SS Imperator
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The SS Imperator, later renamed RMS Berengaria, was the first of a trio of successively larger ocean liners that included the Vaterland and the Bismarck built by the German HAPAG Line for the transatlantic passenger service. The first plates of her keel were laid in 1910 at the Vulcan Shipyards in Hamburg, and she made her maiden voyage in 1913. At 51,680 gross tons, the Imperator was the largest ship in the world until the Vaterland sailed in 1914.
Before her launch on 23 May 1912, in order to make her longer than the RMS Aquitania (which was under construction at the time) she was fitted with a large bronze eagle gracing her forepeak with a banner emblazoned with HAPAG's motto Mein Feld ist die Welt ("My field is the world"). The eagle's wings were later carried away in an Atlantic storm, and it was removed.
Unfortunately, the Imperator was top heavy due to the heavy fittings in her upper (first class) decks and the high funnels that graced her upper half. In order to correct the problem, concrete was poured along the ship's bottom, her funnels were trimmed by 9 feet, and much of the heavy material used in the fitting out of her upper decks was replaced with lighter material. These measures only partially helped; due to her tendency to roll because of the top heaviness, Imperator was even nicknamed "Limperator".
At the outbreak of World War I, the Imperator was laid up at Hamburg and inactive for the duration of hostilities. After the war she was given to the US Navy for use as a transport for returning troops. In order to make reparations to the various Allied governments, nearly all of Germany's greatest ocean liners were turned over to their respective passenger lines. The Imperator, after her service with the US Navy, was given to the British Cunard Lines to replace the 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 not to 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.
[edit] Specifications
- 52,117 gross tons
- 918 ft 8 in (280 m) overall length, 98 ft 1 in (29.9 m) beam.
- Engines: steam turbines geared to 4 screws, 60,000 shaft horsepower (45 MW), designed speed 22.5 knots (42 km/h).
- 4,234 passengers (908 first class, 592 second class, 962 third class, 1,772 steerage), 1,180 crew.
