Arabic
Ship Number
340
Vessel Type
Passenger Ship
Built
Belfast
Slip Number
4
Launch Date
December 18, 1902
Delivered
June 21, 1903
Owner
Oceanic Steam Navigation Co.
Weight
15801 grt
BP Length
600 feet
Breadth
65 feet
No. of Screws
Twin
Speed (approx)
16 knots
Propulsion
Steam quadruple expansion constructed in Belfast
Official No.
118023
Registered
Liverpool
Fate
Torpedoed
 Arabic

This Arabic was the second of three White Star liners by that name. she was laid down as Atlantic Transport Line's Minnewaska but during construction both Atlantic Transport and White Star were taken over by J.P.Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Company, which transferred the ship to White Star.
 
Her design was modified and she was renamed Arabic prior to her launch in December 1902. Her maiden voyage, Liverpool-New York, began on 26 June 1903. From then until World War I, she was used at various times on White Star's Liverpool-New York and Liverpool-Boston services. Unlike much of White Star's fleet, she remained in commercial service during the war, on the Liverpool-New York route.
 
On 19 August 1915, Arabic was torpedoed without warning by U Boat U-24 off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, and sank within fifteen minutes. Forty-four people died, but 390 were rescued. American protests over the attack prompted a German pledge that there would be no further unannounced sinking of merchant vessels, a promise revoked with the 1917 announcement of unrestricted submarine warfare. In a fitting memorial to the first White Star liner lost as a result of enemy action, Norddeutsche Lloyd's Berlin, surrendered to Great Britain as a war compensation, was purchased by White Star and renamed Arabic in 1920.