RMS Saxonia (1899)

For other ships with the same name, see RMS Saxonia.

RMS Saxonia riding high in the water in the early 20th century.
History
Name	RMS Saxonia
Owner	Cunard Line
Operator	Cunard Line
Port of registry	United Kingdom United Kingdom
Route	North Atlantic (1900–1911) Trieste-Boston (1911–1914) North Atlantic (1919–1925)
Builder	John Brown & Company, Clydebank, Scotland
Launched	16 December 1899
Completed	mid-May 1900
Maiden voyage	22 May 1900
Out of service	1925
Fate	Scrapped in the Netherlands in 1925
General characteristics
Tonnage	14,281 GRT as built 14,197 GRT after 1920 refit
Length	600 ft (180 m)
Beam	64.2 ft (19.6 m)
Propulsion	Steam quadruple expansion engines, twin propellers
Speed	15 knots (27.78 kilometres per hour; 17.26 miles per hour)
Capacity	1,964 passengers as built 1.449 passengers after 1920 refit

The first RMS Saxonia was a passenger ship of the British Cunard Line. Between 1900 and 1925, she operated on North Atlantic and Mediterranean passenger routes, and she saw military service during World War I (1914–1918).

Design

In the late 1890s, the Cunard Line faced tight competition from the German Norddeutscher Lloyd company and the British White Star Line and the threat of a possible takeover by the aggressively acquisitive American International Mercantile Marine Company (IMM). Cunard's largest liners, RMS Campania and RMS Lucania, had held a reputation for size and speed, both being of 12,950 gross register tons (grt) and having held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. However, Norddeutshcher Lloyd's new liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse took the Blue Riband from them in 1897, while White Star was planning to place a new 17,000-grt liner, RMS Oceanic into service. Cunard decided to update its fleet, ordering three new liners, SS Ivernia, RMS Carpathia, and RMS Saxonia.

Rather than attempting to fully regain prestige by spending the additional money necessary to order liners that were fast enough to win back the Blue Riband from Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse or large enough to rival Oceanic in size, Cunard in the new liners opted to maximize their profitability in order for Cunard to remain solvent enough to fend off any takeover attempts by IMM. The three new ships thus were not especially fast, but all were larger than Campania and Lucania; in fact, Saxonia at 14,281 grt was the largest Cunard liner up to that time – beating out Ivernia, which entered service a month before Saxonia, for that distinction – and the largest until Cunard placed RMS Caronia in service in 1905.

Saxonia was steam-powered, with her two propellers powered by quadruple expansion engines, and had a service speed of 15 knots. She had a long, black hull, a low, well-balanced superstructure, and four masts. Saxonia and Ivernia both had a single funnel which was 106 feet (32.3 metres) tall, probably the tallest funnel ever installed on a passenger ship. Saxonia had a large cargo capacity, so much so that her passenger accommodations were smaller than most people expected for a liner of her size. Her four masts were intended to allow effective handling of larger amounts of cargo than was customary on a liner.

Constructed at the John Brown & Company shipyard at Clydebank, Scotland, Saxonia was launched on 16 December 1899. She completed fitting out in mid-May 1900.

Operational history

Early history

Saxonia departed Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 22 May 1900, bound for Boston, Massachusetts. She operated on the North Atlantic route until 1911, when she shifted to a Mediterranean service between Trieste and Boston. In 1912, she underwent a refit in which her passenger accommodation was altered so that she could only carry second- and third-class passengers.

World War I

When the United Kingdom entered World War I in August 1914, Saxonia was requisitioned for government service and taken off her Trieste-Boston route. She made a single voyage as a troop transport, then was tied up in England on the River Thames as an accommodation ship for German prisoners of war. In March 1915, she resumed service as a troop transport.

Later career

After the war ended in November 1918, Saxonia returned to commercial service, returning to the North Atlantic run on the route between Liverpool and New York City. On 17 April 1919, one of her propellers struck the United States Navy tug USS Freehold (SP-347) while Freehold was assisting in docking her at New York. Freehold sank with the loss of one crew member killed, but soon was refloated and repaired.

Saxonia underwent a major refit at Tilbury in 1920. Her funnel was shortened to 90 feet (27.4 meters) in height, her passenger accommodations were modified to allow her to carry 1,449 passengers – 471 in cabin class and 978 in third class – and her gross tonnage dropped to 14,197.

After her refit, Saxonia returned to the North Atlantic service, operating between London and New York City. An additional stop at Hamburg, Germany, was added later.

Disposal

In 1925, the aging and outdated Saxonia was sold to the Hendrik Ido Ambacht company in the Netherlands for scrapping. Her scrapping was completed before the end of the year.

Cunard next used the name Saxonia for the liner RMS Saxonia, which was launched in 1954.

References

• thegreatoceanliners.com Saxonia (I) 1900–1925
• Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: Freehold