Famous Ships and Boats in History

In history, movies, books, on exhibit

War ships, ship tragedies, steam ships, yachts, and more

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French Ships; Largest and Fastest

L'Hydroptère — French speed sailboat; experimental
Currently the world's fastest sailboat. In 2008, it reached a sailing speed of 56.3 knots, the first sailboat to ever pass 100 km/h. LAUNCHED: 2008 → FATE: Still sailing.

(Another )

Normandie, SS — French ocean liner
Largest, fastest and most powerful passenger ship ever built. Considered one of the greatest ocean liners in history, her Art Deco motif was so splendid she was known as the "Ship of Light" just as Paris was the "City of Light". LAUNCHED: 1935, October 29 → FATE: Caught fire and capsized in February 1942; scrapped October, 1946.

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.

The number of French Ships; Largest and Fastest listed is 3

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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.	Normandie, SS (French ocean liner)

French Ships; Largest and Fastest
1.	Normandie, SS French ocean liner
2.	Rochambeau American frigate

About the Data

There are more than 400 ships in this database, but the initial list is only for famous ships names that begin with letters "A-B". For other listings, use the country and type tabs.

Touching (or cursor over) a ship image produces an enlargement. Touch anywhere else (or move the cursor off the image) to close the larger image. Touching (or clicking on) any underlined name will link to a page with more information.

Although submarines are usually called boats, they are grouped with ships here.

Most of the information comes from Wikipedia.