ssMaritime
With
Reuben Goossens
Maritime Historian
SS Oceanic
Oceanic - Home Lines (1965-1986) - StarShip Oceanic
- Premier Cruises (1986-2000) - Big Red Boat 1 - Premier Cruises (1986-2000) -
Oceanic - Pullmantur (2001- )
A
Matter of Design
By William
Vandersteel - Alpine, NJ –
Little known history behind the identity of the
original designers of the SS Oceanic, steadfastly denied by the Italian
shipbuilder and the
Ari Onassis had asked for the meeting to discuss
his proposal for the De Schelde Shipyard to develop a
design for two ships, specifically designed as cruise ships, and
with trans Atlantic capability, to operate in the Mediterranean
during the winter and the
In 1953, de Schelde had completed the Kungsholm II
for the Swedish American Line and, during the maiden voyage to New York,
which I attended, I mentioned to Hupkes that the new Kungsholm was a nice
design in the traditional sense and observed that I could suggest some
"improvements" to bring the design and styling into the
modern age. After discussing my ideas, Hupkes was intrigued and suggested I
meet with his naval architect during my next visit to
As for my background, I am an aeronautical engineer
with a lot of experience as a youngster, sailing all over the globe with
my family, giving me an abiding interest in ships. I also gained some
styling design experience with my first job, after graduating from
MIT, with the General Motors Styling Section for car design. The
job lasted only 8 months when World War II broke out and I
volunteered to join the US Army Air Corps to be trained as a fighter
test pilot.
De Schelde's Naval Architect, Mr. Pieterse and I
sat down in 1955 to discuss my ideas, briefly outlined as follows;
Change the conventional curved sheer line
to a straight line, parallel with the water line. Eliminate camber
to make flat decks, like floors in any building ashore. Neither sheer
nor camber serve any purpose on a large ship, or any ship for that
matter, and they only add to cost. At first, Pieterse was horrified
at the thought of a ship without a graceful sheer line as he
had designed for the Kungsholm. Pieterse tried to defend camber on
structural ground but eventually conceded that the same structural integrity
could be achieved without camber. To achieve proper styling, all decks must
be flat and parallel with the waterline.
Next, I insisted that all promenade decks be
fully glass enclosed. I knew from experience that the first thing an
experienced ocean traveller does after boarding, is to run for the deck steward
and reserve a deck chair on the limited space of the fantail (stern), the only
place where you don't get blown away. Also, I insisted that the only promenade
deck be at the very top level, also fully glassed in, with an unobstructed
view of the ocean.
I also insisted that the lifeboats be
stowed on a lower deck and not on the top deck so they would not detract
from ship's styling. My attempt to substitute life rafts for life boats was
apparently not allowed by Lloyds' rules, though they are obviously a safer and
better solution. Naval ships only use life rafts even in the face of much
larger risk.
Then, as a main feature of the ship, I envisaged an
open space near the ship's center, with a transparent sliding roof and a
swimming pool as the central attraction. The beam sides to be fully
glassed in with all seating (deck chairs) facing inwards, overlooking the
swimming pool. The presumption is that passengers would rather stare at Bikinis
than look at the ocean which they can see from their cabins or top deck. The sliding
roof would close during inclement weather. I named this the
After Pieterse completed the design, he had become
an enthusiastic supporter of the new configuration and conceded that eliminating
sheer and amber might reduce the total construction cost by as much as
10%. I was given a ten page copy of the completed design and I was satisfied
that Pieterse had faithfully followed all my suggestions.
De Schelde's proposal and drawings were presented
by John Hupkes to Ari Onassis in a
The significant fact is
that every cruise liner, without exception as far as I know, built since
the completion of the Oceanic has followed every feature and configuration
which led to the Oceanic's original design. That neither the Italian
builder or the Home Lines, as far as I know, has ever claimed credit for
introducing a wholly new design concept for cruise ships, probably stems
from their concern that such a claim could lead to the revelation
that the original design was made by Mr. Pieterse, Naval Architect for the
Kon. Mij. De Schelde of
William Vandersteel
Her History
SS
Oceanic was built by Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Monfalcone in 1962, and
she was launched on
The super sleek looking SS Oceanic on the
building slip and ready to be launched January in 1963
From the Paolo Baldazzi collection
As built, Oceanic accommodated up to
1,600, configured as follows. 230 first class and 1,370 tourist class. First
class had 8 major deluxe suites, 58 mini suites, 58 deluxe cabins, all having a
lounge or lounge area. In addition, there were 20 single cabins. All of the 500
tourist class cabins had two lower beds and two upper
Other onboard features.
Closed circuit TV screens in public
rooms, apartments and deluxe cabins. TV cameras for recording cruise activities
and or transmitting films to the theatre. One of the finest Swimming pool "
SS Oceanic 1965
specifications
Builders: Cantieri Riunti dell'Adriatico,
Yard: 1876
Tonnage: 39,241
Engines:
Screws: twin
Top Speed: 26 – max 27.25 knots
Length: 772ft – 238.5m
Beam: 97ft – 29.4m
Draught: 28.5 feet
Passengers: 230 First Class
1,370
Tourist Class
1,200
One Class
Crew: 560
Fully
Air-Conditioned
Denny
Brown stabilizers
However, by the time of her delivery
Trans Atlantic ocean travel had become the less favoured option of travel due
to the increased popularity of air travel thus the company had decided to cease
their regular trans Atlantic line voyages. Instead Oceanic headed for
Oceanic departed on her maiden voyage to
Jerry Gilbert of
A painting (print) of
the SS Oceanic presented to Mr & Mrs Gilbert
Courtesy of Jerry
Gilbert
After 21 years of service and with the
ever increasing fuel costs and the arrival of newer ships, Home Line decided to
sell the Oceanic, and she was sold to Premier Cruise Line in 1985.
After an extensive refit, she was
renamed StarShip Oceanic and commenced cruising for Premier in 1986. Departing
from Port Canaveral she undertook mostly three and four night cruises to
SS Oceanic
Author’s collection
Following the collapse of Premier, Oceanic
was acquired by a new Spanish Cruise Company, Pullmantur Cruises who named her
Oceanic once again. She has successfully cruised for this company to the point
they have now acquired a good number of other second hand ships.
Oceanic with her rather bold
“Pullmantur Cruises” livery
Author’s collection
Since entering service with Pullmantur
the Oceanic has been constantly upgraded and refitted with flammable materials
having been removed she is now very close to being able to pass the new 2010
SOLAS regulations.
As indicated above, Oceanic is in a superb condition and although due to be sold she will still undergo a dry docking in Gibraltar in January 2009, thus obviously, even Pullmantur believes that she has life in her yet as a cruise ship. Pullmantur hopes to sell her to another cruise operator, as long it is not their rival Spanish operator. Despite her age and being steam powered she is remarkably fuel efficient. I was told by a Scandinavian engineer who has worked on her a number of times during her refits, that she burns 6.3 tons of fuel per hour when she sails at a maximum speed of 21 knots which gives her a daily fuel consumption of around 150 tons. However she normally cruises at 18 knots. We know from the specifications above that when built her max speed was 27.5 knots but this came at a hefty fuel cost, but her current cruise speed which makes her quite economical to run. As a result today she is a very popular and successful cruise ship indeed and a viable proposition of a company as this ship will be able to sail on with the company long past 2010! However that would not be the case!
SS Oceanic seen in
2008 with her new low key Pullmantur livery and red funnel
Photograph provided Pullmantur
Cruises
In February/March 2009 Pullmantur
Cruises negotiated a sale of the superb SS Oceanic to the Japanese PeaceBoat
organization. She was destored in
SS Oceanic seen in her
new role at
Photograph © 2009 Copyright
– Ken Murayama –
SS Oceanic seen in
Photograph © Philippe Brebant
View
the
Oceanic Photo
Album One
********************************************
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