Because Lists: Timeline of Largest Passenger Ships

This is a listing of the largest passenger ships built, by completion date, from 1831 to 2018, with tonnage and length.

With some edits and gawk, we can get a listing of the span elapsed (in years) from the previous record-holder:

#	Launched	Previous	Span
1	1831	1831	*
2	1837	1831	6
3	1839	1837	2
4	1840	1839	1
5	1843	1840	3
6	1853	1843	10
7	1858	1853	5
8	1888	1858	30
9	1893	1888	5
10	1897	1893	4
11	1899	1897	2
12	1901	1899	2
13	1903	1901	2
14	1904	1903	1
15	1906	1904	2
16	1907	1906	1
17	1907	1907	0
18	1911	1907	4
19	1912	1911	1
20	1912	1912	0
21	1913	1912	1
22	1914	1913	1
23	1922	1914	8
24	1935	1922	13
25	1936	1935	1
26	1936	1936	0
27	1946	1936	10
28	1962	1946	16
29	1987	1962	25
30	1995	1987	8
31	1996	1995	1
32	1998	1996	2
33	1999	1998	1
34	2000	1999	1
35	2002	2000	2
36	2003	2002	1
37	2006	2003	3
38	2007	2006	1
39	2009	2007	2
40	2016	2009	7
41	2018	2016	2
41	2021	2018	3

Sorting by span, we see the years in which the longest records ended:

Rank	Launched	Previous	Span
1	1888	30
2	1987	25
3	1962	16
4	1935	13
5	1853	10
6	1946	10
7	1922	8
8	1995	8
9	2016	7
10	1837	6

And of we count the instances of decades we can see the decades in which the most record-breaking ships were launched.

Sorted by year:

Ships	Decade
	3
	2
	2
	0
	0
	0
	1
	3
	6
	5
	1
	3
	1
	0
	1
	0
	1
	4
	6
	2
	1

And sorted by launches:

Ships	Decade
	6
	6
	5
	4
	3
	3
	3
	2
	2
	2
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	1
	0
	0
	0
	0
	0

That's interestingly bi-modal. The 1900s peak was expected. The 2000s one somewhat less so, though it speaks to how much the cruise industry had grown since the 1980s. The long nearly-dry spell from 1936 to 1996 is particularly notable. That's 60 years, and though there were some entrants, the SS Normandie at 314m (1,029 ft) and 83,404 GRT was very nearly the longest and highest-tonnage vessel through the entire period. The RMS Queen Elizabeth and SS France managed to just edge her out in length, and the Elizabeth was just slightly higher in tonnage. The post-1990 era ships are heavier (to 137,308 GT), but remain shorter than the Normandie. The age of transoceanic airline travel (beginning seriously in the 1950s) and jet airliners (especially with the Boeing 707, beginning in October 1958) heralded the end of regular transoceanic commercial passenger service (and much continental passenger rail travel), as well as the notable subsidies of postal delivery ("RMS" stands for "royal mail ship", and carried mail under contract to the British Royal Mail. Other countries' ships offered similar services, and postal trains, with dedicated mail-sorting cars, were a huge boon to domestic rail service, being phased out in the US with the introduction of the Zone Improvement Plan, or ZIP code, in 1963). The subsequent cruise industry was dedicated far more to the voyage than the destination.

The SS Great Eastern, launched in 1858, at a time of very heavy reliance on trans-Atlantic sea shipping, is even more notable. At 18,915 GRT and 211m (692 ft), she held records for 41 years (tonnage) and 43 years (overall length), with her reign ending with her scrapping, and the title-holders from 1888-1899/1900 actually being smaller in dimension or displacement. The Great Eastern was near the limits of technology of the time, and proved uneconomical for much of her life.

The period since 2018 has seen no new recordbreaking ships commissioned, and in a post-Covid world, that spell may last a while.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_largest_passenger_ships

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