Name and

Claim to Fame

Image

Cursor on image enlarges

Type of Vessel

Dates: (Origin .... Demise)

Note

Achille Lauro

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Hijacked in 1985 by four Palestinians; one passenger killed and thrown overboard

Dutch built passenger liner

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(December 2, 1947 .... Sank on December 2, 1994 due to fire)

Originally named the Willem Ruys.

Admiral, SS

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Was the largest river cruise ship in the world, sailing the Mississippi from St. Louis; in 1979 converted to a land-based casino

American river steamboat (converted to diesel in 1974)

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(1907 .... currently not in service; may be scrapped)

Started out as the side-wheeled steel hulled steamboat, the Albatross; became the Admiral in the 1940s.

Adventure Galley

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Captain Kidd’s flag ship

English galley

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(1695 .... 1698)

Because she had become worm-eaten and leaky, Kidd ordered her to be burnt.

Alligator

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First U.S. Navy submarine

American submarine

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(May 1, 1862 .... Sank in bad weather April 2, 1863)

The first American submarine, called Turtle, built in the Revolutionary War era, never served in the U.S. Navy.

Allure of the Seas

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Largest passenger ship ever constructed

Norwegian and American cruise ship

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(November 20, 2010 .... Still in service)

She is actually about 50 millimeters longer than her sister ship, the Oasis of the Seas.

Alvin, DVS

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First Deep Submergence Vehicle (DSV) able to dive to 4,500 meters (14,800 feet)

American submersible

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(June 5, 1964 .... Still in service)

She was lost October of 1968 when she accidentally sank in 1500 meters of water; was recovered in August of 1969 and refurbished.

America

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Won the Royal Yacht Squadron's 53 mile regatta around the Isle of Wight, August 22, 1851

American 19th century racing yacht (schooner)

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(May 3, 1851 .... Berthed at Annapolis, remnants removed and burned in 1945)

Gave its name to the international sailing trophy, America’s Cup.

Andrea Doria, SS

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Collided with the M S Stockholm in the Atlantic and sank

Italian luxury ocean liner

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(January 14, 1953 .... July 25, 1956)

Named after the Genoese admiral (1466-1560.)

Andrea Gail

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Lost at sea off the coast of Massachusetts with all hands during "The Perfect Storm" of 1991

American fishing vessel

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(1978 .... Lost at sea October 28, 1991)

The tragedy was the basis of the 1997 book and 2000 movie The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

Argo

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The ship on which Jason and the Argonauts sailed from Iolcos to retrieve the Golden Fleece

Ancient Greek transport ship

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(14th century .... unknown)

The Argo was built by the shipwright Argus, and its crew were specially protected by the goddess Hera.

Ariel

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Famous for almost winning The Great Tea Race of 1866, an unofficial race between Foochow, China and London

English clipper ship

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(1865 .... Went missing in early 1872)

On September 6, 1866, the Taeping docked twenty minutes ahead of Ariel

Arizona, USS

(BB-39)

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The sunken ship lies in Pearl Harbor with a memorial above it honoring the crew lost

American battleship

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(October 17, 1916 .... Sunk during the December 7, 1941 Pearl Harbor attack)

The sunken ship continues to leak about a quart of oil per day into the harbor.

Beagle, HMS

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Its second voyage carried Charles Darwin on his historic expedition

English two-masted sloop

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(May 11, 1820 .... Sold for scrap in 1870)

Its captain was by Robert FitzRoy.

Belle of Louisville

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Oldest continually operating steamboat in the United States

American river steamboat

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(1914 .... Still in use)

Originally named the Idlewild.

Bismarck

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At the Battle of Denmark Straits in May, 1941, fired upon the British battlecruiser HMS Hood which sank within minutes

German battleship

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(August 24, 1940 .... Sunk by British forces May 27, 1941 in the North Atlantic)

Relentlessly pursued and sunk by the Royal Navy following Winston Churchill’s order “Sink the Bismarck”.

Bluebird K7

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Set seven world water speed records between 1955 and 1964, reaching 276.33 mph (444.71 km/h)

British jet powered hydroplane

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(Early 1955 .... Flipped and disintegrated at high speed January 4, 1967, killing Donald Campbell)

Developed and piloted by Donald Campbell.

Bonhomme Richard, USS

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Warship commanded by John Paul Jones

American frigate

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(February 4, 1779 .... Sank in battle September 25, 1779)

Defeated HMS Serapis in the Battle of Flamborough Head.

Bounty, HMS

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Mutiny aboard ship, April 28, 1789, led by Fletcher Christian against Captain William Bligh

English three-mast collier

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(1784 .... Was burned by the mutineers on January 23, 1790)

Its mission to pick up breadfruit plants from Tahiti and transport them to the West Indies.

Cairo, USS

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The first ship sunk by a naval mine

American Ironclad gunboat

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(1861 .... sunk by a naval mine, December 12, 1862)

Served with the Army's Western Gunboat Fleet during the American Civil War.

Calypso

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Oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau sailed her as a mobile laboratory for field research

American minesweeper, ferry; refitted for research

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(March 21, 1941 .... Struck from the Naval Register in 1947)

Carried advanced equipment, including mini submarines.

Central America, SS

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Sank in a hurricane in 1857, along with 400 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds of gold

American three-masted sidewheel steamer

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(October 28, 1852 .... Sank September 12, 1857 about 160 miles east of Cape Hattera)

Originally named SS George Law; came to be known as “the ship of gold”.

Challenger, HMS

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Undertook the first global marine research expedition

British steam-assisted corvette

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(February 13, 1858 .... Broken up for her copper bottom, January, 1921)

Flagship of the Australia Station between 1866 and 1870.

Champion of the Seas

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On her maiden voyage, she set a record for the fastest run in 24 hours of 465 nautical miles (861 km)

British clipper ship

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(April, 1854 .... Abandoned off Cape Horn in leaking condition in 1877)

She was the speedy passenger ship built for the run from Liverpool, England to Melbourne, Australia.

City of Adelaide

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The world's oldest surviving clipper ship

British clipper ship

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(May 7, 1864 .... Out of service since 1948, current being restored)

part of the National Historic Fleet of the United Kingdom.

Clermont

(officially North River Steamboat)

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The first enduring and financially successful steamboat, running from New York to Albany

American river steamboat

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(August, 1807 .... Retired in 1814, scrapped)

Never known as Clermont at the time, but North River Steamboat; after it was lengthened and refitted in 1808 at Clermont, NY, it was named the North River.

Cole, USS

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Suicide attack against it on October 12 2000

Aegis-equipped guided missile destroyer

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(February 10, 1995 .... Still in service)

Seventeen American sailors were killed in the incident while harbored in the Yemeni port of Aden.

Color Magic

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The largest cruise ferry in the world

Norwegian cruise ferry

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(December 15, 2006 .... Still in service)

The ship operates between Oslo, Norway and Kiel, Germany.

Constellation, USS

(Also see the original USS Constellation)

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The last sail-only warship designed and built by the U.S. Navy

American sloop-of-war

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( August 26, 1854 .... Now on display at Annapolis, Maryland)

This flagship of the USN African Squadron from 1859-1861 disrupted the African slave trade off the coast of Africa.

Constitution, USS

(nicknamed Old Ironsides)

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Oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world

American three-masted heavy frigate

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(October 21, 1797 .... Now on display)

Larger and more heavily armed than the standard frigates of the period.

Costa Concordia

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Largest cruise ship disaster; ran aground on a reef off Isola del Giglio and capsized; 32 people dead

Italian cruise ship

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(September 2, 2005 .... Capsized, January 13, 2012)

In 2008, she suffered damage to her bow when high winds pushed the ship alongside its dock.

Cutty Sark

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Lost China-to-London race to ship called Thermopylae

British clipper ship

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(February 16, 1870 .... Put on display December, 1954)

Preserved as a museum ship located at Greenwich, England.

David, CSS

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A cigar-shaped boat with explosives on the end of a spar projecting forward from her bow

American Confederate torpedo boat

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(1863 .... fate unknown,)

Surface vessel designed to operate very low in the water, resembling a submarine.

Derbyshire, MV

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Largest British ship ever to have been lost at sea

British oil-ore carrier

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(June, 1976 .... sank September 9, 1980)

Lost with the ship during Typhoon Orchid, south of Japan, were all 42 crew members and two wives.

Deutschland, SMS

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First of five Deutschland class pre-dreadnought battleships built for the Kaiserliche Marine between 1903 and 1906

German battleship

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(November, 1904 .... Scrapped in 1920)

With the launching of the big-gun English HMS Dreadnought battleship, the SMS Deutschland became obsolete.

Deutschland

(later re-named Lützow)

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Lead ship of her class serving in the German Kriegsmarine before and during World War II

German pocket battleship

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(May, 1931 .... Sunk July 20, 1947)

Renamed Lützow in November 1939, because Adolf Hitler feared loss of a ship named Deutschland would make for bad propaganda.

Deutschland

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A blockade-breaking German merchant submarine used during World War I

German submarine

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(February 19, 1917 .... Broken up at Morecambe in 1922)

First submarine to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Discovery

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The ship that carried Scott and Shackleton on their first successful journey to the Antarctic

British three-masted barque

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(March 21, 1901 .... Museum ship in Dundee, Scotland)

She was locked in the ice of the Antarctic for two years. The ship was eventually freed in February, 1904 by the use of controlled explosives

Dreadnought, HMS

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First “all-big-gun” armament and steam turbine propulsion

British dreadnought battleship

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(February 10, 1906 .... Sold for scrap 1923)

Revolutionized naval power; started naval arms race.

Edmund Fitzgerald, SS

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Sank suddenly during a gale storm on Lake Superior without a distress signal

American lake freighter

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(June 8, 1958 .... Lost in a storm on November 10, 1975)

All 29 members were lost.

Endurance

(christened Polaris)

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Used by Sir Ernest Shackleton for the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition

Norwegian three-masted barquentine  (1) 

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(December 17, 1912 .... Crushed by pack ice in the Weddell Sea in 1915)

One of the strongest wooden ship ever built.

Enterprise, USS

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World’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name

American aircraft carrier

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(September 24, 1960 .... Still in use)

As one of the oldest carriers in the fleet, she is scheduled for decommissioning in 2014-2015.

Essex

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Was the inspiration for Herman Melville's 1851 classic novel Moby-Dick

American whale ship, a three-masted bark

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(Around 1800 .... November 20, 1820)

Left Nantucket in 1819 on a whaling voyage in the South Pacific with 21 aboard. It was attacked and sunk by a sperm whale in the Pacific Ocean. Only two men survived.

Exxon Valdez

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Spilled millions of gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound

American oil tanker

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(October 14, 1986 .... Still in use)

Ran aground trying to avoid ice; later named Sea River Mediterranean).

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NOTES:

    (1)     (Endurance) A sailing vessel with three or more masts, and with a square rigged foremast and only fore-and-aft rigged sails on the main, mizzen and any other masts.

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