Five years in the making, RMS Mauretania and her sister the Lusitania represented a new era in British shipbuilding. Ostensibly built to compete against record-breaking German behemoths, the Mauretania was not only one of the first major ships to be turbine-driven or have four propellers – she was the largest moving structure ever to have been created by man at that time. And, soon enough, she would become the fastest as well. But the Mauretania wasn’t just built for luxury. When war was declared in August 1914, she was pressed into service as a troop- and hospital ship. Where once she had carried society ladies, she now carried soldiers. Intensely researched and with over 100 photographs and illustrations, RMS Mauretania (1907): Queen of the Ocean is the definitive book on this most remarkable liner.
Large, lavish and record-breaking, RMS Mauretania remains one of the most remarkable ships ever built. She was to be the fastest and the most beautiful – with six huge turbines and interiors designed and created by the most fashionable of architects – but she would soon find herself pressed into service in the Great War.From the ships that inspired her build to her very final journey, Illustrated Mauretania (1907) fills in the gaps in the Mauretania’s established literature. Through fifteen episodes, with over 200 images between them, acclaimed maritime historian David F. Hutchings explores the life and times of ‘The Grand Old Lady of the North Atlantic’.
