History | |
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Germany | |
Name: | 1906–19: SS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria |
Owner: | Hamburg America Line |
Operator: | Germany |
Port of registry: | Hamburg |
Builder: |
|
Yard number: | 264 |
Launched: | 29 August 1905 By the German Empress |
Maiden voyage: | 10 May 1906 |
Fate: | seized by the United States |
United States | |
Name: | USS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria |
Acquired: | by US Navy in 1919 |
United Kingdom | |
Name: | SS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria |
Acquired: | by Cunard Line in 1920 |
Canada | |
Name: | RMS Empress of Scotland |
Acquired: | in 1921 by Canadian Pacific Steamships |
Fate: | Scrapped in 1930 Blyth |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Ocean liner |
Tonnage: | 24,581 gross tons |
Length: | 677.5 feet (206.5 m) |
Beam: | 77,3 feet (23.5 m) |
Propulsion: | 2 steam engines, twin screws |
Speed: | 17.5 knots |
Capacity: | 1,897 passengers |
Notes: |
RMS Empress of Scotland was the later name of SS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, an ocean liner built in 1905-1906 by Vulcan AG shipyard in Stettin (now Szczecin, Poland) for the Hamburg America Line. The ship regularly sailed between Hamburg and New York City until the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914. At the end of hostilities, re-flagged the USS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, she transported American troops from Europe to the United States. For a brief time Cunard sailed the re-flagged ship between Liverpool and New York.
The ship was refitted for Canadian Pacific Steamships (CP) and in 1921, she was renamed Empress of Scotland—the first of two CP ships to bear that name.
The SS Kaiserin Auguste Victoria was built by AG Vulcan Stettin in Stettin on the Baltic in 1905-1906. The new ship was ordered by the expanding Hamburg America Line. At 24,000 plus tons she was the largest passenger liner in the world from 1905 to 1907 until the advent of Cunard's Lusitania.
When the keel was laid down as "Ship #264," this vessel was intended to be named the SS Europa; she was to have been a sister ship to the SS Amerika which was being built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast during the same period. At the time of her launching on 29 August 1905, her only peer in size was the slightly smaller Amerika which had been launched days earlier.
German Empress Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein permitted the vessel to be named after her and participated in the launching ceremonies.
The 24,581-ton vessel had a length of 677.5 feet, and her beam was 77.3 feet. She had two funnels, four masts, twin propellers, and an average speed of 18 knots. The ocean liner provided accommodation for 472 first-class passengers and for 174 second class passengers. There was room for 212 third-class passengers and for 1,608 fourth-class passengers.