RMS Mauretania was a British ocean liner that was launched on 28 July 1938 at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead, England, and was completed in May 1939.

The vessel was powered by two sets of Parsons single reduction-geared steam turbines giving 42,000 shaft horsepower (31,000 kW) and driving twin propellers.

[1] The ship was designed for the London to New York City service and was the largest vessel ever to navigate the River Thames and use the Royal Docks.

The new Mauretania's smart and stylish accommodation marked a further enhancement to the standards of cabins, public rooms and general facilities provided for passengers of all grades by Cunard White Star Line.

Returning from the next voyage, Mauretania called at Southampton,[1] Le Havre and finally London where she berthed in the King George V Dock.

She began her return voyage on September 30, and on October 2 the German English-language radio broadcast from Hamburg issued a veiled threat against her.

Mauretania was armed with two 6-inch (152 mm) guns and some smaller weapons, painted in battle grey, and then despatched to America at the end of December 1939.

During the early stages of the war the ship transported Australian troops to Suez, India and Singapore but later she mainly served in the North Atlantic.

[citation needed] Like Aquitania, she amassed over 500,000 nautical miles (930,000 km) during the course of her war duties, first crossing of the Indian Ocean, then working the Atlantic with American and Canadian troops and finally serving in the Pacific.

[citation needed] During this epic voyage she established a speed record for the crossing time from Fremantle, Australia to Durban, South Africa.

Another wartime troop transport voyage began in New York on 10 May 1943 and ended in Bombay on 24 June 1943, with calls en-route at Trinidad, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Diego-Suarez.

Women and children were crammed ten to a cabin in the bunks used by the troops, while the men were in "dormitories" for sixty, sleeping in hammocks.

[5] Mauretania took the first dedicated sailing of British war brides and their children being patriated to Canada to join their husbands, landing at Pier 21 at Halifax, Nova Scotia in February 1946.

[1] After a complete overhaul and refurbishment of the interior, Mauretania made her first post-war Atlantic crossing to New York City, departing on 26 April 1947.

[6] It is rumoured that on the way to Fife she sailed up the River Douglas in Lancashire by mistake and became grounded in the mud banks, but this is unlikely as photographs and footage of the Mauretania at Inverkeithing were taken after her arrival.

Paneling, mill work, and other materials from the ship were used in the Famous-Barr department store's Mauretania Room at the West County Center Mall in Des Peres, Missouri, a suburb of St Louis.