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RMS ''Mauretania'' was an ocean liner designed by Leonard Peskett and built by Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson for the British Cunard Line, and launched on the afternoon of 20 September 1906. She was the world's largest ship until the completion of the RMS ''Olympic'' in 1911 as well as the fastest until the ''Bremen'''s maiden voyage in 1929. ''Mauretania'' became a favourite among her passengers. After capturing the Eastbound Blue Riband on her maiden return voyage in December 1907, she claimed the Westbound Blue Riband for the fastest transatlantic crossing during her 1909 season. ''Mauretania'' would hold both speed records for twenty years.〔Maxtone-Graham 1972, pp. 41–43.〕 The ship's name was taken from Mauretania, an ancient Roman province on the northwest African coast, not the modern Mauritania which is now to the south.〔Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 24.〕 Similar nomenclature was also employed by ''Mauretania'' ==Overview== In 1897 the German liner became the largest and fastest ship in the world. With a speed of , she captured the Blue Riband from Cunard Line's ''Campania'' and ''Lucania''. Germany came to dominate the Atlantic, and by 1906 they had five four-funnel superliners in service, four of them owned by North German Lloyd and part of the so-called "''Kaiser class''". At around the same time American financier J. P. Morgan's International Mercantile Marine Co. was attempting to monopolise the shipping trade, and had already acquired Britain's other major transatlantic line White Star.〔Maxtone-Graham 1972, p. 11.〕 In the face of these threats the Cunard Line was determined to regain the prestige of ocean travel back not only to the company, but also to the United Kingdom.〔〔''Floating Palaces.'' (1996) A&E. TV Documentary. Narrated by Fritz Weaver.〕 By 1902, Cunard Line and the British government reached an agreement to build two superliners, ''Lusitania'' and ''Mauretania'',〔 with a guaranteed service speed of no less than , the British government were to loan £2,600,000 (£}} as of ), for the construction of ''Mauretania'' and ''Lusitania'' at an interest rate of 2.75% to be paid back over twenty years with a stipulation that the ships could be converted to armed merchant cruisers if needed;〔Layton, J. Kent. (2007) Lusitania: An Illustrated Biography, Lulu Press, pp. 3, 39.〕 also to fund these ships further the Admiralty arranged for Cunard to be paid an additional £150,000 per year to their mail subsidy.〔〔Vale, Vivian, ''The American Peril: Challenge to Britain on the North Atlantic, 1901–04'', pp. 143–183.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「RMS Mauretania (1906)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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