Titanic II


Titanic II is a planned passenger ocean liner intended to be a functional modern-day replica of the Olympic-class RMS Titanic. The new ship is planned to have a gross tonnage of 56,000, while the original ship measured about 46,000 gross register tons. The project was announced by Australian billionaire Clive Palmer in April 2012 as the flagship of the proposed cruise company Blue Star Line Pty. Ltd. of Brisbane, Australia. The intended launch date was originally set for 2016, delayed to 2018 then delayed to 2022, then later delayed to 2027. Development of the project resumed in November 2018 after a hiatus which began in 2015, caused by a financial dispute, which affected the $500 million project.
By the end of 2018, Blue Star Line, owner of the proposed Titanic II, made no further announcements regarding the vessel. The company remained silent on the project for over five years and did not release any further updates relating to the ocean liner until 13 March 2024, when it was announced that "Titanic II" would set sail on its maiden voyage in June 2027.

Previous projects

The concept of a functioning replica of the Titanic has been explored several times, especially following the resurgence of interest following the release of James Cameron's film, Titanic in 1997. The most widely publicized project was that of South African businessman Sarel Gous in 1998.
The South African project began in 1998, and was one of the subjects of an article in Popular Mechanics magazine in September of that year. The article discussed the changes to the original design required to produce a safe and economically viable ship, including a welded rather than riveted hull, diesel-electric propulsion in place of steam engines, and a bulbous bow. The article concluded that although the various Titanic revival projects would cost $400–$600 million, they could be economically viable.
Although he originally intended to construct the ship in Durban, Gous presented his £500 million proposal to Belfast City Council in June 2000. He commissioned Olsen Designs to design the ship, advised by Harland and Wolff Technical Services who produced a feasibility study, and Callcott Anderson to design the interior. In November 2000, he began his attempts to raise capital, including through government grants and a stock market flotation. After signing an agreement with a Monaco-based investment banking company, Gous claimed that construction would begin at Harland and Wolff within nine months. The design changed repeatedly, with claims emerging of 'the world's largest liner' with capacity for 2,600 passengers, and increasingly divergent plans for a heliport, swimming pools and discos eventually being released. In 2006, after repeatedly failing to secure investment, the project was abandoned.

Design stage

Clive Palmer first announced the project in a press conference on 30 April 2012, following the signature of a memorandum of understanding with state-owned Chinese shipyard CSC Jinling ten days before. On 19 June, it was announced that Finnish naval architecture firm Deltamarin Ltd. had been commissioned to undertake the design of the ship, and on 17 July a preliminary general arrangement was published.
In October 2012, Blue Star Line announced that Titanic expert Steve Hall had been appointed as Design Consultant and Historian for the project, and that Titanic interiors expert Daniel Klistorner had been appointed as Interior Design Consultant and Historian. Hall and Klistorner had previously co-authored books on the ship, such as Titanic: The Ship Magnificent and Titanic in Photographs, and gave a technical presentation at the unveiling of the designs in New York as well as at the dinner in London. Later that month, it was announced that an advisory board would be formed to provide "suggestions and recommendations to Blue Star Line to ensure the Titanic II appropriately and respectfully pays homage to Titanic, her crew and passengers." Terry Ismay, the great-great-nephew of White Star Line chairman and Titanic survivor J. Bruce Ismay, will be a member of the board, as well as Helen Benziger, great-granddaughter of Titanic survivor Margaret "Molly" Brown.
The design for the Titanic II was unveiled at worldwide launch events in Macau, New York, Halifax, and London & Southampton. The gala event in New York was the official Global Launch and was held aboard the USS Intrepid in New York City on 26 February 2013. The gala dinner in London was held at the Natural History Museum on 2 March, and was accompanied by a display of items salvaged from the Titanic. There was also a breakfast held in Southampton on 13 March.
On 16 April 2013, it was announced that Deltamarin had been contracted for the project development phase, and would be responsible for coordinating the various parties involved in the project, including the shipyard, architects, interior designers, and operations managers. The feasibility study was complete, and the project development phase was ongoing. The signature of a contract and keel laying were expected in March 2014.
Further contracts and agreements relating to the design and construction were announced later in 2013; the appointment of V.Ships Leisure as ship management services partner, and of Tillberg Design as provider of architectural and interior design services.
On 17 July 2013, Blue Star Line announced that the classification society Lloyd's Register has joined the Titanic II project. The work carried by Lloyd's would ensure that the ship's design complied with the current SOLAS regulations.
Model testing using a wooden model was undertaken in September 2013 at the Hamburgische Schiffbau-Versuchsanstalt. Resistance and powering tests were carried out in a towing tank.
In an interview in February 2014, Palmer claimed that keel laying would take place in September 2014. He cautioned that the project was "a big job", that the original Titanic took seven years to build and that they have been working for only two and a half, and said that he would have liked to start sooner but "wanted to make sure we don't make any mistakes". He claimed that a selection of cabins were being constructed on land for approval, and that this would be completed by July 2014.
In April 2016, the administrators for Palmer's closed nickel-refining company, Queensland Nickel, alleged that almost $6 million had been taken from that company to pay for the development and marketing of the Titanic II. At that time the administrators indicated that they would seek to recover this money.

Design and construction

The gross tonnage of the replica will be 56,000 GT, about 10,000 GT more than that of the original.

Comparison with the original RMS ''Titanic''

The ship is designed to be as similar in internal and external appearance to the Titanic as possible. However, today's safety regulations and economic considerations dictated several major changes to the design, including:
  • Greater beam for enhanced stability
  • Welded, not riveted, hull
  • Reduced draft
  • Bulbous bow for higher fuel efficiency, although moderately sized compared to ships of newer designs
  • Stabilizers to reduce roll
  • Diesel-electric propulsion system, with four diesel generators providing power to three azimuth thrusters. This configuration replaces the original coal-fired boilers, steam engines & steam turbine, and rudder. Also, the Titanic II is designed to have two bow thrusters.
  • An additional "safety deck" between C and D decks for lifeboats and marine evacuation systems, with the boat deck housing replicas of the original lifeboats. Space for the deck was made by lowering decks D and below by 2.8 meters, and for the taller center section of the safety deck, which would have housed the lifeboats, by raising the superstructure by 1.3 meters. In spite of the reduced draft, space was made for the lowered decks by removing the orlop deck, which mainly housed the boilers.
  • New 'escape staircases' in addition to the original staircases, housed in the redundant boiler exhaust uptakes.
  • Observation decks in the first two redundant funnels, which would have had, according to Deltamarin, tinted window coverings to blend in with the funnels' color, intended to be as close as possible to the original "White Star buff."
  • No sheer or camber, unlike the original. Pronounced sheer was a cosmetic feature of ocean liners, intended to add a graceful appearance to the ship, but made construction more difficult and therefore costly. Renderings released in February 2013 showed an upwards rake added to C Deck at the bow and stern to give a superficial appearance of sheer, although an inauthentic wedge-shaped gap has had to be added between C and D decks in these areas to produce this effect.
  • A higher bridge relative to the bow, as the superstructure has been raised by 1.3 meters by the centre section of the safety deck, and also by the removal of the sheer. This negates the requirement on the original Titanic for lookouts.
  • An overall increase in the height of the ship above the waterline. However, the total height of the ship from the keel to funnels would be the same as the original, at.

    Power plant and propulsion

For economic reasons, the steam engines and coal-fired boilers of the original Titanic would be replaced with a modern diesel-electric propulsion system. The space which housed the boilers would be used for crew quarters and ships systems. Power was to be produced by four Wärtsilä 46F medium-speed four-stroke diesel generators; two 12-cylinder 12V46F engines producing each, and two 8-cylinder 8L46F engines producing each, running on heavy fuel oil and marine gas oil. Propulsion would have been by three azimuth thrusters which would also be used for maneuvering, while the replica of the rudder of the Titanic II is purely cosmetic, and would not have extended substantially below the waterline. The positioning of the azimuth thrusters necessitated the stern being made substantially blunter than the original.