RMS Aurania (1916)

RMS Aurania was an ocean liner owned by the Cunard Line. She was built in 1916 at Wallsend and measured 13,936 gross register tons.

History
United Kingdom
Name	Aurania
Operator	Cunard Line
Builder	Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend-on-Tyne
Launched	16 July 1916
Maiden voyage	28 March 1917
Fate	Sunk by torpedo, 2 August 1918
General characteristics
Type	Ocean liner
Tonnage	13,936 GRT
Propulsion	2 × steam engines 2 × propellers
Speed	15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)

The Aurania was the last of three ships planned to serve between Canada and Europe. Her sister ships were the Andania and Alaunia. Although ordered in December 1913, because of the First World War, she was not completed until 1916.

The Aurania was launched on 16 July 1916 and was immediately fitted out as a troopship. She made her maiden voyage from the Tyne to New York on 28 March 1917 and on her return sailed to Liverpool. The ship remained on hire to the British Government for the remainder of her career and was used exclusively on the North Atlantic, primarily moving troops and supplies. On 3 February 1918, she left Liverpool and was routed around the coast of Northern Ireland, bound for New York. On the following morning, she was some 15 miles north-west of Inistrahull, off the coast of County Donegal, when she was hit by a torpedo from German submarine UB-67. Nine crew members were killed in the explosion. A trawler took the ship in tow but she became stranded near Tobermory on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. Rough seas soon broke Aurania up and she was declared a total loss.