The SS Nomadic was constructed at Harland and Wolf in Belfast. Her keel was laid on December 1910 and she was given the yard number 422. Launched on the 25th April 1911, Nomadic was delivered to the White Star Line on the 27th May 1911. She was 220ft long and 37ft wide with a gross tonnage of 1,273 tons. Nomadic had two three-bladed screws and could travel at a maximum speed of 12 knots. 

                                                                        Nomadic served as a tender for

the first and second class passengers at Cherbourg in France.  Another tender, the SS Traffic, ferried the third class passengers. In 1934 Cunard and the White Star Line merged to form Cunard White Star and Nomadic continued to serve as a tender up until 1968.


In 1974 Nomadic was bought and converted into a restaurant and she remained docked on the river Seine in Paris until the closure of the restaurant.  Nomadic was then moved to Le Havre to be auctioned. In January 2006 she was purchased by the Northern Ireland Department for Social Development and returned to Belfast.


 

Nomadic is being restored with the assistance of her original builders, Harland and Wolff. 2012 will mark the hundredth anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic and Nomadic is intended to be the centrepiece of a new museum to be opened in Belfast's new Titanic Quarter.The Nomadic is especially valuable as she is the last remaining ship of the White Star Line afloat.