Name |
Claim to Fame |
Type of Vessel
(Service Dates) |
Note |
| Achille Lauro 
|
Hijacked in 1985 by four Palestinians; one passenger killed and thrown overboard |
Dutch built passenger liner
—
(December 2, 1947 - Sank on December 2, 1994 due to fire) |
Originally named the Willem Ruys |
| Admiral 
|
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)
—
(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 |
| America 
|
Won the Royal Yacht Squadron's 53 mile regatta around the Isle of Wight, August 22, 1851 |
American 19th century racing yacht (schooner)
—
(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 
|
Collided with the Stockholm in the Atlantic and sank |
Italian luxury ocean liner
—
(January 14, 1953 - July 25, 1956) |
Named after Genoese admiral, 1466-1560 |
| Arizona, USS (BB-39) 
|
The sunken ship lies in Pearl Harbor with a memorial above it honoring the crew lost |
American battleship
—
(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 
|
Its second voyage carried Charles Darwin on his historic expedition |
English two-masted sloop
—
(May 11, 1820 - Sold for scrap in 1870) |
Captained by Robert FitzRoy |
| Belle of Louisville 
|
Oldest continually operating steamboat in the United States |
American river steamboat
—
(1914 - Still in use) |
Originally named the Idlewild |
| Bismarck 
|
At the Battle of Denmark Straits in May, 1941, fired upon the British battlecruiser
HMS Hood which sank within minutes |
German battleship
—
(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 
|
Set seven world water speed records between 1955 and 1964, reaching
276.33 mph (444.71 km/h) |
British jet powered hydroplane
—
(Early 1955 - Flipped and disintegrated at high speed January 4, 1967, killing Campbell |
Developed and piloted by Donald Campbell |
| Bonhomme Richard, USS 
|
Warship commanded by John Paul Jones |
American frigate
—
(February 4, 1779 - Sank in battle September 25, 1779) |
Defeated HMS Serapis in the Battle of Flamborough Head |
| Bounty, HMS 
|
Mutiny aboard ship, April 28, 1789, led by Fletcher Christian against Captain William Bligh |
English three-mast collier
—
(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 |
| Calypso 
|
Oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau sailed her as a mobile laboratory for field research |
American minesweeper, ferry; refitted for research
—
(March 21, 1941 - Struck from the Naval Register in 1947) |
Carried advanced equipment, including mini submarines |
| Central America, SS 
|
Sank in a hurricane in 1857, along with 400 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds of gold |
American three-masted sidewheel steamer
—
(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” |
| Clermont (North River Steamboat) 
|
The first enduring and financially successful steamboat, running from New York to Albany |
American steamboat
—
(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 |
| Constitution, USS (Old Ironsides) 
|
Oldest commissioned ship afloat in the world |
American three-masted heavy frigate
—
(October 21, 1797 - Now on display) |
Larger and more heavily armed than the standard frigates of the period |
| Cutty Sark 
|
Lost China-to-London race to ship called Thermopylae |
British clipper ship
—
(February 16, 1870 - Put on display December, 1954) |
Preserved as a museum ship located at Greenwich, England |
| Dreadnought, HMS 
|
First “all-big-gun” armament and steam turbine propulsion |
British dreadnought battleship
—
(February 10, 1906 - Sold for scrap 1923) |
Revolutionized naval power; started naval arms race |
| Edmund Fitzgerald, SS 
|
Sank suddenly during a gale storm on Lake Superior without a distress signal |
American lake freighter
—
(June 8, 1958 - Lost in a storm on November 10, 1975) |
All 29 members lost |
| Endurance (Christened Polaris) 
|
Used by Sir Ernest Shackleton for the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition |
Norweigen three-masted barquentine
(1)
—
(December 17, 1912 - Crushed by pack ice in the Weddell Sea in 1915) |
One of the strongest wooden ship ever built |
| Enterprise, USS 
|
World’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the eighth U.S. Naval vessel to bear the name |
American aircraft carrier
—
(September 24, 1960 - Still in use) |
As one of the oldest carriers in the fleet, she is scheduled for decommissioning in 2014-2015 |
| Exxon Valdez (later Sea River Mediterranean)
|
Spilled millions of gallons of crude oil in Prince William Sound |
American oil tanker
—
(October 14, 1986 - Still in use) |
Ran aground trying to avoid ice |
| Flying Cloud 
|
Sailed from New York to San Francisco in 89 days, more than 16,000 miles |
American clipper ship
—
(1851 - Went aground June 19, 1874) |
Its navigator was a woman, Eleanor Creesy |
| Fram 
|
Used in expeditions in the Arctic and Antarctic regions by the Norwegian explorers |
Norwegian schooner
—
(1892 - Currently on display at the Fram Museum, Oslo) |
Most likely the strongest ship ever built;
sailed farthest north and south than any other wooden ship |
| General Slocum 
|
Caught fire and burned to the water line in New York’s East River on June 15, 1904
killing 1,021 people |
American river steamboat; sidewheeler
—
(1891 - The remains were recovered and converted into a barge,
which sank in a storm in 1911) |
Named after Major General Henry Warner Slocum (1827-94) |
| Glomar Explorer 
|
Built for a secret operation by the CIA to recover a sunken Soviet
submarine, K-129, which was lost in April 1968. |
American deep sea exploration ship
—
(July 1, 1971 - currently operates as the GSF Explorer) |
Converted into a deep sea oil drilling ship in 1997 |
| Golden Hind 
|
Circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580, captained by Sir Francis Drake |
English galleon
—
(Probably 1576 - In dry dock for decades where it rotted away) |
Originally known as the Pelican, but was renamed by Drake mid-voyage |
| Graf Spee, Admiral 
|
Though size was limited by the Treaty of Versailles, she was as heavily armed as a battleship.
Sank nine Allied merchant ships |
German pocket battleship
—
(January 6, 1936 - Scuttled December 17, 1939) |
Afterwards, ships of this size were called heavy cruisers |
| Great Eastern, SS 
|
The world’s largest steamship; successfully laid cable across the Atlantic ocean cable |
British iron sailing steamship
—
(January 31, 1858 - Broken up 1889) |
Completed 45 crossings in eight years; then used for carrying mail, then troops |
| Great Western, SS 
|
The first steamship built for crossing the Atlantic; completed the crossing in April, 1838 |
British two-paddle steamship
—
(July 19, 1837 - Taken out of service December, 1846) |
In later years, used as a showboat, a floating palace/concert hall and gymnasium |
| Half Moon (De Halve Maen) 
|
Henry Hudson’s ship looking for Northwest Passage |
Dutch square-rigged, three-masted wooden sailing vessel
—
(March 25, 1609 - Unknown) |
Englishman Henry Hudson was in the service of the Dutch East India Company. |
| Hood, HMS 
|
Last battlecruiser built by Britain |
British battlecruiser
—
(May 15, 1920 - Sunk by the German battleship Bismarck
at the Battle of the Denmark Straits, May, 1941) |
Of the 1,418 aboard, only three men survived |
| Hunley, H.L. 
|
During the American Civil War, the first submarine to sink a ship |
Confederate submarine
—
(July 1863 - Sank after attacking and sinking USS Housatonic
in Charleston Harbor February 17, 1864) |
Attacked by embedding a barbed spar torpedo into the foe’s hull and detonating it
as she backed away |
NOTES: (1)
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 —
|