TIP | Titanic Related Ships | Aquitania | Cunard Line

Aquitania

 
Cunard Line
 


Image of ss Aquitania (Cunard Line)



Length: 868.7 ft.
Breadth: 97 ft.
Draft (or Depth): 36 ft.
Tonnage: 45,647 (gross)
Engines: Steam turbine, producing 62000 s.h.p.
Speed: 23 knots
Builder: John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland
Launched: April 21, 1913
Maiden Voyage: May 30, 1914
Disposition: 1950 - Vessel scrapped.
Particulars:








Port of Registry: Liverpool, England
Flag of Registry: British
Funnel color: Red with black top; 3 black rings
Company flag: Red; at center a golden lion holding a globe
Signal Letters:
Wireless call letters:
Details: 4 funnels; 2 masts; steel construction; quadruple-screw; accommodation - 597 1st class, 614 2nd class, 2,052 3rd class


 

Relationship to Titanic disaster / inquiries.

Aquitania, under construction when Titanic sank, was discussed during the testimony of various witnesses in relation to her construction and boat accommodation.


Data:

April 21, 1913

Launched

May 30, 1914

Maiden voyage: Liverpool - New York.

August 7, 1914

Requisitioned by the Government to serve as an armed merchant cruiser.

August 22, 1914

Collided with the Leyland ship Canadian in thick fog forcing the vessel to return to Liverpool.

June 18, 1915

Requisitioned once again, this time as a troopship.

December 1915

Converted into a hospital ship.

November 1919 - June 1920

Underwent extensive refitting at Armstrong Whitworth & Co on the Tyne. The vessel was converted to burn oil at this time.

July 17, 1920

Resumed passenger service, sailing from Liverpool to New York.

1932

Utilized for the first time doing cruises around the Mediterranean and Carribbean

November 21, 1939

Aquitania was requisitioned as a troop transport during World War II, carrying both American and Canadian troops across the Atlantic.

1945

Following the end of hostilities in Europe Aquitania was used to repatriate Canadian and American troops. Later it was also used to to carry the wives and children of Canadian servicemen over to Canada.

December 1949

Cunard announces that Aquitania would be withdrawn from service. (She had made 443 transatlantic roundtrips, steaming over 3 million miles and carrying almost 1.2 million passengers over a 35 year career).

January 9, 1950

Auctioning of the vessels furnishings and interiors was handled by Hampton & Sons Ltd. Later the same month the vessel was sold to the British Iron & Steel Corporation Ltd for £125,000. The ship then sailed from Southampton to Faslane, in Scotland where it was broken up.

 


Courtesy: Mark Baber, Jeff Newman and greatships.net.
Image Courtesy: Old Ship Photo Galleries (http://www.photoship.co.uk) Used with permission