Building the Biggest: From Ironships to Cruise Liners

In 1843 Brunel’s ironship Great Britain was launched, becoming the forerunner of the great steel-hulled ships of today. Yet she was tiny compared with the transatlantic liners of the early 1900s as ship owners vied for a top spot in terms of speed, elegance, and size. Liners such as Mauritania and Titanic were later followed by two giant Queens and France’s liner Normandie. But the coming jet age threatened the end of the ocean line until the dedicated cruise ship was born a decade later and now the ships are as massive as the industry itself. Geoff Lunn traces the many changes in construction and design over the years, and looks at what the biggest means across all spheres, and not just physical size. This illustrated book also reviews the careers of the greatest ships, culminating in the building of Royal Caribbean’s Genesis-class cruise ships, Oasis of the Seas (2009) and Allure of the Seas (2010), each incredibly measuring three times the tonnage of the QE2.