RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson on the River Tyne, England for the Cunard Line, launched on the afternoon of 20 September 1906.

[3][4] By 1902, Cunard Line and the British government reached an agreement to build two superliners, Lusitania and Mauretania,[3] with a guaranteed service speed of no less than 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph).

[6] Further funding was secured when the Admiralty arranged for Cunard to be paid an annual subsidy as a Royal Navy Reserve Merchant Vessel (which also authorised both ships to fly the Blue Ensign), additional to the mail contract.

[6][7][8] Mauretania and Lusitania were both designed by Cunard naval architect Leonard Peskett, with Swan Hunter and John Brown working from plans for an ocean greyhound with a stipulated service speed of twenty-four knots in moderate weather, as per the terms of her mail subsidy contract.

Mellier & Sons and Turner and Lord,[17][18] with twenty-eight different types of wood, along with marble, tapestries, and other furnishings such as the stunning octagon table in the smoking room.

[19] A series of elevators, then a rare new feature for liners, with grilles composed of the relatively new lightweight aluminium, were installed next to Mauretania's walnut grand staircase.

[17] Mauretania departed Liverpool on her maiden voyage on 16 November 1907 under the command of Captain John Pritchard, but failed to capture the Blue Riband due to a rough storm that broke free her spare anchor.

On the return voyage, however, (30 November – 5 December 1907) she captured the record for the fastest eastbound crossing of the Atlantic,[1] with an average speed of 23.69 knots (43.87 km/h; 27.26 mph).

In a quick change of events Cunard rescheduled Mauretania's voyage for Lusitania, which had just returned from New York, under the command of Captain James Charles.

Mauretania was on a westbound voyage from Liverpool to New York, beginning 13 April 1912, and was docked at Queenstown, Ireland, at the time of the RMS Titanic disaster.

[citation needed] In July 1913, King George and Queen Mary were given a special tour of Mauretania, then Britain's fastest merchant vessel, adding further distinction to the ship's reputation.

On 26 January 1914, while Mauretania was in the middle of annual refit in Liverpool, four men were killed[26][self-published source] and six injured when a gas cylinder exploded while they were working on one of her steam turbines.

Shortly after, she and Aquitania were requested by the British government to become armed merchant cruisers,[28] but their huge size and massive fuel consumption made them unsuitable for the duty,[29] and they resumed their civilian service on 11 August.

[citation needed] When combined forces from the British empire and France began to suffer heavy casualties, Mauretania was ordered to serve as a hospital ship, along with the Aquitania and White Star's Britannic, to treat the wounded until 25 January 1916.

[citation needed] The ship was known by the Admiralty as HMS Tuberose[31] until the end of the war,[29][dubious – discuss] but the vessel's name was never changed by Cunard.

Starting in March 1918, Mauretania received two forms of dazzle camouflage, a type of abstract colour scheme designed by Norman Wilkinson in 1917 in an effort to confuse enemy ships.

The first camouflage scheme, applied early in March 1918, was curvilinear in nature and largely broad areas of olive with blacks, greys and blues.

[citation needed] Cunard White Star withdrew Mauretania from service following a final eastward crossing from New York to Southampton in September 1934.

[33] In May 1935 her furnishings and fittings were put up for auction by Hampton and Sons and on 1 July that year she departed Southampton for the last time to Metal Industries shipbreakers at Rosyth.

[citation needed] En route to Rosyth, Mauretania stopped at her birthplace on the Tyne for half an hour, where she drew crowds of sightseers.

[43][page needed] The demise of the beloved Mauretania was protested by many of her loyal passengers, including President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who wrote a private letter against the scrapping.

Annually for Remembrance Day, Lloyds Register observe two minutes of silence and lay a wreath at its base in honour of servicemen and women.

Additionally, nearly the complete first class reading-writing room, with the original chandeliers and ornate gilt grilled bookcases, has been serving as the boardroom at Pinewood Studios, west of London.

[46] In 2010, an African mahogany pilaster from the first class lounge, fluted with an intricate gilt acanthus motif and intact rams head capital, was discovered and restored; since 2012, it has been on permanent display in the Discovery Museum's Segedunum Annex at Wallsend, just a few hundred yards from where it was carved and installed in the Swan Hunter fitting out basin, over a century earlier.

Many examples of the liner's fixtures and fittings exist in private collections as well, including large sections of moulding, panelling, ceilings and samples of her turbine blades.

[47][self-published source] The original wheelhouse ( port high pressure turbine) telegraph from the Mauritania is on display in the lobby of the QE2, which now serves as a five star hotel, in Dubai.

A large builder's model, showing Mauretania in her white cruising paint scheme, is displayed in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic's Cunard exhibit in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

[50][self-published source] When inspecting the model, one can tell it was Lusitania by examining the different boom crutches and bridge front, which is on the boat deck level.

It doesn’t look any bigger than the Mauretania”, her snobbish fiancé Caledon Hockley (Billy Zane) inaccurately says to her that Titanic is “over a hundred feet longer” and that she is “far more luxurious” than her older competitor.

The historical novel Maiden Voyage by British writer Roger Harvey set in Newcastle in the 1900s gives an accurate account of the building of Mauretania and features characters involved with her turbine engines.