RMS Franconia (ship, 1923)
.jpg) The RMS Franconia in Sydney, 1927
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The RMS Franconia (II) was an ocean liner put into service in 1923 by the British shipping company Cunard Line , which was used in passenger and mail traffic between Great Britain and the USA . From 1939 the ship served as a troop transport in World War II and was then again active in transatlantic passenger traffic. In 1956 the Franconia was decommissioned and scrapped in Scotland .
The ship
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The 20,158 BR steam turbine ship RMS Franconia was the second ship of the Cunard Line to bear this name. The first Franconia entered service in 1911. The second Franconia was built at the John Brown & Company shipyard in Clydebank , where many of the shipping company's well-known ships were built, including the Lusitania . The ship, 190.19 meters long and 22.46 meters wide, had a chimney, two masts and two propellers and was powered by steam turbines, which allowed a speed of 16 knots. The ship could accommodate 330 passengers in the first, 420 in the second and 950 in the third class. Her sister ship, the Carinthia , was owned by Vickers Ltd. built in Barrow-in-Furness and commissioned in 1925.
The Franconia was launched on October 21, 1922 and was completed in May 1923. On June 23, 1923, ran Franconia in Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York from. Until 1933 it operated the regular liner service on the New York route in the summer months and was used for cruises in the winter . In 1933 her hull was then painted completely white for a world tour. She then stayed on the London - Southampton - New York route for a year until she left Liverpool again in 1935.
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War years
After another tour of the world in 1938, the ship was converted into a troop transport . In 1939 the Franconia collided with the Alcantara of the Royal Mail Line near Malta , which was also on its way to be converted into a troop transport. On June 16, 1940, the Franconia was attacked and damaged by German fighter bombers off Brittany . She was in the context of Operation Ariel , the evacuation of the Second British Expeditionary Force, on the way to Saint-Nazaire and had to be escorted to Liverpool because of the damage. Later in the war, she took part in the evacuation of Norway and France, the Italian campaign , the invasion of Madagascar , the Azores and the Allied landings in Sicily ( Operation Husky ) and North Africa ( Operation Torch ).
In 1945 it served as the headquarters of Winston Churchill and his British delegation during the Yalta Conference . After the war ended, she made several trips to bring US troops and refugees from Europe to the USA. It was also used to bring British forces, including liberated prisoners of war , home from India.
After the war
In June 1948 the Franconia was returned to the Cunard Line and repaired in Clydeside. On June 2, 1949, the Franconia began its first civil post-war voyage. It had previously been modernized and converted to carry 250 first class passengers and 600 in the newly created tourist class. From then on she no longer drove to New York, but from London to Montreal and Quebec . It was also used again for cruises in the winter season. In July 1950, the ship stranded on the Île d'Orléans near Quebec, but was able to be made afloat again. On July 22, 1955, the Franconia was implemented on the route from Southampton via Le Havre to Quebec, but resumed its old service from Liverpool to New York on May 3, 1956. Shortly thereafter, the 33-year-old ship was decommissioned and sold to Thomas W. Ward Shipbreakers Ltd. in December 1956. scrapped in Inverkeithing .