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"Resolute"
by Chris Butler 1998 - A painting
of the Lusitania Joining the Cunard fleet in 1907, these were built to compete with the Germans. Each carried about 2,100 passengers in three classes, and was about 780 feet long and 31,500 GRT. When World War 1 began, the Lusitania alone remained in Cunard transatlantic service. She was torpedoed by a German submarine off the Irish coast on 3rd May, 1915 and sank in 20 minutes, with the loss of nearly 1,200 lives. The Mauretania served as a hospital and troop ship in WW1, resuming passenger service in 1920. In 1921, a major fire prompted a refit and conversion to oil fuel. By 1930 she was used almost exclusively for cruises, and she was finally withdrawn and broken up in 1934. A second Mauretania was built in 1938-39 as a consort to the Queens. However, WW2 intervened, and she immediately was commandeered for a trooper. She finally debuted on the North Atlantic ferry in 1947 and remained there in the summers, while cruising in the winter. In 1962 she was painted green (like the Caronia) and dispatched for cruises to the Med from New York, but she proved too outdated for this service, and was withdrawn in late 1965 and broken up. |
After only three round trips she was taken over for military use, serving both as a trooper and hospital ship, at one time carrying over 8,000 men. She returned to commercial service in 1919, running with the Mauretania and Berengaria.
A Cunard-commissioned oil painting of Aquitania, Gift of John & Linda Nichols Again requisitioned for war duty, Aquitania travelled the world in WW2 as a trooper, and afterwards she hosted a summit in New York. After a year of of carrying immigrants to Canada, she was withdrawn and broken up in 1949. |
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Built in 1913 as the Imperator for the German HAPAG, she was given to Britain as a replacement for the Lusitania, which the Germans destroyed during WW1. At 52,117 GRT and 909 feet long, she was slightly smaller than her two intended sisters, both of which were also taken from Germany as war reparations. In 1922, Berengaria finally entered Cunard service following a six-month refit and conversion to oil fuel. She remained on the run, with some cruises during hard times, until 1936. After a series of fires aboard, it was determined she was no longer safe and she was withdrawn and broken up in 1938. 
The Berengaria.
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