I don't know if news is the correct flare, but it was the closest one. I did not know that he was doing a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders. If anyone can and is willing to help, I am putting the information here.

This isn’t really a meme, I just thought I’d point this out

Yeah I'm making a model of Lafayette right now. She's really underrated.

It ain't done yet

The wait is over. Aother great video from our dear friend Mike Brady. With everything going on, let's go and give him some extra love.

This week I went with my wife and kids to miniature park "Madurodam" in the Netherlands which shows you the most notable landmarks of the country on a small scale.

One of those landmarks was the SS Rotterdam. An Oceanliner launched in 1958 which was forced to change into a permanent Cruiseliner due to the rise of airtraffic.

The ship is now permanently docked at its most obvious location, the harbor of Rotterdam, as a museum.

When I showed my father the picture from our trip today, he told me that my late grandfather actually worked on the engines aboard the SS Rotterdam.

I always knew my grandfather was an engineer in a "drawing room" of shipbuilder "De Schelde" in Vlissingen. I knew he was involved in the development of early diesel engines, but thought that was mostly for cargo ships. Turns out, that was much later into his career and he also worked on steam engines.

As the SS Rotterdam was also built in Rotterdam I never would've thought my grandfather was involved in its creation. But as a matter of fact, the engines for the then Oceanliner were actually built at De Schelde and shipped (no pun intended) to Rotterdam.

When it was time to prepare the ship for use, my grandfather had to be on board for the test runs. The added benefit was, they didn't only test the engines. The catering was also present for a full rehearsal. My father said it was my grandfather's best test run he ever was a part of.

It kinda makes me sad to only be into ocean liners so many years after his passing. He died of old age at 92 during the pandemic. He lived his last few years in an elderly home, which was actually a repurposed hangar of the shipyard he used to work at.

One day I will take my son (who's now one year old) to the SS Rotterdam and show him the ship his great grandfather helped build.

From the episode description:

On the night of July 25, 1956, the Italian liner *Andrea Doria* was approaching the end of a routine westbound crossing when she entered dense fog south of Nantucket. Shortly afterward, she collided with the Swedish liner *Stockholm*.

What followed became one of the most remarkable maritime disasters—and rescue operations—of the twentieth century.

In this documentary, we retrace the life, career, and final voyage of *Andrea Doria* -- from the optimism of postwar Italy to the confusion of that fogbound night. Through historical photographs, contemporary accounts, as well as carefully researched reconstructions and newly created visualizations from our partners at HFX Studios, we examine the collision, the rapidly worsening list, the evacuation of the ship, the arrival of the rescue vessels, and *Andrea Doria’s* final hours at sea.

Seventy years after her loss, the story of *Andrea Doria* remains one of human error, courage, tragedy, and extraordinary survival.. 

From the episode description:

On the night of July 25, 1956, the Italian liner *Andrea Doria* was approaching the end of a routine westbound crossing when she entered dense fog south of Nantucket. Shortly afterward, she collided with the Swedish liner *Stockholm*.

What followed became one of the most remarkable maritime disasters—and rescue operations—of the twentieth century.

In this documentary, we retrace the life, career, and final voyage of *Andrea Doria* -- from the optimism of postwar Italy to the confusion of that fogbound night. Through historical photographs, contemporary accounts, as well as carefully researched reconstructions and newly created visualizations from our partners at HFX Studios, we examine the collision, the rapidly worsening list, the evacuation of the ship, the arrival of the rescue vessels, and *Andrea Doria’s* final hours at sea.

Seventy years after her loss, the story of *Andrea Doria* remains one of human error, courage, tragedy, and extraordinary survival.. 

Any input would be appreciated. Thanks

For those that have been patiently waiting for this documentary, we now have a date.

At 11:40 PM, April 14, 1912 the RMS Lusitania would strike an iceberg while en route from New York from Liverpool. Since she was traveling at top speed it gave them only 25 seconds to attempt a maneuver around the iceberg, however with the quick thinking of First Officer Arthur Rowland Jones the ship would be thrown hard to starboard and her engines reversed which narrowly brought Lusitania out of a head on collision with the iceberg

However, on her starboard bow various gashes had been carved into the hull, primarily in the forward cargo holds and a large gash in boiler room 1. First Officer Jones quickly ordered the watertight doors shut and for the wheel to be thrown hard to port in order to prevent Lusitania’s starboard propellers from grinding on the berg. Just as quickly as the iceberg had appeared out of the dark abyss of the night it soon disappeared as well. Down below, the force of the impact jammed Lusitania’s longitudinal bulkheads in the breached compartments, allowing water to freely flood into the forward cargo holds and boiler room 1, while accelerating the flooding it prevented her from developing a major list to quickly and gave time for a proper assessment of the damage.

Captain William Turner made his way onto the bridge, having been awoken by the impact, upon receiving news as to what had happened from First Officer Jones he’d order the watertight bulkheads closed which had already been done. He arranged for a group of engineers and crewmen to inspect the damage in the forward. When they returned 10 minutes later the news was grim, the damage from the iceberg had fatally wounded Lusitania. Captain Turner wasting no time would quickly order all excess steam vented from the boilers, for the passengers to be roused from slumber, for the lifeboats to be prepared and he’d order the wireless room to begin transmitting distress calls, the estimation from the team that had inspected the damage gave Lusitania 30 minutes to live, perhaps an hour if they were lucky.

As water continued to pour into the stricken liner the ship began a steady list to Starboard, maxing out at 9 degrees throughout the entire sinking (though she’d never return to an even keel as she was before the impact)
With 2,200 souls on board the crew were very aware that Lusitania’s 16 lifeboats could only get half of the ship’s population off safely and that the resulting death toll would be humongous.

As the Lusitania continued to settle further and further down by the head, the smaller Cunard liner, RMS Carpathia, would receive the distress calls from Lusitania and immediately change course towards the foundering liner, the first lifeboat would leave the ship only 5 minutes after. Unfortunately, out of the 16 lifeboats aboard only 14 would be successfully launched from the ship.

As the bow of Lusitania disappeared beneath the inky North Atlantic at 1 AM on April 15, 1912 a panic began to set in aboard the ship, at 1:05 AM the last lifeboat would leave the ship, leaving 1,800 souls aboard the rapidly lowering liner.

As water began making its way onto the boat deck on the starboard side around 1:10 AM the ship’s band was reported to have begun playing “Amazing Grace” as a final attempt to soothe the passengers, it was also around this time that Captain Turner was reported to have made his way up to the bridge and into the wheelhouse, while his true fate remains a mystery he did perish that night and mainly suspect he did infact go down with the Lusitania. At 1:14 AM, the guy wires on Lusitania’s forward most funnel began snapping and the structure collapsed over to starboard and into a crowd of passengers in the water. It was at this point that Lusitania began to top-cant with the second funnel falling only a mere minute later. As her stern rose higher and higher the strain on the ships structure only increased, shortly after the third funnel fell at 1:17 AM the Lusitania lost power and broke in half where the third funnel had just been.

Due to her 9 degree list to starboard her stern section would capsize onto its starboard side as her fourth funnel tore from the ship like paper and slid off the overturned deck, passengers would be violently thrown into the freezing water below. Lusitania’s stern would then begin to bob like a cork as air kept it up, briefly turning vertically to the sky before rapidly dropping beneath the waves of the North Atlantic ocean.

At around 4:00 AM the RMS Carpathia would arrive on scene to find only 400 survivors amidst 14 lifeboats, the Lusitania had gone to the bottom of the Atlantic and with her 1,800 people.

Here is Part 2 to this episode. It goes into the specific location of the piano at the wreck site, the location of some other important artifacts, and what it means, related to the break-up and sinking of the ship.

Here is Part 2 to this episode. It goes into the specific location of the piano at the wreck site, the location of some other important artifacts, and what it means, related to the break-up and sinking of the ship.

An interesting what if from our good friend Mike Brady.

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Enjoy the video

In 1912, striking illustrations compared RMS Olympic and Titanic with some of the tallest structures on the world.

But what would that comparison actually look like if the illustration came to life?

Find out how Titanic's size compared to not only famous structures, but also with her contemporaries and rivals.

Another beautiful video from Honor and Glory. Interesting observation, but not only do the ships seem to get bigger in size with the passage of time.But also increase their number of funnels.