It seems that the building cost of Caronia was almost kept as a closely-guarded secret. So far,
I have found only three references which relate to this. It appears that her insurance value in
1949 was £4million (about $12million), however, in the USA, news reports show her building
cost range from $14million to over $20million!
One sad fact that has come to light is that John Brown's Shipyard at Clydebank where Caronia was
built made a loss on building the “Green Goddess”. British shipyards were notorious for
having very poor working relations with their employees. This was exacerbated by every trade having
a separate union to represent their interests. Attempting to keep the workforce in harmony would be
a very delicate balancing act indeed!
Of course, all this is a far cry from the prices of today, where these are widely touted, and quoted
in hundreds of millions of dollars. Today, the 1946 prices will barely buy you a small liner for scrap!
