RMS Alaunia (1913)

For other ships with the same name, see RMS Alaunia.

RMS Alaunia
History
United Kingdom
Name	Alaunia
Owner	Cunard Line
Operator	1914: Royal Navy
Port of registry	1913: Liverpool
Builder	Scotts S&E, Greenock
Yard number	447
Launched	9 June 1913
Maiden voyage	27 December 1913
Identification	UK official number 135513 code letters JDKM wireless call sign GAI
Fate	Mined on 19 October 1916 off Eastbourne, East Sussex
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	13,405 GRT, 8,261 NRT
Length	520.3 ft (158.6 m)
Beam	64.0 ft (19.5 m)
Depth	43.1 ft (13.1 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	1,324 NHP
Propulsion	2 × quadruple-expansion engines 2 × screws
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity	520 Cabin, 1,540 3rd class

RMS Alaunia was a Cunard ocean liner. She was built in 1913 at Greenock and measured 13,405 GRT.^[1] She was one of three sister ships Cunard ordered from Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company. Her sisters were RMS Andania, and RMS Aurania. Alaunia was the second of the trio. She and her sisters had only 2nd class and 3rd class accommodation.

The smoking room onboard RMS Alaunia (1)

The writing room onboard RMS Alaunia (1)

Alaunia was launched on 9 June 1913, and began her maiden voyage on 27 December 1913. When World War I began in 1914, she was requisitioned as a troopship. HMS Alaunia was the first Cunard ship to carry Canadian troops. Then she worked on carrying troops of the Home Counties Division to Bombay in October.^[2] She was sent to the Gallipoli campaign by the summer of 1915. She returned to the North Atlantic and carried troops from Canada and the USA in 1916. During a voyage from London to New York, she struck a mine on 19 October 1916 in the English Channel off the Royal Sovereign Lightship off Eastbourne, East Sussex.^[3] laid earlier that day by SM UC-16.^[4] After attempts to beach the ship and tow her to shore with tugs, her captain realized the ship was lost and finally gave the order to abandon ship. Two crew members were killed in her sinking. Alaunia's wreck lies on its port side in the English Channel at a depth of 36 metres (118 ft).^[5]

Cunard revived the name in 1925 when it had a second RMS Alaunia built. She served until 1957.^[6]

References

1. "Alaunia sunk, passengers and 163 of crew safe". The Christian Science Monitor. 20 October 1916. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
2. Col H.C. Wylly, History of the Queen's Royal (West Surrey) Regiment in the Great War, Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1925/Uckfield, Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84342539-7, p. 179.
3. "RMS Aluania".
4. Spindler. Handelskrieg. Vol. III. pp. 306–7.
5. "Alaunia". Wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
6. "RMS Alaunia". TheShipsList. Retrieved 14 October 2014.