File:RMS Campania (1892) (51000014436).jpg

A model of the ocean liner RMS Campania at the Science Museum, South Kensington, 15 November 2008.

The Campania was built by Fairfield, Govan for the Cunard Line and was completed in 1892 (sister ship RMS Lucania was completed in 1893). The ship measured 622 ft x 30 ft x 42 ft, weighed 12,950 tons gross.

Such was the speed of ocean liner development in the late 19th Century that the ship the Campania replaced on the Liverpool – New York ‘express’ service, the RMS Servia which had been built only 10 years previously as a ‘state-of-the-art’ liner, was decidedly old fashioned compared to her replacement. The Campania represented the epitome of luxury for her passengers whilst her 31,000 ihp triple-expansion reciprocating engines were the largest in the world at the time. She was the first Cunarder with twin screws and had a maximum speed of 23.5 kts. She took the Blue Riband of the Atlantic from the rival Inman Line’s RMS City of Paris in 1893 but lost it to her sister RMS Lucania the next year. The sisters were the first Cunarders to be fitted with wireless.

Despite their advanced design, the sisters were soon out of date when the four North German Lloyd’s ‘Kaiser’ Class liners were built in 1897-1907 so Cunard had to build the Lusitania and Mauretania in 1907 to replace the Campania and Lucania. The Lucania was taken out of service in 1909 but caught fire at her birth in Liverpool and sank. The Campania continued in use on Cunard’s ‘intermediate’ services until 1914 when the RMS Mauretania came into service. She was then chartered to the Anchor Line but in October 1914 was sold for scrap as worn out.

However, the Campania was reprieved from the scrapyard by the Admiralty. She had been built to Admiralty Armed Merchant Cruiser standards so in 1914-15 she was extensively converted to such but innovatively with facilities for 14 seaplanes as HMS Campania. She was effectively an early seaplane carrier, her aircraft being used as scouts for the Grand Fleet.