At the turn of the 20th century, as national shipping companies competed for passengers on the lucrative transatlantic route between Europe and America, a series of increasingly large, luxurious and fast ocean liners were built requiring four funnels to service their expansive boiler rooms. As they were introduced onto the North Atlantic many of the four-stackers would claim prestigious accolades such as the largest, longest or fastest ship in the world. An ocean liner with four funnels rapidly became symbolic of power, prestige and safety to the travelling public and shipping companies leveraged this trend extensively to market their best ships. The narrative that four-stackers were emblematic of safety was shattered with the loss of the RMSTitanic, sunk on her maiden voyage in 1912. While the naval architecture of four-funnel liners started to give way to more efficient ship layouts in the 1910s the distinctive profile of the four-funnel ocean liner has firmly endured in the public consciousness well into the modern age, largely due to ongoing interest in the loss of the Titanic as well as the sinking of the RMSLusitania, which significantly altered the course of World War One.[1]
SSGreat Eastern was the first four-funnel ocean liner briefly operating in this configuration in 1867. SSKaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, launched in 1897, was the first ocean liner purpose built with four funnels and was the first of the golden era of ocean liners that became prominent in the 20th century.[2] In all, 15 four-funnel liners were produced; Great Eastern in 1858, and the remainder between 1897 and 1922. Titanic sank on her maiden voyage, four more were sunk during the World Wars, and the other ten were all scrapped.[3] The last four-funnelled liner ever built was RMSWindsor Castle; however, two of her funnels were later removed making the RMSAquitania the last four-funnel liner in service and the only one to survive service during both World Wars.
Description
Engineering and marketing significance of four-funnel ocean liners
The primary purpose of funnels on steamships was to allow smoke, heat and excess steam to escape from the boiler rooms. As liners became larger, more boilers were used. The number of funnels became symbolic of speed and safety.[2]
SS Great Eastern; a Victorian four-funnel ocean liner
An illustration of the SSGreat Eastern from Jules Verne's novel "A Floating City" (1869) drawn by Jules Férat
The 19,000 tonne SSGreat Eastern, launched on 31 January 1858, was history's only five-funnel ocean liner. Designed by the renowned British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel she was absolutely colossal for her era representing a more than five-fold jump in size from the prior worlds largest ship, the 3,600 tonne SSAdriatic. Brunel aimed to take full advantage of the Square–cube law with Great Easterns unprecedented size allowing the ship to sail non-stop from Britain to Australia with 4000 passengers onboard, this plan never materialized and instead she was deployed on the transatlantic route. Great Eastern became a forerunner of the giant ocean liners that would follow her half a century later. She survived several major accidents early in her career that would have doomed smaller liners contributing to the concept among the general public that an ocean liner's size was directly proportional to her level of safety.
In 1865 Great Eastern was converted into a transoceanic telegraph cable-laying ship and had the second-aft-most of her five funnels removed to make way for huge reels of telegraph cable.[4] After successfully laying the first durable Transatlantic Telegraph Cable, the Great Eastern was then chartered to a French Company, 'La Société des Affréteurs du Great Eastern', to bring wealthy American passengers across the Atlantic to the 1867 Paris Exposition World's Fair. The company fully refitted the Great Eastern from cable laying back into her original ocean liner configuration but made these alterations around her now reduced four-funnel layout.[5]Great Eastern was then deployed on a single round trip Atlantic crossing, which marked the first time in history that a four-funnel ocean liner operated in commercial service. Jules Verne was a notable passenger on the Great Eastern's 1867 westbound crossing and would later write the novel A Floating City based on his experience during this voyage.
The first Paris Exposition voyages were severely underbooked leading to the cancellation of further planned voyages. 1867 ended up being the final time the Great Eastern ever operated as an ocean liner as she was soon once again converted back to cable laying duties.[6] For the transatlantic passenger trade Great Eastern was simply too far ahead of her time. It would be another 30 years until building ocean liners as large as the Great Eastern, that required four funnels due to their high speed, would become commercially viable.
SSKaiser Wilhelm der Grosse, launched on 4 May 1897 by the North German Lloyd Line (NDL) was the first purpose-built ocean liner to have four funnels. At 14,000 tonnes she was somewhat smaller than the SSGreat Eastern but much more advanced due to the four decade gap between the two ships.
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was built to outshine the British Cunard Line's two premier ocean liners of the era RMSCampania and RMSLucania, both of which were two-funnel ocean liners that entered service in 1893 as the largest and fastest ships currently operating anywhere in the world. Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was marginally larger and faster than the Cunard sisters and it would have been entirely possible for her boilers to have been only connected to two funnel uptakes matching the layout of the Cunarders as well as other liners of the era such as the RMSTeutonic and RMSMajestic. NDL however purposely designed the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse with four funnels arranged in two distinct pairings with a wider space between the second and third funnels. This marketing driven decision; made to give the ship a more impressive and powerful appearance to the travelling public, kickstarted the trend of four-funnel liners becoming a symbol of prestige.[7]
Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse's four large funnels were painted a bright gold colour to match the NDLs company colours. By this period virtually all ocean liners used a paint scheme on their large funnels as floating branding for their shipping lines, having four funnels further accentuated this method of advertising.
The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was extremely successful. NDLs main rival in German shipping Hamburg America Line would soon build a very similar four-stacker the SSDeutschland in 1900. The Deutschland was designed with more powerful engines and immediately captured the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic from the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse.
NDL would follow the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse with a sister ship the SSKronprinz Wilhelm in 1901. NDL then built two additional half-sisters based on the same design as the Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse and Kronprinz Wilhelm but significantly enlarged from approximately 14,000 tonnes to 19,000 tonnes, these two larger ships were the SSKaiser Wilhelm II in 1903 and the SSKronprinzessin Cecilie in 1907. The NDL quartet of ships would be collectively known as the Four-Flyers due to their high speed. With these five well matched four-stackers the Germans held a dominant position in premier north atlantic trade.
Britain was eager to respond to Germany's new four-stackers. The Cunard Line took a loan from the British Government to build two record breakers, RMSLusitania and RMSMauretania, both of which had their maiden voyages in 1907. Lusitania and Mauretania were both laid out with four boiler rooms with one funnel to each room, they powered four Parsons steam turbine engines making the two ships by far the most powerful ships ever built up to that point. Mauretania was the fastest of all four-funnelled liners and held the transatlantic speed record for 20 years. At 32,000 tonnes this pair of liners represented a large leap in size from the previous generation of four-stackers, which were all in the 14,000-20,000 tonne range. Lusitania was the first four-stacker to feature equidistant spacing between her four funnels, and all subsequent remaining four-funnel liners would continue to follow this arrangement.
Another British shipping company, the White Star Line, ordered a trio of massive ocean liners to rival Cunard, RMSOlympic, RMSTitanic and HMHSBritannic. Olympic's maiden voyage was in 1911, Titanic's in 1912 and Britannic's was intended to be in 1915 although this was interrupted by World War One. White Star Line elected not to compete with Cunard over speed due to the excessive amount of coal Cunard's pair of turbine-driven ships required. White Star instead focused on luxury and economies of scale with sheer size. Starting at 45,000 tonnes this trio represented a 30% jump in size over the Cunard ships. The Britannic at 48,000 tonnes was the largest four-stacker ocean liner ever built. With a lower top speed the Olympic-class liners only required three sets of funnels to manage the boiler exhausts but due to the prestige garnered by four-funnel ships White Star decided to fit the three Olympic-class ships with a dummy fourth funnel to rival the two Cunard ships and give an impression of power.[8] The dummy funnel helped balance the exterior appearance of the ship and was used to ventilate the ships' kitchens and engineering spaces.
Cunard, realizing the need for three large ships themselves to operate an efficient weekly transatlantic service rivalling the White Star Line, ordered a third ship to compliment the Lusitania and Mauretania in 1910. The RMSAquitania had her maiden voyage in 1914, Cunard opted for a ship comparable in size to the Olympic-class and slightly slower than the Lusitania and Mauretania but she shared their power plant layout having four functional funnels connected to boiler rooms. While slightly lighter than the White Star trio the Aquitania was the longest four-stacker liner ever built.
In 1912 the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (CGT/French Line) debuted the SSFrance on the North Atlantic, the only four-stacker not built in Britain or Germany. At 24,000 tonnes she was smaller than her British rivals but became an extremely popular ship excelling in her interior luxury and the quality of her fine dining.
Four-funnel ocean liners on the South Africa Route
The Union Castle Line ordered two four-stackers for their Southampton to Cape Town route. These were the RMSArundel Castle and the RMSWindsor Castle. They were the last four-stacker ocean liners ever built, originally planned before World War One the conflict delayed Arundel Castle's maiden voyage until 1921 and Windsor Castle in 1922. Both ships were built at the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, the same yard that built the three Olympic-Class Liners. The Arundel Castle and Windsor Castle both also had dummy fourth funnels that provided ventilation to the ships engine rooms in a similar layout to the Olympic-Class ships. At 19,000 tonnes each these two ships were significantly smaller than the other British four-stackers but were notable in being the only four-stackers not assigned to the North Atlantic as their primary route. The pair were the largest liners on the South Africa route for four years.
The SSGreat Eastern was scrapped in 1889 nearly a decade before any other four-funnel ocean liners were built.
The trend of competing shipping lines building ever greater four-funnel liners encompassed a very short time span ranging from the SSKaiser Wilhelm der Grosse in 1897 to the RMSWindsor Castle in 1922.[9]
The SSDeutschland had spent her entire career as an ocean liner since 1900 suffering from severe stern vibration issues due to the power of her engines. With the introduction of the RMSLusitania and RMSMauretania in 1907 the ship was becoming increasingly unpopular and uncompetitive on the North Atlantic. By 1910 she was reassigned as a full-time cruise ship and renamed the SS Victoria Luise. Her engines were no longer required to reach her record breaking high speeds and they were derated solving the ships vibration problems. The former ocean liner became extremely successful in her new role as a cruise ship.
1912 to 1916 proved to be devastating for the four-funnel liners. The RMSTitanic sank in 1912 after hitting an iceberg on her maiden voyage.[10] In 1913 the SSImperator was introduced by the German Hamburg America Line, this 52,000 tonne ocean liner took the title as the largest ship in the world and with only three funnels marked the end of the four-stackers being at the technological apex of shipbuilding. During the First World War, Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse was commissioned as a German Auxiliary Cruiser and was armed with naval artillery guns, she was sunk in battle with the British cruiser HMSHighflyer in 1914. The Lusitania was torpedoed on 7 May 1915 while still operating as an ocean liner. The HMHSBritannic sank after striking a mine in 1916 while operating as a hospital ship.[11] Neither Titanic nor Britannic ever accomplished their primary purpose of carrying fare-paying passengers across an ocean.
The three surviving NDL four-stackers; SSKronprinz Wilhelm, SSKaiser Wilhelm II and SSKronprinzessin Cecilie were all ceded to the United States as war reparations and renamed to the USS Von Steuben, USS Agamemnon and USS Mount Vernon respectively. The SS Victoria Luise remained in German hands, she was refitted into an emigrant ship in 1920 and renamed again as the SS Hansa, having two of her four funnels removed in the process. By 1922, only 10 of the 15 four-funnel liners remained including the newly built RMSArundel Castle and Windsor Castle. In 1923, the Von Steuben was sold for scrap, followed by the Hansa in 1925.[12]
By the start of the Great Depression, only 8 four-funnel liners remained. In 1935, the Mauretania, RMSOlympic and SSFrance were sold for scrap after 28, 24, and 23 years of service respectively. In 1937, the Arundel Castle and Windsor Castle were refurbished by having two of their four funnels removed and their bows replaced by more raked bows,[13] leaving the Agamemnon, Mount Vernon and RMSAquitania as the three remaining four-funnel liners.[14] In 1940, the mothballed Agamemnon and Mount Vernon were inspected for further service as troop transports in the Second World War, but were considered too old and were instead sold for scrap. The former four-stacker Windsor Castle was sunk in 1943 by a German aerial torpedo. Although the Arundel Castle survived the war and was scrapped in 1959, she remained a two-funnel liner for the rest of her career. The Aquitania, which also served in the Second World War, was now the last four-funnel liner afloat and had a quiet postwar career, until she was finally scrapped in 1950. With this, the era of the four-funnel liner came to an end.[15]
The early 20th century ideology of four funnels representing size and power rapidly diminished soon after the First World War. Soon, the remaining four-funnel liners seemed old. Subsequent flagships starting in 1913 including the Imperator, Empress of Britain, Normandie, and Queen Mary all featured three funnels to conserve deck space. Later, as shipbuilding became more efficient, Queen Elizabeth, Mauretania(1938), Bremen, Rex, Nieuw Amsterdam, America, United States, France(1960) and Michelangelo further reduced the number of funnels down to two. Some of the last generation of ocean liners built such as the Andrea Doria, Queen Elizabeth 2 and Queen Mary 2 had their layouts optimized down to a single funnel. Today's modern cruise ships are mostly built with only a single funnel, and many military vessels no longer feature them at all.
1234The group Kaiser-class[2] four funnel liners owned by North German Lloyd Lines were called the Four Flyers.[16]
123Originally constructed with four funnels, two were removed during later modernisation.
123The aft funnel on each of the White Star Olympic-class liners were dummies.[17]
Proposed four-funnel ocean liners
A 1:48 scale builders model of the proposed 1890 four-funnel ocean liner Oregon for the Guion Line. Currently on display at the Riverside Museum, Glasgow.
The Oregon was a proposed four-stacker ocean liner planned by the Guion Line in 1890 but was never built. A 1:48 scale model of the ship is on display in the Riverside Museum, Glasgow. She was planned to be the world's fastest ocean liner able to cross the Atlantic in five days. Her designer Robert Zimmermann would later design all five of the German four-stackers.
The United States never operated any four-funnelled ocean liners in commercial service. However, in the late 1910s, William Francis Gibbs began to draft designs for new 1,000-foot liners that could reach a speed of 30 knots. Among the proposals was a pair of four-funnelled ships designed in 1919. The funnel and boiler arrangement would have been similar to the German four stackers, with the four funnels grouped in pairs with a wider gap between the second and third funnels. Possible names for the liners were the SS Boston and the SS Independence. The ships never made it past the design phase. If these ships had been completed they would have been by a clear margin the largest and fastest of all the four-funnel ocean liners.[18]
In the late 1920s Britain's White Star Line placed an order to the shipbuilder Harland and Wolff for Oceanic, which would have been the third ship in White Star's history to bear that name. The exact intended design of Oceanic is unknown, although company concept renderings show it to be a three-funnelled 1,000-foot (300m) liner. However, earlier plans from Harland and Wolff's archives show a design from 1927 for a four-funnelled liner almost identical to the Olympic-class, except with a more-modern cruiser stern.[19] Construction of Oceanic halted in mid-1929, before the onset of the Great Depression led to its cancellation.[20]
Other four-funnel ships
The HMSTerrible was a wooden hulled British warship entering service in 1846. She was the first ship in the world of any type to have four funnels.
The City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was a shipping company operating between Britain and Ireland delivering mail and passengers. Between 1860 and 1861 they introduced four advanced four funnel paddle steamers; the RMS Ulster, RMS Connaught, RMS Munster and RMS Leinster. These ships were not ocean liners, at only 1,700 tonnes, they were too small to be competitive crossing the Atlantic. They operated in the Irish Sea.
SS Ben-my-Chree (1875) was another Paddle-Steamer operating from the Isle of Man that was refitted from a two-stacker into a four-stacker in 1884.
Postcard of the SS Sainte Marie in 1911
The SS Sainte Marie was a train carriage ferry operated in the Great Lakes from 1893 to 1911. She had four funnels in an unusual 'square' layout with two funnels placed forward and two placed aft with both pairs of funnels arranged side by side across the ships breadth. A similar ice breaker train ferry the SS Baikal entered service in Russia in 1900.
SS Seeandbee was a four-funnel Paddle-Steamer operating from 1913 in the Great Lakes. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 she was acquired by the United States Navy and by 1942 was converted into a Training Aircraft Carrier, the USS Wolverine.
Four piper is a term used for several different classes of four-funnel destroyers in the United States Navy prominent throughout both World Wars. Other countries navies have also operated many different classes of four-stacker destroyers and cruisers.
MV Disney Adventure is a forth-coming four-funnel cruise ship, scheduled to enter service on March 10, 2026. Owned and operated by Disney Cruise Line, the 208,000 GT vessel is the first ocean-going four-funnel passenger ship since the RMSAquitania. She is also the first four-funnel vessel to have dummy funnels since the Arundel-class liners. Her funnels have the less common 'square' layout shared with the SS Sainte Marie and SS Baikal train ferries. She will operate year-round from Singapore.[21]
Fictional four-funnel ocean liners
The Titan was a fictional four-stacker ocean liner that sinks on her maiden voyage after striking an iceberg in the novella The Wreck of the Titan: Or, Futility. The book is remarkable due to its numerous similarities with the very real sinking of the RMSTitanic, which occurred 14 years after the book's publication in 1898.[22]
The film The Legend of 1900 is set onboard a four-stacker, the SS Virginian, with the story ranging decades from the golden age of ocean liners in 1900 to the ships eventual obsolescence.[23]
The Kerberos and Prometheus were two four-stacker ocean liners in 1899 (TV series). While carrying passengers across the Atlantic the Kerberos discovers her lost sister ship, the Prometheus, floating derelict.[24]
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