RMS Alaunia (1925)

RMS Alaunia was an ocean liner built for the Cunard Line during the 1920s which served primarily on the Canadian route. She was requisitioned by the British Royal Navy during the Second World War and ultimately scrapped in 1957.[1][2]

For other ships with the same name, see RMS Alaunia.

History
United Kingdom
Name: RMS Alaunia
Owner: Cunard Line
Operator: Cunard Line
Port of registry: Southampton
Route: Southampton - Quebec and Montreal
Builder: John Brown & Co Clydebank Scotland
Launched: 7 February 1925
Completed: July 1925
Maiden voyage: 24 July 1925
Fate: Scrapped in Blyth, Northumberland, 1957
General characteristics
Type: Ocean liner
Tonnage: 14030 gross register tons
Length: 538 ft
Beam: 65 ft
Depth: 43 ft
Decks: Four
Installed power: Four steam turbines double reduction geared
Propulsion: Twin screw
Speed: 15 knots
Capacity: 633 Cabin, 1040 Third class
Crew: 270

Background

Alaunia was built by John Brown & Company in Scotland to augment the transatlantic passenger fleet of the Cunard Line. The ship entered service in July 1925 and was primarily employed on the Canadian route running from Southampton to Quebec and Montreal during the warm weather months and Halifax during the winter. She was one of a number of so-called intermediate liners built with fuel economy in mind. Designed with a single stack and straight stem bow with four passenger decks, the ship was propelled by two screws powered by four double reduction geared steam turbine engines that gave her a service speed of fifteen knots. Safety features included twelve watertight compartments divided by eleven bulkheads and twenty-eight lifeboats.[1][2]

Service

In August 1939 Alaunia was taken over by the Royal Navy for service as a troop transport and served in this capacity until 1944 when she was sold to the Royal Navy and refitted as a base repair ship at Gibraltar. Alaunia was sold for scrap to the British Iron & Steel Corporation and subsequently broken up at Blyth, England in 1957.[1][2]

References
  1. "RMS Alaunia". Norway Heritage Emigrant Ship Database. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
  2. Cairis, Nicholas T. (1979). Passenger Liners of the World Since 1893. Bonanza Books. pp. 9. ISBN 0517-28875-3.
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