Gala December Dinner On USS INTREPID For TITANIC II
Australian billionaire Clive Palmer will unveil plans for his TITANIC II project at a dinner in New York with the help of John F. Kennedy’s daughter, Caroline.
Last April, Mr Palmer announced his intention to construct a replica TITANIC with the same dimensions as her ill-fated White Star Line predecessor and will hold the gala dinner on board the preserved aircraft carrier USS INTREPID. The new TITANIC II dimensions are listed as: 270 meters in length (885 feet), 53 meters high and measuring some 40,000 gross tonnes.
Diners at the December 4th event will be offered items from the same dinner menu that was offered on the night the liner tragically sank in 1912.
“It will be a chance for the business community of the United States and, indeed, the world to see the wonderful progress that’s been made on our TITANIC II project,” Palmer said.
The first voyage is proposed for 2016, with the ship due to sail from China, where she will be built, to Southampton in England ahead of her maiden voyage to New York. The first, second and third-class divisions of the original are to be retained.
Palmer reportedly extended an invitation for James Cameron to travel on the new ship, saying the Titanic film director had complained there were no TITANIC-related experiences left for him.
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The clock is ticking to meet that 2016 maiden voyage. It might be a good idea for Mr. Palmer to expedite the keel laying. I’m highly skeptical and am wondering how this 40,000 tonne masterpiece will meet the deadline in a shipyard that has little or no experience in building such a vessel.
I am however very curious to know what Mr. James Cameron himself thinks about this venture and it’s sustainability after the novelty of it all has waned.
Great article though and thanks for sharing, It’s a very interesting project.
Hmmmm, 10 Years to complete an Aircraft Carrier starting with a completed hull. 9 years to construct their first Cruise ship, and this Titanic II “folly” is supposed to be done in 4 years? Maybe it will be constructed in China’s “Disney Fantasy Land”? I’ll believe this when I see it.
How many ways can R U B B I S H be spelled?
I absolutetly abhor the thought of such trash on the sea.
Always the Titanic…one of the most famous ship-if not the most famous-due to her disaster. I wonder if one day somebody thinks about the greatest of all liners, the Normandie; it would be great to build a replica of such magnificent ship.
Mario
Now thats another story! Luxury would reign supreme.
Seriously, the T was only famous for its disaster, as will COSTA CONCORDIA.
Mario
How perfectly true – a replica of Normandie, but also of almost any other legendary liner of the early 20th century (my favourites beside Normandie would be Imperator or Aquitania) would be a dream come true. But how many of those guys out there know these names?
As it is almost impossible to acquire funding for the preservation of a liner, it always seemed ridicoulos to even consider a complete rebuilding of one of them.
Would Normandie have been preserved, if she hadn’t been lost during the war? If we look at the France – probably not. Hardly any country or town was ever interested in preserving their maritime history (United States, France, Hamburg to name a few). But it’s Titanic, which is known around the world. Only very few large passenger ships have less history than her (Georges Philippar, Magdalena or Hans Hedtoft for example) but she receives all attention.
I am totally undecided in this matter. On the one hand, the rebuilding of a pre-war liner is simply exciting (if it really happens – I tend to expect a drawback) and it could even attract others to do something similar. But on the other hand, the result could also be an embarrassing try to keep up with ocean liner heritage.
I agree with Griff – I’ll only believe this when I see it.
I agree with all of you; as a long-time liner buff and artist,I beleive the money should rather go towards the preservation of the ‘SS United States’ and other actual liners still afloat. The ‘Titanic’ belongs to it’s builders, it’s designers, it’s victims, and it’s survivors; a product of a different time. Reconstucting history might begin with the rebuilding of ‘Normandie’s Dinning Saloon within a new cruise ship or hotel complex. Ressurecting the White Star Line as White Star Cruise Lines and creating the ‘Oceanic IV’ as a 90,000 ton liner/cruise ship (with same comany colors and under Cunard/Carnival operation) would be ideal still. Palmer’s concept is limited and it would be best to preserve real maritime history in danger of dissapearing, FIRST.
The phrase that comes to mind involves a fool and his money being soon parted… It’s been widely reported that he plans to keep the original class system and relative numbers of berths. Has he figured out who’s going to travel in the steerage dormitories with the bathroom down the hall and one tub for the entire complement? I’m baffled.
With no shear and no camber, I’m afraid it would resemble nothing so much as a Lego Titanic…
Just because someone has an idea, doesn’t mean it’s a good thing.
To re-create a 40,000 ton ship, using some of the design limitations of the original, doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Building this ‘toy’ in a Japanese shipyard is questionable at best. I hope they have sufficient experience in ordering lifeboats, davits,
and rafts and that they can count.
Any project such as this, or other “grand scheme” idea, in the past never seemed to see the light of day. The QE2 plan which leaves her tied up in foreign waters; the several plans to refurbish United States and make her either a ‘condo’ ship or a modern Hawaiian cruise ship – an NCL idea that was stillborn; and I am sure there are others that I simply can’t remember.
A project of this maginitude first must past the test of economic viability with some degree of recouping the initial investment.
This Titanic II scheme is fraught with challenging issues now and in the future.
Out of curiousity, Martin or Peter or can anyone tell me if this will be a cruise ship or an ocean liner? If it is supposed to travel the route Titanic sank, then I would think it would need to have a thick hull. I feel that running a cruise ship regularly across the North Atlantic route would be hard on the ship. And potentially dangerous. The fact that the lifeboats are so low worries me. And, is the Titanic disaster enticing enough to generate a profit? What would a second ship on the North Atlantic Route do to QM2 and Cunard? And if Titanic is ever going to cruise for extra cash, what would people think? “Oh, look. there’s the Titanic in Bermuda, Malta, Miami, New York, Le Havre, Gibraltar…”
Joseph Sturges: “Building this ‘toy’ in a Japanese shipyard is questionable at best. I hope they have sufficient experience in ordering lifeboats, davits, and rafts and that they can count.”
Well, let’s start with the fact that the ship is planned to be built in China, not Japan. Secondly, both Chinese and Japanese shipyards have plenty of experience in building passenger ships for both their own domestic as well as international markets. To propose that they would not have enough experience to build a “safe” ship (particularly as things such as lifeboats etc have to be done to strict international standards) is, well, offensive to be honest. Even to a person with no ties whatsoever to China or Japan.
Of all the world class liners, why is he building a ship that made it big on how everyone died on board. People need to know that there were other liners that were far more beautiful. Capitalizing on a replica of a ship made famous for how many people died on it and how they died does not settle with me well.
As much as the thought of rebuilding a Titanic replica is intriguing, I wish this billionaire would put his money to good use and resurrect the “United States” to her former glory.
Two very prominent cruise ships have indeed been built in Japan, at the Mitsubishi Ship Yard, the first, Nippon Maru, which sails and presumably was built, exclusively for the Japanese market, and second, the Asuka II, built in the same yard, sailing originally for Crystal Cruises, as the CRYSTAL HARMONY.
Incidently, Crystal Cruises is a cruise line started by, built by and owned by Japanese interests, although their newer SERENITY and SYMPNONY were built in France.
The premise with crystal, as I recall, was to blend Asian and Occidental cultures in, guess what, harmony. Officers on crystal ships are Japanese and American, the crew, basically the familiar nationalities seen on contemporary ships today.
This unusual idea of blending cultures on a cruise ship has worked well, so well in fact, that Crystal has been ranked number one in everything that pertains to the size ships they own, year after year, faultless in every way. Rankings and merit given by travel writers, and other travel related concerns and pollsters, as of course, by loyal passengers.
Sorry – Crystal ships built in France and Turku, Finland –
I have been working with Canyon Ranch for spa appointments on QUEEN MARY2 and got flustered!
Incidently, the Nippon Maru is a beautiful ship on the exterior, built about 15/20 years ago, looks like a real traditional cruise ship, curvy and flows with flourishes, I have seen pictures of her in Boston 2011.
All negative comments aside, I hope they adhere faithfully to the original proportions. So many models used in films, paintings, etc., have the funnels completely out of proportion, to the point of looking absolutely ridiculous! It will have to be EXACT, to have any kind of interest from the ocean liner fraternity!!
Well, judging by the actual length and tonnage of the proposed new version of the original ship, it won’t be the same dimensions.
40,000 tons? Titanic was somewhat over 45,000 tons. 885 foot length? Well, I guess that would depend on where they take the measurements, but Titanic is known to be 882.5 feet in length.
Can’t comment on height at this time. And waiting to see what they do about the four funnels.
Probably be diesel/electric power, so all those funnels would be pretty much decorative, save maybe one.
Would be nice to see it built with 29 big round boilers supplying steam to a couple big recip steam engines that feed a center turbine, though. But that’s pure dreaming.
Mark D.
He should have kicked off by saving the SS Oceanic and then followed with the United States (here he has a sound hull and classic ship)- you can see potential for quite a fleet building up and this combined with good marketing could lead to something viable or which could be part sustained from other monies. It might have been wiser to advertise his intention to build an ‘Olympic class ship’ etc and avoid the Titanic name!
why spend billions building a fake ocean liner, when you could invest some money saving real ocean liners that have a real history and are in danger. United States, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth 2, Kungsholm, Rotterdam just to name a few. All these ships are in danger still (although Queen Mary less so then others) and need investors to help preserve them for the future. Lets preserve the past while pieces of it are still around, rather then try to recreate it.
I think Mr. Palmer’s plans to build a new Titanic is a very daring idea. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea, to be quite honest I’m actually pleased with his ambitions. I have long loved Titanic even before James Cameron’s epic film “TITANIC” To actually have the opportunity to experience the great ship at first hand, for me is a dream come true. Though of course a lot of people are sceptic of something happening on it’s maiden voyage, all I can say is let the past be the past. I highly doubt the Titanic 2 will hit an iceburg on it’s maiden voyage. However possible, still the chances are slim.
I have one question in regards to the dinner gala planned for this December. Is it offered to the public? And if so, how do I get tickets? I and others I know are also interested in tickets for the maiden voyage in regards to how much they will cost, and when we can get them.
Rob, Maritime Cadet
Nobody ever bothered to tell me if this is just a cruise ship or an ocean liner…If they are sailing this regularly across the North Atlantic, it had better be a liner.
I’d appreciate a response. This whole TITANIC 2 is extremely strange to me.