SS Tuscania (1914) |
|
Career | Anchor Line |
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Builder: | Alexander Stephen & Sons, Ltd., Linthouse, Govan |
Laid down: | 1914 |
Launched: | September 1914 |
Fate: | Sunk 5 February 1918 |
General characteristics | |
Tonnage: | 14,348 gross tons |
Length: | 567 ft (173 m) |
Beam: | 66 ft 4 in (20.22 m) |
Draught: | 45 ft (14 m) |
Propulsion: | Parsons steam turbines - twin screw [1] |
Capacity: | 2,500+ passengers |
Armament: | 4-inch naval gun (fitted October 1916) [2] |
The SS Tuscania was a luxury liner of the Cunard subsidiary Anchor Line, named after a town in Italy. She was torpedoed in 1918 by the German U-boat UB-77 while carrying American troops to Europe and sank with a loss of 210 lives.[3]
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The Tuscania carried passengers between New York City and Glasgow while in service with the Anchor Line, on a route that had previously been assigned to her sistership Transylvania.[1] She continued to run this route even as World War I broke out in Europe and Germany initiated. She also made at least one run from Bombay to Liverpool. Unrestricted submarine warfare in British territorial waters, put neutral ships like the Tuscania at risk of being misidentified and attacked. The Tuscania made international headlines for rescuing passengers and crew from the burning Greek steamer SS Athinai on September 20, 1915,[4] and made the news again in March 1917 by evading a submarine and a suspected German commerce raider.[5]