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Perhaps no
other ship in the
history of the Cunard Line was more revered than was the RMS Aquitania.
The Aquitania was the longest serving
Cunard liner built in
the 20th century and survived service in both World Wars.
Her
exquisite and tastefully executed interiors earned Aquitania
the title “The Ship Beautiful” – a fitting title for this transatlantic
queen.
Design
and Construction (1910 – 1914):
The
introduction of the RMS
Aquitania in 1914 by the Cunard Line was as much a response to new
builds from rival
companies as it was to maintaining a weekly express service to New York.
Though the
company’s Lusitania and Mauretania
were the
fastest liners on the North Atlantic,
a new
class of vessels planned by both the White Star Line and Hamburg
America Line exceeded
the Cunard duo in terms of opulence and size. Originally the ship was
planned
to operate on the North Atlantic service alongside the Lusitania
and Mauretania thus allowing a 3-ship weekly service to New York. The
contract to build the ship
went to John Brown & Co. Ltd and great publicity was given to the
fact that
it would be the largest liner in Britain. Her keel was laid
in
December 1910. As had been the case with Lusitania
and Mauretania, provisions were made
so that
the ship could easily be converted to an armed merchant cruiser in the
event of
war. The Aquitania was launched on 21st
April 1913 by the Countess of Derby in front of a crowd of over 100,000
people.
Cunard made sure that lifeboat accommodation was provided for all those
on
board, in the light of the Titanic disaster. It was announced in
February 1914
that Captain William Turner would be the first master of the ship.
Design
elements of the Aquitania
followed closely with those of the Lusitania
and Mauretania – she had a long
slender hull
with four equally spaced funnels, all of which were functional – but
she was a
larger ship with a wider beam. Fitted with Frahm’s anti-rolling tanks
to lessen
rolling on the tempestuous North Atlantic, it was rightly expected that
Aquitania would be a comfortable
ship – comparing more
closely with the White Star Line’s Olympic than her greyhound
fleetmates.
The
Aquitania’s passenger
accommodation was superior to anything seen on the North
Atlantic before. The first class drawing room was decorated
in the
Adam style, copied from certain features in Lansdowne House in London. The
walls were adorned with prints of
English seaports and portraits of Royalty and prominent people of the
day. The
smoking room was modelled on Greenwich Hospital
with oak panelling
and beams, the restaurant was decorated in Louis XIV style and the
grill room
was decorated in Jacobean style. With public rooms of this standard and
passenger cabins superior to those on previous Cunarders it was no
surprise
that the Aquitania became one of the
best-known Cunard liners.
In May
1914 Aquitania was ready for her sea
trials. Company officials
were pleased with the results – she had made 24 knots, which was faster
than
expected – and her maiden voyage was set for 30th May 1914.
Tragically, the Empress of Ireland of the Canadian Pacific Steamships
Ltd had
collided with the Norwegian collier Størstad and sank with a loss of
over 1,400
lives the day before, so the gaiety of the maiden voyage was somewhat
subdued.
The
First World War (1914 – 1919):
The
Aquitania left Liverpool
on her maiden voyage on 30th May 1914, bound for New York. The
tragic loss of the Empress of
Ireland, and 1,000 of those on board, the day before overshadowed this
event.
The ship made two more transatlantic crossings to New York before the outbreak of the
First
World War. She was then requisitioned by the Government to serve as an
armed
merchant cruiser and was converted for this role in Liverpool.
She was then commissioned into the Royal Navy on 7th August
1914 and
her first assignment was to patrol the Western Approaches, returning to
the River
Mersey on 16th August 1914.
On her
next voyage in this
role she collided with the Leyland ship Canadian on 22nd
August 1914,
during thick fog, and had to return to Liverpool.
The subsequent enquiry concluded that the Aquitania
was too large to be used as an armed merchant cruiser. Repair work on
the ship
was finished by the end of 1914. On 18th June 1915 she was
again
requisitioned by the Government, this time to serve as a troopship and
assist
in the Gallpoli campaign. On 25th June 1915 she left Liverpool with a full complement of over 5,000
troops on
board. After three voyages as a troop transport she was then converted
into a
hospital ship and served this role during December 1915 and January
1916.
On 10th
April 1916
she was de-commissioned from Government service and was reconditioned
by
Harland & Wolff in order to return to Cunard service. When this was
almost
complete the Government was forced to requisition the Aquitania
once again to serve as a hospital ship in November 1916. The ship
served in the
Mediterranean for the rest of the year and was then anchored in the Solent for the whole of 1917. The entry of the USA
into the
war in December 1917 brought the ship back into service to transport
the
American Expeditionary Force. After the war she was also used in the
repatriation of Canadian troops.
Cunard
Line – The Interwar Years (1919 – 1939):
From
November 1919 until
June 1920 the ship underwent an extensive refit at Armstrong Whitworth
& Co.
on the Tyne. Whilst this was being
done the
opportunity was taken to convert the ship to oil burning, as opposed to
coal.
After trials north of Scotland,
she made her first postwar transatlantic crossing from Liverpool to New York on the
17th
July 1920. In the post-war period Aquitania
enjoyed immense success. Her lavish interiors were subtle and refined,
and she
came to be called “the ship beautiful.” Running in tandem with the
Berengaria (formerly
the Imperator of the Hamburg Amerika Line) and the Mauretania (the Lusitania sadly having been lost in the war),
Aquitania
became part of the Cunard Line’s 3-ship weekly express service from
Southampton
to New York.
During
annual winter refits in 1926, 1927 and 1928 the passenger accommodation
was
extensively modernised. In 1930 she was even used as an art gallery for
one
voyage.
In 1932
the Aquitania was used as a
cruise ship for the first
time. She left New York on the 3rd
February
1932 and cruised around the Mediterranean.
Further cruises on this route and New York-Bermuda route were
accomplished
later in the year. In November the ship underwent considerable internal
reconstruction. First class accommodation was reduced to 650, tourist
class was
enlarged but the passenger accommodation reduced to 600 and third class
was
altered to cater for 950 passengers. All public rooms were renovated
and a
theatre was added. For the rest of the period up until the Second World
War she
continued a mixture of Atlantic crossings and cruises.
During the
midst of the
depression she was frequently sent cruising to the Mediterranean,
and when the Queen Mary entered service in 1936 she was paired
initially with
the new ship as a running mate. It was planned she would be sent to the
breakers when Queen Elizabeth entered service in 1940, but the Second
World War
intervened and Aquitania had to give sterling service in her second
global
conflict. In fact she is one of the few ocean liners to have served
during both
World Wars.
The
Second World War (1939 – 1948):
When war
broke out in
September 1939, the Aquitania
was then
requisitioned as a troop transport on 21st November 1939
able to
carry 7,724 troops. At first she was used to transport Canadian troops.
During
1940 she underwent a refit in America
and was defensively armed with six inch guns. From March onwards she
was based
in Sydney transporting Australian and New Zealand troops. In April 1940
the Aquitania was part of one of the greatest convoys ever mustered for
the transport of troops from Sydney to Africa. With her were the
Canadian Pacific ships Empress of Britain, Empress of Canada and
Empress of Asia, along with her Cunard fleetmates Queen Mary, Queen
Elizabeth and the new Mauretania as well as the Holland America liner
Nieuw Amsterdam. When the
Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour in December 1941, the Aquitania was
located in that region of oceans, a far cry from her normal sphere of
operation but fortunately not too close to the action. Continuing her
cautious return home across the Pacific she became the largest liner
ever to call t Hawaii when she entered the devestated naval base at
Pearl Harbour for a brief replenishment call. She also make two
passages
between Pearl
Harbour and
San Fransisco in this period. For
the
remainder of the war she was employed on the Atlantic,
and after the war had ended in the repatriation on Canadian and
American
troops. Later she was also used to carry the war brides and children of
Canadian servicemen over to Canada.
In 1948 she was returned to Cunard Line, having steamed some 500,000
miles and
transporting 300,000 troops.
The
Final Years (1948 – 1950):
On 1st
April 1948
she was released by the Ministry of Transport and returned to Cunard.
Sadly she
was never returned to her prewar splendour. She was then chartered by
the
Canadian Government to carry Canadian emigrants between Southampton and
Halifax. This contract was renewed in 1949. By the 1st
December 1949
this role had been fulfilled. Her final
departure from Halifax to Southampton taking place in November 1949.
Her
advancing age was taking its toll and she was becoming prone to
mechanical and
structural problems. She was not granted an operating certificate for
1950. As
a result in December 1949 Cunard Line announced that the Aquitania
would be withdrawn from service thus ending one of the most enduring
careers of any transatlantic liner. In her 36 years she had steamed
over 3 million miles and had carried 1.2 million passengers. She had
made 475 scheduled voyages across the Atlantic, or 580 in total if her
wartime crossings and emigrant passages are included. On 9th
January 1950 Messrs
Hampton
& Sons Ltd were employed to auction the vessel’s furnishings and
equipment.
Later that month the venerable Aquitania
was
sold to the British Iron & Steel Corporation Ltd for £125,000. The
ship
then sailed from Southampton to Faslane, in Scotland
where she was broken up. She was not replaced in the Cunard Line fleet.
After the illustrious Aquitania was broken up
at Faslane in Scotland, as a tribute to this famous ocean liner one of
her ship's bells was placed on board Cunard Line's RMS Queen Elizabeth
2 in 1969 and another is displayed in the All Saints Cathedral in
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
With
a long and illustrious career spanning 36 years, she remains the
longest
serving Cunard vessel, and perhaps the most successful. This record
stood until
2004 when Aquitania’s record was
surpassed by
the legendary QE2.
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