After completing three round-trip voyages and arriving in Liverpool on July 27th, 1914, the Aquitania was converted to an armed merchant cruiser on the outbreak of World War I. In August of that year, she was paid off by the Admiralty as she was considered too large for operations.
In 1915, however, she was used as a troop transporter to the Dardanelles. Later she served as a hospital ship in the Mediterranean until 1917. In that year she was laid up but was put back into service again, transporting American troops to France. After the war she resumed the Transatlantic service, leaving Southampton on June 14th, 1919. Between December 1919 and August 1920, Aquitania was converted to oil-firing. At the beginning of the Second World War, she was once again requisitioned for war service until 1948, when she re-entered passenger service. She made her last passage for Cunard in November, 1949.
She was the first liner to be equipped with a gyro-compass and also the last of the four -stackers. She had served Cunard for 35 years when she went to the breakers' yard at Gareloch, Scotland, in 1949.
Limited to 850 copies, signed and numbered by the artist and counter-signed by Captain Bill Law.
Price - £20 + carriage.
One of a set of six Cunard Liners prints. Full set only £75 + carriage.
Overall size : 17" x 13.5"
Facts and FigureS of Aquitania
Builder : John Brown and Co. Ltd, Clydebank, Glasgow
Gross tonnage : 45,647 tons
Overall length : 901 ft
Breadth : 97 ft
Depth : 55 ft
Engines : 4 direct-action Parson steam turbines; three high pressure and one low pressure
Completed April 1914
Propllers : Quadruple
Watertight bulkheads : 10
Decks : 6
Normal speed : 24 knots
Officers and crew : 550
Maiden voyage : Liverpool-New York on May 30th, 1914