Empress of Britain (1930)

[john sefton]

RMS Empress of Britain, arguably the finest ship ever built for Canadian Pacific. She was built in 1930 by the renowned shipbuilders - John Brown & Co. (Clydebank) Ltd and was the largest ship ever built for Canadian Pacific.  She was uniquely designed as a dual role ship for the service from Southampton to Quebec City via Cherbourg and for world cruising. Her world cruises in the 1930s during the winter season soon became legendary circumnavigations of the world.

She did not sail on the most prestigious of ocean liner routes, that from Europe to New York, but instead the route to Canada. Despite this she was certainly the equal of any of the grand ships of state that plied that route and indeed she surpassed many of them. With her three imposing funnels and white hull and superstructure, she imparted an air of majesty and power - while her interiors were a combination of traditional period styles touched with the glamour of art deco. She indeed was the most stylish and highly individual liner ever built for a British company. At 42,348 grt she also was the largest liner to sail between any two ports of the British Empire and deservedly was Canadian Pacific's flagship.

The Empress of Britain was a most remarkable liner, a combination of tradition and modernity: upright and imposing, yet curiously rakish. It was a profile that could only have been British, and yet, internally she was, and remains, quite unlike any other British liner: striking and dramatic, yet remarkably elegant. She was a most confidently grand liner and truly was a liner of her times full of the opulence and grandeur of the 1930s.

Sadly her glamourous life was cut short by the Second World War and she was transformed into a troopship ferrying soldiers from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to Europe for the war effort. Sadly in 1940 tragedy struck when the great liner was attacked by German bombers off the coast of Ireland and set on fire. The stricken liner was then taken under tow bound for the Clyde.However she was again attacked and torpedoed by a German U-boat. Sadly on the 28th October 1940 the once mighty Empress of Britain slipped beneath the waves of the North Atlantic, a mere 1/2 day's sailing from the shipyard where she had been built. Britain's greatest liner was no more.

http://www.oceanlinermuseum.co.uk/EmpressofBritain.html

[D. v. Nieuwenhuijzen]

Turbine steamer, built by John Brown, Clydebank, #530, Gt:42.348, L:231,80m. B:29,70m.(760' x 97,4') Geared turbines: 66.500 SHP. 4 screws, 24, max. 25½ kn. Passengers 1st class:465, tourist class:260, 3rd class:470, crew:740. 11-06-1930 launced, 05-04-'31 completed, 27-05 maiden voyage Southampton - Quebec, cruising during winter months. 25-11-'39 troop transport, 26-10-'40 bound from Canada to England she was attacked by a German long range bomber, 70 nm. northwest of Ireland and set on fire. The passengers and crew took the boats and were picked up by various naval vessels witch had been called to the scene. The Polish destroyer BURZA took the burning liner in tow. 28-10 the German submarine U-32 sank the EMPRESS OF BRITAIN with 2 torpedoes in position 55 16N 09 50W, 49 dead.
(Liberia 2000, $25, StG.?) Great Passenger Ships of the World, Arnold Kludas.