Name RMS Samaria Operator Cunard Line Route Liverpool – Varied Launched 27 November 1920 Builder Cammell Laird | Owner Cunard Line Port of registry Liverpool Completed 1921 Length 190 m | |
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RMS Samaria was transatlantic ocean liner built for Cunard Line. She served from 1922 until 1955. During the Second World War she was a troopship in the Royal Navy. Samaria was scrapped in 1956.
History
RMS Samaria was a British transatlantic ocean liner built by Cammel Laird & Company in Birkenhead for the Cunard Line, and launched in November of 1920. Fitting out for service took somewhat longer than usual due to post war demands on industry but in due course Samaria entered service in April 1922. She was an intermediate liner designed with an emphasis on fuel economy to which end the ship's service speed was around 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph). Intended to augment Cunard's transatlantic service Samaria ran on the Liverpool to Boston and New York City route with periodic stops in Cobh, and appealed to those first and second class passengers looking for comfort at reasonable rates and who were not in a hurry. Originally the ship was intended to make a profit in the immigrant trade with third class passengers. However the end of unrestricted immigration to the United States in the mid 1920s necessitated the first of several reconfiguration of passenger accommodations as third class became “tourist.”
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Samaria was frequently employed as a cruise ship. In September 1940 she took part in the evacuation of children from the UK to the US under the scheme set up by the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB). In 1941 the ship was taken over by the Royal Navy and served as a troopship until 1948 when she was returned to Cunard and refitted for passenger service. Between 1948 and 1955 Samaria was assigned almost exclusively to the Canadian route with service to Montreal, Quebec, and Halifax along with her sister-ship RMS Scythia. In November 1955 she completed her last transatlantic crossing and was subsequently sold for scrapping, which was completed in 1956 at Inverkeithing, Scotland.