 RMSAquitania on her maiden voyage inNew York Harbor, 5 June 1914. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Aquitania |
| Namesake | Aquitania (Roman province in France)[1] |
| Owner |
|
| Operator | Cunard Line |
| Port of registry |  Liverpool,United Kingdom |
| Route | Southampton-Cherbourg-New York (1919–1939)Southampton-Halifax (1946–1949) |
| Ordered | 8 December 1910[2] |
| Builder | John Brown & Company,Clydebank,Scotland[2] |
| Yard number | 409[3] |
| Laid down | December 1910 |
| Launched | 21 April 1913[2] |
| Christened | 21 April 1913 by theCountess of Derby |
| Completed | 1914 |
| Acquired | 24 May 1914 |
| Maiden voyage | 30 May–5 June 1914, fromLiverpool toNew York[2] |
| In service | 1914–1949 (35 years) |
| Out of service | 21 February 1950 |
| Identification | Wirelesscall sign: MSU (by 1915) |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1950–51 atFaslane,Scotland.[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 45,647 GRT, 21,993 NRT[4] |
| Displacement | 49,430 tons |
| Length | 901 ft (274.6 m)[4] |
| Beam | 97 ft (29.6 m)[4] |
| Height | 164 ft (50.0 m) from bottom to top |
| Draught | 36 ft (11.0 m)[2] |
| Depth | 92.5 ft (28.2 m) |
| Decks | 10 |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | Four shafts[4] |
| Speed | |
| Capacity | |
| Crew | 972[2] |
| Notes |
|
RMSAquitania was anocean liner of theCunard Line in service from 1914 to 1950. She was designed byLeonard Peskett and built byJohn Brown & Company inClydebank,Scotland. She was launched on 21 April 1913[5] and sailed on her maiden voyage fromLiverpool toNew York on 30 May 1914. She was given the title ofRoyal Mail Ship (RMS) like many other Cunard ocean liners since she carried theroyal mail on many of her voyages.Aquitania was the third in Cunard Line'sgrand trio of express liners, preceded byRMS Mauretania andRMS Lusitania, and was the last survivingfour-funnelled ocean liner.[6] Shortly afterAquitania entered service, theFirst World War broke out, during which she was first converted into an auxiliary cruiser before being used as a troop transport and a hospital ship, notably as part of theDardanelles Campaign.
Returned to transatlantic passenger service in 1920, she operated alongsideMauretania and theBerengaria. Considered during this period of time as one of the most attractive ships,Aquitania earned the nickname "the Ship Beautiful" from her passengers.[4] She continued in service after the merger of Cunard Line withWhite Star Line in 1934. The company planned to retire her and replace her withRMS Queen Elizabeth in 1940.
However, the outbreak of the Second World War allowed the ship to remain in service for ten more years. During the war and until 1947, she served as a troop transport. She was used in particular to take home Canadian soldiers from Europe. After the war, she transported migrants to Canada before the Board of Trade found her unfit for further commercial service.Aquitania was retired from service in 1949 and was sold for scrapping the following year. Having served as a passenger ship for 36 years,Aquitania ended her career as the longest-serving Cunard vessel, a record which stood for six years until overtaken byRMSScythia's service record of 37 years. In 2004Aquitania's service record was pushed into third place whenQueen Elizabeth 2 became the longest-servingCunard vessel. She was nicknamedThe Ship Beautiful for her interior andCunard's Old Reliable for her war service.
The origins ofAquitania lay in the rivalry between theWhite Star Line andCunard Line, Britain's two leading shipping companies. The White Star LineOlympic,Titanic and the upcomingBritannic were larger than the latest Cunard ships,Mauretania andLusitania, by 15,000 gross register tons. The Cunard duo were significantly faster than the White Star ships, while White Star's ships were seen as more luxurious. Cunard needed another liner for its weekly transatlantic express service, and elected to copy the White Star Line'sOlympic-class model with a slightly slower but larger and more luxurious ship.[4][7][8][9] The plan for the building of that liner began in 1910, under the leadership ofLeonard Peskett. Several draft plans were conceived in order to determine the main axes of what should be the ship for which an average speed of 24 knots was planned. In July of that year, the company launched the construction offers to several shipyards before choosingJohn Brown and Company, the builder of theLusitania. The company choseAquitania as the name for its new ship in continuity with those of its two previous duo. The three ships were named respectively after the Ancient Roman provincesLusitania,Mauretania, andAquitania.
Aquitania was designed by Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett.[4] She was a one of a kind liner as she did not have an identical sister ship of size and appointments as withLusitania/Mauretania orOlympic/Titanic. Peskett drew up plans for a larger and wider vessel thanLusitania andMauretania (about 130 feet (40 m) longer). With four large funnels the ship would resemble the famous speed duo, but Peskett also designed the superstructure with "glassed in" touches from the smallerCarmania, a ship he also designed. Another design feature fromCarmania was the addition of two tall forward deck ventilator cowlings. Although the ship's outward dimensions were greater than that ofOlympic, her displacement and tonnage were lower.[10] WithAquitania's keel being laid at the end of 1910, the experienced Peskett took a voyage onOlympic in 1911 so as to experience the feel of a ship reaching nearly 50,000 tonnes as well as to copy pointers for his company's new vessel.[10] ThoughAquitania was built solely with Cunard funds, Peskett designed her according to strictBritish Admiralty specifications.[citation needed]Aquitania was built in the John Brown and Company yards inClydebank, Scotland, where the majority of the Cunard ships were built.[5] Thekeel was laid in the same plot whereLusitania had been built, and would later be used to constructQueen Mary,Queen Elizabeth, andQueen Elizabeth 2.[11] Just like withMauretania, for the launch the hull was painted in a light grey colour for photographic purposes; a common practice of the day for the first ship in a new class, as it made the lines of the ship clearer in the black-and-white photographs. Her hull was repainted to black in dry dock.[12]
_on_the_stocks_RMG_G10695.jpg)
In the wake of theTitanic sinking,Aquitania was one of the first new ships to carry enough lifeboats for all passengers and crew.[4] Eighty lifeboats, including two motorisedlaunches with Marconi wireless equipment, were carried in both swan-neck and newerWelin type davits.[13] There was also a double hull and watertight compartments that were designed to allow the ship to float with five compartments flooded.[14] As required by the British Admiralty, she was designed to be converted into anarmed merchant cruiser, and was reinforced to mount guns for service in that role. The ship displaced approximately 49,430 tons, of which the hull accounted for 29,150 tons, machinery 9,000 and bunkers 6,000 tons.[15]
Aquitania waslaunched on 21 April 1913 after being christened byAlice Stanley, the Countess of Derby, and fitted out over the next thirteen months. Notable installations were electrical wiring and decorations. The fitting out was led byArthur Joseph Davis and his associateCharles Mewès.[10] On 10 May 1914, she was tested in her sea trials and steamed at one fullknot over the expected speed. On 14 May, she reachedMersey and stayed at a port there for fifteen days, during which she underwent a final major cleaning and finishing in preparation for her maiden voyage.[16]
Aquitania was the first Cunard liner to have a length in excess of 900 feet (270 m).[10] Unlike some four-funneled ships, such as White Star Line's Olympic class ocean liners,Aquitania did not have a dummy funnel; each funnel was utilised in venting smoke from the ship's boilers.[17][18]
Steam was provided by twenty-one forced-draft, double-endedScotch boilers, having eight furnaces each, that were 22 feet (6.7 m) long with diameter of 17 feet 8 inches (5.4 m) arranged in four boiler rooms.[19] Each boiler room had seven ash expellers with pump capacity of approximately 4,500 tons per hour that could also be used as emergency bilge pumps.[19]
Steam droveParsons turbines in three separate engine rooms in a triple expansion system for four shafts.[19] The port engine room contained the high pressure ahead (240 tons, 40 feet 2 inches (12.2 m) long with four stage expansion) and astern turbine (120 tons, 22 feet 11 inches (7.0 m) long) for the port shaft, the centre room contained two low pressure turbines with ahead and astern capability within single casings (54 feet 3 inches (16.5 m) long, nine expansion stages in ahead turbine, four in astern turbine) for the two centre shafts and the starboard room contained the intermediate pressure ahead turbine (41 feet 6.5 inches (12.7 m) long) and a high pressure astern turbine (twin of the port high pressure turbine) for the starboard shaft.[19][20]
The electrical plant, located on G deck below the waterline, consisted of four 400 kW British Westinghouse generator sets generating 225 volt direct current, with emergency power provided by a diesel driven 30 kW generator up on the promenade deck.[21] Power was provided for about 10,000 lamps and about 180 electric motors.[21] She also had brass triple chambered three chime steam whistles on the 1st funnel and 2nd funnel.
In 1914,Aquitania had the capacity to carry 3,220 passengers (618 First Class, 614 Second Class, 2,004 Third Class). After a refit in 1926, the figure was reduced to 610 in first class, 950 in second class, and 640 in tourist class. Although the original specification mentioned a capacity of 972 crew members, the ship sometimes carried around 1,100.[22]
AlthoughAquitania lacked the lean, yacht-like appearance of running matesMauretania andLusitania, the 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. This firm had overseen the construction and decoration of theRitz Hotel in London and Davis himself had designed several banks in that city. His partner in the firm, Charles Mewès, had designed the interiors of the Paris Ritz, and had been commissioned byAlbert Ballin, head of Germany'sHamburg America Line (HAPAG), to decorate the interiors of the company's new linerAmerika in 1905.[10]
In the years prior to the First World War, Mewès was charged with the decoration of HAPAG's trio of giant new ships,Imperator,Vaterland, andBismarck, while Davis was awarded the contract forAquitania.[10] In a curious arrangement between the rival Cunard and Hamburg-Amerika Lines, Mewès and Davis worked apart—in Germany and England respectively and exclusively—with neither partner being able to disclose details of his work to the other. Although this arrangement was almost certainly violated,Aquitania's first-class interiors were largely the work of Davis. The Louis XVI dining saloon owed much to Mewès' work on the HAPAG liners, but it is likely that having worked so closely together for many years the two designers' work had become almost interchangeable. Indeed, Davis must be given credit for the Carolean smoking room and thePalladian lounge; a faithful interpretation of the style of architectJohn Webb.[23]
The second class had a dining room, several lounges, a smoking room, a veranda café, and a gymnasium; many being unique facilities for this class on British ocean liners of the time. The third class had several common areas, a promenade, and three shared bathrooms.[23] The cabins offered great comfort. The first class included eight luxury suites, named after famous painters. A large number of first-class cabins had bathrooms, although not all did. The second-class cabins were larger than average, most being capable of accommodating three people as opposed to the standard four. Her Third Class accommodations were a great expansion in facilities compared to her running mates. While most Cunard liners had their Third Class areas confined forward, aboardAquitania such spaces spanned the full length of the ship, and included several large open areas, three large dining rooms and both open and enclosed promenades.[24]
Over her thirty-five years career, her facilities changed. Examples of this were the addition of a cinema during her refit from 1932 to 1933[25] and the reorganisation of the tourist class during the 1920s for giving greater comfort to poor passengers.[26]
Aquitania's maiden voyage was under the command ofCaptain William Turner on 30 May 1914 with arrival in New York on 5 June.[2][15] The voyage and arrival in New York received great attention.[27] Fifteen days earlier, the German linerSS Vaterland, being the largest ship in the world at the time, was put into service. In the eye of the press, this maiden voyage was a matter of national prestige.[28] However, this event was overshadowed by the sinking ofRMS Empress of Ireland inQuebec the previous day with over a thousand drowned.[29] However, no passenger cancelled their voyage aboard theAquitania, despite the strong emotion aroused by this sinking.[16] During her maiden voyage, the ship carried around 1,055 passengers, which was about a third of her total capacity. This was because asuperstition pushed some people away from travelling on a ship's maiden voyage.[citation needed] The crossing fully satisfied the crew and the company. Average speed for the voyage, a distance of 3,181nautical miles (5,891 km; 3,661 mi) measured from Liverpool to theAmbrose Channel lightship, was 23.1 knots (42.8 km/h; 26.6 mph),[15] taking into account a five-hour stop due to fog and the proximity of icebergs.[30] The ship briefly managed to exceed 25 knots. Also, her coal consumption was significantly lower than that ofLusitania andMauretania. Many passengers enjoyed the voyage. On the return trip, the success was renewed; she carried a total of 2,649 passengers, which was a record for a British liner leaving New York.[31]
Upon arrival at her home port, she underwent minor modifications, which took into account observations made during the two first crossings (this was typical for a liner after its first round trip).[31] Two more round trips took place in the second half of June and the whole of July of that year. Her architect Peskett was on board during those trips to note any defect and room for improvement. In total, 11,208 passengers travelled on the ship during her first six crossings. Her career was abruptly interrupted by the outbreak ofWorld War I, which removed her from passenger service for six years.[32][33]
Aquitania was converted into an armed merchant cruiser on 5 August 1914, for which provision had been made in her design. On 8 August, having been rid of decorative elements and armed with guns, she was sent on patrol. On 22 August, she collided with a liner namedCanadian. Shortly after, the Admiralty found that large liners were too expensive to operate as cruisers. On 30 September, she was repaired, disarmed, and returned to Cunard Line.[34][4]
After being idle for a time, in the spring of 1915 she was recalled by the Admiralty and converted into atroopship, and made voyages to theDardanelles, sometimes running alongsideBritannic orMauretania. Around 30,000 men were transported on the ship to the battlefield between May and August of that year.[34]Aquitania then was converted into ahospital ship, and acted in that role during theDardanelles campaign.[2][35] In 1916, the year that White Star's flagship, and one ofAquitania's main rivals,Britannic, was sunk,Aquitania was returned to the trooping front, and then in 1917 was laid up in theSolent.[2][36] In 1918, now under the command ofJames Charles, the ship was back on the high seas in troopship service, conveying North American troops to Britain. Many of these departures were from the port ofHalifax, Nova Scotia where the ship's dazzle paint scheme was captured by artists and photographers, includingAntonio Jacobsen. On one occasionAquitania transported over 8,000 men. During her nine voyages, she transported approximately a total of 60,000 men. During this period, she collided withUSSShaw and tore apart its bow. The accident killed a dozen members of the American ship's crew.[37]
After the end of the war, in December 1918,Aquitania was dismissed from military service. She collided with the Britishcargo shipLord Dufferin atNew York in theUnited States on 28 February 1919.Lord Dufferin sank andAquitania rescued her crew.[38]Lord Dufferin was later refloated and beached.[39]
In June 1919,Aquitania ran a Cunard "austerity service" betweenSouthampton,Cherbourg, and New York. In December of that yearAquitania was docked at theArmstrong Whitworth yards inNewcastle to be refitted for post-war service. The ship was converted from coal burner to oil-fired, which greatly reduced the number of engine room crew required.[2][40] The original fittings and art pieces, removed when refitted for military use, were brought out of storage and re-installed. At some point during this time, a new wheelhouse was constructed above the original one as the officers had complained about the visibility over the ship'sbow. The second wheelhouse can be seen in later pictures of the era and the original wheelhouse area below had the windows plated in.[41]
Aquitania resumed her commercial service on 17 July 1920, leaving from Liverpool with 2,433 passengers on board. The crossing was a success; the ship maintained good speed while showing that now being oil-fueled was much cheaper than coal-fueled propulsion.[42] The ship's arrival in New York Harbor was filmed as part of the pioneering 1921 documentaryManhatta, in which she is seen being pushed to her destination by tugboats. The months that followed were just as promising, despite a stewards' strike in May 1921.[43] At the beginning of the decade,Aquitania was the only large liner in the service of Cunard Line as theMauretania was undergoing repair after a fire. The year 1921 was thus an exceptional year for her; she crossed the Atlantic 30 times (15 round trips) and broke a record by transporting a total of 60,587 passengers that year (including 26,331 in third class), averaging more than 2,000 passengers per crossing.[44] In the following year, theMauretania rejoined her in Cunard service.Aquitania operated in service with theMauretania andBerengaria (formerly the German linerImperator) in a trio known as "The Big Three."[4][45]
In 1924, anew restriction on immigration was passed in the United States, causing the number of third-class passengers to decline significantly. From more than 26,000 third-class passengers transported byAquitania in 1921, the figure fell to about 8,200 third-class passengers in 1925. The number of crew was thus reduced to around 850 people from the original 1,200.[45] The third class was no longer the key to the profitability of the liner, and so the company had to adapt. The third-class gradually became a tourist class, which offered decent service at a low price. In 1926, the ship underwent a major overhaul, which reduced the passenger capacity from around 3,300 to around 2,200.[46]
Still, the Cunard Line benefited fromprohibition in the United States, which started in 1919. American liners were legally part of the territory of the United States, and thus alcoholic beverages could not be served on them. Passengers who wanted to drink therefore travelled on British liners in order to do so.[47]Aquitania enjoyed great success, making much profit for her company. In 1929, she underwent a major refit. A bathroom was added to many first-class cabins, and the tourist class was renovated. While new competitors, such as the German linerSSBremen, entered service,Aquitania remained particularly popular after fifteen years of service.[48]
Following thestock market crash of 1929, many ships were affected by the economic downturn and reduced traffic.Aquitania found herself in a tough position. Only a few could afford expensive passage on her now, so Cunard sentAquitania on cheap cruises to theMediterranean. These were successful, especially for Americans who went on "booze cruises," tired of their country's prohibition.[49] Another problem also arose: the two liners of theNorddeutscher Lloyd, SSBremen andSSEuropa, successfully captured theBlue Riband and many customers.[50] In 1934, the number of passengersAquitania carried declined to around 13,000 from 30,000 in 1929.[51] The ship, however, remained popular and she was the third busiest in the early 1930s behind those two German liners.[49]
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To keep the ship up to date, she underwent a refit, which added a cinema, between 1932 and 1933. At the same time, in order to modernise its fleet, the company ordered theQueen Mary. TheGreat Depression, however, prevented the company from being able to fully finance the construction, and the company merged with its rival, the White Star Line, in 1934 in order to do so. TheQueen Mary entered service in 1936.[52] Author C. R. Bonsor writing in 1963 states, "from 1936 on it became necessary to squeeze the maximum speed out ofAquitania in order to make her a suitable running mate forQueen Mary thus 24 knot passages became regular".[53]
Aquitania ran aground in the Solent on 24 January 1934 but was refloated later the same day.[54] The merger of the two companies into Cunard-White Star Line resulted in a large surplus of liners being owned by a single company. Thus, very old ships, such as theMauretania and theOlympic, were removed from service immediately and sent to the scrapyard. However, theAquitania was retained, despite her age.[55] On 10 April 1935,Aquitania went hard aground on Thorne Knoll in the Solent near Southampton, England, but with the aid of ten tugboats, on the next high tide the ship was freed.[2] When the new liner RMSQueen Elizabeth was due to enter service in 1940, newspapers speculated thatAquitania would be scrapped that year, since the QE replaced her on the North Atlantic route. However, during that period, her performance continued to satisfy her company and theSecond World War soon broke out as well, making the old ocean liner useful once again. The year 1939 saw an increase in the number of wealthy passengers on board. The ship was then already 26 years old.[56]
Aquitania, with a normal troop capacity of 7,400, was among the select group of large, fast former passenger ships capable of sailing independently without escort transporting large numbers of troops that were assigned worldwide as needed.[57] These ships, often termed "Monsters" until London requested the term be dropped, wereAquitania,Queen Mary,Queen Elizabeth,Mauretania (II),Île de France andNieuw Amsterdam with "lesser monsters" being other large ex-liners capable of independent sailing with large troop capacity that accounted for much of the troop capacity and deployment, particularly in the early days of the war.[58][59]
Plans to replaceAquitania with the newerQueen Elizabeth in 1940 had been forestalled by outbreak of World War II in 1939.[4] On 16 September 1939Aquitania, awaiting initial refit as a troop ship, was at pier 90 in New York along withQueen Mary while nearby, at pier 88, were the French shipsÎle de France andNormandie.[2][4] She returned to Southampton and was requisitioned on 18 November.[60]
Aquitania's initial troop transport operation was taking Canadian troops to Scotland, Convoy TC1 in company withEmpress of Britain,Empress of Australia,Duchess of Bedford, Monarch of Bermuda, HMSHood, HMSWarspite, HMSBarham, HMSResolution, HMSRepulse, HMSFurious, December 1939.[2] Meanwhile, a massive transport of Australian and New Zealand troops toSuez and North Africa, with possible diversion to the United Kingdom if events required, was in planning with the numbered convoys to be designated as "US" with the large Atlantic liners assigned a role.[61] The fast convoy designated as US.3 was composed ofAquitania and the linersQueen Mary,Mauretania,Empress of Britain,Empress of Canada,Empress of Japan andAndes.[62]Aquitania,Empress of Britain andEmpress of Japan, after embarking New Zealand troops atWellington in May, sailed escorted byHMAS Canberra,HMAS Australia, andHMNZS Leander to join the Australian component off Sydney on 5 May 1940.[63] Joined off Sydney byQueen Mary andMauretania the convoy sailed the same day to be joined the next byEmpress of Canada fromMelbourne for a stop atFremantle 10–12 May before the voyage intended to be forColombo.[63] About midway to Colombo, on 15 May, the convoy was rerouted due to the rapid Germanpenetrations into France with the ultimate destination of Gourock, Scotland viaCape Town, South Africa andFreetown, Sierra Leone where the escort strengthened by various ships including theaircraft carriersHMS Hermes andHMS Argus and thebattlecruiserHMS Hood.[64] The convoy arrived in theClyde and anchored off Gourock on 16 June 1940.[65]
Now repainted battleship grey, in November 1941Aquitania was in the British colony ofSingapore, from which she sailed to take part indirectly in the loss of the Australian cruiserHMAS Sydney.Sydney had engaged in battle with the Germanauxiliary cruiserKormoran. There has been much unsubstantiated speculation thatKormoran was expectingAquitania, after spies in Singapore had notifiedKormoran's crew of the liner's sailing and planned to ambush her in the Indian Ocean west ofPerth but instead encounteredSydney on 19 November. Both ships were lost after a fierce battle. On the morning of 24 NovemberAquitania en route to Sydney from Singapore spotted and picked up twenty-six survivors of the German ship but maintained radio silence and did not pass word until in visual range ofWilson's Promontory on 27 November.[66] The captain had gone against orders not to stop for survivors of sinkings.[2] There were no survivors fromSydney.
December saw the outbreak of war in the Pacific, then Japanese advances throughout Southeast Asia and toward Australia, necessitating the redeployment of defensive forces.[67] On 28 DecemberAquitania and two smaller transports departed Sydney with 4,150 Australian troops and 10,000 tons of equipment forPort Moresby, New Guinea. (On the same date,USS Houston and other U.S. ships evacuating from the north reachedDarwin, withUSS Pensacola, and elements of herdiverted Philippine convoy some 300 miles (480 km) ahead.)Aquitania was back in Sydney on 8 January 1942.[68] The next effort was reinforcement of Singapore and theNetherlands East Indies withAquitania transporting Australian troops (whose equipment was in Convoy MS.1) as the single ship MS.2 convoy, under escort of HMASCanberra.[69] The ship had been the only suitable transport for such a large movement. Originally, transport directly to Singapore was considered, but the danger from aircraft to such a valuable asset and so many troops caused a change of plans. Instead,Aquitania departed Sydney on 10 January, reaching Ratai Bay at theSunda Strait on 20 January, where 3,456 personnel (including some Navy, Air Force and civilians) were transhipped[69] under a covering naval force to seven smaller vessels (six of them DutchKPM ships) that would continue to Singapore as convoy MS.2A.[69]Aquitania was returned to Sydney on 31 January.[69]
With the United States in the war,Aquitania (then with a troop capacity of 4,500) had been scheduled for transport duties from the United States to Australia in February, but necessary repairs delayed that. Because her deep draft was hazardous in Australian and intermediate ports in the Pacific Islands,[70] she spent March and April 1942 transporting troops from the west coast of the U.S. to Hawaii.[58][71] ThenAquitania was temporarily transferred from Pacific duties to support the movement of troops from the United States to Britain, sailing 30 April from New York in a large convoy that transported some 19,000 troops.[72]On 12 May 1942Aquitania loaded troops at Gourock destined for the war in the Middle East, departing in convoy WS19P on 1 June with destroyers and heavy weather, she broke off independently on 7 June due to her greater speed with designation WS19Q.[73] The first port of call was 48 hours at Freetown (West Africa) on 11 June, then 3 days atSimonstown, South Africa 20 June 48 hours atDiego Suarez, Madagascar from 30 June 24 hours atSteamer Point, Aden on 3 July, and then disembarkation atPort Tewfik, Egypt from 8 July 1942.[74] The return journey was via Diego Suarez, Cape Town, Freetown and then to Boston. By SeptemberAquitania was engaged in a triangular troop deployment of United States-United Kingdom-Indian Ocean voyages.[75]
As part of the major redeployment of Australian troops from North Africa to the defence of Australia and start of offensive operations in theSouthwest Pacific.Aquitania,Queen Mary,Île de France,Nieuw Amsterdam, and the armed merchant cruiserHMSQueen of Bermuda transported theAustralian 9th Division to Sydney inOperation Pamphlet during January and February 1943.[76]
By the buildup for the invasion of Europe in 1944 troop deployments to Britain depended heavily onAquitania and the other "Monsters" and no allowance could be made for interruption of their service for other transport requirements.[77]
Wartime embarkation at New York is described in some detail in the description of the departure of the Special Navy Advance Group 56 (SNAG 56) that was to become Navy Base Hospital Number 12 at theRoyal Victoria Hospital,Netley, England, to receive casualties from Normandy. The unit was sent by "devious routes" by train toJersey City where under cover of darkness they boarded a ferry crossing to the covered pier 86 in New York where a band played and the Red Cross served their last coffee and doughnuts as they boarded "N.Y. 40", theNew York Port of Embarkation code designation forAquitania, which got underway the morning of 29 January 1944 with some 1,000 Navy and 7,000 Army personnel for arrival at Gourock, Scotland 5 February.[78]
In eight years of military work,Aquitania sailed more than 500,000 miles, and carried nearly 400,000 soldiers,[2][79] to and from places as far afield as New Zealand, Australia, the South Pacific, Greece and the Indian Ocean.[80] Cunard historian Michael Gallagher said: "Wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill creditedAquitania, withQueen Mary andQueen Elizabeth, for shortening World War II in Europe by a year."[81]
After completing troopship service, the vessel was handed back to Cunard-White Star in 1948. She underwent a refit for passenger service. She was then used to transportwar brides and their children to Canada under charter from the Canadian government. This final service created a special fondness forAquitania in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the port of disembarkation for these immigration voyages.[82][4]
Aquitania sailed on her last commercial voyage from Halifax to Southampton, from 24 November 1949 to 1 December 1949. After serving her purpose, the oldAquitania was taken out of service in December 1949, when the ship's Board of Trade certificate was not renewed as the condition of the ship had deteriorated, and it would have been cost-prohibitive to be brought up to new safety standards, namely fire code regulations. The decks leaked in foul weather, the bulkheads and funnels were corroded to a point that one could stick their finger through them. A long-standing rumor was made that during a corporate luncheon held on the ship, a piano had fallen through the roof of one of the dining rooms from the deck above. This has been proven to be false.[4][83]
After its last voyage in February 1950 from Southampton toFaslane, the vessel was sold to British Iron and Steel Corporation for scrap for £125,000 at Faslane inScotland.[2] Dismantling took more than a year and was finished in November 1951.[83] This ended a career which included steaming 3 million miles over 450 round voyages.Aquitania carried 1.2 million passengers through an active sea career that spanned nearly 36 years, making her the longest-serving Express Liner of the 20th century.Aquitania was the only major liner and largest vessel to serve in and survive both World Wars. She was also the last four-funnelled passenger ship to be scrapped.[79] The ship's wheel and a detailed scale model ofAquitania may be seen in the Cunard exhibit at theMaritime Museum of the Atlantic in Halifax.
Maritime author N. R. P. Bonsor wrote ofAquitania in 1963: "Cunard had recovered possession of their veteran in 1948 but she was not worth reconditioning. In 35 years of serviceAquitania had sailed more than 3 million miles and apart from one or two earlyAllan Line steamers no other ship served for as long in a single ownership."[84][85][86]
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