RMS Alaunia (1913)

RMS Alaunia was an ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line. She was built in 1913 at Greenock and measured 13,405 tons gross.[1] She was one of the three ships Cunard ordered Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company to build. These three ships were RMS Andania, Alaunia, and RMS Aurania. The Alaunia was the second of these three ships. She and her sisters had only 2nd class and 3rd class.

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

HMT Alaunia in Alexandria, 1915
History
United Kingdom
Name: RMS Alaunia
Operator: Cunard Line
Port of registry: Liverpool,
Builder: Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Greenock
Launched: 9 June 1913
Maiden voyage: 27 December 1913
Fate: Sunk by a mine on 19 October 1916 off of Hastings, East Sussex. Two crew members killed.
General characteristics
Type: Ocean liner
Tonnage: 13,405 GRT
Decks: Four
Propulsion: Twin propellers, Quadruple-expansion, eight
Speed: 15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity: 520 Cabin, 1,540 3rd class

Alaunia was launched on 9 June 1913, and made her maiden voyage on 27 December 1913. When World War I began, she was requisitioned as a troopship. HMS Alaunia was the first Cunard ship to transport Canadian troops. She was sent in the Gallipoli campaign by the summer of 1915. Then she worked on carrying troops to Bombay later the same year. She returned to the North Atlantic and carried troops from Canada and America in 1916.

During a voyage from London to New York, she struck a mine on 19 October 1916 in the English Channel off the Royal Sovereign Lightship of Hastings, East Sussex.[2] laid earlier that day by SM UC-16[3] After attempts to beach the ship and tow her to shore with tugs, her captain realized the ship was lost and finally gave the order to abandon ship. Two crew members lost their lives in her sinking. Today, the wreck of the Alaunia lies on its port side in the English Channel in 15 metres (50 feet) of water.[4]

Cunard revived the name in 1925 when they built a second RMS Alaunia, which served until 1957.[5]

References
  1. "ALAUNIA SUNK, PASSENGERS AND 163 OF CREW SAFE". The Christian Science Monitor. 20 October 1916. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  2. "RMS Aluania".
  3. Spindler, Handelskrieg, Vol III. pp.306-7.
  4. "Two Lost On The Alaunia". The New York Times. 21 October 1916. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
  5. "RMS Alaunia", The Ships List website, retrieved 14 Oct 2014


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