The Final Thrill for RMS Aquitania

RMS Aquitania

  RMS Aquitania was a Cunard Line ocean liner that was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. The origins of Aquitania lay in the rivalry between the White Star Line and Cunard, Britain's two leading shipping companies.

  The Aquitania was designed by Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett. Peskett drew up plans for larger and wider vessel than his two previous large Cunard ships Lusitania and Mauretania. With her four large smokestacks she would resemble the famous speed duo but also Peskett designed her superstructure with "glassed in" touches from the smaller Carmania, a ship he also designed.

  Aquitania was built in the John Brown and Company yards in Clydebank, Scotland, where the majority of the Cunard ships were built. In the wake of the Titanic disaster, Aquitania was one of the first ships to carry enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew. Two of these lifeboats were motorised launches with Marconi wireless equipment. As required by the British Admiralty, she was designed to be converted into an armed merchant cruiser, and was reinforced to mount guns for service in that role.   Aquitania was launched on 21 April 1913 after being christened by Alice Stanley, the Countess of Derby, and fitted out over the next thirteen months. In May 1914 she was tested in her sea trials and steamed at one full knot over the expected speed.

  Although the Aquitania lacked the lean, yacht-like appearance of her running mates, the Mauretania and Lusitania, her greater length and wider beam allowed for grander and more spacious public rooms. Her public spaces were designed by the British architect Arthur Joseph Davis of the interior decorating firm Mewès and Davis. 30 May 1914 saw the Aquitania sail on her maiden voyage under the command of Captain William Turner. This momentous event was however overshadowed by the sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland in Quebec the previous day on 29 May with over a thousand drowned. The following month the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated and the world was plunged into World War I, interrupting Aquitania's civilian career. After only three round trips she was taken over for military use. At first she was converted into an armed merchant cruiser, for which provision had been made in her design. However, the Admiralty found that large liners were too profligate in their use of fuel to serve as cruisers, so Aquitania did not serve long in that role. After being idle for a time, in the spring of 1915 she was converted into a trooper, and made voyages to the Dardanelles. She then was converted into a hospital ship, and served in that role in the Dardanelles campaign. In 1916, she was returned to the trooping front, and then in 1917 was again laid up. In 1918, she was back on the high seas in troopship service, conveying North American troops to Britain. Many of these departures were from the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia where her spectacular dazzle paint scheme was captured by artists and photographers, namely Antonio Jacobsen. On one occasion she transported over 8,000 men.

  During the 1920s Aquitania became one of the most popular liners on the North Atlantic route. She sailed with the Cunarders Mauretania and Berengaria in a trio known as "The Big Three." As times grew better, Aquitania grew into the role of being one of the most profitable ocean liners ever. The American restriction on immigration in the early Twenties ended the age of mass emigration from Europe, but as ocean travel was the only means of transportation between the continents, the ocean liners survived and even surpassed old records. Some of the big money now came in from movie stars and royalty, other aristocracy and politicians. Aquitania became their favorite, as the 1920s became one of the most profitable ages in ocean travel history.

  However following the stock market crash of 1929 many ships were affected by the devastating consequences. Aquitania found herself in a tough position. Only a few could afford expensive passage on her now, so Cunard sent Aquitania on cheap cruises to the Mediterranean.

As time went on Aquitania grew older and was scheduled to be replaced by RMS Queen Elizabeth in 1940. This plan was shattered with the coming of World War II. In 1940 Aquitania was in New York awaiting further orders. For a time she was tied up alongside RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and the Normandie and the four ships made an impressive sight amongst large liners.

  After completing troopship service, she was handed back to Cunard in 1946, in December 1949, she was taken out of service when her Board of Trade certificate was not renewed as the condition of the ship had reached a stage where she was too old to be economical and brought in to line with safety standards of the day. By 1949 as mentioned in Cunard commodores Harry Grattidge's autobiography "Captains of the Queens" that the ship had deteriorated considerably with age and her decks leaked in foul weather and a piano had fallen through the roof of one of the dining rooms during a corporate luncheon being held on the ship from the deck above. This truly signaled the end of Aquitania's operational life. The vessel was retired and scrapped in 1950 in Scotland, thus ending an illustrious career which included steaming 3 million miles in 450 voyages. Aquitania carried 1.2 million passengers over a career that spanned nearly 36 years, making her the longest serving Express Liner of the 20th Century. (RMS Aquitania photos are courtesy of MaritimeQuest.).

RMS Lusitania

  RMS Lusitania was an ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line and built by John Brown and Company of Clydebank, Scotland. Lusitania was designed by Cunard's naval architect, Leonard Peskett. Peskett built a large model of the proposed ship in 1902 showing a three-funnel design. A fourth funnel was implemented into the design in 1904 as it was necessary to vent the exhaust from additional boilers fitted after Parson's then-revolutionary single reduction steam turbines had been settled on as the powerplant. Before installing the turbine powerplant in the ships, Cunard installed a smaller version of the turbine in its soon to be launched Carmania, 1905, so as to obtain a performance report on the new technology's operation.
  Lusitania's keel was laid at John Brown & Clydebank as Yard no. 367 on 16 June 1904. She was launched and christened by Mary, Lady Inverclyde on 7 June 1906. Lord Inverclyde (1861-1905), who had provided the main impetus with the British government to get the two ships built, had died before this occasion. Much of the trim on Lusitania was designed and constructed by the Bromsgrove Guild.
   Starting on 27 July 1907, Lusitania underwent preliminary and formal acceptance trials. The shipbuilder's engineers and Cunard officials discovered that high speeds caused severe vibrations in the stern, and this led to the fitting of stronger internal bracing. After these modifications, the ship was finally delivered to Cunard later in the year on 26 August. At the time of her launch Lusitania (and her sister ship Mauretania) possessed the most luxurious interiors afloat. In common with all major liners of the period, Lusitania’s interiors were decorated with a mélange of historical styles.
  Lusitania and Mauretania were smaller than the White Star Line's Olympic-class vessels. Both vessels had been launched and had been in service for several years before the Olympic class ships were ready for the North Atlantic. Although significantly faster than the Olympic class would be, the speed of Cunard's vessels was not sufficient to allow the line to run a weekly transatlantic service from each side of the Atlantic. A third ship was needed for a weekly service, and in response to White Star's announced plan to build the three Olympic class ships, Cunard ordered a third ship: Aquitania. Like White Star Line's Olympic, Cunard's Aquitania had a slower service speed, but was a larger and more luxurious vessel. Lusitania departed Liverpool for her maiden voyage on 7 September 1907 under the command of Commodore James Watt and the ship arrived in New York City on 13 September. At the time she was the largest ocean liner in service and would continue to be until the introduction of the Mauretania in November that year. During her eight-year service, she made a total of 202 crossings on the Cunard Line's Liverpool-New York Route.
  In October 1907 Lusitania took the Blue Riband for eastbound crossing from Kaiser Wilhelm II of the North German Lloyd, ending Germany's ten-year dominance of the Atlantic. Lusitania averaged 23.99 knots (44.43 km/h) westbound and 23.61 knots (43.73 km/h) eastbound.
  With the introduction of Mauretania in November 1907, Lusitania and Mauretania continued to swap the Blue Riband. Lusitania made her fastest westbound crossing in 1909, averaging 25.85 knots (47.87 km/h). In September of that same year, she lost it permanently to Mauretania.
  When Lusitania was built, her construction and operating expenses were subsidised by the British government, with the proviso that she could be converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser if need be. At the outbreak of the First World War, the British Admiralty considered her for requisition as an armed merchant cruiser, and she was put on the official list of AMCs. The Admiralty then cancelled their earlier decision and decided not to use her as an AMC after all; large liners such as Lusitania consumed large quantities of coal and became a serious drain on the Admiralty's fuel reserves, so express liners were therefore deemed inappropriate for the role.
  General characteristics of Lusitania, Tonnage: 31,550 gross register tons (GRT) , Displacement: 44,060 Long Tons , Length: 787 ft (239.88 m), Beam: 87 ft (26.52 m) , Draught: 33.6 ft (10.24 m), Installed power: 25 Scotch boilers. Four direct-acting Parsons steam turbines producing 76,000 hp (57 MW), Propulsion: Four triple blade propellers. (Quadruple blade propellers installed in 1909),  Speed: 25 knots (46.3 km/h / 28.8 mph) Top speed (single day's run): 26.7 knots (49.4 km/h / 30.7 mph) (March, 1914), Capacity: 552 first class, 460 second class, 1,186 third class. 2,198 total , Crew: 850.
  She was torpedoed by the SM U-20, a German U-boat on 7 May 1915 and sank in eighteen minutes, eight miles (15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, and was instrumental in bringing the United States into World War I. The sinking of the Lusitania caused great controversy, which persists to this day. (Lusitania photo is courtesy of NorthAtlanticRun).

RMS Mauretania

RMS Mauretania ("Maury") was an ocean liner built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson at Wallsend, Tyne and Wear for the British Cunard Line, and launched on 20 September 1906. At the time, she was the largest and fastest ship in the world. Mauretania became a favourite among her passengers.             The ship's name was taken from Mauretania, an ancient Roman province on the northwest African coast, not related to the modern Mauritania. In 1903, Cunard Line and the British government reached an agreement to build two superliners, the Lusitania and Mauretania, with a guaranteed service speed of no less than 24 knots, the British government were to loan £2,600,000 for the construction of Mauretania and Lusitania at an interest rate of 2.75% to be paid back over twenty years with a stipulation that the ships could be converted to Armed Merchant Cruisers if needed; also to fund these ships further the admiralty arranged for Cunard to be paid an additional £150,000 per year to their mail subsidy. The Mauretania was designed by Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett with Swan Hunter working from the plans for an ocean greyhound with a stipulated service speed of twenty-four knots in moderate weather for her mail subsidy contract. RMS Mauretania had of ton 31000, length 240, beam 26 and passengers capacity 2165 passengers total. In 1906, Mauretania was launched by the Duchess of Roxburghe. At the time of her launch, she was the largest moving structure yet built. Mauretania left Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 16 November 1907 under the command of her first captain, John Pritchard and later that month captured the record for the fastest eastbound crossing of the Atlantic with an average speed of 23.69 knots (43.87 km/h). In September 1909, the Mauretania captured the Blue Riband for the fastest westbound crossing a record that was to stand for more than two decades. Cunard withdrew Mauretania from service following a final eastward crossing from New York to Southampton in September 1934. The voyage was made at an average speed of 24 knots, equalling the original contractual stipulation for her mail subsidy. She was then laid up at Southampton alongside the former White Star Line flagship Olympic, her twenty-eight years of service at a close.

In May 1935 her furnishings and fittings were put up for auction and of the 1st of July that year she departed Southampton for the last time to T.W Wards shipbreakers at Rosyth. One of her former captains, the retired commodore Sir Arthur Rostron, captain of the RMS Carpathia during the Titanic rescue, came to see her on her final departure from Southampton. Rostron refused to go aboard Mauretania before her final journey, stating that he preferred to remember the ship as when he commanded her.
En route to Rosyth Mauretania stopped at her birthplace the Tyne for half an hour, where she drew crowds of sightseers and was boarded by the Lord Mayor of Newcastle. The mayor bid her farewell from the people of Newcastle, and her last captain, A.T. Brown, then resumed his course for Rosyth. With masts cut down to fit, the ship passed under the Forth Bridge and was delivered to the breakers.
The demise of the beloved Mauretania was protested by many of her loyal passengers, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt who wrote a private letter arguing against the scrapping. Mauretania is one of most famous ocean liner of Cunard.