[WWI] RMS Mauretania Ocean Liner

[Phaelen Bleux]

RMS Mauretania (1906)
Launched in 1906, the "Maury" was the largest and fastest ship in the world at the time. She held the speed record for transatlantic crossing from 1907 to 1929. Designed to suit Edwardian tastes, she was handsomely bedecked in wood, marble, fine furnishings and tapestries. She featured a multi-level dining hall for first-class passengers, a café on the boat deck, and elevators. She could cross the Atlantic in 4.5 days.
When WWI broke out in 1914, the Mauretania was requested to become an armed merchant cruiser, but her massive fuel consumption made this impractical. After the sinking of the Lusitania, the Mauretania was laid up in Liverpool until 1915, when she was again requisition by the British government to transport troops for the Gallipoli campaign. She was painted with dazzle camouflage and dubbed the HMS Tuberose. She was able to avoid u-boats because of her high speed and the skill of her crew. As the war progressed, the Mauretania became a hospital ship until 1916, when she was again requested to transport troops. As America entered the war, she continued to transport U.S. troops to Europe.
She finally returned to civilian service in 1919. An onboard fire in 1921 removed her from service until 1922, during which time she was given a much needed overhaul, and she was converted to oil fired boilers. She continue as an ocean liner until 1930, when her declining performance (based on the newer ships of the day) and the Great Depression relegated her to cruise ship duties. In 1934, the Maury was withdrawn from service altogether, and she was scrapped in 1935.
It costs around $51,000 to provision the RMS Mauretania in supplies and fuel for a 1 week trip. She has a crew of 802, and can carry 563 1st class, 464 2nd class and 1,138 3rd class passengers.

Subassemblies: Medium Battleship chassis +11; Large Capital superstructure [Body:T] +9.
Powertrain: Steam turbine with four screw propellers producing 56,696 kW; 9,543-ton coal bunker; 260,000,000-kWs batteries.
Occ: See above.
Cargo: 50,000 Body.

Armor
Body: 4/40
Super: 3/10

Equipment:
Body: 40,000 VSP bilge, 100 bilge pumps; 100 fire extinguishers; 50,000 cargo; very large radio transmitter and receiver; immense radio transmitter and receiver; large radio direction finder; 510 luxury cabins; 770 cabins; 2,967 environmental controls; 20,769 man-day provisions; dining halls for all passengers; three stages, 20 hospital beds; surgery; 18 workshops. Superstructure: Autopilot; two navigation instruments; two precision navigation instruments, four searchlights, 24 lifeboats (p. W:MP110).

Statistics:
Size: 790'x88'x?' Payload: 12,455 tons Lwt.: 31,938 tons
Volume: 460,000 MH: 37 man/hours Cost: $5.9 million

HT: 7. HPs: 720,000 Body, 25,000 Superstructure.

wSpeed: 28 wAccel: 0.25 wDecel: 0.1 (0.25) wMR: 0.02 wSR: 6
Draft 33.5'. Flotation Rating 67,188 tons.

Design Notes:
Design wSpeed was 26 mph; design draft was 34.6 feet. Historical values are listed above. Design loaded weight was 26% light at 23,628 tons; the historical loaded weight was used for performance calculations.
Nearly all components are an estimate based on WWII designs of a similar size, passenger capacity, and a 1 week voyage. The Medium Battleship chassis was chosen because it had the least left-over space.

Variants:
Her sister ship was the RMS Lusitania. The Lusitania was slightly smaller, with a length of 787', a beam of 87' and a loaded weight of 31,550 tons. There were a few other cosmetic appearances that differentiated her from the Mauretania. She was torpedoed and sunk in 18 minutes on May 7, 1915 by the submarine U-20, with the loss of 1,198 lives. Her destruction turned public opinion against Germany and helped to bring the United States into WWI.