RMS Alaunia (1913)

	RMS Alaunia
History
United Kingdom
Name	Alaunia
Owner	Cunard Line
Operator	1914: Royal Navy
Port of registry	1913: Liverpool
Builder	Scotts S&E, Greenock
Yard number	447
Launched	9 June 1913
Maiden voyage	27 December 1913
Identification	UK official number 135513; code letters JDKM; ; wireless call sign GAI;
Fate	Mined on 19 October 1916 off Eastbourne, East Sussex
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	13,405 GRT, 8,261 NRT
Length	520.3 ft (158.6 m)
Beam	64.0 ft (19.5 m)
Depth	43.1 ft (13.1 m)
Decks	2
Installed power	1,324 NHP
Propulsion	2 × quadruple-expansion engines; 2 × screws;
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity	520 Cabin, 1,540 3rd class

RMS Alaunia was a Cunard ocean liner. She was built in 1913 at Greenock and measured 13,405 GRT.^[1] She was one of three sister ships Cunard ordered from Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company. Her sisters were RMS Andania, and RMS Aurania. Alaunia was the second of the trio. She and her sisters had only 2nd class and 3rd class accommodation.

Alaunia was launched on 9 June 1913, and began her maiden voyage on 27 December 1913. When World War I began in 1914, she was requisitioned as a troopship. HMS Alaunia was the first Cunard ship to carry Canadian troops. Then she worked on carrying troops of the Home Counties Division to Bombay in October.^[2] She was sent to the Gallipoli campaign by the summer of 1915. She returned to the North Atlantic and carried troops from Canada and the USA in 1916. During a voyage from London to New York, she struck a mine on 19 October 1916 in the English Channel off the Royal Sovereign Lightship off Eastbourne, East Sussex.^[3] laid earlier that day by SM UC-16.^[4] After attempts to beach the ship and tow her to shore with tugs, her captain realized the ship was lost and finally gave the order to abandon ship. Two crew members were killed in her sinking. Alaunia's wreck lies on its port side in the English Channel at a depth of 36 metres (118 ft).^[5]

Cunard revived the name in 1925 when it had a second RMS Alaunia built. She served until 1957.^[6]

References

^ "Alaunia sunk, passengers and 163 of crew safe". The Christian Science Monitor. 20 October 1916. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2007.
^ Col H.C. Wylly, History of the Queen's Royal (West Surrey) Regiment in the Great War, Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1925/Uckfield, Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84342539-7, p. 179.
^ "RMS Aluania".
^ Spindler. Handelskrieg. Vol. III. pp. 306–7.
^ "Alaunia". Wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
^ "RMS Alaunia". TheShipsList. Retrieved 14 October 2014.

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[1] "Alaunia sunk, passengers and 163 of crew safe". The Christian Science Monitor. 20 October 1916. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 5 October 2007.

[2] Col H.C. Wylly, History of the Queen's Royal (West Surrey) Regiment in the Great War, Aldershot: Gale & Polden, 1925/Uckfield, Naval & Military Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-84342539-7, p. 179.

[wrecks-3] "RMS Aluania".

[4] Spindler. Handelskrieg. Vol. III. pp. 306–7.

[Wrecksite-5] "Alaunia". Wrecksite.eu. Retrieved 29 August 2022.

[6] "RMS Alaunia". TheShipsList. Retrieved 14 October 2014.

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v t e Ships of the Cunard Line
Current fleet	2004 RMS Queen Mary 2 2007 MS Queen Victoria 2010 MS Queen Elizabeth 2024 MS Queen Anne
Former ships 1840–1994	1840 RMS Unicorn 1840 RMS Britannia 1848 SS Satellite 1853 SS Arabia 1856 RMS Persia 1862 RMS Scotia 1863 RMS Hecla 1865 SS Java 1867 SS Russia 1870 SS Abyssinia 1870 SS Parthia 1874 SS Bothnia 1878 SS Aleppo 1879 SS Gallia 1881 SS Servia 1881 SS Catalonia 1882 RMS Aurania 1884 SS Oregon 1884 RMS Umbria 1885 RMS Etruria 1892 RMS Campania 1893 RMS Lucania 1898 SS Ultonia 1899 RMS Ivernia 1899 RMS Saxonia 1903 RMS Carpathia 1903 RMS Pannonia 1904 RMS Slavonia 1905 RMS Carmania 1905 RMS Caronia 1907 RMS Lusitania 1907 RMS Mauretania 1909 SS Thracia 1910 RMS Franconia 1911 RMS Albania 1912 RMS Laconia 1913 RMS Andania 1913 RMS Alaunia 1914 RMS Aquitania 1914 SS Orduña 1916 SS Royal George 1917 RMS Aurania 1920 SS Albania 1921 RMS Berengaria 1921 RMS Scythia 1922 RMS Samaria 1922 RMS Laconia 1922 RMS Andania 1922 RMS Antonia 1922 RMS Lancastria 1921 RMS Ausonia 1922 RMS Franconia 1924 RMS Aurania 1925 SS Letitia 1925 RMS Ascania 1925 RMS Alaunia 1925 RMS Carinthia 1934 RMS Majestic 1934 RMS Olympic 1934 MV Georgic 1934 MV Britannic 1934 SS Laurentic 1936 RMS Queen Mary 1939 RMS Mauretania 1940 RMS Queen Elizabeth 1945 SS Valacia (Empire Camp) 1947 RMS Media 1947 RMS Parthia 1949 RMS Caronia 1954 RMS Saxonia 1955 RMS Ivernia 1956 RMS Carinthia 1957 RMS Sylvania 1969 MS Queen Elizabeth 2 1970 SS Atlantic Causeway 1970 SS Atlantic Conveyor 1971 MV Cunard Adventurer 1972 MV Cunard Ambassador 1975 MS Cunard Countess 1976 MS Cunard Princess 1983 MS Sagafjord 1983 MS Caronia 1986 MS Sea Goddess I 1986 MS Sea Goddess II 1993 MS Cunard Crown Jewel 1993 MS Cunard Crown Dynasty 1994 MS Royal Viking Sun
For MoWT	1940 SS Pasteur 1941 SS Empire Barracuda 1940 MV Empire Audacity 1943 SS Empire Battleaxe 1943 SS Empire Broadsword 1945 MV Empire Ettrick
Years indicate year of entry into Cunard service.

v t e Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in October 1916
Shipwrecks	4 Oct: Franconia, Gallia 8 Oct: Blommersdijk 9 Oct: HDMS Dykkeren 17 Oct: Nembo, U-16 19 Oct: Alaunia 20 Oct: Imperatritsa Mariya, James B. Colgate 23 Oct: Tuncurry 26 Oct: The Queen 27 Oct: HMS Flirt 28 Oct: HMHS Galeka 31 Oct: Saturn Unknown: Vigilant
Other incidents	1 Oct: USS Jenkins 8 Oct: Sevastopol 11 Oct: Imperatritsa Ekaterina Velikaya 27 Oct: HMS Nubian 30 Oct: Mantola
1915 1916 1917 September 1916 November 1916