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The first RMS ''Saxonia'' was a passenger ship of the British Cunard Line. Between 1900 and 1925, ''Saxonia'' operated on North Atlantic and Mediterranean passenger routes, and she saw military service during World War I (1914–1918). ''Saxonia''s sister ship was ''Ivernia''. ==Design== Around 1900, the Cunard Line faced tight competition from the British White Star Line and the German lines Norddeutscher Lloyd and Hamburg America (HAPAG). Cunards largest liners, as of 1898 and , had a reputation for size and speed, both being of 12,950 gross register tons (grt) and having held the Blue Riband for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.〔N. R. P. Bonsor, ''North Atlantic Seaway'', pp. 154-55, 1873.〕 However, Norddeutscher Lloyds new liner had taken the Blue Riband from them in 1897, while White Star was planning to place a new 17,000-grt liner, RMS ''Oceanic'' into service. Cunard also updated its fleet during this time, ordering three new liners, , RMS ''Saxonia'', and .〔(thegreatoceanliners.com Saxonia (I) 1900–1925 )〕 Rather than attempting to fully regain prestige by spending the additional money necessary to order liners that were fast enough to win back the Blue Riband from ''Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse'' or large enough to rival ''Oceanic'' in size, Cunard tried to maximize their profitability in order to remain solvent enough to fend off any takeover attempts by IMM. The three new ships were not especially fast, but all were larger than ''Campania'' and ''Lucania''; in fact, ''Saxonia'' at was the largest Cunard liner up to that time – beating out ''Ivernia'', which entered service a month before ''Saxonia'', for that distinction – and the largest until Cunard placed RMS ''Caronia'' in service in 1905.〔〔Hyde, Francis E., ''Cunard and the North Atlantic, 1840-1973'', pp. 327-331.〕 Thus, although the decision to order and launch ''Saxonia'' in 1898-1899 was taken well before J. P. Morgan’s efforts of 1900-1902, to put together the large combination of shipping lines that was officially designated IMM in October 1902, ''Saxonia'', her sister ''Ivernia'', and her "half-sister" ''Carpathia'' became both instruments and models through which Cunard was able to successfully compete with its larger rivals – most notably IMM’s lead company, White Star.〔J. H. Isherwood, "Intermediate Ship 'Saxonia' ", ''Sea Breezes'' 13 (1952), p. 411.〕 ''Saxonia'' was steam-powered, with her two propellers powered by quadruple expansion engines, and had a service speed of . She had a long, black hull, a low, well-balanced superstructure, and four masts. ''Saxonia'' and ''Ivernia'' both had a single funnel which was 106 feet (32.3 m) tall, probably the tallest funnel ever installed on a passenger ship. ''Saxonia'' had a large cargo capacity, so much so that her passenger accommodations were smaller than most people expected for a liner of her size. Her four masts were intended to allow effective handling of larger amounts of cargo than was customary on a liner.〔 Constructed at the John Brown & Company shipyard at Clydebank, Scotland, ''Saxonia'' was launched on 16 December 1899. She completed fitting out in mid-May 1900.〔 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 Saxonia (1899)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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