In the late 1880s, Russian cruisers plied the North Pacific. Some cruisers were fast enough to take merchantmen and ocean liners as prizes, which could be plundered and armed for service in the ...

For years, British cruise lines were defined by consistency. Familiar ships, familiar onboard routines and a reassuring sense that little really changed from one season to the next. But times change.

The high seas were dangerous places during World War II, an unforgiving expanse where nations vied for supremacy, just as they fought each other on land and in the skies. Military ships of all types ...