Name RMS Caronia Owner Cunard Line Maiden voyage 25 February 1905 Launched 13 July 1904 Beam 22 m | Namesake Caro Brown Yard number 362 Homeport Liverpool Length 207 m Builder John Brown & Company | |
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RMS Caronia was a British ocean liner, launched on 13 July 1904. She was built for Cunard by John Brown & Co. of Glasgow. She was the only ship in the Cunard fleet to be named after an American, being named after Caro Brown, granddaughter of Cunard's New York agent. She left Liverpool on her maiden voyage to New York on 25 February 1905. A successful 1906 cruise from New York to the Mediterranean led to Caronia's being used for cruising frequently in the coming years.
On 14 April 1912 Caronia sent the first ice warning at 09:00 to RMS Titanic reporting "bergs, growlers and field ice".
Caronia was briefly placed on Cunard's Boston service in 1914, but the start of the First World War caused her to be requisitioned as an armed merchant cruiser. She was stationed off New York on contraband patrol. In 1916, she became a troopship and served in that role for the duration. Her last duites being the repatriation of Canadian troops in 1919. She returned to the Liverpool - New York run after the war.
In 1920 Caronia was converted to burn oil instead of coal.
After returning to service, she sailed on a number of different routes, including:
Her last voyage, from London to New York was on 12 September 1932, after which she was sold for scrap. Initially sold to Hughes Bolckow for demolition at Blyth, Northumberland, she was resold, renamed Taiseiyo Maru and sailed to Osaka, Japan, where she was scrapped in 1933.
Turbine experiment
Caronia was fitted with the older quadruple-expansion engine technology; whilst the Carmania had turbines and proved to be the more economical of the two liners.