Cunard liner 'Campania'

The 12,950 grt, 622-ft (189.6 metre) long RMS Campania was built by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of Govan, Scotland, and launched on Thursday, 8 September 1892. Campania was identical in dimensions and specifications to her sister ship Lucania, and was the largest and fastest passenger liner afloat when she entered service in 1893. She crossed the Atlantic in less than six days; and on her second voyage in 1893, she won the prestigious Blue Riband, previously held by the Inman Liner SS City of Paris. The following year, Lucania won the Blue Riband and kept the title until 1898.

Superseded by bigger liners, Campania was due to be broken up in 1914, but with the beginning of WW1, the British Admiralty stepped in at the last minute and bought Campania with a view of converting her to an armed merchant cruiser that could carry seaplanes. The original idea was to use float-planes which would be lowered into and retrieved from the water by a crane. Her interior was completely gutted, and room made inside to store up to 14 aircraft. She was also equipped with eight 4.7" guns. HMS Campania lasted until 6 days before the end of the war when she was involved in a collision in the Firth of Forth when at 03:45 she struck the bow of the battleship Royal Oak and then dragged along the side of the battle cruiser Glorious. She began to sink stern first. A few hours later an explosion—presumed to be a boiler—sent her to the bottom.  more