This is simply an overview of historic liners,recordbreakers either for the world or Cunard or White Star...some statistics are different from different sources.Lengths are apparently given from prow by some and at load waterline by others. (As a rule,of course,an "-ic" ship is White Star and an "-ia" ship is Cunard) I think it's interesting to see the evolution with increasing space per passenger. The early ships were a small fraction of modern size...the first 300-foot liner was the 322-foot,3270-ton Great Britain,which notably existed from 1845 to 1937,an unusual lifetime for a ship.In 1853 its size was exceeded by the Himalaya(340 feet long,4690 tons)...then in 1858 came the Great Eastern,over twice the length(692 feet) and over four times the tonnage(18,914) of any ship before,and at its demise in 1888 both records leapt backwards,to the 528-foot,10650-ton American City of New York.But to give some statistics for prominent ships of that time onwards... NAME(year) LENGTH(ft) GROSS TONNAGE ACCOMODATIONS Servia(1881) 514 7392 480 1st/750 2nd,total 1230 [Cunard's first steel ship...then ranked (from 1889 400 1st, second in the world to Great Eastern in 200 2nd,500 3rd=1100) size,introduced electric light,the accomodations were "of a high standard" but I bet few would endure them today] Oregon(1884) 500 7324 340 1st/92 Intermediate/ [Acquired by Cunard from a competitor 110 3rd/1000 steerage after crossing Atlantic in then-record (THIRD CLASS IS NOT 6 days,10 hours,9 minutes;wrecked,all STEERAGE!!The Titanic's saved,in 1886 near Long Island,N.Y; 3rd class was better than divers visit the wreck] the Oregon's 3rd,let alone its steerage) total 1542 Umbria(1884) 500 7718 550 1st/800 3rd,total 1350 (no 2nd,but 160 Intermediate added 1885) Etruria(1885) 500 7718 550 1st/160 Inter/800 3rd total 1510 [sisters Umbria,Etruria set records for crossing;Etruria had multiple collisions in career] Teutonic(1889) 566 9984 300 1st/190 2nd/1000 3rd, [White Star's last attempt to compete total 1490...after 1911 on speed rather than size,record 550 2nd/1000 3rd total 1550 5 days 16 hours 31 mins across Atlantic 1891..broke record of near twin Majestic (I)] Campania(1893) 601 12950 600 1st/400 2nd/1000 3rd, [broke Teutonic's record 1893, total 2000 in 1901 first vessel with a Marconi wireless,in WW I first aircraft carrier] Lucania(1893) 601 12952 600 1st/400 2nd/1000 3rd, [broke Campania's record 1894,fastest total 2000 ship across Atlantic until a series of Germans beginning 1898] Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse (1897) 655 14349 558 1st/338 2nd/1074 [broke Lucania's record 1898] steerage(or 3d?),total 1970 Oceanic(1899) 705 17274 410 1st/300 2nd/1000 3rd, [finally replaced Great Eastern as total 1710 longest in history,sank 1914] Celtic(1901) 700 20904 347 1st/160 2nd/2350 3rd, [finally replaced Great Eastern as total 2857,after 1920 largest in history,note that cruise 347 1st/250 2nd/1000 3rd, ships five times the size today total 1597 carry fewer passengers than it did pre-1920] Cedric(1903) 700 21227 365 1st/160 2nd/2352 3rd, [like Celtic,once largest afloat total 2867,then 1919-28 and later modified to reduce 347 1st/200 2nd/1000 3rd, massive crowding] total 1547,after 1928 300 Cabin/385 Tourist/ 530 3rd,total 1215 Baltic(1904) 726 23884 425 1st/450 2nd/2000 3rd, [similar history to Celtic, total 2875,after 1927 Cedric] 393 Cabin/339 Tourist/ 1150 3rd,total 1882 Carmania(1905) 650 19524 300 1st/350 2nd/2000 3rd, [pioneered steam turbines] total 2650,after 1923 425 Cabin/365 Tourist/ 650 3rd,total 1440 Caronia(1905) 648 19687 300 1st/250 2nd/2000 3rd, [quadruple expansion steam engine, total 2550,after 1926 tested vs. Carmania turbines] 452 Cabin/365 Tourist/ 650 3rd,total 1467 Adriatic(1906) 709 24541 425 1st/500 2nd/2000 3rd, [White Star's biggest before the total 2925,then 1918-28 Olympic class,ran slow on only 280 400 1st/460 2nd/1300 3rd, tons of coal a day vs. 825 for total 2160,after 1928 Titanic...later a cruise ship] 506 Cabin/560 Tourist/ 404 3rd,total 1470 Lusitania (1907) 790 31550 563 1st/464 2nd/1138 3rd, [one of first to give third-class total 2265 passengers their own cabins,barely broke speed record(1st under 5 days) and then lost it to Mauretania... best known for being sunk by Germans 1915] Mauretania (1907) 787 31938 563 1st/464 2nd/1138 3rd, [fastest across Atlantic for twenty total 2265 years] Olympic(1911) 882 45342 735 1st/674 2nd/1026 3rd, [46359 tons after post-Titanic total 2435,after 1919 refit] 750 1st/500 2nd/1150 3rd, total 2400(changed again 1928) Titanic(1912) 882 46328 1034 1st/510 2nd/1022 3rd, [needs no introduction...lucky many total 2566 cabins were empty on maiden voyage] [figures vary] Britannic (1914) 887? 48158 790 1st/836 2nd/953 3rd, total 2579,but never carried a passenger due to war Imperator/ Berengaria 919 52022 970 1st/630 2nd/515 Tourist/ (1913) 606 3rd,total 2721 as Cunarder,previously more as German(incl. 942 3rd and 1772 steerage) Vaterland/ Leviathan 950 54282 750 1st/535 2nd/850 3rd/ (1914) 1536 4th,total 4171,after [world passenger capacity record?] 1923 750 1st/535 2nd/2000 3rd,total 3285,1926 refit to 1st/2nd/Tourist/3rd, 1930 to 1st/Tourist/3rd Bismarck/ Majestic(1915) 954 56621 700 1st/545 2nd/850 3rd, [begun in Germany before WW I, total 2095(but once only saw service for UK after; carried 2625),after 1928 ended life in RN WW II] 860 1st/705 Tourist/1067 3rd,total 2572 Aquitania (1914) 868 45647 597 1st/614 2nd/2052 3rd, [set UK passenger capacity record, total 3263,after 1932 but very luxurious in 1st] 650 1st/600 Tourist/950 3rd,total 2200 Bremen(1929) 938 56390 800 1st/500 2nd/300 [broke Mauretania speed record] Tourist/600 3rd, total 2200 Normandie (1935) 1029 79280 848 1st/670 2nd/454 3rd, [later 83423 tons...set Atlantic total 1972 records,1st under 4 days...USA took ship WW II] Queen Mary (1936) 1019 80774 776 Cabin/784 Tourist/ [later 81223 tons...broke Atlantic 579 3rd,total 2139, records and held them until 1952] after 1947 711 1st/ 707 Cabin/577 Tourist, total 1995 Queen Elizabeth (1940) 1031 83673 823 1st/662 Cabin/798 [later 82998 tons] Tourist,total 2283 (carried 10000 troops in WW II) United States (1952) 990 51988 894 1st/594 2nd/554 3rd, [tonnage later reduced by total 2042 remeasurement;broke Atlantic records,never broken by any liner since(3d 10h 40min)] France(1961) 1035 66348 as liner,initially [now remodelled as 76000-ton cruiser 403 1st/1645 Tourist, Norway] total 2048,later total 1974; now total 2032 as cruiser Queen Elizabeth II(1969) 963 65863 1750 total in 4 subdivided [tonnage figures vary,now grades(possibly once 1900, 70327 is official] originally 2005,564 1st/ 1441 Tourist) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Today's 100,000 ton megacruisers are about 900 feet long and carry 2600 Eagle plan is ~136000 tons,1019 feet long,3114-3800 passengers Rotterdam VI,fast for cruiser at 25 knots,is 780 ft,62000 ton,1316-1700 passengers(uses two figures)... 70,000 ton cruisers typically 1800 passengers(lower figure) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- My superliner concept: Gigantic? >1120? 93000? probably in 2000-2200 range [service speed over 41.3 knots] in several classes(e.g. 400 1st/500 Deluxe/600 Superior/700 Standard)