The recent activation by TRANSCOM of 28 cargo ships, makes it a good time to take a look back at eight iconic shps from the 1970s still in service today.
When I was a young student of naval architecture at the University of Michigan in the early 70s, I attended a Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers (SNAME) convention in New York City. In our visit, we took a field trip across the river to the Sea-Land container terminal at Elizabeth, New Jersey to tour a new SL-7 class container ship.
The eight SL-7s were Malcom McLean‘s modern-day clipper ships. As I stood on the pier looking up at the ship, I remember finding the long hollow water line to be breathtaking. And whereas the clipper ship Sovereign of the Seas was just over 250′ long, the SL-7s were close to 1000′ overall. With steam turbines producing 120,000 HP, these ships could cross oceans at 33 knots. They would each carry over 1,000 containers, making them the largest container ships in the world at that time.
Back in 2016, 
The 
Paradoxically, whale watching by tourists to Iceland is booming. At the same time, the primary economic support for the hunting of whales by Icelandic whalers are also tourists to the island.
In November 2017, 
Four ships from the Navy’s carrier Harry S. Truman Strike Group are deploying from the East Coast this week. Notably, the aircraft carrier 
On the same day that I heard the news of the horrific fire on the dive boat Conception which killed 34 passengers and crew, I also saw 
Here is a wholly random question. When and where was William Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet first performed on shipboard? 
In May of last year, we posted about the Russians’ first floating nuclear power plant, “
Imagine a yacht that is almost completely silent, with a close to unlimited range, and that doesn’t pollute. While it may sound too good to be true, this is what 
I recently came across a reference for a “nocturnal for both bears.” It sounded, at first, like a piece of music written by Mussorgsky or perhaps Prokofiev, which it isn’t. It is a device used for telling time at night by the position of Polaris and the stars of the constellation Ursa Major, the “big bear.” 
For the last several days, 
The cruise industry in the Caribbean is donating to help the Bahamian victims of Hurricane Dorian. Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Norwegian Caribbean and Disney have all pledged millions in hurricane relief.