RMS Celtic (1901)

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Career

Name:	RMS Celtic
Owner:	White Star Line
Builder:	Harland and Wolff
Launched:	4 April 1901
Maiden voyage:	26 July 1901
Fate:	Wrecked on 10 December 1928, scrapped on site
General characteristics
Tonnage:	21,035 gross tons
Length:	213.8 metres (701 ft)
Speed:	16 kn (30 km/h/18 mph)
Capacity:	2,857 passengers originally; around 2,500 after a refit in 1927

RMS Celtic was an ocean liner belonging to the White Star Line. She was the first of a quartet of ships measuring over 20,000 tons, dubbed The Big Four. She was the first ship larger than the SS Great Eastern in gross tonnage.

Celtic was launched on 4 April 1901 from the Harland and Wolff shipyards in Belfast, and set off on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 26 July.

At the beginning of the First World War, she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser, but since she used up too much coal, she was converted into a troop ship in January 1916, and used to carry soldiers to Egypt. She was put back on the transatlantic route in March.

In 1917, Celtic hit a mine off the Isle of Man. 17 people onboard were killed, but Celtic survived, was towed to Peel Bay and repaired in Belfast. In March 1918, U-Boat UB-77 torpedoed Celtic in the Irish Sea. 6 people onboard were killed, but again Celtic did not sink. She was towed to Liverpool and repaired again.

Early on 10 December 1928, she struck the Pollock Rock off Queenstown. The Ballycotton Lifeboat along with tugs, a destroyer and local life-saving teams, rescued all on board. 7,000 tons of cargo were scattered. She could not be moved or salvaged, and was declared a total loss. She was completely taken apart for scrap by 1928.