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RMS ''Lucania'' was a British ocean liner owned by the Cunard Steamship Line Shipping Company, built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Scotland, and launched on Thursday, 2 February 1893. Identical in dimensions and specifications to her running mate , RMS ''Lucania'' was the joint largest passenger liner afloat when she entered service in 1893. On her second voyage, she won the prestigious Blue Riband from the other Cunarder to become the fastest passenger liner afloat, a title she kept until 1898. ==Power plant and construction== ''Lucania'' and ''Campania'' were partly financed by the Admiralty. The deal was that Cunard would receive money from the Government in return for constructing vessels to admiralty specifications and also on condition that the vessels go on the naval reserve list to serve as armed merchant cruisers when required by the government. The contracts were awarded to the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, which at the time was one of Britain’s biggest producers of warships. Plans were soon drawn up for a large, twin-screw steamer powered by triple expansion engines, and construction began in 1891, just 43 days after Cunards' order. ''Lucania'' and ''Campania'' had the largest triple expansion engines ever fitted to a Cunard ship. These engines were also the largest in the world at the time, and still rank today amongst the largest of the type ever constructed. They represent the limits of development for this kind of technology, which was superseded a few years later by turbine technology. In height, the engines were 47 feet, reaching from the double-bottom floor of the engine room almost to the top of the superstructure - over five decks. Each engine had five cylinders. There were two high pressure cylinders, each measuring in diameter; one intermediate pressure cylinder measuring in diameter; and two low pressure cylinders, each measuring in diameter. They operated with a stoke of . Steam was raised from 12 double-ended scotch boilers, each measuring in diameter and having eight furnaces. There was also one single-ended boiler for auxiliary machinery and one, smaller donkey boiler. Boiler pressure was 165 lbs, and enabled the engines to produce , which translated to an average speed of , and a record speed of 23½ knots.〔 Normal operating speed for the engines was about 79 rpm. Each engine was located in a separate watertight engine compartment. In case of a hull breach in that area, only one engine room would then be flooded, and the ship would still have use of the adjacent engine. In addition to this ''Lucania'' had 16 transverse water-tight compartments, with water-tight doors that could be manually closed on command from the telegraph on the bridge. She could remain afloat with any two compartments flooded.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「RMS Lucania」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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