RMS Caronia (1904)

RMS Caronia was a British ocean liner, launched on 13 July 1904. She was built for Cunard[1] by John Brown & Co. of Glasgow. She was the only ship in the Cunard fleet to be named after an American, being named after Caro Brown, granddaughter of Cunard's New York agent.[2] She left Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York on 25 February 1905. A successful 1906 cruise from New York to the Mediterranean led to Caronia being used for cruising frequently in the coming years.

For other ships with the same name, see Caronia (disambiguation).

Caronia under steam
History
United Kingdom
Name: RMS Caronia
Namesake: Caro Brown
Owner: Cunard Line
Builder: John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland
Yard number: 362
Launched: 13 July 1904
Maiden voyage: 25 February 1905
Homeport: Liverpool
Fate: Sold for scrapping, 1932
General characteristics
Tonnage: 19,524 GRT
Length: 678 ft (207 m) p/p
Beam: 72 ft (22 m)
Propulsion: Steam quadruple-expansion engines, twin propellers
Speed: 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Capacity:
  • 1,550 passengers
  • (300 first class, 350 second class, 900 third class)

On 14 April 1912 Caronia sent the first ice warning at 09:00 to RMS Titanic reporting "bergs, growlers and field ice".

Caronia was briefly placed on Cunard's Boston service in 1914, but the start of the First World War caused her to be requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser. She was stationed off New York on contraband patrol.[2] In 1916, she became a troopship and served in that role for the duration. Her last duties being the repatriation of Canadian troops in 1919.[2] She returned to the Liverpool – New York run after the war.

In 1920 Caronia was converted to burn oil instead of coal.

After returning to service, she sailed on a number of different routes, including:

  • Liverpool – New York/Boston
  • London – New York
  • Hamburg – New York (1922)
  • Liverpool – Quebec (1924)
  • New York – Havana

Her last voyage, from London to New York was on 12 September 1932, after which she was sold for scrap. Initially sold to Hughes Bolckow for demolition at Blyth, Northumberland, she was resold, renamed Taiseiyo Maru and sailed to Osaka, Japan, where she was scrapped in 1933.

Turbine experiment

Caronia was fitted with the older quadruple-expansion engine technology; whilst Carmania had turbines and proved to be the more economical of the two liners.[1]

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gollark: As I said, it looks like it tried an exploit™.
gollark: So something was attempting to download & run this script using what looks like a netgear router exploit.
gollark: I have a potatolog of all evil-looking HTTP requests.
gollark: Does anyone know who this is?

References
  1. "Caronia". Archived from the original on 12 August 2010. Retrieved 15 July 2010.
  2. Wills, Elspeth (2010). The Fleet 1840-2010. London: Cunard. p. 141. ISBN 978-0-9542451-8-4.

Bibliography
  • Osborne, Richard; Spong, Harry & Grover, Tom (2007). Armed Merchant Cruisers 1878–1945. Windsor, UK: World Warship Society. ISBN 978-0-9543310-8-5.
  • Haws' Merchant Fleets
  • Bonsor's North Atlantic Seaway
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