RMS Berengaria
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The Berengaria was originally launched as the Imperator by the German HAPAG Line in 1912 and entered commercial service for that company in June 1913. For several months she was the world's largest ship, until surpassed by her slightly larger sister, HAPAG's SS Vaterland (later the United States Lines' SS Leviathan).
At the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, the Imperator was laid up at Hamburg and remained inactive for more than four years. After the end of the war, she was used by the US Navy as a transport for returning troops, and then given to the British Cunard Lines as a war reparation, to replace the torpedoed RMS Lusitania.
In addition to some refitting, Cunard renamed the Imperator after Queen Berengaria, the wife of Richard the Lionheart. This was the first Cunard ship to not carry the name of a Roman province.
The Berengaria served as flagship of the Cunard fleet until she was replaced by her sister ship, the RMS Majestic -- originally HAPAG's SS Bismarck -- in 1934. In later years, she was used for cheap prohibition-dodging cruises, which earned her the unfortunate nickname "Bargain-area." Towards the end, she suffered the small fires endemic to German-built liners of that period, and Cunard sent her to be broken up in 1938.
Specifications
- 51,680 gross register tons (146 300 m3)
- 909 ft (277.1 m) overall length, 98.3 ft (30.0 m) beam.
- Engines: steam turbines geared to 4 screws, 60,000 shaft horsepower (45 MW), designed speed 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h).
- 4,234 passengers (908 first class, 592 second class, 962 third class, 1,772 steerage), 1,180 crew.