Carmania 1905 (Cunard Line)

[shipstamps]

Builder: John Brown & Co Ltd, Clydebank, Glasgow, Scotland.
Completed : November 1905.
Gross tonnage: 19566.
Dimensions: 678ft x 72ft, Depth 52ft.
Engines: Three direct-action Parson steam turbines.
Screws: Triple.
Watertight bulkheads: Twelve.
Decks: Five.
Normal speed : 18.50 knots. (Attained a speed of 20.04 knots on her trials.)
Passenger accommodation : 425 cabin,365 tourist, and 650 third class.
Maiden voyage: Liverpool–New York on December 2, 1905.

Employed in the Liverpool–Queenstown–New York run during the summer months and in the New York–Mediterranean services in the winter. Caught fire at Liverpool on June 4, 1912, but was not seriously damaged.
On October 9, 1913, she res¬cued a number of persons from the Royal Line emigrant ship Volturno while ablaze in the Atlantic.
Fitted out as an armed merchant cruiser on August 15, 1914, and engaged the Hamburg–South American liner-cruiser Cap Trafalgar off Trinidad on September 14, 1914. The Carmania performed heroically under the command of Captain J. C. Barr and sank the German liner sustaining 79 hits from the vanquished ship. As the Cap Trafalgar sank fresh smoke appeared on the horizon and four funnels soon showed up. The Carmania, with her guns and the ship herself damaged, stoked her holds and steamed south-west by the sun and wind. It was later learned that the four-stacker approaching the scene had been the Kronprinz Wilhelm, the famous German raider coming to the aid of her consort. Carmania is the only armed cruiser ever to have sunk a similarly outfitted mer¬chant vessel as was the Cap Trafalgar.
Decom¬missioned in 1916 she reverted to her owners and resumed sailings on November 9, 1916. With¬drawn from service from time to time during the war and laid up. Resumed scheduled sailings on December 21, 1918 from Liverpool to Queens¬town and New York. Converted to oil-firing in 1923 and cabin-, tourist- and third-class accommoda¬tions. She opened a new service in the same year from Liverpool to Belfast, Quebec and Montreal.
Reallocated to the Liverpool–Boston–New York run in 1925 and in 1926 she ran from London to Southampton and New York calling at Plymouth and Le Havre eastbound and from New York to Havana during the winter months. Made her last voyage for Cunard in August 1931 and was laid up at Tilbury dock until sold to shipbreakers in April 1932.
Carmania was the first Cunarder to be driven by direct-action Parson steam turbines.
Sister ship: Caronia.
Gibraltar SG202.
North Atlantic Passenger Liners since 1900. Nicholas T Cairis

[aukepalmhof]

Liberia 2015 $30 sg?, scott?

Indeed you are correct the vessel depict on the Liberia stamp is the CARONIA see
http://www.shipstamps.co.uk/forum/viewt ... =2&t=15297

[ibiscus1]

I think the stamp shown is RMS Caronia not her sister ship. The inscription on the stamp is SS Caronia