Famous Ships and Boats in History

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American Ships; Largest and Fastest

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Admiral, SS — American river steamboat (cruise ship; converted to diesel in 1974)
Was the largest river cruise ship in the world, sailing the Mississippi River from St. Louis. In 1979 she was converted to a land-based casino. She started out as the side-wheeled steel hulled steamboat, the Albatross, then became the Admiral in the 1940s. LAUNCHED: 1907 → FATE: Dismantled and sold for scrap in 2011.

American Queen — American river paddle steamboat; stern-wheeler
Largest steamboat ever built, as of 2012. In 2012 she participated for the first time in the Great Steamboat Race and came in second. LAUNCHED: 1995 → FATE: Still in operation on the Mississippi River.

Ariel — English clipper ship
Famous for almost winning The Great Tea Race of 1866, an unofficial race between Fuzhou, China and London. On September 6, 1866, the Taeping docked twenty minutes ahead of Ariel. LAUNCHED: 1865 → FATE: Went missing in early 1872.

B-39 — Russian foxtrot-class submarine
The Soviet Navy's largest non-nuclear submarines.. In 2012, she was used as a prop in the movie Phantom. Another B-39 is rusting in England (see Black Widow). LAUNCHED: 1967, April 18 → FATE: Decommissioned April 1994; now a museum ship at the Maritime Museum of San Diego, California.

Black Pearl — American yacht
The world's largest sailing yacht capable of running carbon free. Her sails consist of freestanding rotating masts with rigid yards that acts as square rigs. She can accommodate 12 passengers and features an on-deck Jacuzzi, swimming platform, and a tender garage. LAUNCHED: 2016 → FATE: In service.

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Eastland, SS — American steamship, passenger
Largest loss of life from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes. On the morning of July 24, 1915, the ship, being top-heavy, rolled over while docked in the Chicago River, killing 844 passengers and crew. LAUNCHED: 1903, May 18 → FATE: Sunk on July 24, 1915; raised, converted to a gunboat, renamed USS Wilmette February, 1918; sold for scrap in October of 1946.

El Faro, SS — American container ship (cargo ship)
The worst maritime disaster for a U.S.-flagged vessel in decades, resulting in the deaths of 33 crew. In 2003, prior to the invasion of Iraq in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the vessel, then named Northern Lights, ferried U.S. Marines and supplies from California to Kuwait. LAUNCHED: 1974, November 18 → FATE: Lost at sea with all hands on October 1, 2015 after losing propulsion near the eyewall of Hurricane Joaquin.

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Eos — American three-masted Bermuda rigged schooner, built in Germany
The largest sailing yacht in the world with an overall length of 305 feet or 92.92 meters. With much of its length in the bowsprit, the length at the waterline is less than the Maltese Falcon. LAUNCHED: 2006 → FATE: Still in service.

Eureka — American paddle steamboat, stern-wheeler, ferry
The largest wooden passenger ferry ever built, certified to carry 3,500 people. She was the last example of the fleet of ferry boats carrying passengers and vehicles across the San Francisco Bay. LAUNCHED: 1890 → FATE: Preserved at the San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

Faith, SS — American Concrete cargo steamer
The first concrete ship built in the United States and the largest in the world at the time at 336.5 feet (102.6 meters) and 8000 tons. The first successfully launched cement ship was the 84 foot-400 ton Namsenfjord on August 2, 1917, N.K. Fougner of Norway. LAUNCHED: 1918, March 14 → FATE: After being cracked during a Gulf storm in 1921, she was towed to Cuba for use as a breakwater.

Flying Cloud — American clipper ship
The most famous clipper ship, she set a world record (until 1989) for the fastest passage from New York to San Francisco in 89 days, more than 16,000 miles. The ship's navigator was a woman, Eleanor Creesy wife of Josiah Perkins Creesy who skippered Flying Cloud. LAUNCHED: 1851 → FATE: Went aground at Saint John, New Brunswick June 19, 1874.

Grandcamp, SS — American liberty ship
Origin of the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history and one of the largest non-nuclear explosions. The initial blast and subsequent fires and explosions in other ships and nearby oil-storage facilities killed at least 581 people, wounding over 5,000. LAUNCHED: 1942, November → FATE: Exploded and destroyed April 16, 1947.

Great Republic — American clipper, four-masted
The largest wooden clipper ship ever constructed, requiring 1,500,000 feet of pine, 336½ tons of iron, and 56 tons of copper. In 1853, fire sank her; but she was salvaged and rebuilt as a three deck vessel and went on to set transatlantic speed records. LAUNCHED: 1853, October 18 → FATE: Abandoned during a hurricane off Bermuda March 5, 1872.

HD-4 — American hydrofoil
An early research hydrofoil watercraft developed by the Alexander Graham Bell. She set a world marine speed record of 70.86 miles per hour (114.04 km/h), that stood for almost a year. LAUNCHED: 1919 → FATE: Dismantled in 1921, laying for decades on the shore at Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia.

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Kirk, USS — American destroyer escort, Knox-class
She was sent to help evacuate Americans and fleeing refugees from South Vietnam, caring out one of the most significant humanitarian missions in U.S. military history.. During the evacuation, she was a makeshift landing pad for helicopters flown by South Vietnamese pilots fleeing with families and friends on board. LAUNCHED: 1971, September 25 → FATE: On 29 September 1999, the ship was purchased by Taiwan and renamed Fen Yang.

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Lexington — American steamboat, paddlewheel
Fastest steamer on Long Island Sound that sunk after an on-board fire sweep through the cargo. The ship's overcrowded lifeboats sank almost immediately with all but 4 people drowning in the freezing water. LAUNCHED: 1834 → FATE: Sunk January 13, 1840.

Maltese Falcon — American full-rigged luxury yacht; now owned by a Englishman
The largest full-rigged luxury yacht in the world. She has 5 square sails on each of 3 masts that can be fully unfurled in 6 minutes. Some claim the Eos is larger. LAUNCHED: 2006 → FATE: Still in service.

Massachusetts, USS — American South Dakota class battleship
Has the distinction of having fired the US Navy's first and last 16-in shells of the World War II. Despite being used as a parts cache to get the Iowa-class battleships back in service, Massachusetts was designated a National Historical Landmark a 14 January 1986. LAUNCHED: 1941, June 18 → FATE: Became a in museum ship at Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts June, 1965.

Meredith Victory, SS — American cargo ship, freighter
The "Ship of Miracles" saved more than 14,000 refugees during the Korean War, the largest humanitarian rescue operation by a single ship. The ship was built to transport supplies and equipment overseas during World War II. LAUNCHED: 1945, June 18 → FATE: Broken up for scrap in China in 1993.

Monte Carlo, SS — American concrete ship
She became a gambling and prostitution ship operating in international waters off the coast of Long Beach, California. In the 1930s, she was the largest of a fleet of ships making up Gambling Ship Row off the southern California. LAUNCHED: 1921, December → FATE: Wrecked during a storm in 1937, ending up on a San Diego beach where it remains.

Nimitz, USS — American aircraft carrier; supercarrier
Setting for the 1980 science fiction movie The Final Countdown. In May of 1981, one of her planes crashed on the flight deck, killing 14 crewmen. LAUNCHED: 1972, May → FATE: Still in service.

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Oriskany, USS — American aircraft carrier, Essex class
The world's largest, and the U.S.'s first, artificial reef. She had multiple reconfigurations and updates. In 1966, a flare accidentally ignited on the hangar bay causing a catastrophic fire killing 44 crewmen. LAUNCHED: 1945, October 18 → FATE: Sunk as an artifical reef May 17, 2006.

Robert E. Perry, SS — American liberty ship
Gained fame during World War II for being built in the shortest time for such a large vessel. Typical completion of liberty ships took 50 days; she was completed in 4 days 15 hours and 29 minutes after the keel was laid down. LAUNCHED: 1942, November 12 → FATE: Scrapped at Baltimore, June 1963.

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Rochambeau — American frigate, ironclad
The longest wooden ship ever built. When the French thought Otto von Bismarck might be interested in the ship, they hurriedly bought her from the Americans and commission her in 1867. LAUNCHED: 1862, July 22 as Dunderberg → FATE: The French scrapped her in 1874.

Serpens, USS — American Crater-class cargo ship
The most catastrophic single-event loss of life in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard with 250 casualties. In the explosion, a 12-ton locomotive, the wooden pier it sat on, and 16 boxcars loaded with bombs and ammunition disappeared completely. LAUNCHED: 1943, April 5 → FATE: Exploded in complete destruction January 29, 1945, on the coast of Guadalcanal.

Slo-mo-shun IV — American racing hydroplane
Winner of the 1950, 1952, and 1953 APBA Gold Cup Races; also set two straightaway speed records. Her hull was designed to lift the top of the propellers out of water at high speed, a technique called “prop riding,” which reduced drag. LAUNCHED: 1949, October → FATE: Wrecked in a pre-race test run in 1956; rebuilt and on exhibit at Seattle's Museum of History and Industry.

Tang, USS — American Balao class submarine
Credited with sinking 31 enemy ships totaling 227,800 tons, unequaled among American submarines during World War II. When she was sunk by a circular run of her final torpedo, several crew escaped the sinking boat with a Momsen lung, the only known occasion of its use. 78 men were lost and the nine survived. LAUNCHED: 1943, August 18 → FATE: Sunk by her own torpedo in the Taiwan Strait October 24, 1944.

Thomas W. Lawson — American seven-masted schooner
The largest schooner and largest sailing vessel without an auxiliary engine ever built. She proved problematic in the ports she was intended to operate in due to the amount of water she displaced. LAUNCHED: 1902, July, 10 → FATE: Sank in a storm while at anchor off Cornwall, England, in 1907 taking 16 of her crew with her.

United States, SS — American ocean liner (steamship)
The fastest liner ever built; virtually no wood used in her construction. On her maiden voyage she captured the Blue Riband with the fastest transatlantic crossing on record in 3 days, 10 hours, 40 minutes at an average speed of 35.59 knots. LAUNCHED: 1951, June 18 → FATE: As of February 7, 2012, work has begun on the restoration project to prepare the ship for her eventual rebuild.

Vandenberg, USAFS — American transport ship
Second-largest artificial reef in the world, after the aircraft carrier USS Oriskany. She transported troops in World War II. In 1998, she was featured in the film Virus as the Russian research ship Akademik Vladislav Volkov. LAUNCHED: 1943, October → FATE: Sank May 27, 2009, six miles off the Florida Keys.

World is not Enough — American super yacht
Fastest yacht in the world. She cruises at 50 knots and can reach speeds of up to 70 knots. LAUNCHED: 2005 → FATE: Still in use.

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Wyoming — American six-masted schooner
The largest known wooden ship ever built. Because of her length she tended to flex in heavy seas causing the long planks to twist and buckle, allowing water to seep into the hold. LAUNCHED: 1909, December 15 → FATE: Foundered in a storm in 1924 and sank off the coast of Cape Cod with the loss of all 14 crewmen.

The number of American Ships; Largest and Fastest listed is 32

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For a full list of all ships, select HERE

First Ship on each page
Page	Ship Name (Country and Type)
1.	American Queen (American river paddle steamboat)
2.	Eos (American three-masted Bermuda rigged)
3.	Lexington (American steamboat)
4.	Rochambeau (American frigate)

American Ships; Largest and Fastest
1.	American Queen American river paddle steamboat
2.	Ariel English clipper ship
3.	B-39 Russian foxtrot-class submarine
4.	Black Pearl American yacht
5.	Eastland, SS American steamship
6.	El Faro, SS American container ship
7.	Eos American three-masted Bermuda rigged
8.	Eureka American paddle steamboat
9.	Faith, SS American Concrete
10.	Flying Cloud American clipper
11.	Grandcamp, SS American liberty ship
12.	Great Republic American clipper
13.	HD-4 American hydrofoil
14.	Kirk, USS American destroyer escort, Knox-class
15.	Lexington American steamboat
16.	Maltese Falcon American full-rigged
17.	Massachusetts, USS American South Dakota class battleship
18.	Meredith Victory, SS American cargo ship
19.	Monte Carlo, SS American concrete ship
20.	Nimitz, USS American aircraft carrier
21.	Oriskany, USS American aircraft carrier
22.	Robert E. Perry, SS American liberty ship
23.	Rochambeau American frigate
24.	Serpens, USS American Crater-class cargo ship
25.	Slo-mo-shun IV American racing hydroplane
26.	Tang, USS American Balao class submarine
27.	Thomas W. Lawson American seven-masted schooner
28.	United States, SS American ocean liner
29.	Vandenberg, USAFS American transport ship
30.	World is not Enough American super yacht
31.	Wyoming American six-masted schooner

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American Ships; Largest and Fastest