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British ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line
Cunard Liner
Ivernia
|
History
|
United Kingdom
|
Name
| SS
Ivernia
|
Namesake
| Iverni
|
Owner
| Cunard Line
|
Builder
| Swan Hunter
,
Tyne and Wear
|
Launched
| 21 September 1899
|
Fate
| Torpedoed and sunk, 1 January 1917
|
General characteristics
|
Type
| Ocean liner
|
Tonnage
| 13,799
gross register tons
(GRT)
|
Length
| 600 ft (180 m)
|
Beam
| 64 ft (20 m)
|
Propulsion
| Steam quadruple-expansion engines geared to twin propellers
|
Speed
| 15
knots
(28 km/h; 17 mph)
|
Capacity
|
- 1,964 passengers
- (164 First Class, 200 Second Class, 1,600 Third Class)
|
Notes
| sister ship to
RMS Saxonia
|
SS
Ivernia
was a British
ocean liner
owned by the
Cunard Line
, built by the company
Swan Hunter & Wigham Richardson
of
Newcastle upon Tyne
,
England
, and launched in 1899. The
Ivernia
was one of Cunard's intermediate ships, that catered to the vast immigrant trade. Together with her sister ship
RMS
Saxonia
, the
Ivernia
worked on Cunard's service from
Liverpool
to
Boston
and then later on the immigrant run the Cunard Line had established from
Fiume
and
Trieste
to
New York City
.
[1]
Following the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 the
Ivernia
was hired by the British government as a troop transport. In autumn of 1916,
William Thomas Turner
(made famous for being the captain of
RMS
Lusitania
at the time of her sinking) was given command.
[2]
On 1 January 1917, the
Ivernia
was carrying some 2,400 British troops from Marseille to Alexandria, when at 10:12
am she was torpedoed by the German submarine
UB-47
58 miles south-east of
Cape Matapan
in
Greece
, in the
Kythira Strait
. The ship went down fairly quickly with a loss of 36 crew members and 84 troops. Captain Turner, who had been criticised for not going down with the
Lusitania
(even though he had believed he was the last person on board), remained on the bridge until all aboard had departed in lifeboats and rafts "before striking out to swim as the vessel went down under his feet."
[2]
HMS
Rifleman
rescued a number of survivors and armed trawlers towed the bulk, who had taken to lifeboats, to
Suda Bay
in
Crete
.
Today Ivernia Road in
Walton
in
Liverpool
still bears the name of the doomed vessel.
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
35°42′N
23°19′E
/
35.700°N 23.317°E
/
35.700; 23.317
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Current fleet
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Former ships
1840–1994
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For MoWT
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Years indicate year of entry into Cunard service.
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Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in January 1917
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Shipwrecks
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Other incidents
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