RMS Germanic was an ocean liner built by Harland and Wolff in 1874 and operated by the White Star Line. She was the sister ship of Britannic, serving with the White Star Line until 1904. She later operated under the name Ottawa until 1910. After passing into Turkish ownership she operated under the names Gul Djemal / Gülcemal, and gained great popularity until she was broken up in 1950 after a total career of 75 years.
Design and construction
In her original design, Germanic was nearly identical to her earlier sister Britannic, and details about the technical features and facilities of the two ships can be found on the Britannic article. Germanic was originally intended to be fitted with the same experimental adjustable propeller system as her sister, however as this proved to be unsuccessful in service on her sister, it was removed during construction, and Germanic was instead fitted with a conventional fixed propeller arrangement. Germanic was built at Harland and Wolff, Belfast and was launched on 15 July 1874. Although fitting out was completed in early 1875, delivery was delayed until May of that year so that she would arrive in time for the summer transatlantic season. She was primarily steam powered, but was equipped with auxiliary sails. Germanic was the last iron-hulled ship built for the White Star Line as all their future ships used steel from then on.
Career
Germanic
She departed on her maiden voyage on 20 May 1875 from Liverpool to New York, arriving ten days later. In doing so, she replaced , the White Star's first post-Ismay steamship that was placed on charter by the company in the same year.
In February 1876 Germanic made a record eastbound crossing, sailing from New York to Queenstown in 7 days, 15 hours and 17 minutes at an average speed of 15.81 knots, and winning the much coveted record which would become known as the Blue Riband from the Inman Line's City of Berlin. In April 1877 she broke the westbound record, crossing from Queenstown to New York in 7 days 11 hours and 37 minutes, averaging 15.76 knots. Meaning that Germanic and Britannic (which had also set records) were recognised as among the finest liners on the Atlantic.
On 7 November 1880, she collided with Samarang off Sandy Hook, New Jersey, United States whilst on a voyage from Liverpool to New York. Germanic was undamaged and resumed her voyage. Samarang had to be beached. In January 1883 whilst on an eastbound crossing, Germanics propeller shaft sheared at sea, and she was forced to make the rest of the journey by sail. In April 1885, Germanic encountered a severe storm whilst on a westbound crossing with 850 passengers on board. When she was around west of Ireland, an exceptionally large wave broke over the ship causing substantial damage, with several lifeboats torn away, the skylights to her engine rooms smashed, and her pilot house being stove in. Water flooded into the boiler and engine rooms, a hole was torn into the side of the reading room, which was flooded, along with the saloon and staterooms, and 13 people were injured, with one sailor being washed overboard. The captain decided that it would be unsafe to continue the journey, and so the ship was turned around and returned to port in order for the ship to be repaired. This was the first recorded incident where a White Star ship had to abort a journey due to a weather related incident. On 14 January 1886, she was driven ashore at Egremont, Lancashire. She was refloated and taken in to Birkenhead, Cheshire for examination.
In 1895, after twenty years of service, Germanic was withdrawn from service and returned to her builders to undergo a major refit, in order to modernise the ship and extend her service life: New higher pressure boilers were fitted, and her original compound engines were replaced by more modern triple expansion engines made by Harland & Wolff. New funnels were fitted which were taller than the originals, most of her rigging was removed, and her superstructure was enlarged by the addition of an extra deck. Her interiors were also extensively remodelled. Germanics gross tonnage was increased to 5,066 tons by the refit, and she returned to regular service on 15 May that year under the command of Edward Smith, becoming the first vessel to embark passengers at Liverpool's new floating landing stage. The new engines improved Germanics speed; her first voyage using them shaved several hours off her previous record. Being more efficient, they also reduced coal consumption.