Aquitania
The "Ship Beautiful"
The Final Sister
In the early 1910s tensions were building between Britain's two great Transatlantic superpowers, Cunard, and White Star Line. Cunard had built the Lusitania and Mauritania; the fastest ships in the world. But White Star had the Olympic-Class, comprised of the Olympic, the famed Titanic, and soon, the Britannic; the largest ships in the world. Cunard was outnumbered 3 to 2, and they needed to even the score if they were to provide a weekly Transatlantic service. The decision was made to design a new ship in the image of the Olympic-Class Liners; slower than her sisters but beating them outright in luxury.
The new ship, to be named after the ancient Roman province of Gallia Aquitania, was designed by naval architect Leonard Peskett, who had drawn up the plans for the Lusitania, Mauritania, and Carmania before her. The new liner would be about 130 feet longer than her sisters, having larger dimensions than the Olympic, but with a lighter tonnage. The Aquitania's keel was laid down at the John Brown and Company shipyard in Clydebank in 1910.
The Liner was launched on the 21st of April, 1913, and in the wake of the Titanic disaster was fitted out with enough lifeboats for all souls on board. With 80 lifeboats in all, a fully equipped Marconi wireless set, sixteen watertight compartments; the ship being able to float with any five flooded, and a double hull, the Aquitania would be able to handle any emergency that came her way. After launch she would be fitted out for 13 months before undergoing sea trials on the 10th of May, 1914, during which she reached one full knot over her expected top speed.
Finding a Balance
With the Aquitania, Cunard faced a problem. Their successful duo of the Lusitania and Mauritania had been designed around speed, while the Olympic-Class was designed around luxury. But for their new ship, they needed to strike a balance between the two, maintaining the prestige of a speedy service, while introducing new luxurious interior fittings. Thus, compromises would need to be made, but she would still reach a 24 knot service speed, with a 25 knot top speed.
In all Aquitania could hold 3,220 passengers at the start of her career with 618 First Class, 614 in Second Class, and 2,004 in Third Class. Though she would later undergo a refit in 1926 with 610 passengers in First Class, 950 in Second Class, and 640 in Tourist Class. She unfortunately lacked the smooth yacht-like profile of her sisters, but her greater length and wider beam allowed for much larger and grander public spaces. Her interiors would be designed by the same firm that had decorated the Ritz Hotel in London, so it's safe to say that her interiors were as good as they come.
The First Class areas of the ship were spacious, light, and airy with gilded decorations and intricate molding around the edges of the ceilings and floors. But the grand centerpiece of the first class section of the ship was the Louis XVI-style dining saloon, spanning two decks and capped with a gloriously decorated ceiling.
Second Class was also quite luxurious, featuring nice dining saloon, a smoking room, several lounges, a veranda café, and a gymnasium; features that you couldn't find on most liners at the time. Third Class was of course far less grand, but they still had access to a few common areas, and their own promenade. The cabins on-board Aquitania were very comfortable, First Class featuring eight sumptuous luxury suites, named in honor of famous painters. A majority of cabins in First Class also had their own private bathrooms, a novelty at the time. Her Second Class Cabins were larger than average, with a capacity of three passengers in stead of the normal four.
Her Third Class accommodation was a stark improvement upon that of her running mates. Most Cunarders, including the Lusitania and Mauritania, confined the Third Class areas to the bow of the ship, but Aquitania's Third Class accommodation continued all the way down the length of the ship, punctuated by large public rooms including three large dining saloons and both open and enclosed promenades. Suffice it to say, Aquitania's accommodation and facilities throughout all three classes were a step above, and noce, comfortable way to cross one of the most dangerous seas on the planet.
WWI
After her successful maiden voyage, Aquitania began to make regular crossings, carrying people between Britain and the new world. She would make six crossings, and carry 11,208 passengers, before Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was shot and killed, and WWI erupted in Europe. She was immediately withdrawn from service and prepared for war. Because she was built by British Admiralty specifications she was designed to quickly have her interiors dismantled, her decks cleared, and guns to be mounted, turning her into an armed merchant cruiser. and on the 8th of August, 1914, she left for patrol. Her wartime service would be cut short however, as the Admiralty quickly found out that armed merchant cruisers were A: not effective and B: a terrible idea. She was expedited out of military service, was repaired, had her interiors re-installed, and was returned to Cunard. She didn't resume passenger service though, unlike some liners I could mention (I'm looking at you, Lusitania -_-) and sat idle.
Until she was called on again by the admiralty and was turned into a troopship, carrying thousands of troops at a time off to battle. She served alongside the likes of Britannic and Mauritania, the Lusitania had been torpedoed and sunk by now. She was then converted into a hospital ship and served this role in the Dardanelles Campaign, before being converted back to a troopship, then being laid up, then serving as a troopship again, before finally, finally being returned to Cunard for the final time.
It's Makeover Time!
After the war, Aquitania was a very tired vessel. So it's time for a revamp! In December of 1919, Aquitania was brought in for a refit and received one considerable improvement in particular, a conversion from coal fired boilers, to oil ones. This would make the ship vastly more efficient and drastically cut down on personnel required in the engine room. She would also receive a second wheelhouse on top of the bridge to increase visibility over the bow.
And so, on the 17th of July, 1920, Aquitania officially resumed passenger service, leaving from Liverpool with 2,433 passengers on board. This first crossing only proved what Cunard already knew, an oil-fired ship was much more efficient and cost effective than the alternative. 1921 would be a phenomenal year for Aquitania, as she was the only large liner currently in service for Cunard, Lusitania sunk at the beginning of the war, and Mauritania was busy being repaired from a fire. During this time, she broke a record by carrying 60,000 passengers in a single year.
But in 1922, business resumed as normal, Mauritania reentering service with Aquitania along with their new running mate, the Berengaria; formerly the German liner Imperator, handed over to Cunard as part of war reparations. The trio would go on to be wildly successful, being nicknamed the "Big Three." In 1924 they hit a roadblock when the US put new restrictions on immigration, causing Third Class to fall out of favor. But Cunard adapted, the ship undergoing a major refit that reduced her passenger capacity.
Even still though, Aquitania was holding her own, benefiting greatly from prohibition. Americans had to travel on foreign liners to be served a drink, and Aquitania enjoyed much popularity from this, but nothing lasts forever, and one event would trigger the collapse of the entire Transatlantic trade...
1929
In 1929, the stock market in America plunged, and the world economy went right down with it. The Great Depression had begun. All of a sudden, millions of people were out of a job, and booking passage on an expensive liner like the Aquitania was suddenly far from anyone's minds. Cunard did have a plan though, and sent Aquitania on "booze-cruises" in the Mediterranean sea, for Americans tired of prohibition. This worked, to some degree, and allowed Aquitania to continue turning a profit. In a effort to modernize her, she underwent a refit between 1932 and 1933, adding a cinema. Around this time though, much bigger things were happening with Cunard. They had ordered their new super-liner, the future Queen Mary, but the Great Depression threw a wrench in their plans, and they were struggling to finance construction. In order to do so, they merged with White Star Line and completed the ship. The merger meant that they now had a surplus of liners, and unfortunately, the oldest liners, including the beloved Mauritania and Olympic, "The Old Reliable," were decommissioned and scraped. And with the same fate befalling the SS France, Aquitania was left as the only "four-stacker" left in service.
For Every Vessel, There Comes a Time...
With the new RMS Queen Elizabeth expected to be finished in 1940, plans were emerging that the old Aquitania might be scraped and replaced by the Queen Elizabeth. But sure enough, WWII began in 1939, and Aquitania was spared for now. She would serve in the great war, but by the end, she was old, frail and tired. She was refit for the final time to transport war brides to Canada, and when her Board of Trade certificate was not renewed, the "Ship Beautiful," was decommissioned and scraped.
Legacy
Aquitania is perhaps the most extraordinary liner ever to grace the oceans. She sailed on all of the seven seas, transported 1.2 million passengers safely to their destinations, and had a sea career that spanned 36 years, making her the longest-serving liner of the entire 20th century. With her death, the age of the four-funneled liners came to a close, and 2 and 3-funneled liners became the norm. She was also the largest vessel to serve in both WWI and WWII.
Although she is long gone now, Aquitania represents the glory days of the ocean liners, the untouchable golden age, when ocean going behemoths ruled the sea.
