View source for RMS Campania

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=[[File:RMS Campania.jpg|300px|RMS Campania, c. 1895]]
|Ship caption=
}}
{{Infobox Ship Career
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|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|government}}
|Ship name=RMS ''Campania''
|Ship owner=[[Cunard Line]]
|Ship operator=
|Ship registry=[[Liverpool]], [[United Kingdom]]
|Ship route=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]], yard in [[Govan]], [[Scotland]]
|Ship original cost=
|Ship yard number=
|Ship way number=
|Ship laid down=22 September 1891
|Ship launched=8 September 1892
|Ship completed=
|Ship christened=Lady Burns
|Ship acquired=
|Ship maiden voyage=22 April 1893
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship identification=
|Ship fate=Sunk in a collision with {{HMS|Glorious}}, 5 November 1918
|Ship status=Wreck recorded at {{coord|56|02|N|03|13|W|type:landmark_scale:3000000|display=title,inline}} 
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=
|Ship tonnage=Gross 12,950; net 4973
|Ship displacement=18,450 tons
|Ship length=622ft (189.6m)
|Ship beam=65 ft 3 in (19.9m)
|Ship height=
|Ship draught=
|Ship draft=29.9 feet
|Ship depth=41 ft 10 in (13.7m)
|Ship decks=
|Ship deck clearance=
|Ship ramps=
|Ship ice class=
|Ship sail plan=
|Ship power=12 double-ended Scotch [[boiler]]s, 102 furnaces. Two five-cylinder [[triple expansion engine]]s producing 31000shp direct to twin [[propeller#Ship/Submarine propellers (screws)|screws]]
|Ship propulsion=Two [[triple blade]] [[propeller]]s
|Ship speed=Service speed 22 knots (40.5&nbsp;km/h / 25.3&nbsp;mph); top speed 23.5 knots (43.3&nbsp;km/h / 27&nbsp;mph)
|Ship capacity=600 first class, 400 second class, 1000 third class. 2000 total
|Ship crew=424
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''RMS ''Campania''''' was a [[United Kingdom|British]]  [[ocean liner]]  owned by the [[Cunard Line|Cunard Steamship Line Shipping Company]], built by [[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]] of [[Govan]], [[Scotland]], and launched on Thursday, 8 September 1892. 

Identical in dimensions and specifications to her sister ship {{RMS|Lucania}}, ''Campania'' 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 Line]]r {{SS|City of Paris|1888|6}}. The following year, ''Lucania'' won the [[Blue Riband]] and kept the title until 1898 - ''Campania'' being the marginally slower of the two sisters.

==Power plant and construction==
[[File:Campania Lucania Engine by Fairfield.jpg|thumbnail|left|One of ''Campania''{{'}}s triple expansion engines.]]
''Campania'' and ''[[RMS Lucania|Lucania]]'' were partly financed by the [[Admiralty]]. The deal was that [[Cunard Line|Cunard]] would receive money from the Government in return for constructing vessels to admiralty specifications and also on condition that the vessels go on the naval reserve list to serve as armed merchant cruisers when required by the government. The contracts were awarded to the [[Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company]], which at the time was one of Britain’s biggest producers of warships. Plans were soon drawn up for a large, twin-screw steamer powered by [[steam Engine|triple expansion engines]], and construction began in 1891, just 43 days after [[Cunard Line|Cunards']] order.<ref name=Warren>{{cite book|last=Warren|first=Mark|title=The Cunard Royal Mail Steamers Campania and Lucania|year=1993|publisher=Patrick Stephens Limited|isbn=1-85260-148-5}}</ref>{{rp|xli}} 

''Campania'' and ''[[RMS Lucania|Lucania]]'' had the largest [[Compound steam engine#Multiple expansion engines|triple expansion engines]] ever fitted to a Cunard ship,{{fact|date=December 2019}} also the largest in the world at the time, and rank amongst the largest of the type ever constructed. The engines were 47 feet in height, reaching from the double-bottom floor of the engine room almost to the top of the superstructure - over five decks. Each engine had five cylinders: two high pressure cylinders, each measuring {{convert|37|in|abbr=on}} in diameter; one intermediate pressure cylinder measuring {{convert|79|in|abbr=on}} in diameter; and two low pressure cylinders, each measuring {{convert|98|in|abbr=on}} in diameter. They operated with a stroke of {{convert|69|in|abbr=on}}. Steam was raised from twelve double-end [[Scotch boiler]]s, each measuring {{convert|18|ft|abbr=on}} in diameter and having eight furnaces. There was also one single-ended boiler for auxiliary machinery and one smaller [[Steam donkey|donkey]] boiler. Boiler pressure was {{convert|165|psi|kPa|abbr=on}}, enabling the engines to produce {{convert|31000|IHP|abbr=on}}, which translated to an average speed of {{convert|22|kn|km/h}}, and a record speed of 23½ knots.<ref name="Warren" />{{rp|xli-xlii}} Normal operating speed for the engines was about 79 rpm.

Each engine was located in a separate watertight engine compartment. In the case of a hull breach in that area, only one engine room would then be flooded, and the ship would still have use of the adjacent engine. In addition to this, ''Campania'' had 16 transverse water-tight compartments with water-tight doors that could be manually closed on command from the telegraph on the bridge. She could remain afloat with any two compartments flooded.<ref name="Warren" />{{rp|xli}}

During ''Campania's'' first trips across the Atlantic, hull vibration was noted to be a problem and sea-spray had been a nuisance to passengers in heavy seas. This led to design modifications being made to ''[[RMS Lucania|Lucania]]'', which was still under construction. The modifications to ''[[RMS Lucania|Lucania]]'' proved to be successful, so Cunard decided to make similar modifications to ''Campania''. ''Campania'' was returned to the builder's yard and her aft section was strengthened to reduce the vibration. Also, her promenade deck was extended over the forward and aft well-decks. The sides of the well-decks were fully enclosed by plating which extended some way along the lower promenade.<ref name="Warren" />{{rp|xliv}} While the aft well deck was left open from above, the forward well deck and gangway over it were dispensed with completely. The new forward design would be echoed 14 years later in the design of the ''[[RMS Lusitania|Lusitania]]'' and ''[[RMS Mauretania (1906)|Mauretania]]''.

==Passenger accommodation==
[[File:Lucania Log Book.jpg|left|thumb|Handbook issued to passengers on ''Campania'']]
[[File:RMS Campania 1.jpg|thumb]]
In their day, ''Campania'' and her sister offered the most luxurious first-class passenger accommodation available. According to maritime historian [[Basil Greenhill]], in his book ''Merchant Steamships'', the interiors of ''Campania and Lucania'' represented [[Victorian era|Victorian]] opulence at its peak — an expression of a highly confident and prosperous age that would never be quite repeated on any other ship.<ref name="Greenhill" />{{rp|39}} Greenhill remarked that later vessels' interiors degenerated into "grandiose vulgarity, the classical syntax debased to mere jargon".<ref name=Greenhill>{{cite book|last=Greenhill|first=Basil|title=Merchant Steamships|year=1979|publisher=B.T. Batsford Limited|location=London}}</ref>{{rp|40}}

All the first-class public rooms, and the en-suite staterooms of the upper deck, were generally heavily paneled in oak, satinwood or mahogany; and thickly carpeted. Velvet curtains hung aside the windows and portholes, while the furniture was richly upholstered in matching design. The predominant style was Art Nouveau, although other styles were also in use, such as "French Renaissance" which was applied to the forward first-class entrance hall, whilst the 1st class smoking room was in "Elizabethan style", comprising heavy oak panels surrounding the first open fireplace ever to be used aboard a passenger liner.

Perhaps the finest room in the vessels was the first class dining saloon, over 10' (3.05 m) high and measuring 98' (30 m) long by 63' (19.2 m) wide. Over the central part of this room was a well that rose through three decks to a skylight. It was done in a style described as "modified Italian style", with the a coffered ceiling in white and gold, supported by ionic pillars. The paneled walls were done in Spanish mahogany, inlaid with ivory and richly carved with pilasters and decorations.<ref name="Warren" />{{rp|xlii-xliii}}

==Early History==
On 21 July, 1900 she sank British  [[Barque]] {{SV|Embleton||2}} in a collision 30 miles north east of the [[Tuskar Light]] in the [[North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland)|Irish Channel]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?173590 |title=Embleton (+1900)  |publisher=Wrecksite |access-date=30 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=chi.103308961&view=1up&seq=316 |title=American Marine Engineer July, 1910  |publisher=National Marine Engineers Beneficial Association of the United States |via=Haithi Trust |access-date=30 December 2020}}</ref>    

==Wireless history==
In 1901, her sister ''Lucania'' became the first Cunard liner to be fitted with a [[Guglielmo Marconi|Marconi]] wireless system, followed a few months later by ''Campania''.<ref name=Hancock>{{cite book | last = Hancock| first = H.E.| title = Wireless at Sea| publisher = Marconi International Marine Communication Company| year = 1950 | location = Chelmsford }}</ref>{{rp|30-31}}

Shortly after these installations, the two ships made history by exchanging the first wireless-transmitted ice bulletin. ''Campania'' earned one more distinction in the history of wireless communication in 1905, when she became the first liner to have permanent radio connection to coastal stations around the world. From that time on, a ship crossing the Atlantic would never be isolated from the rest of the world in the same way again.

==Final days==
[[File:Campania at Cunard Pier.jpg|thumb|''Campania'' at the Cunard Pier in New York.]]
''Campania'' and ''Lucania'' served as Cunard's major passenger liners for 14 years, during which time they were superseded in both speed and size by a succession of four-funnelled German liners, starting with the {{SS|Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse|3=2}} in 1897, which sparked off a battle between nations to create the largest most powerful liners such as the [[Kaiser-class ocean liner|''Kaiser'']] and [[Olympic-class ocean liner|''Olympic''-class ocean liner]]s. The German competition necessitated the construction of replacements for the two Cunarders, which came to fruition in 1907 with the appearance of the {{RMS|Lusitania}} and {{RMS|Mauretania|1906|6}}. 

With the appearance of a third Cunard giant in 1914, {{RMS|Aquitania}}, ''Campania'' was no longer required. Her last planned voyage for Cunard was her 250th, and commenced on 25 April 1914. On her return to Liverpool, she was chartered to the [[Anchor Line (steamship company)|Anchor Line]] to do voyages from Glasgow to New York. However, the [[World War I|First World War]] broke out and ''Aquitania'', having completed only three voyages, was immediately commandeered by the Navy and converted into a fully armed merchant cruiser. ''Campania'' was therefore recalled to take her place but unfortunately, she was too old and managed only three voyages before being sold for scrap. Her last voyage as a passenger liner was on 26 September 1914. However, ''Campania'' was to have a last-minute reprieve.

== HMS ''Campania'' ==
{{main|HMS Campania (1914)}}
[[File:HMS Campania 1.jpg|thumb|HMS ''Campania'']]
[[File:Campania sinking.jpg|thumb|The sinking of ''Campania'']]
While ''Campania'' awaited demolition, the [[Admiralty]] stepped in at the last minute and bought her 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. The conversion was carried out at the Cammell Laird shipyard in Birkenhead. Her interior was completely gutted, and room made inside to store up to 14 aircraft. She was also equipped with eight 4.7" (120-mm) guns.

The conversion was completed in 1915, and trials took place under Captain Oliver Schwann of the Royal Navy, with [[Charles Lightoller|Charles H. Lightoller]] (formerly second officer of {{RMS|Titanic}}) as the first officer. Two weeks later she joined the [[Home Fleet|fleet]] at [[Scapa Flow]] as {{HMS|Campania|1914|6}}, and subsequently began manoeuvres in the North Sea. Her job was to send aeroplanes ahead to scout for the German fleet. 

After a short period, it was decided to add {{convert|160|ft|m|abbr=on}} flight deck at the front of the ship, to enable aircraft to take off directly from the ship without being lowered into the water. Trials following this conversion indicated that the deck was too short, so it was extended to {{convert|220|ft|m|abbr=on}}. The alterations required the removal of the forward part of the superstructure, and the first funnel (which was replaced by two narrower funnels on each side). The aft deck was cleared and the aft mast removed, so that she could also serve as an Observation Balloon Ship. ''Campania'' now bore little resemblance to her original configuration.

HMS ''Campania'' served with the Admiralty right up until 5 November 1918&mdash;just six days before the armistice was signed, when she was involved in an accident in the [[Firth of Forth]] during high winds. ''Campania'' dragged her anchor in a sudden squall, and at 03:45 struck the bow of the battleship {{HMS|Royal Oak|08|2}} and then dragged along the side of the battle cruiser {{HMS|Glorious||2}}.  She began to sink stern first. A few hours later an explosion&mdash;presumed to be a boiler&mdash;sent her to the bottom.

Because of the shallowness of the water, she was considered a danger to shipping and large charges were placed on the decks to demolish her. By 1921 the wreck had been reduced to a safe clearance depth. Further to this destruction it is reported that salvage of valuable metals took place on the wreck, possibly during the late 1940s and the 1960s.<ref name=53111.03p>{{cite book|last=Wessex Archaeology|title=HMS Campania, Firth of Forth, Scotland. Designated Site Assessment Report|year=2005}}</ref>{{rp|i, 9-10}}
Despite this damage, the wreck site today is classified as being of historical importance, being designated under the [[Protection of Wrecks Act 1973|Protection of Wrecks Act]] in 2000. This designation was revoked in 2013 when the site was re-designated as a Historic [[Marine Protected Area]] under the [[Marine (Scotland) Act 2010]].<ref>{{cite web
 |url= https://www.historicenvironment.scot/media/2337/campaniampa.pdf
 |title= Historic Marine Protected Area Record
 |access-date=2017-08-15}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141023175221/http://www.chriscunard.com/campania.php ''RMS Campania''] (retrieved from Wayback Machine, 2014)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081202114937/http://www.clydesite.co.uk/articles/campania_lucania.asp ''RMS Campania''] at ''Clydebuilt Ships Database''
* [https://sanctaflora.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/cunard_line_liverpool_ny_boston1.jpg Cunard Line hall poster]
* {{Historic Environment Scotland|num=HMPA4|desc=Campania Historic MPA}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-ach|rec}}
{{s-bef|before=[[SS City of New York|''City of New York'']]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Blue Riband]] (Eastbound record) |years=1893 – 1894}}
{{s-aft|rows=2|after=[[RMS Lucania|''Lucania'']]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[SS City of Paris (1888)|''City of Paris'']]}}
{{s-ttl|title= [[Blue Riband]] (Westbound record)|years=1893 – 1894}}
{{end}}
{{Largest passenger ships}}
{{Cunard ships}}
{{November 1918 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Campania}}
[[Category:1892 ships]]
[[Category:Ships of the Cunard Line]]
[[Category:Blue Riband holders]]
[[Category:Passenger ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships built in Govan]]
[[Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1918]]

[[Category:Art Nouveau ships]]