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The RMS Caronia was a 34,000 ton ocean liner of the Cunard Line. Launched on 30 October 1947, she served until 1967. Sold for scrap, she sank when being towed from New York to Taiwan on 12 August 1974 outside Apra Harbor, Guam.
The following text is based on a Cunard Line brochure of 1950 for the RMS Caronia, the first ever ship designed especially for cruising.
The RMS Caronia, Britain's largest post-war liner, was built by Messrs. John Brown & Co, Ltd., Clydebank, Scotland, who also constructed such famous Cunard liners as the old RMS Caronia of 1905, the RMS Queen Mary and RMS Queen Elizabeth. Her keel was laid down in February 1946, and the launching was performed on October 30, 1947, by HRH Princess Elizabeth.
The Caronia sailed on her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg on January 4 1949. The ship had an overall length of 715 feet (218 m), a moulded breadth of 91 feet (28 m) and a draught of 30 feet (9.1 m). Her 34,183 gross tonnage ranked her as one of the largest liners then in luxury service. On the North Atlantic the Caronia carried 932 passengers; on cruises her capacity was limited to approximately 560 - all First Class.
The Caronia was propelled by twin-screw triple expansion impulse reaction turbines, and has four generators, each consisting of a 1.1 MW 220 V DC dynamo driven by steam turbine. There were ten decks aboard the liner: Sports, Sun, Promenade, Main, A, Restaurant, B, C, D and E. She had thirteen public rooms and two restaurants - all air-conditioned: Verandah Cafe, Observation Lounge, Cocktail Bar, Main Lounge, Writing Room, Smoking Room, Library, Theatre, Gymnasium, two Garden Lounges, After Cocktail Bar and Smoking Room.
Especially designed for warm weather cruising, the Caronia was painted in four shades of pale green, since light colours are cooler in the Tropics. The hull of the liner was insulated internally to help prevent the sun raising the temperature below decks.
The total weight of the gigantic funnel and machinery it contains was 125 tons. The structure had fore and aft length of 53 feet (16.2 m), nine feet (2.7 m) longer than either funnel of the RMS Queen Elizabeth, the world's largest liner, a breadth of 26½ feet (8.1 m) and a height of 46 feet (14.0 m). More than 2,500 fluorescent tubes and 10,000 incandescent lights are installed in the Caronia. The power plant on board is capable of supplying full electrical requirements for a city of 150,000 persons.
Each of the six special launches carried by the Caronia to land passengers at cruise ports was built in an individual slipway at Renfrew and launched into the Clyde just as was the Caronia herself. Each launch had a capacity for 60 passengers and is 45 feet (13.7 m) long, with a beam of 15 feet (4.6 m) and a depth of six feet (1.8 m). Driven by 130 horsepower (97 kW) diesel engines, the boats had a speed of ten knots (19 km/h) fully loaded. To accommodate the launches, special sets of gravity davits were designed and were the largest ever fitted on an ocean liner.
One of the largest and most modern seagoing laundries ever installed in a ship services passengers aboard the Caronia. It was comparable in size to a commercial plant ashore capable of handling the needs of 2,000 people. Some 570 slave clocks, controlled by a master chronometer, guarantee precision time-keeping aboard the Caronia. Each stateroom has a silent electric clock, which was automatically corrected at the touch of a button on the bridge.
There were 700 telephones in the ship. Every stateroom has a telephone fitted for calls to any part of the world. In order to maintain the Cunard Line's standard of service, the Caronia carries a complement of 692 personnel. Acclaimed by both discriminating Atlantic travellers and seasoned cruise passengers as one of the most lovely ships to sail the seas, the "Caronia" superbly perpetuates the Cunard tradition of fine ships.
Her dual purpose design, of a ship perfectly fitted for cruising and suited equally well for service in the North Atlantic, resulted in a striking exterior, in which are combined all the feminine grace of a cruising yacht and the majestic proportions of an Atlantic liner. The graceful curve of her clipper bow, her single, tripod mast set abaft the bridge, and her great funnel - one of the largest ever built for a passenger liner - all these features are further enhanced by the colouring of the hull and superstructure, which is four shades of green.
Add to this revolutionary exterior a magnificent range of public rooms, each one of which is air-conditioned, and many other features, and it will be obvious how successfully the exacting requirements of this dual purpose design were achieved. It will be obvious, too, that the completion of the Caronia marked a new milestone in the development of the passenger liner that justly deserves her title of "Britain's wonder ship"
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