The Imperator was the
first of three liners that were the Hamburg-America Line's answer to the White Star Line's
Olympic class liners. The keel for the first of Germany's trio was laid on
June 18, 1910 at the Vulcan Werke shipyards in Hamburg. She was launched by the
German Kaiser himself on May 23, 1912, a month after the Titanic went down.
Because of this, Imperator's C deck was carved out for lifeboats, and she
would carry a total of 83 lifeboats.
Imperator was ready for transatlantic service exactly one year
after launching, and left Cuxhaven via Southampton for New York on June 10, 1913.
One interesting thing to note
about the Imperator is that she carried a large bronze decorative eagle
figurehead on her bow. It is believed that this was added to the ship to make her
the longest ship on the seas, which she apparently just barely didn't meet or beat.
You can see this figurehead in the picture at right, depicting the Imperator
in New York, partly flooded and listing after a fire.
The Imperator was not without her fair share of problems,
though. The large areas in Imperator's superstructure helped to make the ship a notorious roller, which, in the line's estimation, could
ruin her from a financial perspective. So Hamburg-America had to take drastic
measures. In her first fall refit, her funnels were cut down nine feet, all
upper-deck fittings and panels were replaced by ones made of lighter materials, the
aforementioned eagle figurehead was removed, and lots and lots of cement was poured in her
bottom. Still, the Imperator earned the name the "Limperator".
When World War I broke out, the Imperator found herself in
Hamburg. Here she would remain for the next four years. When United States
forces arrived, they found the Imperator in a decaying and rusted state.
However, that didn't stop them from reactivating the Imperator for
trooping as the USS Imperator. This service lasted from May 1919 until the
following August. After this, she was laid up again, this time in New York.
After the war was over, Imperator was chartered to the Cunard
Line as the most readily available replacement for the Lusitania. She was
sold, along with her sister the Bismarck (which would become White Star's Majestic),
to the Cunard and White Star Lines jointly. In this state, she sailed for Cunard as
the Imperator on the Liverpool to New York service, but soon enough, changes were
to come...
After Cunard bought out
White Star's interest in the Imperator, Cunard renamed her the Berengaria,
making her the first Cunarder to be named after a queen. In this case it was the wife of
Richard the Lion Heart. Despite originally being a German liner, Berengaria
received the title of flagship, and sailed as a running mate to the Aquitania and
the Mauretania.
Starting in October 1921, Berengaria was withdrawn for six
months for an extensive refit, in order to bring her up to Cunard standards. She was
converted to oil-burning equipment, fitted with bunkers that could hold 6,500 tons of oil,
more cement was poured into her bottom, and most of the original marble fittings in first
class were replaced with metal ones.
Throughout the 1920's, the Berengaria
continued to sail as part of Cunard's "big three" (others were Mauretania
and Aquitania). When the depression hit, Berengaria became a part-time
cruise liner. Her cruise movements took her to Bermuda and the Caribbean, and on
weekend runs to Nova Scotia. When Cunard and White Star merged in 1934, Berengaria
survived, though with a different clientele than in her glory days, she was referred to as
the "Bargain-area".
Cunard planned to keep the Berengaria in service until 1940,
and then replace her with the Queen Elizabeth. Unfortunately, though, this
was not to be. Her age created a serious problem - fires from outmoded wiring
systems. In 1936, a fire erupted along the Southampton docks. In 1938, there
was a far more serious one in new York. This fire caused American authorities to
revoke her passenger certificate, and she returned to Britain empty. In Southampton,
a third damaging fire started. As a result, Cunard had to realize that Berengaria
would not last until 1940.
Berengaria was put up for sale in October 1938, but because
she needed a major overhaul in order to be usable, there were no serious bidders.
Eventually, she was bought by scrappers, and went to Jarrow, where she was cut down
to the waterline. In 1946, after World War II, her remains were cut in two, and
towed to Rosyth and demolished.
Imperator/Berengaria Vital Statistics
Gross Tonnage: 52,117 (1913), 52,226 (1922)
Length: 919 feet
Width: 98 feet
Draft: 35 feet
Machinery: Steam turbines geared to quadruple screw
Speed: 23 knots
Capacity: 908 First, 972 Second, 942 Third, 1,772 Steerage (1913); 972
First, 630 Second, 606 Third, 515 Tourist (1922)
Built: Vulcan Werke, Hamburg, Germany, 1913
Demise: Scrapped in Jarrow, 1939; completely dismantled in Rosyth in
1946
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