Would an ocean liner be steampunk or not?
This idea came to mind because of the nature of these ships.
Often, when people think of "steampunk," they think of the Victorian era, the 19th century, steam engines, but mainly flying steam engines, like airships. But what about real ships? Ocean liners existed in the Victorian era, and they were steam engines, although their greatest refinement only occurred in the first half of the 20th century.
After the First World War, ocean liners switched from solid to liquid fuel, which perhaps made people see them as dieselpunk machines, but here's the trick: isn't steampunk about steam? Steam engines? I know there's a whole political aspect involved, but isn't the main thing that differentiates this genre from others si-fi the steam technology? If so, even with the change in style and fuel type, an ocean liner is still a steam engine, a steamship!
Steam remained the power force that propelled these ships to speeds of 25, 28, 30, 35, 38, 40 knots! It wasn't exactly diesel; there were already ocean liners with internal combustion engines in the 1930s, but they were extremely slow. It was steam that truly gave life and power to these ships. So, were ocean liners, especially those giants of the 1930s, truly "dieselpunk"? Or were they still steampunk, since steam remained the power force?