Cunard Line
An Empire of the Seas
For 180 years now, Cunard has been the line for ocean liner travel. Since 1840 they have been pioneers of ocean going trade, but as of the 21st century, they have been reduced to just 3 ships, although that will soon increase to 4.
The long, long, history of Cunard
Cunard was founded in 1840, which is a staggeringly long time ago, for a shipping company. Unlike our friends White Star though, they started out with steamships, their first vessel being the Britannia. This ship would ultimately kick-started the company's tradition of ending their ship names in "ia" as opposed to White Star's "ic." When Britannia was built, the company was referred to as the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, which is quite a mouthful, so it's no wonder that they changed it to Cunard. For the rest of the 19th century, they would continue to build bigger and better ships, just as White Star had, except their debut into the 20th century would go much better than the Olympic Class.
The Fleet Today
RMS Queen Mary 2
Queen Elizabeth
Queen Victoria
The only ocean liner in existence today, and also the largest liner ever built, she is the flagship and icon of 21st century Cunard.
Larger than Queen Victoria, but smaller than Queen Mary 2, she is a heavily modified vessel compared to the sisters that came before her.
She is a pretty standard Vista-Class cruise ship, sharing many features with her sisters. She is the smallest ship operated by Cunard today.
2003-present day
2010-present day
2007-present day
Coming Soon to the Cunard Fleet...
Queen Anne
This new ship will embody the history of Cunard, she will feature a much larger passenger capacity of 3,000, but not much else is known about her.
2024-
The Lusitania and Mauretania
Remember when I said that Cunard's "debut into the 20th century would go much better than the Olympic Class?" Well this is their premier in the 1900's, and I think you find it quite impressive!
Lusitania
Now, you may have already heard of her, but I'll give a quick recap for those who don't know about this ship. The RMS Lusitania was a Cunard ocean liner that was the first british-owned ship to have 4 funnels. She boasted some beautiful interiors, and was a well proportioned vessel from the outside, but she is most famous for how she sunk. During world war one, the Lusitania was sailing just off the coast of Ireland, when she was spotted by a U-Boat. All it took was a single torpedo to ignite her explosive wartime cargo, and she sank in under 20 minutes.
Mauretania
Mauritania is the younger sister of the Lusitania, and was a ship that was beloved by the entirety of England. She was a vessel that served for many years after the war, and after her sister's sinking, enduring through each year she served Cunard. Unfortunately, she would always be overshadowed by her sister in the long run, but the put up a good fight for the history books. For several decades, she remained Britain's fastest passenger liner, until the Queen Mary took the title from her. But she remained for a long time afterward, only being scrapped in 1965.