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 Carmania in 1905 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Carmania |
| Namesake | Carmania |
| Owner | Cunard Line |
| Operator | 1914–16: Royal Navy |
| Port of registry | Liverpool |
| Route | Liverpool –New York |
| Builder | John Brown & Company,Clydebank |
| Yard number | 366 |
| Laid down | 17 May 1904 |
| Launched | 21 February 1905 |
| Completed | November 1905 |
| Maiden voyage | 2 December 1905 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Scrapped 1932 atBlyth |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 19,566 GRT, 9,250 NRT |
| Length |
|
| Beam | 72.2 ft (22.0 m) |
| Draught | 33 ft 3 in (10.13 m) |
| Depth | 40.0 ft (12.2 m) |
| Decks | 3 |
| Installed power | 21,000SHP |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
| Capacity |
|
| Crew | 450 |
| Sensors & processing systems |
|
| Armament |
|
| Notes | Sister ship:RMS Caronia |
RMSCarmania was aCunard Linetransatlanticsteam turbineocean liner. She was launched in 1905 and scrapped in 1932. InWorld War I she was first anarmed merchant cruiser (AMC)[1] and then atroop ship.Carmania was the sister ship ofRMS Caronia, although the two ships had different machinery. When new, the pair were the largest ships in the Cunard fleet.[2]
Leonard Peskett designedCarmania.John Brown & Company built her, launching her on 21 February 1905[3] and completing her that November.[4]
Carmania had threepropellers, each driven by aParsonssteam turbine. A high-pressure turbine drove her centre shaft. Exhaust steam from the centre turbine powered a pair of low-pressure turbines that drove herport and starboard shafts.[5]
Caronia, which was launched the year before, had twin propellers which were driven byquadruple-expansion engines.[6] The essentially identical ships with the two different sets of engines was an opportunity to compare operations and clarify the advantages and disadvantages of turbine engines.[5]
Carmania'ssea trials were in November 1905. On thenautical measured mile offSkelmorlie she achieved 20.19 knots (37.39 km/h).[5]
Another feature that differentiated the two liners was thatCarmania had two tall forward deck ventilator cowls, which were absent onCaronia.
As built,Carmania had berths for 2,650 passengers: 300 first class, 350 second class, 1,000 third class and 1,000steerage class.[5] Her holds included 46,280 cubic feet (1,311 m3)refrigerated cargo space.[7]
Carmania leftLiverpool on 2 December 1905 for her maiden voyage toNew York arriving on 10 December. She completed the voyage in 7 days, 9 hours and 31 minutes, averaging 15.97 knots (29.58 km/h) over the 2,835 nautical miles (5,250 km) route.[5]
Carmania plied between Liverpool and New York from 1905 to 1910. In the spring of 1906 she tookH. G. Wells to North America for the first time. He noted her qualities in a book about his travels, "There are, one must admit, tremendous justifications for the belief in a sort of automatic ascent of American things to unprecedented magnificences, an ascent so automatic that indeed one needn't bother in the slightest to keep the whole thing going. For example, consider this, last year's last-word in ocean travel in which I am crossing, the Carmania with its unparalleled steadfastness, its racing, tireless great turbines, its vast population of 3244 souls! It has on the whole a tremendous effect of having come by fate and its own forces".[8]
Ernest Shackleton returned to Liverpool from New York after his US lecture tour, travelling first class onCarmania, from 18–28 May 1910.[citation needed]
In June 1910 in LiverpoolCarmania suffered a major fire in her passenger accommodation. Her structure and machinery were undamaged, and repairs were completed by 4 October.[2]
On an eastbound crossing in October 1913Carmania answered adistress signal fromVolturno to pick up survivors in a storm, which resulted in many awards for gallantry being presented to various members of her crew and CaptainJames Clayton Barr.[9]
In August 1914, after the outbreak ofWorld War I,Carmania was converted into anAMC, armed with eightQF 4.7 inch Mk V naval guns. She was commissioned as HMSCarmania, with thepennant number M 55.[10]
Commanded by Captain Noel Grant, she sailed from Liverpool to Shell Bay inBermuda. On 14 September 1914 she engaged and sank the German merchant cruiserSMS Cap Trafalgar in the Battle ofTrindade. At the timeCap Trafalgar's appearance had been altered to resemble theCarmania in order to infiltrate into British fleets.[11]Carmania suffered extensive damage and several casualties to her crew.
After repairs inGibraltar, she patrolled the coast ofPortugal and the Atlantic islands for the next two years. In 1916 she assisted in theGallipoli campaign. From July 1916 she was a troop ship. After the war she took Canadian troops home from Europe.
By 1919 she had returned to passenger liner service. In 1923 Cunard had her refitted as a cabin class ship,[12] with her total accommodation reduced from 2,650 berths to 1,440.Caronia was similarly refitted, and the two sisters kept busy until the shipping slump[13] caused by theGreat Depression after 1929. By 1930Carmania's navigational equipment includedsubmarine signalling and wirelessdirection finding.[4]
Toward the end of 1931 Cunard listed bothCarmania andCaronia for sale.[13] In 1932Hughes Bolckow & Co. bought her for scrap. She arrived atBlyth on 22 April to be broken up.[3]
Carmania'sbell is on display aboard the permanently mooredHMS Wellington atVictoria Embankment,London.
The Cunard liner Carmania arrived yesterday from Liverpool with forty-three survivors from the Volturno, including twenty-two women and children who had been rescued by the Leyland steamship Devonian and landed at Liverpool.
