RMS Mauretania (1938)
 |
The second Mauretania. |
RMS Mauretania was launched on 28 July
1938 at the
Cammell Laird yard in
Birkenhead and was completed in May 1939. A successor to
RMS Mauretania (1906), the second
Mauretania was the largest
ship built in
England up to that time and was the first ship built for the newly formed
Cunard White Star company following the merger in 1933 of the Cunard and
White Star lines.
The new liner had a tonnage of 35,739 gross, an overall length of 772 feet and a beam of 89 feet. She was powered by two sets of Parsons single reduction-geared
steam turbines giving 42,000 shaft horsepower and driving twin screws. Her planned service speed was 23 knots.
She made her
maiden voyage from
Liverpool to
New York on
17 June 1939 and switched to the
London-New York service in August of the same year. She made two
Atlantic crossings after
World War II broke out. Converted into a troopship at
Sydney in
1940, Mauretania remained in that service through the end of the war, traveling 540,000 miles and carrying over 350,000 troops. After being refitted, she returned to Cunard-White Star service in
1947, principally on the
Southampton-New York route. She was also used extensively for cruising, including a world cruise in
1958, and specifically for this additional role her hull and superstructure were painted green in
1962.
Switched to the New York-
Mediterranean service in
1963, she made her last sailing (New York-Mediterranean-
Southampton) in September,
1965, and was then sold for scrapping at
Inverkeithing.
*Fricker, Philip J.
Ocean Liners, Reed's Nautical Books, 1992
*
Greatships: Mauretania2
