Name: RMS Carmania
Owner: Cunard
Line
Port of registry: United
Kingdom
Builder: John
Brown & Company, Clydebank
Yard number: 366
[1]
Launched: 21
February 1905
Fate: Scrapped
in 1932 at Blyth, Northumberland
General characteristics
Tonnage: 19,524
gross tons
Length: 650.4
ft (198.2 m)
Beam: 72.2 ft
(22.0 m)
Installed power: Steam
turbines
Propulsion: three
propellers
Speed: 18 knots
Capacity: 2,650,
reduced to 1,440 in 1923
RMS Carmania was a British ocean liner designed by
Leonard Peskett and built by John Brown & Company for the Cunard Line. In
World War I the Carmania was converted to an armed merchant cruiser.[2]
History
When launched, the Carmania and her sister ship, the
Caronia, were the largest ships in the Cunard fleet and two of the fastest in
the world,[3] since they had been designed to compete with the Germans for the
Blue Riband. The Carmania had steam turbines, and the Caronia had
quadruple-expansion engines.[4] Another feature that differentiated the two
liners was that Carmania had two tall forward deck ventilator cowls while they
were absent on Caronia. The Carmania traveled the New York-Liverpool route from
1905 to 1910. In the spring of 1906 it carried H.G. Wells to America for the
first time; he noted in a book about his travels that "This Carmania isn't
the largest ship nor the finest, nor is to be the last. Greater ships are to
follow and greater."[5] The Carmania suffered one major fire in June 1910.
In October 1913, while eastward bound, she responded to a distress call from
the Volturno to pick up survivors in a storm, resulting in many awards for
gallantry being presented to various members of her crew and Captain James
Clayton Barr.[6]
Following the outbreak of World War I, the Carmania was
converted into an armed merchant cruiser, equipped with eight 4.7 inch guns,
and put under the command of Captain Noel Grant. She sailed from Liverpool to
Shell Bay in Bermuda. She subsequently engaged and sank the German merchant
cruiser SMS Cap Trafalgar during the Battle of Trindade.[7] The ship suffered
extensive damage herself and several casualties to her crew. Ironically, the
two ships had been disguised as each other. After repairs in Gibraltar she
patrolled the coast of Portugal and the Atlantic islands for the next two years.
In 1916 she was summoned to assist in the Gallipoli campaign. From May 1916 she
was used as a troop ship. After the War she transported Canadian troops back
from Europe.
In early 1920, she returned to passenger liner service,
being refitted in 1923. In 1932, she was sold to Hughes Bolckow & Co., and
scrapped at Blyth.[8]
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