The RMS Aurania (II) was put into operation in 1916 ocean liner of the British shipping company Cunard Line , its use as a passenger ship by the outbreak of the First World War was prevented. The Aurania was sunk by a German submarine on February 4, 1918 off the Northern Irish coast .
history
The 13,936 GRT steamship Aurania was built at the Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson shipyard in the northern English city of Wallsend and was launched there on July 16, 1916. The ship, which was ordered before the outbreak of the First World War, was to serve as a supplement to its sister ships RMS Alaunia and RMS Andania (both 13,405 GRT each), which had already been commissioned in 1913 . The three ships were only intended for the carriage of second and third class passengers. The two steam turbines enabled a maximum cruising speed of 15 knots (27.8 km / h). The ship was equipped with two funnels, two masts and two propellers.
The completion of the Aurania was delayed by the outbreak of war. After the launch, the Auronia was intended for use as a troop transport and was never able to fulfill its intended purpose as a passenger ship. On March 28, 1917, she ran from Wallsend on her maiden voyage to New York and then docked again in Liverpool . By the end of their service life which served Aurania for the Royal Navy as a troop and supply ship in the North Atlantic .
On February 3, 1918, the Aurania ran out of Liverpool for another crossing to New York, circling the coast of Northern Ireland . The following morning, February 4, 1918, the ship was attacked about 15 nautical miles northwest of the island of Inishtrahull off the coast of the Irish county of Donegal by the German submarine UB 67 under the command of First Lieutenant Gerhard Schulz. A torpedo hit the engine room at position 56 ° 36 ′ N , 6 ° 20 ′ W on port side . Nine crew members were killed. A tug towed the Aurania , but it ran aground near the town of Tobermory on the Isle of Mull coast . The wreck was smashed one after the other in the surf and declared a total loss.
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