SS France

  Built at Chantiers de l'Atlantique, she was launched 20 September 1910 into the River Loire. The spectacle was watched by scores of cheering Frenchmen who had gathered for the occasion. In the following months, her machinery was installed and her luxurious interior were fitted. Finally completed in 1912, her maiden voyage departed from her homeport of Le Havre on 20 April 1912, just five days after the sinking of the Titanic. As a result of the disaster, the France lost much publicity but quickly established herself on her route. She did much to improve the image of the CGT which, to date, had not had much influence in the North Atlantic. Cuisine onboard was said to have been amongst the finest at sea. Sailing at a service speed of 23.5 knots (43.5 km/h), she was faster than any ship afloat save for the Mauretania and Lusitania. Despite this, she attained a speed of 25.09 knots (46.47 km/h) on her trials. At 23,769 tons, the France was half the size of the newest British liners, such as the Olympic but what she lacked in size, she made up for in opulence. Her first class interiors were amongst the most lavish seen at sea and were decorated in style Louis quatorze earning the nickname the château or Versailles of the Atlantic. Proud of their great achievement, the new France was not without problems; she suffered from disturbing vibrations, and had a marked tendency to roll, even when the seas were flat calm. She was withdrawn from service after just a handful of crossings to have these two serious issues addressed. She was sent to the Harland & Wolff Shipyard in Northern Ireland, where longer and wider bilge keels were fitted to her hull to reduce rolling and new propellers were fitted to reduce vibrations, making her not only more comfortable to travel aboard, but faster as well. When World War I erupted in 1914, the France was immediately requisitioned by the French Navy for use as an armed merchant cruiser and renamed France IV. Her time as a cruiser was short-lived as she was too large, burned too much coal to be of good use, and was consequently reconfigured to carry troops. Later still, in 1916 she was painted white and used as a hospital ship in the Dardanelles, operating in tandem with White Star’s new flagship, Britannic and Cunard's new Aquitania. During her time as a hospital ship she was converted to have 2,500 beds for injured troops.
  When the Britannic was sunk in late 1916, the need for high-capacity hospital ships was even more dire, and she continued in this role until the United States entered the war in 1917, when she was deployed back to the Atlantic to ferry American troops to the continent with space for some 5,000. In 1918, her military service was cut short by an engine room explosion that killed nine crew members and thus required extensive repairs. Returned to the CGT in March 1919, her name was promptly changed back to France, although she was kept busy repatriating American troops until that autumn. She was sent for refurbishment that winter, returning to commercial duty in early 1920. In 1921, she passed flagship status on to the newer and larger Paris, but continued to be a popular means of travel, with a near club-like following among the wealthy. Her affluent passenger loads swayed the CGT in 1924 to convert her to an all first-class ship, save for just 150 third class berths. During the conversion, her boilers were modified to burn oil fuel rather than coal, allowing her engine room staff to be greatly reduced. She sailed without incident, crossing the Atlantic during the peak months and cruising in the winter until 1927. With the advent of the new Ile de France, France was diverted almost totally to cruising. The Great Depression essentially sounded the death knell for the liner. Many of the millionaires she had carried over the years had been financially destroyed and the general downturn in business cut deeply into transatlantic travel. The France spent more and more time idle, until she finally was withdrawn from service in 1932. 
  Laid up at Le Havre, she sat unattended until January 1933, when a fire was discovered by a night watchman. Although it was rapidly extinguished, the fire had caused some minor damage, but by now she was outclassed by her newer running-mates. CGT had by then commissioned a new flagship, the great Normandie which was nearing completion. As a result, the company decided it was time to scrap the 21-year-old liner. On 15 April 1935, the old France departed Le Havre under her own steam to the scrappers at Dunkirk, Scotland. 

TS Michelangelo and TS Raffaello

  TS Raffaello and Michelangelo were sister ships belonging to the Italian company Ansaldo Shipyards, TS Michelangelo was launched on 16 September 1962 and his "brother" launched on March 24, 1963.
They were 275 meters long 30 meters wide and weighed 55,000 tons and were very fast because its speed was 26 knots on average.
His career was not very progressive for both ships too short lived about 10 years, for example TS Michelangelo was sold to Iran for use of parts.
I truly magnificent ships because these vessels a few years ago preceded the modern ships of today, the so-called cruises hotel because its hull was not as black and became white.
In terms of design I confess, I do not appreciate that ships with two chimneys, but these ships are however dynamic aspect. It was the end of the transatlantic Italians. Since the late 50's that the trip by plane were much faster and cheaper.

RMS Carpathia

RMS Carpathia

   RMS Carpathia was built by Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson at their Newcastle upon Tyne, England shipyard. She was launched on 6 August 1902 and began her sea trials on 22 April 1903 which ended on 25 April. Carpathia displaced 8,600 long tons (8,700 t) and was 541 ft (165 m) long and 64 ft 6 in (19.66 m) breadth.

   Carpathia made her maiden voyage on 5 May 1903 from Liverpool, England to Boston, USA, and ran services between New York, Trieste, Rijeka and various Mediterranean ports. Carpathia was sailing from New York City in 14 April 1912, when received a SOS frm RMS Titanic that was sinking. On morning of 15 April 1912 Carpathia rescue the survivors of Titanic. Carpathia took on 705 survivors.

   For the rescue work, the crew of the Carpathia were awarded medals by the survivors. Crew members were awarded bronze medals, officers silver and Captain Rostron a silver cup and gold medal, presented by Margaret Brown.

   Carpathia was used to transfer American troops to Europe during the First World War. Among them was Frank Buckles, who became the last surviving American veteran of the war. She was part of a convoy when she was torpedoed on 17 July 1918 off the east coast of Ireland by the German submarine U-55, the explosions killing five crewmen. The Carpathia listed to port and sank bow first. 57 passengers and the surviving crew were rescued by Snowdrop the following day. The last sighting was at 02:45, just as the stern section sank.

   On 9 September 1999, Reuters and AP wire services reported that Argosy International Ltd., headed by Graham Jessop, son of internationally known undersea explorer Keith Jessop, had found the wreck of the Carpathia on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean earlier that week, about 185 mi (298 km) west of Lands End. The next year American author and diver Clive Cussler announced that his organization, NUMA, had found the wreck in the spring of 2000, at a depth of 500 ft (150 m). RMS Carpathia photo was courtesy From Maritime Quest.

SS Normandie