[MUSEUM]
Text=Displacement: 8,000-9,500 GRT|Length: 130-170 m|Beam: 20-24 m|Draft: 6-7.7 m|Mast: 22.5 m|Speed: 11-16 knots|Main Armament:Varies||Summary: Heavy Merchants ranged from 8,000-9,500 tons (GRT). Cargo capacity was between 500,000 and 750,000 cubic feet. Older ships were powered by steam turbines or reciprocating steam engines, with no LP exhaust system. Their machinery was more complex and powerful than the equipment found on smaller merchants. This gave them higher top speeds despite their large size. Fuel was often solid or crushed coal, although some were converted to burn oil. They were rarely mass produced but were made to order in small classes of 2-5 vessels. They served a small number of major shipping lines on high-profile routes connecting distant ports. During the war, neutral vessels remained unarmed. Merchants owned by belligerent nations received increasingly heavy armament as the war progressed. 
