Great Passenger Ships 1910 -1920

It was an age of evolution, when size and speed were almost the ultimate considerations.Bigger was said to be better, and ship owners were not exempted from the prevailing mood, while the German four-stackers of 1897-06 and then Cunard's brilliant "Mauretania" & "Lusitania" of 1907 led the way to larger and grander liners. White Star Line countered by 1911 with the "Olympic," her sister "Titanic," and a near-sister, the "Britannic." The French added the "France" while Cunard took delivery of the beloved" Aquitania." But the Germans won outthey produced the 52,000-ton "Imperator" and a near-sister, the "Vaterland," the last word in shipbuilding and engineering prior to World War I. They and their sister, the "Bismarck," remained the biggest ships in the world until 1935. But other passenger ships appear in this decadeother Atlantic liners, but also ships serving on more diverse routes: Union Castle to Africa, P&O to India and beyond, the Empress liners on the trans-Pacific run. We look at a grand age of maritime creation, ocean-going superlative, but also sad destruction in the dark days of the First War. It was, in all ways, a fascinating period."