|
''City of New York'' was a British built passenger liner of the Inman Line that was designed to be the largest and fastest liner on the Atlantic. When she entered service in August 1888, she was the first twin screw express liner and while she did not achieve the westbound Blue Riband, she ultimately held the eastbound record from August 1892 to May 1893 at a speed of 20.11 knots. ''City of New York'', and her sister ''City of Paris'' are considered especially beautiful ships and throughout their careers were rivals to the White Star ''Teutonic'' and ''Majestic''. In February 1893, the Inman Line was merged into the American Line and by act of Congress, the renamed ''New York'' was transferred to the US flag. Beginning in the mid-1890s, ''New York'' and ''Paris'' were paired with ''St Louis'' and ''St Paul'' to form one of the premier Atlantic services. ''New York'' continued with the American Line until 1920 and was broken for scrap in 1923. She served the US Navy as ''Harvard'' during the Spanish American War and ''Plattsburg'' in World War I. She is also remembered for nearly colliding with the RMS ''Titanic'' as the latter ship began her doomed maiden voyage in 1912. ==Development and design== When International Navigation Company purchased the Inman Line in 1886, the fleet needed new units to revive the line's fortunes against the Cunard Line and White Star. International Navigation's Vice President, Clement Griscom immediately sailed to Liverpool with a commitment from the Pennsylvania Railroad to provide $2 million in capital towards the building of a new ship. Shipbuilders in Scotland were experiencing a recession at the time and offered to deliver two ships at $1,850,000 per unit. The Pennsylvania Railroad agreed to underwrite the additional capital and the contracts were signed for ''City of New York'' and her sister, ''City of Paris''. When designing the new liners, the lessons of the ''City of Rome'' fiasco were recalled. The original design called two ships of that were only slightly bigger than ''City of Rome'', but with steel hulls and twin screws.〔 Because powerful single screw liners were prone to shaft failure, they carried extensive rigging for sails. Twin screws rendered this extra rigging unnecessary.〔 Starting in 1866, a few twin screw ships sailed the Atlantic, but the new Inman ships were the first twin screw express liners.〔 While size was increased by almost 25% to in the final design, the plan retained ''City of Rome's'' classic clipper bow and three raked funnels.〔 ''City of New York'' even had a figurehead of a female figure carved by sculptor James Allan.〔 To address the vibration problems of most liners of the period, the new Inman liners were given a ratio of length to beam of 8.3 to 1 as compared to the then common ratio of 10 to 1. The hull was more extensively subdivided than previously attempted. The ships were equipped with a full double bottom and 15 transverse bulkheads that reached the saloon deck. They also received a fore-aft bulkhead over their entire length.〔 Each ship had two triple expansion engines, of 9,000 indicated horsepower each that were placed in separate compartments. While the engines for the sisters were identical, ''City of Paris'' produced 1,500 more horsepower than ''City of New York''.〔 ''City of New York'' was designed for 540 first, 200 second and 1,000 steerage passengers.〔 Her quarters were fitted with running hot and cold water, electric ventilation, and electric lighting. Her first class public rooms, such as library and smoking room, were fitted with walnut panels and her dining salon came with a massive dome that provided a natural light to the passengers.〔 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「SS City of New York」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|