RMS Carmania (1905)

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General Characteristics

Shipyard:	John Brown & Co., Ltd., Glasgow
Launched:	February 21, 1905
Maiden voyage:	December 2, 1905
Name:	RMS Carmania
Flags:	United Kingdom
Fate:	scrapped in 1932 at Blyth
Length:	650 feet
Beam:	72 feet
Tonnage:	19,524 gross tons
Propulsion:	Steam turbines turning three propellers
Speed:	18 knots
Complement:	2,650, reduced to 1,440 in 1923

The RMS Carmania (I) was a British passenger liner of the Cunard Line, which in World War I was converted to an armed merchant cruiser.

[edit] 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, 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. The Carmania traveled the New York-Liverpool route from 1905 to 1910, suffering one major fire in June 1910. In October 1913, while eastward bound, she responded to an SOS from the Volturno to pick up survivors in a storm, resulting in many awards for gallantry being presented to various members of her crew.

Following the outbreak of World War I, the Carmania was converted into a armed merchant cruiser, 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 near the Brazilian island of Trindade, suffering extensive damage herself and several casualties to her crew. 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 and after the War to transport 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 Bocklow & Co., and scrapped at Blyth.