney at her maximum speed, carrying only a few passengers and cargo. She would arrive in Sydney in just over a week. Meanwhile, the Britannic was transferred to the Southampton to New York route in Olympic's place, being pulled off her normal route connecting Liverpool, Glasgow, Cobh and New York.

After a preliminary survey conducted in Darwin, the decision was made sail the Adriatic back to Belfast for a more detailed inspection and any required repairs. She would depart Darwin on the third of October manned by only her deck and engineering departments, while the remainder of her crew was sent home onboard the Olympic.

 

[SsgtC]

October 1965

The RMS Adriatic departs from Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia just after one in the afternoon on the third. Under orders to economize her operation, she makes the entire passage back to Belfast at twenty knots instead of her usual thirty-two. She will arrive back in Belfast on the twenty-fifth with repairs to begin immediately. She is expected to be out of service for one to two months.

November 1965

George Bruce Ismay and the Directors of White Star evaluate the five remaining proposals for the future of the company. They are as follows:

Option A
White Star to purchase or create an airline to compete directly with the likes of BOAC, Pan Am, Eastern, etc. This proposed airline to be equipped with the latest aircraft and outfitted to the highest standards. First Class accommodations to rival those found on the Titanic-class liners in comfort and Tourist Class to be equal to other carriers First Class. It is felt that this option not only provides for a strong future for the Company, but it ensures that White Star's name and standards are upheld. A note is also attached to the proposal that owning both an airline and a shipping line allows White Star to coordinate operations between the two closely. While this would allow a high level of profitability assuming current trends continue, it also is the least flexible option should circumstances in the future change. Additionally, it would tie up capital for many years, as any acquisition of creation of an airline is regarded to be extremely expensive.

Option B
Take no firm immediate measures, but begin to explore alternative routes on which to deploy the fleet as their current routes become untenable in the face of air travel. Despite it's obvious drawbacks, this plan has many proponents. Chief among them, the Treasurer of White Star, Thomas Laird. His reasoning being that this was the least capital intensive approach requiring very little money to be spent. However, the drawbacks to this plan were obvious and large. The first being that this plan effectively conceded the game to the airlines without even a whimper. It also overlooked the fact that the only possible routes that wouldn't be served by aircraft were to very small, very distant markets in undeveloped parts of the world. It would be a struggle to make those type routes profitable. Though to their credit, the planning staff had found a way to do so. It would entail the virtual elimination of First Class cabins and amenities, other than a handful of suites for dignitaries, the conversion of most of the former First Class spaces to Tourist Class, and the conversion of the former Tourist Class spaces low in the ship to holds for greater cargo capacity. In effect turning the White Star fleet of luxury liners into fast cargo liners. This plan would however, exclude converting the Titanic-class ships. They were too large for this type of service. Instead, it was suggested to leave them on the North Atlantic run until the end of their useful lives, then either replace them or abandon the service.

Option C
Intensify their already aggressive marketing to attract passengers. In this regard, the marketing department proposed resurrecting an older idea. Create an agreement with the airlines similar to what White Star enjoyed with the Railroad companies. The original idea was to focus this on smaller airlines that did not have transatlantic rights. The airlines could ferry passengers from across Europe, Australia, the South Pacific, North and South America to the major port cities that White Star Served. The passengers would then be transferred via either motor coach or train to the pier where they would then board their liner. After discussions within the marketing department, this idea was then expanded to include the major airlines that did have transatlantic rights. They could offer a combined ticket for those who were somewhat pressed for time but still on a budget. The customer could fly out and sail back, or vice versa. It would be cheaper than flying both directions, but would also shave days off of the time spent traveling. The biggest drawback to this plan, and it was admitted by the marketing department, is that it was doubtful if it was a viable long term strategy. Eventually airline ticket prices would fall and airlines would push the traditional shipping lines off the North Atlantic altogether. And the smaller airlines would either interchange their passengers with the larger carriers, or would secure transatlantic rights themselves. However, the plan would buy White Star time, likely several years, to more fully evaluate the best means of competing with the airlines. It also gave the Board breathing room to chart a better course for White Star without being in panic mode.

Option D
Abandon liner service wholesale and convert the line to full time cruising. White Star had operated a cruise division between for nearly twenty years, starting after the United States enforced prohibition and as a response to the Great Depression. This service was ended shortly before the war against Russia broke out, mainly due to the ships operating it aging and requiring more frequent and expensive repairs. It was argued that with White Star's fleet being significantly younger, this service could be profitable for the company without much effort. An added benefit would be that as the ships were designed for high speed transatlantic service, cruises could be offered from Europe to the Caribbean and South Pacific with relative ease. This last point prompted much discussion about how that was really any different from what they were currently doing with some Board Members grasping the differences and other utterly failing to.

Option E
The compromise option. Take the best of the previous four ideas and use them all. Under this plan, interchange agreements would be reached with the airlines wherever possible. Simultaneously with this, marketing would be ramped up while the option of purchasing or starting an airline was examined in detail. During the annual refits of each ship, work would begin preparing the ships for conversion to either cruise service or to cargo liners (with conversion to cargo liners being the least desired option). During this time frame, intensive market studies would be carried out to determine if cruising was a viable business and if it was, which markets would be best suited for it. Studies would also be performed to evaluate operating ships as cargo liners. This plan, while being by far the most flexible, was also the most expensive.

________________________​

As each department presented their plans, the various Directors picked them apart to find the smallest flaws in them. After hours of discussion, it was clear that no consensus would be reached that day. And likely, not anytime in the next week either. Mr Ismay, deciding that nothing further would be gained by continuing to argue told his Directors to take the various plans with them, study them, and come up with options to improve each one. They would discuss the plans again the following month. Leaving the Board Room, he was overheard to make a comment to his secretary that, "It's amazing we've lasted this long considering how often we fight like alley cats."

December, 1965

During a conference with White Star, Harland & Wolff informs the Board of Directors that the damage to Adriatic is more severe than originally thought. While removing the fire damaged components of the ship, a workman discovered that several deck frames and ribs had been warped by the heat. Repairing the ship will require far more extensive work than originally estimated. It is also discovered that the passenger that triggered the fire had disabled the fire suppression system in his cabin, explaining how the fire grew to the size it did.

This revelation would, over the next several months, trigger a change in shipping board regulations. All passenger carrying vessels would be required to be equipped with tamperproof smoke detectors and fire suppression systems. Mainly, this would involve additional wiring to trigger an alarm on the bridge if the smoke detector was disabled and making the piping to the spray nozzles of the suppression system inaccessible to passengers. That would be accomplished by encasing the piping behind a false ceiling or in a protective box built around the pipes.

While discussing how best to repair Adriatic George Ismay makes the decision to withdraw her from service for an extended period of time. He contracts Harland and Wolff to begin an extensive reconstruction of the vessel, converting her for use as a cruise ship. Though the ship is already entirely air conditioned, many aspects of the vessel are not suited for the tropics. What this means for Adriatic is that her superstructure is to be substantially altered, increasing her open deck areas, removing all but one of her cargo holds and replacing them with cabins and food storage, moving the pool from inside on F Deck to outside on the aft deck, converting her interiors to much lighter colors and various other changes to make the ship herself more appealing. One of the more striking changes was the deletion of the enclosed promenade. Where the Promenade once ran was converted to private deck space, modeled after the private promenades introduced on the Olympic-class. The main difference here being that these Promenade spaces are not enclosed, but opened to the air. The Marketing Department would eventually come to term the spaces "balconies."

While Adriatic is being converted, a process expected to take nearly a year, a study is done to determine where these cruises should begin and end. Several ports are suggested, with the end result being that each will receive a trial with the Adriatic to determine market potential.

January, 1966

Following the decision to convert Adriatic to cruise service, the White Star Board of Directors makes the decision to implement Plan E. Despite attempts to improve all options, Plan E still provided the best means for ensuring the continued success of White Star, despite it's high costs. Another major factor in the decision to implement Plan E was the opportunity provided by the damage to Adriatic. With the ship already needing extensive repairs, it allows White Star to conduct a feasibility study on a large scale with a ship customized for cruising, not simply a liner pressed into it.
A status report on the Adriatic is delivered to White Star this month as well. Harland & Wolff estimate that the conversion work should be completed by September, 1966. In accord with that estimate, White Star begins marketing the first cruise to depart from Southampton with ports of call at Hamilton, Bermuda; Tortola, British Virgin Islands; Bridgetown, Barbados and English Harbor, Antigua. The ship would then return to Southampton. It is intended that she will run this route three times before sailing for New York and sailing out of that harbor.

February, 1966

Japan grants Korea limited autonomy within the Japanese Empire. In conjunction with this move, White Star announces that they will be expanding their service to Japan by including a port call at Pusan, something previously forbidden by the Japanese Authorities. The new service will be inaugurated by the RMS Homeric, one of the Britannic-class.

 

[SsgtC]

May, 1966
The first casualty in the war against the airlines is announced. P&O announces that due to increased competition from airlines and other competitors (a thinly veiled reference to White Star) they are withdrawing from the Europe to North America Transatlantic trade and will be focusing on their service to India and the Orient. Left unsaid is that they will continue to offer sailings from North America to the Orient and from the Orient to Europe.

The Board of Directors for White Star were stunned by this. While it was true there had been a slight downturn in passenger numbers due to airlines siphoning them away, it wasn't believed to be severe enough to warrant the wholesale abandonment of the transatlantic trade. Not yet, at any rate. The initial panic soon subsided and, after a little digging, it was found that P&O hadn't been entirely honest in their press release. They were abandoning transatlantic service primarily due to the competition from White Star. Though P&O had a modern, comfortable fleet, they lacked the panache that White Star had. People wanted to be seen sailing on a White Star vessel, their reputation for luxury and style having been well established. It also provided a rare opportunity to rub elbows with the rich and famous.

Nevertheless, the announcement drives home to the last few doubting board members that the threat from the airlines is very real. Accordingly, White Star steps up it's marketing efforts even more so. The board also takes the decision to alter their marketing slightly in the Orient to proclaim that White Star is the only line offering sailings that can connect the Orient to the whole world. Shortly afterwards, when P&O issues their own new marketing plan, White Star realized their mistake and was forced to offer a retraction.

August, 1966
On the 11th of the month, Adriatic is floated out of dry dock to begin her sea trials after conversion to a cruise ship. Though no alterations had been made to her power plant, there were some questions about how she would handle. Her superstructure had been drastically altered along with numerous other changes within the hull. She would spend the next week tied up along side going through a litany of engine tests to ensure everything still worked after being out of service for ten months. She would depart on her sea trials on the 19th. They are expected to last three days.

While on her trials, on the 20th of August, Adriatic responds to a distress call from the MS Gripsholm of the Swedish American Line. The Gripsholm was inbound to Gothenburg via Cobh on her final crossing before being sold for scrap when her port propeller shaft fractured, damaging the hull and flooding the engine room. The distress called stated that they had lost power and were attempting to evacuate the passengers, but were listing to port and the starboard lifeboats were unusable. The Adriatic, under the command of Captain William J Law, responded at full speed, slicing through the seas at 32 knots. Also responding to the distress call was White Star's flagship, RMS Titanic. Though nearly three knots faster than the Adriatic, she was also much further away.

Upon Adriatic's arrival on the scene, Captain Law ordered all gangway doors on the lee side opened, boarding nets and slings prepared and launched roughly half of his own boats, those being all he could man with the crew that was onboard at the time. As the Gripsholm's passengers were being brought on board, the Gripsholm began losing her fight with the sea. She was observed to be going down by the stern with an increasing port list. On the radio, the Adriatic ordered her boats to speed up their work as the Gripsholm was likely to roll over before much more time had past. This decision was made by Captain Law against the advice of his officers, who wished to order the boats to stand clear, in spite of the dangers posed by the sinking Gripsholm.

In the end, Adriatic succeeded in rescuing all but forty-five of the passengers and crew of the Gripsholm. Of those left behind, twenty had perished in the engine room when the propeller shaft fractured and tore loose inside the engine room, twenty were unaccounted for (and later presumed to have become disoriented and trapped as the ship foundered) and five, including her Chief Officer Kjell Smitterberg, were lost when the ship rolled over while searching for the missing passengers. Just as the Gripsholm slipped beneath the waves, RMS Titanic arrived on scene. In addition to launching three of her boats to search for survivors in the water (none were found) she also sent her Ship's Doctor, medical supplies, blankets, bedding and additional crew to her smaller fleetmate (Adriatic had no stewards, maids, waiters or other "Service Crew" and only three cooks on board). That completed, the two ships, along with the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Swiftsure which had also responded and provided the Adriatic with additional medical personnel, ordered up thirty-two knots, Adriatic's best speed, and headed for Belfast.

On their arrival, the survivors of the Gripsholm were quickly placed in lodging ashore, paid for originally by White Star though later reimbursed by the Swedish American Line, the loaned Titanic crew members returned to their ship and Titanic resumed her outward bound voyage to New York. Adriatic was then moved from the passenger piers to the Harland & Wolff yard for final fitting out and handover to White Star. Captain Law meanwhile was ordered to provide a statement for the subsequent inquiry into the loss of the Gripsholm. Seeing as she had been built by Armstrong Whitworth in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the British Board of Trade would be holding an inquiry as well as the Swedes.

While the inquiry into Captain Law's actions was merely standard procedure, George Ismay made his feelings on the matter extremely clear. He ordered that special medals be struck for the crew of the Adriatic to recognize their crucial roll in saving the passengers and crew of the Gripsholm. He also ordered two plaques, one to be placed in the First Class Lounge and the other to be placed on the Bridge, commemorating Adriatic's roll in the rescue. He also personally commended Captain Law and his crew and ordered that they be given a hazardous duty bonus to their pay.

After her arrival back at Harland & Wolff, final adjustments are made to Adriatic along with minor repairs. She is also given another coat of paint to ensure that the ship is shinning when she reenters service. Adriatic is handed over to White Star on the last day of August, 1966. Her first cruise is scheduled to depart from Southampton on September 12th.

 

[SsgtC]

On the morning of September 12th, RMS Adriatic sat gleaming at the White Star Dock, Southampton, England. Her freshly painted pale green hull, stark white superstructure with her black and buff funnel and gold sheer stripe was shinning in the watery autumn sunlight. The ship's name was picked out in gold on either side of her bow. And across her sharp cruiser stern, the words Adriatic Liverpool curved gracefully. From her masthead, the White Star burgee snapped briskly in the breeze, while from the stern, the Red Ensign did the same. To the crowds waiting to board, she looked to be a brand new ship, not one already nearly eight years old.

At 9AM sharp, Adriatic opened for the press and onlookers to tour. The first thing most noticed was how open and light the ship was. White Star, realizing that the ship would be spending the majority of her time in the bright and sunny Caribbean, had opened the ship up, replacing her smaller cabins and public rooms with much larger spaces. In addition, they had used a very bright and light color palate throughout the ship, contributing to the open feel of the ship. The interior decoration was designed in a very minimalist fashion to emphasize the large spaces. As passengers and well wishers alike moved about the ship, White Star announced that they would be holding a predeparture party for all those on the ship to welcome the Adriatic back into the fleet and to celebrate the inauguration of their new service.

That day, thousands boarded the ship. Among them, was Senator (and future President of the United States) John Jacob Astor VI. Who's father had sailed on Titanic's maiden voyage. He had been on Europe on holiday. Originally booked on Olympic to sail back to New York, he instead chose to extend his holiday by sailing on Adriatic's first cruise. Upon his return to Southampton, he would be sailing on the Titanic to New York.

At 4PM, Adriatic sounded her horn and her stewards began to usher the non-ticketed guests off the ship and back onto White Star Dock. By five, all non-ticketed guests had left the ship (or so it was thought, two young men had managed to stow away, were found two days out to sea and put ashore in Bermuda). By 5:30, the lines were cast off and RMS Adriatic began her maiden voyage as a cruise ship.

____________________________​

Five days after Adriatic's celebratory departure, RMS Mauritania made her final arrival in Southampton. The last of Cunard's great liners was being retired after twenty-five years of service in both war and peace. On this, her final voyage, Mauritania had departed from New York booked to capacity. The first time in years she had sailed with not a single cabin or berth open. As each passenger disembarked in Southampton, they were given a small wooden box. Inside each box, was a small piece of teak taken from the aft deck of the ship with a brass plaque affixed to it that read, "RMS Mauritania final voyage, 17 September, 1966."

Two days later, on the 19th of the month, Mauritania was officially decommissioned from the fleet of White Star. As a measure of thanks for the long service of the ship and proud history of Cunard Line, her final Captain, John "Treasure" Jones was named Senior Captain and Commodore, Cunard Line. The final man to hold the rank of Commodore for Cunard. It was also announced that Captain Jones would be transferring to the RMS Olympic in one month to replace her captain, who was retiring.

As Captain Jones surveyed his ship one last time from the bridge, he saw Clair MacBeth waiting for him by the mast. She had lived on the ship for years. So long, in fact, that she was considered an unofficial part of the crew. And many of the crew said she knew the ship better than anyone else on board. Joining Ms MacBeth at the mast, Captain Jones and Clair gently lowered first the White Star Burgee followed by the Cunard House Flag. As the flag was folded, it was realized by all present that Cunard was truly no more. The last ship that had sailed for the famed line would be sailing for the breakers the next day. Within two years, Cunard would exist as nothing more than a memory and a few files in a warehouse.

______________________________________​

By March of 1967 the Adriatic had firmly established that the cruising market was a lucrative one. Out of all the ports she had sailed from, New York was the most successful followed by Southampton, Baltimore and Miami. White Star, though pleased with the overall success of the operation, was somewhat disappointed that Miami had shown so poorly in their results. It had been hoped that Miami would offer a convenient embarkation port as it was close to the Caribbean and required less fuel and days at sea than the other ports while still charging nearly the same amount. Unfortunately, the city itself and the transportation infrastructure was not as developed as the other ports. The decision was taken to concentrate their services in New York and Southampton with limited sailings from Baltimore.

Of course, not everything was smooth sailing. White Star discovered, to their consternation, that many of the ports they wished to call on in the Caribbean were too shallow to handle the 32' draft of the Adriatic. For the rest of the spring, White Star elected to limit their cruises to the ports that could handle the deep draft of the ship. During the summer, plans were drawn up to return Adriatic once more to Harland & Wolff where further modifications would be made to the ship. This would involve modifying her forward deck to accommodate two large tenders to ferry passengers to and from the ship to the shore. Additionally, two large hatches would be installed into the ship, one on each side of the hull, on G Deck, just above the waterline. These hatches would be used to load and unload the tenders after they were already in the water. A folding crane would also be installed to hoist the tenders onto the ship and lower them into the water. Additional engineering work would be done to ensure the ship kept her trim and draft the same. It was hoped that the work would take no more than one month.

Adriatic entered dry dock at Harland and Wolff in August of 1967 for the needed modifications. True to their word, Harland and Wolff had her back in the water in three weeks. She would be ready to resume her sailings on the anniversary of her first cruise. The new tenders that Adriatic carried, named Nomadic and Traffic after the two long serving White Star tenders in Cherbourg, would allow the ship to greatly expand the number of ports she could call on. The two tenders would be see almost daily use for the remainder of Adriatic's career.

_________________________​

As the new year of 1968 began White Star made several adjustments to their schedule. Services to Boston and Baltimore would be reduced from weekly, to bi-weekly. To accommodate the disruption in service, an interline agreement was reached with Eastern Airlines to provide shuttle services between New York, Boston and Baltimore for White Star passengers sailing to or from New York who's origin or destination was in those cities. This was in addition to the already existing interline agreement with the New York Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, Chesapeake, Baltimore and Ohio and with the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroads. White Star's service to Quebec and New York would remain unchanged.

What the service realignment meant in the short term, was that an additional Baltic-class liner would be available for conversion to an Adriatic-class cruise ship. After some juggling of hulls, White Star announced that the RMS Georgic, the second ship of the Baltic-class would be converted into the second ship of the Adriatic-class. Her conversion, while being broadly similar to her sister's, would incorporate several improvements to the design. Mainly in regard to adjusting the interior slightly to cater more toward American tastes than British or European. In addition, after a short-lived experiment with calling them "balconies" the private promenades reverted to their traditional name. The cabins they were part of were classified as Promenade Suites. This change coming about as George Ismay felt the name "balconies" to be somewhat trashy and low class.

Externally, the biggest difference between the Adriatic and the Georgic was the additional pool and "Lido Deck" that Georgic sported. An outdoor bar was also built on the Lido Deck as White Star came to realize that, though the ship was entirely air conditioned, passengers on vacation to tropical climates wanted to spend as much time out of doors and enjoying the climate as possible. Georgic would also include a disco onboard, breaking with a longstanding White Star tradition of no organized dancing. Georgic was scheduled to begin her conversion in March of 1968 and reenter service by January, 1969.

A/N: Apologies for the long delay! Again. I'm hopeful that I'll be able to update the story somewhat regularly from here on out. Fingers crossed anyway. Also, a big thank you to @USSManhattan for the nomination for a Turtledove! Totally unexpected, but hugely appreciated!!!

 

[SsgtC]

By 1975, White Star Line had undergone massive changes. George Ismay had retired from the board in 1972, being succeeded as Managing Director and President by his own son, Thomas Ismay. In the nine years since establishing a cruising division, White Star had seen the cruising market grow to become their most profitable division. While still engaged in liner service, that service had steadily shrunk until White Star offered only one sailing every other week to Boston, one to Quebec and three weekly departures to New York with two from Southampton and one from Liverpool. With a monthly sailing to Sydney and another to Japan. In 1966 when White Star began offering cruises, they had 24 vessels in service, all but the Adriatic serving as liners. Half of their vessels were now engaged in the cruising market full time. And plans were on the board to reduce the Quebec and Boston service to summer only, cancel the Liverpool sailing to New York and redeploy the ships serving those routes to cruising.

These moves coincided with the deployment of the Boeing 747, a large four engined passenger liner capable of flying over 400 passengers at a time across the Atlantic non stop, by Pan American World Airways. Unlike his father, Thomas Ismay knew that the ocean liner business was dying. While his father was willing to expand the family business into other avenues, he still clung to the belief that the ocean liner would remain relevant. Thomas knew they were a dying breed.

By 1975, both Titanic and Olympic were at the halfway point of their lives and due for major overhauls. While still profitable enough to run year round on the North Atlantic, the decision was made, driven primarily by Thomas Ismay, to prepare them for later conversion to cruise liners. This would mainly involve behind the scenes structural work that most passengers would likely never notice.

That he had made the right decision was confirmed barely a month after Titanic was drydocked at Harland & Wolff. The Italian Line announced that they were exiting the Transatlantic passenger trade and would instead be focusing on cruises in the Mediterranean with occasional cruises to the Caribbean or Far East.

Norddeutscher Lloyd made a similar announcement just three months after the Italian Line's. The only difference being that NDL was only suspending their winter Transatlantic service. During the summer season, they would continue to sail the Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm from Bremerhaven to New York. In the winter, they would offer a diverse selection of cruises. The Mediterranean from Bremerhaven, the Caribbean and South America from New York and each ship would offer a "Round the World" cruise, with Kaiser Wilhelm departing from Bremerhaven and Bismarck departing from New York. This cruise around the world would be the capstone to their winter cruising schedule and would position the ships perfectly to resume Transatlantic sailings at the start of the summer season.

In 1976, another casualty of the airlines was created. P&O announced that effective at the end of the 1976 summer season, they would be exiting the liner business. Their ships, which had a large following in the Pacific, would all to be converted to cruise ships with a primary focus on the Mediterranean from the UK and the Eastern and Southern Pacific from the Orient. This announcement follows on from their abandonment of the Transatlantic trade ten years prior.

Fortunately for White Star, their name still had enough marketing power to remain in the Transatlantic trade when others fell by the wayside. The French Line too remained committed to operating the Paris and Ile' de France year round on the North Atlantic. Along with the United States Lines' United States and America the three shipping lines offered a sailing every day of the week between New York and Europe. Still, Thomas Ismay knew that those days were numbered.

In preparation for that, White Star Line began discussions with Harland & Wolff about an entirely new design of ship. This new ship was to be approximately the same length as the Britannic class, but would be substantially wider and would displace far less, reducing the ships' draft by nearly ten feet. The new ships would have the same Diesel-Electric drive as White Star's other ships, however they would have only two propellers and substantially less horsepower, giving the ships an estimated top speed of twenty-one knots. The new ships would also be more lightly built than White Star's previous ships. Unlike their liners, these ships would not be designed with repeated crossings of the stormy North Atlantic in mind. Instead, the ships would be optimized for operations in the relatively calm waters of the tropics.

In a first for White Star, large numbers of cabins across four decks would boast a private promenade, something White Star had determined was extremely popular with those booking a cruise and for which they could charge a premium. Additionally, the new ships would have two separate pools, one on their Lido Deck and another on a new "Sun Deck" at the aft end of the ship. The main dining room would also be relocated from the traditional midships position to the stern. It would also be given a large number of window allowing passengers to enjoy the views of the ocean and ports of call while they dined. Finally, in what was at the time a controversial decision by Thomas Ismay, the ships would not have a class system. All recreational facilities would be open to all passengers, though some, such as White Star's specialty dining options and the ship's spa (still called The Turkish Baths on White Star Ships), would require the payment of an additional fee. The Main Dining Room would likewise serve all passengers regardless of the cabin type booked.

After more than a year of detailed design work and negotiations over the price of the new ships, White Star announced that the keel of the world's first custom built cruise ship would be laid at Harland and Wolff on May 27th, 1978. The ship was scheduled to be launched just short of two years later and in service by November, 1980. The ship was to be named Arabic.

 

[SsgtC]

Following the launch of the Georgic, Harland and Wolff announced a major expansion and renovation of their shipbuilding yards. The two slipways where most of the yard's major ships were built, including the original Olympic and Titanic, were to be taken out of service and converted into a large shipbuilding hall. The new hall would be capable of building ships up to 1,200 feet long, 250 feet wide and 280 feet tall measured from the keel to the top of the exhaust stacks.

Across the Atlantic Ocean, United States Lines announced a large construction plan including the replacement of United States and America. The new Constitution class cruise liners would contain several radical features. The biggest change was one that passengers, and indeed most of the crew, would never see. The ship's propulsion was to be a new type of diesel electric drive. The diesel engines would be housed in the ship, while the electric motors would be housed in pods beneath the hull. United States Lines had introduced podded propulsion using a Z-Drive with their previous class of mid-sized liners, the President Roosevelt class. The new design was expected to provide a massive increase in efficiency and a corresponding reduction in maintenance required.

The first of the two planned Constitution class cruise liners was to be built by Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. The second, due to space constraints at Newport News, would be built at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. The decision to build the ship at Fore River was made after United States Lines purchased American Export Lines in 1974 and became highly impressed with the quality of the vessels built by Fore River for the line, namely the liners Constitution and Independence. Despite being impressed with the vessels, both liners would be retired in 1979 as they were approaching 30 years of age and could not compete with newer ships.

Additionally, orders were placed with Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi for three new dedicated cruise ships. These new ships were to be 704 feet in length, 94 feet wide, draw 22 feet of water, contain 11 decks, 9 of which would be accessible to passengers and would be capable of 22 knots. The passenger capacity would be approximately 1,500 with another 550 crew members on board. The first ship of the new class, to be christened MS President Washington, was expected to be in service sometime in 1982.

Back in Europe, the shipping industry was going through turmoil. With multiple smaller lines falling victim to increasing oil prices combined with older, outdated ships. In Germany, Norddeutscher Lloyd announced the acquisition of Hamburg America Line. Though the intention was to keep both lines as separate operating entities, an interline agreement would be put in place to ship cargo on either company's vessels. All passenger services however would be operated by Norddeutscher Lloyd.

In 1980, Swedish American Line, in the midst of financial difficulties, was acquired by the Norwegian shipping line Anders Wilhelmsen & Company. The combined lines were renamed Royal Caribbean Cruises while the SAL ships Kungsholm, Stockholm and Drottningholm were renamed Sun Viking, Nordic Prince and Nordic Empress. The renaming coincided with the ships' conversion to full time cruise ships.

At the end of 1981 the Greek Line and the Italian Line announced their own merger. The combined company would be renamed as Mediterranean Shipping Company and would be headquarter in Rome. Unlike the new Royal Caribbean Cruises, the combined Greek and Italian Lines would not be renaming their ships. However, the combined lines announced that two new ships would be ordered from the Fincantieri Shipyard in Monfalcone, Italy. These two vessels were to be named Olympus and Rex. Both ships would be approximately 600 feet long, 85 feet wide and contain 8 decks. The two new vessels were expected to enter service in 1984 in what was hoped to be the start of a fleet renewal program.

For White Star, this meant that the business environment in which they operated would be more challenging than ever. However, a new opportunity was about to come their way. In 1983, a year after the Georgic entered service they were contacted by a an American businessman who wanted to explore a joint venture. The businessman's name was Roy Disney.