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RMS
RMS, the prefix, short for Royal Mail Ship, placed before the name of a British merchant ship with a licence to carry the Royal Mails. It was the granting of mail licences to commercial shipowners during the 19th century which gave so great a fillip to British shipbuilding and made possible the formation of the big steamship lines. Before then, the overseas mails had been carried in sailing packets owned and operated by the Post Office. However, with the introduction of steam propulsion it proved too great a financial burden on the Post Office to build new steamships, so carrying the mails was farmed out to commercial shipowners. Only the fastest ships, which were normally ocean liners, received the licence and so had the right to use the prefix RMS. Synonymous with this type of trade was the appropriately named Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, later the Royal Mail Line. Founded in 1839, by the 1870s this offered a passenger service to many parts of the world. By 1919 it was one of the five largest shipping companies in the UK, but it went out of business in the 1960s.
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"RMS." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "RMS." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-RMS.html "RMS." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-RMS.html |
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rms
rms Maths. root mean square
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Cite this article
FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH. "rms." The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH. "rms." The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O25-rms.html FRAN ALEXANDER , PETER BLAIR , JOHN DAINTITH , ALICE GRANDISON , VALERIE ILLINGWORTH , ELIZABETH MARTIN , ANNE STIBBS , JUDY PEARSALL , and SARA TULLOCH. "rms." The Oxford Dictionary of Abbreviations. 1998. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O25-rms.html |
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