RMS Alaunia (ship, 1913)

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The RMS Alaunia was a passenger ship of the Cunard Line . She was built in 1913 at the Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company in Greenock near Glasgow and was launched on June 9, 1913. Her maiden voyage began on November 27, 1913 in Liverpool and led via Queenstown (Ireland) and Portland to Boston (USA), where she arrived on December 6, 1913. Her sister ships were the essentially identical ships Andania and Aurania . The series was created after the Cunard Line decided in 1911 to start regular service with Canada .

The ship had a tonnage of 13,405 GRT and was a two-masted ship with three decks . It was powered by two propellers and could reach a top speed of 14.5 knots . They were 164.7 meters long and 19.5 meters wide; from the keel to the top of the mast it was around 74 meters. In the second class there were cabins for 520 passengers, in the third class for 1,620 passengers, whereby the usual dormitories had been replaced by four- or six-bed cabins. 289 crew members were provided for the liner service.

At first the Alaunia was used in regular traffic to North America and transported emigrants to the New World , but in early August 1914 the Alaunia was used as a troop transport ship. Her last voyage began on September 19, 1916, when she set course for New York City to pick up US and Canadian soldiers. She made this trip in the company of her sister ship, the Andania .

On the way back to Great Britain she ran on October 19, 1916 in the English Channel off Eastbourne ( East Sussex ) on a sea ​​mine . An emergency call was made and other ships rushed to help. Due to its size, it did not sink immediately, but it did take water steadily. An attempt to take them in a rope and tow them failed, however. Due to this development, the order to leave the ship was given and all passengers and 163 crew members on board were rescued. However, two crew members were killed.

The wreck was not lifted and lies on the bottom of the English Channel to this day. Even the sister ship, the Andania , did not survive the First World War; she was sunk in February 1918 by a German submarine off the island of Rathlin .

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